Foreign A'^otices. 271 



under no higher cultivation than some parts of England and Scotland, 

 from sustainiu^r a population of five or six hundred millions of people? 

 This would give to Virginia something like thiriy millions — to Illinois 

 and Missouri about the same number each — to Ncav York near twenty- 

 five millions, and so in proportion to the other States. I am quite aware 

 that this estimate Avill be regarded as extremeh^ visionar}' and incredi- 

 ble by many of your readers; but not more so than it would have been 

 thought, in the middle of the last centur}', that England, Scotland and 

 Wales could ever be made to sustain thirty-five, or even thirty millions. 



Among the causes which have more than doubled the agricultural 

 produce of Great Britain, within the period just alluded to, may be 

 mentioned the inclosing of six or seven millions of acres of commons 

 and common tields, by which their annual product has been increased, 

 in many cases, more than ten-fold — the cultivation of heaths and other 

 waste lands — the redeeming of extensive and inexhaustibly rich fens 

 from the possession of aquatic birds and animals — the great improve- 

 ment in agricultural implements — the furrow draining of clay and other 

 cold and stiff soils — the better i-otation of crops — the extensive introduc- 

 tion of turnips and clover — the immense increase of common manure, 

 and the introduction of one at least, whose extraordinary nutritive qual- 

 ities have but recently been discovered. Next to wheat, the turnip 

 crop, which forty years ago was hardly worth mentioning, is now more 

 valuable than any other, both to landlords and tenants. It is used 

 chiefly in feeding and fattening cattle and sheep; and while immense 

 numbers of both are kept in the most healthy and thriving condition up- 

 on this vesetalile, one s])ccies of which, the Ruta Baga, has lately been 

 introduced and is extensively productive, the lands are greatly enriched, 

 and soon prepared for any other crop which the farmer may find most 

 profitable in his system of rotation. Clover, too, is doing much to en- 

 rich the soil of England and Scotland, and to reward the labors of those 

 who moisten it with the sweat of their brows. It is surprising to see to 

 Avhat an extent the light, sandy lands of England have already been re- 

 deemed from comparative sterility under this cultivation, and are now 

 sowed with the finest wheat. The process is still going on, and bids 

 fair to proceed as long as there remain any such lands to be reclaimed 

 and enriched. Indeed, who can tell how much the cultivation of the 

 turnip may ultimately add to the wealth, and help to sustain the popu- 

 lation of Britain.^ According to an estimate Avhich I have latel}^ seen, 

 it is now worth jnany millions sterling, per annum, to the single county 

 of Norfolk. Carrots, also, are found to be a very profitable crop in 

 some parts of England, and the farmers are turning their attention to 

 the cultivation of this very nutritious escident, v.ith increasing interest 

 and advantage. 



Among the several kinds of manure vvhich have long been in high re- 

 pute, lime and marl are inexhaustible; particularly the former, which 

 the low price of coal brings at a cheap rate. On some soils, and near 

 the kilns, it is used in great quantities. I have seen fields covered with 

 it, just as ours are with barn manure; and when it is spread, the ground 

 appears, at a little distance, as if it were covered with snow. 



But the richest and most profitable kind of dressing which has yet 

 been tried, and which is a new source of agricultural wealth to Great 

 Britain, is bone manure. It began first to be used, on a large scale, in 

 Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, where its influence has been all but mirac- 

 ulous! Extensive tracts of country, which a few years ago were jnere 

 wastes, occupied by rabbit warrens, have been converted into some of the 

 finest and best managed farms in England. This signal improvement, 

 though it did not begin, has been carried to its present perfection, by the 

 use of the manure iust mentioned. Since bone dust has come into gen- 



