183G] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



177 



as described by Lord Belbaven, and tbat which 

 is now ibIloweJ, is taken from a paper by Mr. 

 Oliver of Lochend, near Edinburgh, one of tlie 

 most intelligent practical farmers in the empire. 



'The mode of cropping at the former period (172.3) 

 was first, psas; second, wheat; third, barley; fourth, 

 oats; the produce bf?in^ about three seeds, but to pre- 

 vent all civil, siy four seeds. This, taking the seed 

 for each acre* at one bon,t over a farm of 100 acres, is 

 400 bolls. The quantity of straw for each boll of 

 such a crop could not exceed fifteen stones; whicii, 

 on 400 bolls, give 6000 stones, or forty-two tons, fif- 

 teen and one-fourth cwt. of straw to be consumed by 

 the stock, and returned to the land in the shape of ma- 

 nure. But, upon a farm of 100 acres, cultivated as at 

 present, viz. a fourth turnips, a fourth wheat or barley, 

 a fourth clover or rye-srass, pastured or made into hay, 

 and consumed on tiie spot, and a fourth oats or wh^at, 

 the account would stand thus: — fifty acres of wheat, 

 barley, and oats, at eight bolls an acre, which is not 

 above the average of the crops of the best district of 

 East Lothian, and such only was cultivated when 

 Lord Belhaven wrote; this, allowing, as before, fifteen 

 stones of straw for each boll, gives 120 stones per acre, 

 which, over fi(ty acres, makes in all 6000 stones of 

 straw, being equal to the quantity produced by the 

 whole 100 acres under the old system. Now, suppose 

 that the twenty-five acres of clover and rye-grass are 

 made into hay, which, however, is not the best mode, 

 nor that usually followed, and that each acre yields 

 20:) stones, the total quantity will be 5000 stones, or 

 thirty-five tons, fourteen and one-tenth cwt.. and add 

 to this 509 tons turnip, being the produce of twenty- 

 five acres at twenty tons per acre, which is by no 

 means above a fair average crop. Upon these data, 

 the weight of the materials produced annually, as 

 food for cattle and manure, under the old and new sys- 

 tems, will be as follows* — 



6,000 St. or 42 tons 15 1-4 cwt. 



6,00;) 42 15 1-4 



Hay, 5,000 35 14 1-lOth. 



Turnips,70,000 500 



'Thus making the weight of materials for food and 

 manure under the new system, in round numbers, 577 

 tons, while, under the old system the quantity is only 

 42 tons, leaving a balance in favor of the new of 533 

 per annum, being more than twelve times the whole 

 quantity produced under the ok'I Nothing more is ne- 

 cessary to show the superiority of the new system, 

 in so far as keeping up the fertility of the soil is concern- 

 ed; and upon this depends the progress of agriculture. 

 As to the question of comparative profit, it would be 

 easy to sliow, from unquestionable data, that the new 

 system is superior to the old in this respect, as it is in the 

 supply of manure; but this must be abundantly ob- 

 vious to everyone who contrasts the almost impercep- 

 tible advances made hi ag.iculture, and the accumula- 

 tion of agricultural capital, for many centuries, with 

 the extraordmary progress during the last fifty or sixty 

 years, or since the new system began to be intro- 

 duced.' 



We have thus endeavored, fir.^t, to sliow, by 

 ths increase of population and otherwise, thai 

 there must have been a very extraordinary in- 

 crease m the produce of the soil since 1760; and, 

 in the second place, we have endeavored to point 

 out the more promment of the modes in which 

 this increase has been brougdit about. But, be- 

 fore noticing the, present state of agriculture, it 



Old System, Straw, 



,. ( Straw, 



New * 



System, 



* The Scotcli acre, equal to 1.231 imperial acres, is here re- 

 ferred to. 



t An East Lothian Itoll of wheat is equal to near four busli- 

 eU; a boll of barley to near six bushels. 



Vol. [V— 23 



may be right to say a few words in reference to a 

 statement ofien made, tliough really destitute of 

 any good foundation; that is that the wondorlul 

 improvements to whicli we have adverted, were 

 almost wholly owing (o the liigh prices of the late 

 war. But those improvements began both in 

 England and .Scotland about 1755 or 1760, and 

 they had been generally introduced, and had made 

 a great progress, belbre prices sustained the small- 

 est advance. Thus, we have already seen, thai 

 no fewer than 2,804,000 acres were enclosed in 

 England and Wales between 1760 and 1797; that 

 that also was the era of the great improvements 

 made in sitock husbandry by Bakewell, Culley, 

 &c.; and that during the lapse of the same ppriod, 

 the culture of turnips, potatoes, clover, and artifi- 

 cial grasses was introduced info Scotland, four- 

 horse ploughs discarded, and the mo.st signal 

 revolution efit?cfed in the rural economy of this 

 part of the empire of which histor}' has preserved 

 any account. Now, it is of the utmost importance to 

 bear in mind, that, wdiile all this was going on, 

 from 1760 dotvn to 1795, prices continued almost 

 stationary. Thus, taking the Eton market for a 

 standard, the price of wheat, per Winchester 

 quarter, fi-om 1755 to 1795, was as lollovvs: 



At an average of ten years, from 

 1755 to 1765, wheat £ 1 19 3 1-4 per quarter. 

 1765 to 1775, wheat 2 11 3 3-4 per quarter. 

 1775 to 1785, 2 7 8 1-2 do. 



1785 to 1795, 2 14 3 3-4* do. 



And had 1795 which was an extremely bad 

 and dear year, been excepted from the average of 

 the last decennial period, prices in it would have 

 been as low as in the preceding. It appears, there- 

 lore, from evidence, which is beyond all question, 

 that there was no rise of prices during the thirty 

 years ending with 1795; and yet during that pe- 

 riod, abo\-e 2,200,000 individuals were added to 

 the population, and agriculture made an as- 

 tonishing progress. This would have proved 

 conclusively, even though it had not been cor- 

 roborated by the experience of the last twenty 

 years, that an increasing price ol corn is not in 

 anj' respect indispensable to ensure the continued 

 and rapid advance of agriculture. All that is re- 

 quired to ensure this, is a regularly increasing de- 

 mand for the products of the soil; and this wa.s af- 

 Ibrded between 1760 and 1795 by the growth of 

 population, especially in towns and villages. It 

 should also be remembered thai, towards the mid- 

 dle of last century, there u'as, owing the misera- 

 ble state of the roads, and the ditticulty of commu- 

 nication, a great dillerence in the prices of corn 

 and other farm produce in different parts of the 

 country. But the construction of new and com- 

 paratively smooth and level roads, canals, &c.. 

 did much to annihilate this diflerence in the rate 

 of prices; and conferred on the more distant parts 

 of the country advantages that had been hitherto 

 entrrossed by the districts in the immediate vicinity 

 of large towns. A spirit of emulation and im- 

 provement was in consequence universally dif- 

 fused; routine practices were thrown aside; and 

 all classes began to make the most astonishing 

 efforts to outstrip each other in the career of im- 

 provement. 



♦ See Table of Prices at Eton, in M'Culloch's Com- 

 mercial DicfJonnry, Art. "Corn." 



