118 RICK-YARD. 



case in the States, notwithstanding the com 

 plaint of the high price of labour. 



The British farmer takes a pride in the ar 

 ray of his rick-yard, the number and symme 

 try and arrangement of his corn- stacks being 

 signs of his merit ; and this matter, trifling 

 as it may appear, enters influentially into that 

 emulation among farmers, to which much of 

 our advancement in agricultural science is 

 owing. 



But the rick-yard is further of utility in en 

 abling the farmer to keep an exact account of 

 the produce of each particular field on his farm, 

 so as to test the comparative fertility of each ; 

 or the quality and value of the seed with which 

 it was sown ; or the efficacy of different ma 

 nures, or of distinct modes of culture. For 

 these purposes he has a map of his rick-yard, 

 on which the sites of the stacks are numbered, 

 with reference to entries in his farm-book of 

 everything he desires to record as to the ori 

 gin, the contents, and the disposal of each 

 stack. These are matters of importance to 

 a farmer who has any desire to know what 



4 



