HIGH FARMING. 209 



" With these data, the cost of an acre of wheat will be 

 as follows : 



8. d. 



Rent, ll. ; tithes, 5*. ; rates, 2s. Bd. ; way-rate, Wd. 184 

 Ploughing, harrowing, drilling, crushing . .100 



Tradesmen's bills 050 



Bird-keeping and hoeing 050 



Reaping, 10*.; harvesting, 3s. Id. . . . 13 1 

 Taking in rick for threshing and marketing . 4 10 

 Threshing 32 bushels at Hd. per bushel . .040 



Seed, 2 bushels . 10 



62lbs. of ammonia, at 6d 1 11 3 



Total . .616 



s. d. 



The produce, 32 bushels, at 5s. .800 

 Expense of crop . . . .616 



For the interest on capital and profit 1 18 6 per acre. 



" This particular case has been adduced, not certainly as 

 an instance of good husbandry, for it is the very reverse, 

 but as an illustration of the manner in which the true 

 principles of agriculture should be applied." Present 

 Prices, Seventh edition, pp. 22, 23. 



We neither admit nor deny that 16 bushels per acre is 

 rightly taken as the "natural produce of the soil." We 

 neither admit nor deny that 5 Ibs. of ammonia will pro- 

 duce 1 bushel of wheat. We assume these points in order 

 that we may investigate with Mr. Huxtable other matters 

 connected with his account. We know no way in which 

 a farmer can derive advantage from a didactic example 

 except by applying it to his own case and trying how it 

 will work. We will proceed to do so. We have come 

 recently into the occupation of 100 acres of arable land, 

 situated in a midland county. On 20 acres of it we should 

 be very thankful to grow wheat profitably for 5s. per 

 bushel. But in order to do so we must comply with Mr. 

 Huxtable's conditions " the field being free from couch.'' 

 In this district we include under the name of twitch or 

 quitch the whole class of perennial weeds whose roots do 



