210 AGRICULTURE. 



not descend below the depth of an ordinary ploughing. 

 Well! on the 1st October, 1851, we will deliver to Mr. 

 Huxtable this 20-acre field. He shall pay 28s. 4J. per 

 acre (his own price) for rent, rates, and taxes ; and on the 

 1st October, 1852, we will pay to him 6L per acre if the 

 field is " free from couch," and fit to receive seed-wheat on 

 one ploughing, harrowing, drilling, and crushing. But we 

 have other and even worse enemies than couch coltsfoot, 

 thistles, sow-thistles, bindweed, and other deep-rooted 

 plants, penetrating far below the track of an ordinary 

 plough, and far more difficult to eradicate than couch. 

 We will cheerfully give Mr. Huxtable an additional 2Z. per 

 acre if he will restore our land to us free from these. We 

 have a third enemy, and particularly to wheat water. 

 Our land is undrained, and lies on an- impervious subsoil. 

 Nothing less than drains 4 feet 6 inches deep and 12 yards 

 apart (or something quite equivalent in cost), laid with 

 pipes and collars, will effectually subdue this enemy. We 

 will give Mr. Huxtable 4Z. per acre to execute this work, 

 and he will lose money by it. The land being so re-deli- 

 vered to us freed from weeds and water, on October 1st, 

 1852, we think it not improbable that what Mr. Huxtable 

 calls the natural produce of the land, that is, the quantity 

 of wheat produced without the application of any manure, 

 might be 16 bushels per acre, and we have Mr. Huxtable's 

 ammonia and word for the other 16. So that, in the year 

 from October, 1852, to October, 1853, we shall, according 

 to Mr. Huxtable's data, have laid out QL Is. Qd., and shall 

 have received SL, and be consequently 1Z. 18s. 6d. in 

 pocket. What have we to set against this? First, 12. 

 for clearing and draining, on which we will charge 4 per 

 cent., amounting to 9s. 6eJ. Then we must have capital* 

 horses, ploughs, drills, carts, crushers, harrows, &c., a 

 threshing-machine, and a steam-engine. We will not ask 

 for the IQL 5s. per acre which is employed by Mr. Eigden. 

 We will not even require the 6. per acre which, at present 

 prices, Mr. Pusey thinks sufficient. We will be content, 



