153 



AGBICULTURE. 



AGUE. 





154 



14 bushels per acre. In England it is known that a large crop ol 

 wheat is about 40 bushels per acre, and that a small one is about 2( 

 bushels. The usual conjecture is, that the average produce of the 

 kingdom in years of fair crops is about 28 bushels, but the total super- 

 ficies sown with wheat or any other grain, and the total quantity ol 

 the produce, are matters simply of conjecture. Such statistics for 

 the whole of a kingdom are highly valuable for the guidance of the 

 inhabitants of that kingdom ; but if we possessed them for the whole 

 of the civilised world, what are called the chances of agriculture would 

 pruljably be reduced to a certainty, and the price of food would remain 

 with little or no variation. It may be added that the most trustworthy 

 groundwork of conjecture on this subject is furnished by the Govern- 

 ment inquiry in 1854, to which allusion has already been made ; and 

 which, though confined to eleven counties, namely, Hampshire, Wilt- 

 shire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Berkshire, Worcestershire, Breck- 

 nock, Salop, Denbigh, and Yorkshire (East Riding), was yet sufficiently 

 wide and sufficiently representative of the whole country to justify an 

 estimate upon them of the total acreage of England and Wales. The 

 following are the totals thus estimated. Total statute acres, 37,324,915, 

 namely, wheat, 3,807,846; barley, 2,667,776; oats, 1,302,782; rye, 

 73,731 ; beans and pea, 698,188 ; vetches, 218,551 ; turnips, 2,267,200 ; 

 mangold wurzel, 177,263; carrots, 12,638; potatoes, 192,287; flax, 

 10,156 ; hops, 18,976 ; osiers, 1,079 ; other crops, such as cabbages, &c., 

 97,334 ; barefallow, 895,969 ; clover, lucerne, Ac., 2,820,066. The total 

 under cultivation thus appears to be 15,261,842 acres. Under grass 

 we have as follows, permanent pastures, 8,874,946 acres; irrigated 

 meadows, 1,292,329 ; sheepwalks and downs, 2,224,862 ; or in all, 

 12,392,137 acres. In addition to this there are 976,197 acres in 

 gardens, roads, fences, houses, &c. ; 786,658 acres in waste attached 

 to farms; 1,697,362 acres in woods and plantations; 459,447 acres in 

 commons belonging to parishes ; 459,447 acres in holdings of less than 

 2 acres each; and 3,814,108 acres unaccounted for; making in all the 



aid total of 37,324,915 acres. 



Whenever the eleven counties are not in the aggregate truly repre- 

 sentative, on the average, of the whole country, then it is plain that 

 these figures must fail even of that imperfect accuracy which the partial 

 returns for these eleven counties possess ; and it is plain that in some of 

 the particulars above specified no great confidence can be placed. The 

 irrigated meadow land of England is, for instance, not nearly one- 

 seventh or one-eighth of the ordinary permanent pasture as it is above 

 represented to be. 



The live stock of the country, estimated in the same way, is enume- 

 rated as follows : horses, 1,050,931; colts, 258,079; milch cows, 

 1,376,703 ; calves, 707,192 ; other cattle, including working oxen, 

 1,339,270; rams, 244,106; ewes, 7,299,915; lambs, 6,987,982; other 

 sheep, 4,159,085 ; swine, 2,363,724. 



The total number of schedules issued in the eleven counties for the 

 purpose of the inquiry was 118,287, and this representa the number of 

 occupying tenant fanners in those counties. This number extended 

 proportionately over the whole country would be 570,137. 



These figures are given as the only approximation which we have to 

 the agricultural statistics of England and Wales ; though how far they 

 must be from strict accuracy is sufficiently obvious. The inquiry in 

 England did not extend, as it has done in Scotland and Ireland, to the 

 produce of the country, but merely to the average of the crop, and the 

 numbers of the live stock. 



A< JKICULTURE. Under various alphabetical heads will be found 

 the theory and practice of husbandry. Any general observations are 

 reserved for RURAL ECONOMY. 



AGUE. Intermittent paludal fever is a disease belonging to the 

 febrile group. Fevers are divided into three great classes. In the 

 first the morbid phenomena that constitute the disease continue for a 

 certain length of time ; then they wholly disappear : after having been 

 some time absent, they again recur, and this cessation and return of the 

 phenomena alternate with one another for many times. The period 

 that elapses between the cessation of the febrile phenomena and their 

 recurrence, is called an intermission. Such fevers, then, as are attended 

 with a cessation or intermission of the febrile symptoms for an observ- 

 able space of time, are for this reason called intermittent fereri or ague*. 

 Tliis is the first class. In the second class the febrile symptoms do not 

 altogether disappear, but merely diminish in violence ; they do not 

 it, they only remit ; for this reason this second class of fevers are 

 i-emittent fereri. In the third class, during the whole course of 

 ose. there is not only no retrocession of the symptoms, but no 

 notable diminution of their violence. Such as the phenomena are 

 i lie fever is completely formed, such they continue to be with 

 scarcely any variation until its close. For this reason this class of 



is ileiiniiiinateil "i/iiiinted fevers. [FEVER.] 



Tlii' concourse and succession of phenomena which constitute a fever 

 is called a paroxysm. An intermittent fever, or an ague, is therefore 

 a fever consisting of a succession of paroxysms between each of which 

 there i* an intermission more or less complete. 



The phenomena which constitute a paroxysm of fever are the follow- 

 ing : The person is affected first with a loss of mental vigour, commonly 

 indicated by inaptitude to attend to his usual avocations, or by dulness 

 or confusion of mind. If not simultaneously with, very shortly after 



ntal debility there comes on a sense of physical weakness. The 



is l.tuguid, listless, disinclined to move, while every movement 



is performed with difficulty, and the effort to move is exhausting. The 

 muscles or organs of motion are not merely weak they are, at the 

 same time, the seat of several uneasy sensations ; the muscles of the 

 extremities, and of the back especially, are affected with the sensation 

 of soreness, as if they had been over-exercised, and this soon increases 

 to decided pain, which is often very severe. 



The next train of symptoms is ushered in by pallidness of the face 

 and extremities : the features shrink ; the bulk of the external parts is 

 diminished ; and the skin over the whole body is in a morbid state, as 

 if drawn tight. Some degree of coldness is now felt, which at first is 

 so slight as scarcely to be noticed, but at length the patient is fully 

 conscious of a sensation of cold, which he commonly feels first in his 

 back, but which thence extends over the whole body. This sensation 

 of coldness increases until it becomes so severe as to produce a tremor 

 in the limbs, amounting sometimes to trembling and shaking, and 

 almost always producing distinct shivering. 



From the first approach of the mental and physical languor, the 

 pulse becomes weaker than in health. As the sense of cold comes on 

 the weakness of the pulse is still greater, and it is at the same time 

 always more frequent than natural ; often irregular, and sometimes 

 intermittent. The respiration also is shorter, feebler, and more fre- 

 quent than in a state of health. The appetite fails ; there is sometimes 

 even an aversion to food ; frequently the loss of appetite is succeeded 

 by a sense of nausea and sickness, which occasionally increases to 

 vomiting, and with the matter vomited there is, for the most part, a 

 mixture of bile. From the commencement of the paroxysm there is 

 generally some degree of thirst, which increases in urgency as the 

 sensation of cold advances, being always proportioned to, and probably 

 arising from, the dryness and clamminess of the mouth and fauces. 

 Not the secretions of the mouth alone, but all the secretions of the 

 system are diminished. The excretions also are lessened in quantity, 

 and especially the urine, which is scanty and nearly colourless, and the 

 alvine evacuations are usually altogether suppressed. Even in this 

 stage, headache may come on, but it usually does not appear until the 

 following. 



The symptoms having continued for some time, at length disappear, 

 and a remarkable change takes place in the character of those that 

 succeed. The sensation of cold gives place to that of heat, and a 

 temperature far greater than that of health prevails over the whole 

 body. The face which had been pallid, now becomes flushed and red. 

 The eyes which had been dull and heavy, are now more bright and 

 glistening than natural. The features of the face and the other parts 

 of the body recover their usual size, and become even more turgid. 

 The pulse becomes more regular, strong, and full, the respiration 

 fuller and more free, and the nausea and vomiting are less urgent : if 

 before there were pain in the head, it now increases in severity ; if 

 there were none, it is now sure to come on, and while the sensibility is 

 increased, the intellectual operations are more and more disordered. 



By degrees these symptoms also pass away, and are succeeded by a 

 different train. A moisture now breaks out first on the forehead, 

 wlu'ch by degrees extends over the whole body. As the perspiration 

 flows, the heat abates ; the pulse becomes slower and softer ; the 

 respiration more free ; the nausea and vomiting cease ; the thirst 

 diminishes ; the secretions and excretions are restored ; most of the 

 functions return to their ordinary state, and the patient is left com- 

 paratively free from disease, feeling only weak and exhausted. 



Such are the phenomena that constitute a febrile paroxysm, and 

 such is the order of their succession, and they obviously constitute 

 three distinct states, or, as they are called, stages or fits ; namely, the 

 cold, the hot, and the sweating stage. 



After one such paroxysm has remained for a certain length of time, it 

 ceases ; after it has ceased for a certain length of time, the same series 

 of phenomena again arises, and observes the same course as before ; and 

 -his alternation is repeated many times. It has been already stated 

 that the length of time from the end of one paroxysm to the beginning 

 of another is called an intermission, while the length of time from the 

 ueginning of one paroxysm to the beginning of the next is termed an 

 interval. 



Different names are given to the different varieties of this fever 

 according to the length of the intemii. If one paroxysm be succeeded 

 ay another within the space of twenty-four hours, the ague is termed a 

 quotidian ; if after forty-eight hours, a tertian ; if after seventy-two 

 lours, a quartan ; if after ninety-six hours, a quintan. Those with 

 onger intervals are usually termed erratic. The most common form 

 in this country is a tertian ; the next most common, a quartan ; the 

 next, a quotidian ; the least frequent, a quintan. During the Penin- 

 sular war the quotidian was the prevailing type amongst our soldiers. 

 M . Maillot also found that amongst the French troops in the North of 

 Africa, the quotidian was the prevailing type. 



Agues are divided into venial and autumnal ; the venial beginning in 

 "Vliruary, and the autumnal in August. There is a great difference in 

 ,heir character. The vernal in general are milder and easily cured, 

 while the autumnal are often severe and obstinate. 



It sometimes happens that two intermittents attack .the same person 

 at the same time, and the ague is then said to be complicated. 

 The most common complication is the case in which two tertians or 

 ,wo quartans attack simultaneously. What is called the double tertian, 

 'or example, consists of two tertians, each of which attacks at its regular 



