7 8o4' Thoughts on Rcgiilatlug the Value of Labour, 203* 



nutritive fubfiiancc cont'ained in a ton of each, is not materially 

 difFerent. Even under the fuppofition, tliat fifty bolls, or ten ton>» 

 only, were g^iined, ftill the preference ought to be aiPigned ta 



ams, on 



account of the rcafons already mentioned. 



If potatoes are ever to be extenfively introduced as an ar- 

 ticle of fallow crop, it rnuft be with a view of occupying the place 

 of ruta baga, or as the .means of carrying on live flock, after tur- 

 nips are confumod, till the grafs feafon arrives. During the ordi- 

 nary feafon of winter feeding, neither potatoes nor ruta baga can 

 be furniflied to flock on the fame terms with turnips ; though^ 

 when turnips are gone, the next befl refourcri muft be fought af- 

 ter. This, in my opinion, can be gained with moft facility by 

 raifing yams, which, as already faid, are not fo fliy in growing, 

 do not require fo much manure, and thrive on foils where ruta 

 baga would not yield a root much exceeding a common fized 



Though yams are* not to be ranked in value with turnips as an 

 article of winter feeding, it deferves attention, that they may be 

 fuccefsfully cultivated on foils phyfically unfit for the former root. 

 In facSl, the i:reatefl crops of yanis ai*e procured from heavy lands; 

 the foft kindly foils, generally confidered molt adapted to potato 

 culture, being unfriendly to the growth, or rather to the produce 

 tivenefs of tlie variety which I have^been recommending. I am. 

 Sir, yours, &c. A Rural Economist. 



TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE FARMCR's MAGAZINE, 



'Thoughts 011 Regulating the Value of Labour. 

 By Sir George S. Alackenziey Bart. 

 Sir, 



In the note which you have m^ade in reference to my letter of 

 the 20th December laft, I am forry to find fome mirapprehenfioii 

 of the meaning of fome part of it. To explain myfclf, is my chief 

 obiecSl at prefent. 



That the evil of the late unufual advance in the price of labour 

 is fupported, in no Inconfiderable degree, by the circumilances of 

 the country, cannot be denied ; but that thefe circumftances were 

 altogether the caufe of the evil, originally, or that they alone have 

 been the means of fuftaining it, I am difpofed to doubt. Tlie 

 firfl increafe of the wages of craftfmen (of whom, particularly 

 mafons, we complain much more than of ordinary labourers) was 

 excufed by the laft year of fcarcl-ry vv'hich this country experien- 

 ced i and formerly, the price of labour, of every kind, was re- 

 gulated entirely by the price of provifions. No complaints were 

 at that time made, on the prefumption, that when plenty ;vgiin 

 blefTed the land, the ufual flandard for regulating the pri^.e of la- 



L014; 



