E. H. DERBY'S ADDRESS. 219 



If we reduce these to one standard, it must be apparent that 

 Middlesex, with all her improvements, does not sustain one half 

 the amount of stock, to the square mile, which is reared by Eng- 

 land and Wales. And may we not safely infer, that our county 

 is competent, under improved husbandry, to double or treble its 

 stock of animals ? 



What are the cereal and vegetable products of Middlesex? 

 The statistics of 1845 apprise us, that it produces, in round 

 numbers, 



427,000 bushels of corn and grain, worth - $264 000 



2,174,000 " of esculent vegetables and fruit -554 000 



78,000 tons of hay, 777 000 



Milk, valued at 153 000 



Butter, 163 000 



Cheese, eggs, poultry, honey, berries, &c, - - 34 000 



Stock sold, estimated, as in England, at one fourth of 



the whole, - - - - . - - - 216 000 

 Wood and charcoal, products of forests, - 187 000 



$2,348 000 



May we not anticipate, from improved husbandry, the increase 

 of cattle, and consequent growth of manures, a large increase 

 in the amount of some of these productions 1 



The tables to which I have adverted, gleaned with much 

 care from the statistics of 1845, are fraught with interest to the 

 farmer of Middlesex. Let us glance at some of the varied lessons 

 which they teach him : — 



First. That the principal products of his industry, vegeta- 

 bles, fruit, hay, milk, and fuel, or nearly three fourths of the 

 whole, are of such perishable or bulky character, as not to ad- 

 mit of easy transportation to his market-towns from the remote 

 interior. His close vicinity to the market enables him to supply 

 it with the least cost, to avail himself of the highest prices, and to 

 carry back to his farm a return-load of enriching substances, 

 while the farmer of the remote interior would find his profits in 

 a great measure absorbed in the cost of the compressing of hay, 

 the deterioration of milk and vegetables, and the increased ex- 

 penses of conveying all to market. 



