Addrefs to the Socitty. 57 



is alfo ufual to hand hoe; yet as this is done after the ground 



is loofened by the plough, and when the plant is a foot high, 



and then only juft about the jflem, it is eafier to hoe ten acres 



of this than one of the turnips or beans : Third, it defies 



the drought, and never fails to make ample returns to the 



hufbandman that cultivates it with diligence ; forty bufhels 



an acre being a common yield when well tended ; and from 



fixty to feventy, in a good foil, and in the beft flate of 



cultivation. The grain fumilhes a palatable and nutritious 



food for man, and is greatly fuperior to any foreign fpecies 



for farm flock — and while bean-haulm is of httle value, 



the tops and blades of maize are not inferior, if gathered in 



feafon, to the beil hay ; and as this crop is eafily and neceifarily 



kept clean, it is the befl of all fallow crops. The writers 



on agriculture in England, are conflantly recommending horfe 



iioed crops inflead of fallow : but neither precept nor example 



have been able to overcome the reluctance the great bulk of 



farmers feel to fubmit to this expence, for crops fo little 



profitable, and requiring fo much labour if hoed, as either 



beans or turnips — while maize has, by it^ fuperior excellence, 



and the facility with which it is effected, rendered the practice 



univerfal here, and I believe I fpeak within bounds when 1 



fay, that the whole ifland of Britain has fewer acres cultivated 



with the horfe hoe, than we have in this flate alone — The 



want of turnips may be amply compenfated by carrots which 



H 



