88 



FARMERS' li E G I S I' E R 



not very well accord vvilh its title ; but it has heen 

 already described in this and various mher jour- 

 nals. The doctor's rood laid down in November, 

 1806, is "light dry upland ground, and got a very 

 weak top-dressing every year; always lurl' n)ould 

 with a little ashes." The sixth crop, mown in 

 October, 1812, was like all the former ones very 

 fine. 



The greater part of the essay is occupietl with 

 Q display ol'the vast advantage that cannot (i^il to 

 be derived from this important discovery, both to 

 individuals and the public at large ; which was 

 the last branch of our inquiry. Fortunately, on 

 this point there is little more to be wished for. It 

 is now only necessary to consider its advantages 

 in a national view; and here we must give Dr. 

 R. the merit of having made more of his premises, 

 such as they are, than perhaps any other gentle- 

 man in the united kingdom could have done. 



The doctor's first object is to show, that, "it 

 shall not again be necessary either to import grain 

 or export bullion ;" but that we shall resume our 

 former enviable description — a grain exporting 

 country.'" To establish this comfortable conclu- 

 sion, the country is (Hvided into land of three de- 

 scriptions. The first includes "boggy and miry 

 ground contiguous (o the farms or demesnes of 

 proprietors." 



"The discovery of the faciliiy wiih which these 

 now unprofitable wasies may be made, at small 

 expense: to produce crops of the highest value, 

 will no doubt bring many of their proprietors into 

 action; superabundance of hay will be the imme- 

 diate result; what then becomes of the ancient 

 meadows that have hitherto supplied Mr. Miller, 

 and the gentlemen of this description with hay? 

 must they not be instantly convened into tillage 

 grounds'? and with the advantage of a prolusion 

 of manure, derived from the cattle fed from mea- 

 dows which never require animal dung, aslms li-om 

 the spot answering the same purpose. Tiie im- 

 mense addition to our grain crops that will arise 

 from this source, n.ust be obvious to every one, 

 who has travelled through Ireland, Scotland, and 

 more particularly the north of England. 



" The next descrl[)tion comprehends the exten- 

 sive grazing farms scattered through the mountain 

 districts ofour islands. The cattle fed upon these 

 bleak pastures through the summer, are at present 

 sold off, or sent elsewhere to find sustenance 

 ihrouijh the winter. 



"Rut now, since we became acquainted with 

 this hardy vegetable, we know that we can make 

 fiorin meadows on the cheapest terms, and to any 

 extent, through every part of these dreary regions, 

 which vvill not again be depopulated in winter, 

 their cattle finding food within their own limits, in 

 greater abundance in winter than in summer; and 

 administered to them with the greatest facility.'' 



The third is by lar the " most important of the 

 three descriptions of ground," and compjehends 

 the cultivated (arms spread over the whole fice of 

 our islands. To introduce fiorin culture here, the 

 author very judiciously consiilers, that two posi- 

 tions must be established — first, that fiorin " pro- 

 duces steadily hay crops more than treble the 

 amount of what we now mow from the same ex- 

 tent ol'ground." Ol" this there can no lonirer be 

 any doubt; for he assures us, " that the lowest 

 amount of an acre ol fiorin he ever knew wci<rhed 

 was seven load 200 lib. The second position re- 



gards (he great value of fiorin, which is equally 



well established. These points being thus settled, 

 " let us try the result, and see what effect is likely 

 to be produced on the third description of territory 

 into which 1 have supposed our islands to be di- 

 vided ; to wit, the mass of cultivated liirms spread 

 over Entiland and Wales, staled to amount to 

 11.500,000 acres of arable, and 6,000,000 acresof 

 meadow. Vast (luaiiti'ies ofthese meadows must 

 rapidly be laid down vvilh a new grass, adnnttedto 

 produce treble as much hay as is afforded by the 

 grasses now clothing oar present meadows ; and 

 vast quantities of them must be applied to lillaire, 

 the proprietors being supplied with better and more 

 abundant hay Worn one-third of the same ground. 

 How much the eleven one-half million acres of 

 arable will be an£rmentcd by this transftjr, and 

 how liir the six million acres of meadow will be 

 reduced, are questions to be answered only by 

 conjecture. 



I am sure I make great concessions, if I admit 

 one-third of our meadows to remain in their pre- 

 sent state, after the proprietor is convinced that he 

 has it in his power to treble their crops, and that 

 one-third only is laid down wiih fiorin. We add 

 then two million acres (tlie other third) to our till- 

 age Ground, and we increase our hay crop by one- 

 ihird. Our tdlage ground, 11,500,000 acres at 

 present, is increased iiy more than one-sixth ; we 

 can now throw some liirhton the subject, limiting 

 ourselves to wheal. Oilier crops applicable to the 

 food of man will no doubt be also raised ; but I do 

 not lake these into consideration, leaving them 

 out to make my general conclusions more secure. 



" Mr. M'Pherson makes the average produce 

 of wheat in England and Wales 8,000,000 quar- 

 ters ; let us suppose the same proportion to hold 

 in the two million acres we have added to our till- 

 age ground, and we add annually to our preeent 

 produce of wheat one-sixth, that is, 1,333,333 

 quarters of wheat. The averaire importation be- 

 fore 1797, was 400,000 quarters lor some years; in 

 1799, 415,647; in 1800, it was 1,174,654 quarters ; 

 and in 1801, 1,186,236 ; thus it appears, that the 

 quantity of wheat likely to be brought by the in- 

 troduction of fiorin grass into general use, is more 

 than treble the average importation for many years, 

 and exceeds the importation in either of the two 

 years of famine, when it rose (o a height it had 

 never approached before. I fear the importations 

 of late have been weightier ; but 1 have not yet 

 received a statement of them. Whoever attends 

 minutely to my calculations, will find I have much 

 to spare. 



" Surely with the great addition I have made to 

 our resources, we shall never be obliged to import 

 another quarter of wheat, or to send one guinea 

 abroad lor food ; no, but we shall soon resume our 

 former enviable descrip.tion — a grain exporting 

 country. 



Let us try the question in another point of view. 

 We have added two million acres to our tillage 

 ground, and it is not unreasonable to suppose each 

 of these produces a crop of wheat every fourth 

 year ; for ihe nieadows we transfer to tillage are 

 our very best ground. Dropping then (as before) 

 all consideration ofother crops, we have thus made 

 an annual addition to our wheat crops of 500,000 

 acres of wheat, wdiich, at tliree quarters per acre, 

 gives us a steady increase of 1,500,000 quarters, 

 still more than the preceding amount. 



