INSTRUMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 97 



As to threshing by the flail, it was so irksome a task, that 

 as labourers became scarce, the expence would have so 

 much increased, as greatly to have diminished the profit of 

 the farmer, and consequently the value of land.* 



Mr Brown, Markle, in his valuable Treatise on Rural 

 Affairs, has drawn up the following estimate of the profit 

 that might be derived by the public, from the universal 

 adoption of threshing-mills. He calculates, 



1. The number of acres producing graim in 



Great Britain, at 8 millions. 



2. The average produce in quarters at 3 



quarters per acre, at 24 millions. 



3. The increased quantity of grain produced 

 by threshing, instead of using the flail, at 



one-twentieth part of the produce, or in 



quarters at 1,200,000 



4. The value of that increased quantity at 



40 s. per quarter, - L.2,400,000 



5. The saving in the expence of labour, at 



1 s. per quarter, 1,200,000 



6. The total possible profit per annum to be 



obtained, at 3,600,000 



7. The actual profit, on the supposition that 

 only one-half of the grain produced, were 



threshed per annum at 1,800,000 



Is it then to be wondered at, that he should pronounce 

 the threshing-mill to be the most valuable implement in 

 the farmer's possession ; contending, that it adds more to 

 the produce of the country than any invention hitherto de- 



* Brown's Treatise on Rural Affairs, vol. i, p. 31$. 

 VOL. I. 



