1864. Ohfei-vaticns on the Corn Laws, 333 



,an erroneous but common prejudice, the immenfe ndvnntages of 

 fuch a fyftem, both in favouriible and bad feafons, mult be given 



4th. ' To provide agamj} the failnte of any particular kind of 

 grain* — Let the culture of all the varieties and kinds be encou- 

 raged, on the moll extenfive fcale, and in full crops. Then may 

 •wheat, oats, and barley mutually fupply each other's deficiencies ; 

 and peas, beans, and rye may be ufeful auxiliaries : whereas, by 

 difcouraging the culture of any of thefe kinds of grain, particu- 

 larly wheat, oats, or barley, a feafon may come that ilrall be ad- 

 verl'e to the grain moilly cultivated, and yet would poflibly have 

 been favourable to the kind that has been injudicioufly laid afide : 

 the confequences muft then be ferious. Tins matter may foon 

 come to be felt, initead of being dreaded, if the culture of bar- 

 ley continue to decline, as it does rapidly at prefent. 



5th. * ' To obtain fubj}itiites for grain * — Let the culture of roots 

 and greens be encouraged. It would be dilBcult to compute the 

 benefits derived from the ufe of potatoes : and when cab- 

 bages, greens, turnips, and other efculents are alfo reared, the 

 foil is improved by the variety of its producflions ; the public 

 have the comfort of that variety ', there is a large addition, not 

 only of roots and green articles, but alfo of milk, butter, and 

 cheefe, and of fat, for their fupport : and the complicated ad- 

 vantages are very important. 



6th. * If the policy of our lanvs fljall prefer any one kind of grain 

 before another *— Then we fliould encourage that grain which is 

 moft productive of meal, and leaft fevere on the foil ♦, or, in 

 other words, the grain molt favourable to an improved culture of 

 the earth. It requires no evidence that barley is this kind of 

 grain. The culture of barley is favourable to the community in 

 every view : It is an early grain, very productive in meal from 

 an acre, and favourable to the increafe of produce, by means of 

 increafing fertility. Wheat and oats are, comparatively, robbers 

 of the foil, and unfavourable to the views of enlarged produce by 

 good culture. Yet wheat and oats have met with no difcourage- 

 ment, when the taxes on manufactured barley liave almofl pro- 

 fcribed both the ufe and the culture of this valuable grain. 



7th. * To recover the unmenfe advantages of an export trade in 

 grainy' — and thereby to increafe the manufacture and commerce 

 of Britifh grain, and to draw the treafures of lei's induftrious na- 

 tions in exchange for it, are objects of very great importance, 

 yet not eafdy to be attained. The charges on arable lands are io 

 high in Britain, that great difficulties occur in contendnig with 

 other nations, where the culture of grain is lefs expenfive. Boun- 

 ties on exported grain readily offer themfelves as a moan for ac- 

 «omplifliing this obi eel. But why not encourage the export of 



■ ^ % graia 



