ITS CULTURE RECOMMENDED. 97 



tincture changes these to as fine a green. Injury 

 has certainly been occasioned by writers on agri- 

 cultural affairs recommending, without due inquiry, 

 the culture of this or that crop ; and I would not 

 incur a censure that I blame in another ; yet I 

 cannot but suggest tl\e possible profit that might 

 arise from the culture of this plant. If foreigners 

 derive sufficient encouragement to import it, not- 

 withstanding the charges of freight, port duties, 

 and various consequent expenses, why can it not be 

 grown with us, and afford superior remuneration, 

 not having such deductions to diminish the profits ? 

 The culture of it seems very simple, the manner 

 of conducting the crop, and harvesting the product, 

 attended with little trouble or risk. Marshal* 

 prefers a good soil ; others again say, that it be- 

 comes stalky in a rich soil. With us it grows 

 luxuriantly, three or four feet high, on a thin, 

 stony, undressed soil, apparently the very station 

 it prefers; and we have about as much land of this 

 kind, not intrinsically worth ten shillings an acre. 

 It might be rash to predict the amount of a crop 

 in such soils, but a ton to an acre is said to be but 

 a small allowance ; yet the produce of only this 

 quantity, which would procure in the market a 

 return of ten pounds, without any expenditure for 

 manure, no more manual labour after the seed is 

 sown, for, nine months, than three thinnings, and 

 cleanings with the hoe, and the crop harvested 

 within the year, would be no trifling profit, and 



* Rural Economy of Norfolk. 



II 



