40 Cultivation of Arable Land. Ifflieat Produce of. 



them capable of being more readily extirpated by weeding. And as they de 

 light in moiflure, laying the foil more dry by the forming of proper drains may 

 alfo be of great utility. But from the roots of the plants fpreading themfelves 

 extenfively near the furface of the land, they will conftantly require to be com 

 pletely extirpated. 



Wheat is known to be ripe and ready for the reaper, by its ftraw turning 

 of a yellow colour, its cars beginning to bend in the neck and hang down, their 

 having no greennefs in the middle of them, and the grain becoming hard and 

 plump.* The quantity of wheat produced upon the acre muft vary confiderably 

 according to the circumftances of foil and preparation, as well as the ftate of the 

 feafon ; for it has been found, that fome years the yield is under twenty while in 

 others it is upwards of thirty bufhels the acre, the foil and culture being in every 

 refpeft the fame.)- The average return of this crop throughout the whole of the 

 kingdom, is probably not more than from three to three and a half quarters. A 

 practical writer has, indeed, dated it at not more than three.J 



In Middlefex, the greateft crop of wheat of which the author of the Report 

 of that diftricl: has any account, is, he fays, fixty-eight bufhels per acre; the 

 lead about twelve. The medium between thefe extremes is forty, which, he 

 thinks, would be the average of land highly conditioned. But the average 

 produce of Britain does not, he fuppofes, exceed one half of this quantity, and 

 yet, fays he, wheat is as certain a crop as any that is cultivated.^ This, he 

 thinks, affords a clear proof that &quot; the lands of England are reduced con-fider- 



* See feftion IV. On the Management of Grain and other -Crops, 

 i Correftcd lleport of Middlefex. 

 J Donaldfon s Modern Agriculture, vol. II. p. 276. 



^ According to Mr. Middleton, &quot; the proportion which corn bears to the flraw ia that tHflrid if 

 nearly as follows ; namely, 



The yield of 1793 was 17 \ bufhels to a load of iiraw $ 

 of 1794 8f ditto ^ 



of 1795 11 ditto; 

 of 1796 $f ditto ; 



The medium of four year* 11* ditto; 



Straw fold during the fame period from 25$. to 40*. per load. The load confifts of 36&quot; truflfes at 

 36 lb. per trufs. Two loads of wheat ftraw per acre is reckoned a tolerable crop, which may be 

 averaged at eight pence a trufs, or 24s. a load, or 21. 8s. per acre. In other parts of the kingdom, the 

 yalue of the .ftraw is fuppofed equal to nearly the expense of reaping, Pej-haps at an average of 30*. 



