WEIGHT AND VALUE OF CROPS. 35 



while that of the west, being less scorching and 

 more cloudy, is better adapted to pasture and 

 oats. The value of live-stock is so much greater 

 than corn, that it is not found profitable to push 

 the limit of cultivation to a greater height than 

 800 feet in the east and 500 feet in the west, and 

 these limits are becoming more circumscribed by 

 the increasing cost of labour, and the continued 

 rise in the value of live-stock. 



The soil varies greatly in fertility, and its 

 cultivation is regulated both by the amount it 

 yields and the cost of cultivating it. The most 

 profitable and productive soil is that which is 

 at once fertile and easy of cultivation. A rich 

 loam which yields a ton of wheat to the acre is Weight 



and 



less costly in labour than a poor clay which relative 



value of 



yields little more than half that weight. Be- corn-crops. 

 tween corn and straw an average crop of wheat, 

 barley, or oats, will weigh two tons an acre ; 

 about two-fifths being corn and three- fifths 

 straw, though the proportion of straw to corn 

 in wheat and oats is greater than in barley. A 

 ton of wheat, at the average price of the last 

 fifteen years, is worth 1 1 145. ; a ton of barley, 



D2 



