252 AGRICULTURE. 



and Yorkshire wheat is 38s. ; of Rostock and Wismar, 45s. ; 

 of Pomeranian, 43s.; of Ubermark, 42s.; of Silesian, 40s.; 

 of Hamburg, Bremen, Holstein, and Lower Rhine, 40s. ; 

 of Brabant and Louvain, 40s. ; of Flemish and Zealand, 

 42s. ; of French, red, 40s., white 42s. ; a sufficiently 

 discouraging result. And be it remembered, that the 

 highest-priced Lincolnshire and Yorkshire wheat is pro- 

 bably fresh threshed, whereas all these foreign wheats 

 have probably been some time in warehouse, and have 

 certainly been subjected to a much longer sea-voyage than 

 the English, and are necessarily more stale and in inferior 

 condition. Flour tells the same tale. Both the French 

 and the American deluge us with flour of finer quality 

 than any which can be produced by British millers from 

 British grain. Any one who has seen the white breads of 

 the Continent, of Paris, of Turin, and of Florence, and the 

 macaroni of Naples, must be aware that it would be vain 

 to expect such products from British flour; and when he 

 compares the cultivation of those countries with that of 

 England, he may well be surprised at such results. The 

 fact is, that the quality of wheat depends much more on 

 climate than on culture. When we look to barley, we find 

 exactly opposite results. We quote from the same docu- 

 ment. The finest British barley 28s. per quarter ; the finest 

 Saal, 25s. ; Danish, 2 Is. ; Baltic, small, 18s. ; Baltic, large, 

 21s.; and the only foreign barleys which are quoted as of 

 malting quality are the Saal and some Danish chevalier. 

 The case of oats is similar to that of barley. The finest 

 British oats, 21s. per quarter; the finest foreign, 18s. 

 Thus in barley and oats we distance our competitors as 

 much as they distance us in wheat. If you are disposed 

 to experiment in high farming, no grain is so hazardous as 

 wheat. The least extra manuring, or in a moist season 

 even an ordinary manuring, will throw it down. No grain 

 falls so early, is so slow in rising again, or receives so 

 much injury when down. You may bestow manure on 

 barley with much greater confidence of a beneficial result. 



