448 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



Ancient Egypt, the return is represented as 100 for one ; in By 

 zantium, as 150 for one ; in Ancient Libya, as 300 for one. No 

 certain conclusions can be founded upon such statements. The 

 distinguished traveller, M. Humboldt, states the average product 

 of wheat in Mexico as 25 to 30 for one, and this on table-land 

 elevated 8000 feet above the sea ; and that, even on large farms. 

 he found it 50 and 65 for one. In the Antilles he states the 

 production of maize, or Indian corn, as 300 for one. But I have 

 seen in several cases in New England, in the culture of Indian 

 corn, a return of 400 for one j that is to say, the hills being three 

 feet apart each way, a peck of Indian corn would be sufficient 

 seed for an acre. If 100 bushels of grain are in such case pro 

 duced on an acre, and this sometimes happens, this is clearly 

 a return of 400 for one. 



Of the average yield of wheat in Prance it is not possible to 

 form a conclusion on which entire reliance may be placed. 

 Until a very large district can be taken, arid the crops and land 

 actually measured, no certainty can be attained ; and then of course 

 it must vary much in different climates, or expositions in differ 

 ent seasons, and under different modes of culture. At present it 

 is altogether matter of conjecture, and it would be difficult to 

 find two men of independent judgment who would agree in the 

 case. The average yield in England I have heard stated by 

 men of political standing, claiming to be well informed on the 

 subject, at not more than fifteen bushels per acre. An eminent 

 agricultural writer placed it at eighteen bushels some years 

 since ; men of sanguine temperament rate it at over thirty 

 bushels. These evidently are wholly conjectural estimates. In 

 France it is stated in the best districts to average twenty-two 

 bushels. This rests upon similar authority. It would be of 

 immense importance to any government to know the exact 

 product grown in any country or district, or in the whole coun 

 try ; and this might be obtained by compelling, on the part 

 of the owner or cultivator, an actual return of his crop ; but it is 

 of little use to found such returns on estimates purely conjectu 

 ral. There is another point in respect to this cultivation which 

 the agricultural societies might obtain, and which would be of 

 great importance ; that is, first, the smallest yield ordinarily 

 obtained, and, next, the largest yield actually obtained, with a 

 detailed history of the culture in each case ; the causes of the 



