LECTURE XIX. 



Of the produce of the soil.— Average produce of England and Scotland.—Clrcumstanceg by 

 which the produce of the land is affected.— Inlluence of climate, of season, of soil, of the 

 kind and variety of crop, of the method of culture, and of the course of cropping. — Theory 

 of the rotation of crops.— Why lands become tired of clover (clover-sick) and other special 

 crops.— Theory of fallowrs.— Composition of wheat, oats, barley, rye, and Indian com.— In- 

 fluence of climate, soil, manure, variety of seed, mode of culture, and time of cutting, upon 

 the composition of these grains. — Effect of baking upon bread. — Supposed relation between 

 the weight of bread and the proportion of gluten. — Effect of germination (malting) upon 

 barley.— Composition of peas, beans, and vetches.- Effects of soil, &c., upon the boiling 

 quality of pea.-? —Composition of the turnip, the carrot, the beet, and the potatoe. — Effect 

 of soil, age, size, rapidity of growth, &c.,upon their composition. — Relative proportions of 

 nutritive matter produced by different crops on the same extent of ground. — Composition 

 of the grasses and clovers.- Effect of soils, manures, time of cutting, mode of drying, «&c., 

 upon their composition and nutritive value. 



Having now considered the most important of those means by which 

 tbe soil may be improved, it will be proper to direct our attention to that 

 which the land produces — to the chemical nature of the crops you raise, 

 to the differences which exist among them, and to the purposes they are 

 fitted to serve in the feeding of man and other animals. 



Agricultural products are of three distinct kinds : 



1°. Such as are directly reaped from the soil in the form of corn, pota- 

 toes, hay, (fee. 



2°. Such as are the result of a kind of natural process of manufacture, 

 by which the direct produce of the soil is more economically converted 

 into the beef and mutton of the feeder of stock. 



3°. Such as are the results of a further conversion at the hands of the 

 dairy farmer, and are sent to market in the form of butter and cheese. 



Thus three distinct topics of consideration present themselves in con- 

 nection, with the produce of the soil, — the nature of the immediate pro- 

 ducts themselves — the economy of the feeding of stock — and the prepara- 

 tion of butter and cheese. We shall study these several topics in titair 

 natiual order. 



§ 1. Of the maximum or greatest possible, and the average or actual^ 

 produce of the land. 



There is a wide difference in most countries between the actual 

 amount of food produced by the land, and that which, in the most fa- 

 vourable circumstances, it would delight to yield. 



An imperial acre of land in our island has been known to yield of 

 wheat 70 bushels,* barley 80 bushels, oats 100 bushels, potatoes 30 

 tons, I and turnips 60 tons. J 



The average produce of the land, however, is far below these quanti- 

 ties. It is not easy to arrive it a tolerable approximation even to the 



• In the county of Middlesex the produce of wheat varies from 12 to 68 bushels— of bar- 

 ley from 15 to 75— and of oats from 32 to 96 bushels.— itfidd/e/on's View of the Agricul- 

 ture of Middlesex, 1798, pp. 176, 183, and 188. 



t See Mr. Fleming's experiments upon potatoes in the Appendix. 



t Perhaps this is not the maximum.— In iYve Second Report of the Royal Agricullurcd Im- 

 provement Society of Ireland^ p. 57, a crop of turnips is mentioned, which weighed 56 tons- 

 tops and bulbs amounting together to 76 tons. 



