118 RICK-YARD. 



case in the States, notwithstanding the com- 

 plaint of the high price of labour. 



The British farmer takes a pride in the ar- 

 ray of his rick-yard, the number and symme- 

 try and arrangement of his corn-stacks being 

 signs of his merit; and this jnatter, trifling 

 as it may appear, enters influentially into that 

 emulation among farmers, to which much of 

 our advancement in agricultural science is 

 owing. 



But the rick-yard is further of utility in en- 

 abling the farmer to keep an exact account of 

 the produce of each particular field on his farm, 

 so as to test the comparative fertility of each ; 

 or the quality and value of the seed with which 

 it was sown ; or the efficacy of different ma- 

 nures, or of distinct modes of culture. For 

 these purposes he has a map of his rick-yard, 

 on which the sites of the stacks are numbered, 

 with reference to entries in his farm-book of 

 everything he desires to record as to the ori- 

 gin, the contents, and the disposal of each 

 stack. These are matters of importance to 

 a farmer who has any desire to know what 



