FARMERS' REGISTER— PROTECTING SEED-CORN, &c. 



ri3 



teenth century, however, this change was pretty 

 ijeneral, whatever was ihe previous condition of 

 the peo[)le. Harrison says, speaking of the agri- 

 cultural population, " as for whealen lircad, they 

 eat it when they can reach unto the price of it, 

 contenting themselves, in the meau time, with 

 bread ma(lc of oates or barlie, a poore estate, God 

 ■wot!" In another place, he says, " the bread 

 throughout the land is made of such graine as the 

 soil yieldeth; nevertheless, the gentilitie common- 

 lie provide themselves sufficiently of wheate for 

 their own tables, whilst their household aud poore 

 neighbors, in some sliires, are inforced to content 

 themselves with rye or barlie." Harrison tlit'ii 

 goes on to describe the several sorts of bread made 

 in England at this day, viz. manchet, cheat, or 

 wheaten bread; another inferior sort of bread, 

 called ravelled ; and lastly, brown bread. Of tiie 

 latter there were two sorts: " One baked up as it 

 Cometh from the mill, so that neither the bran nor 

 the floure arc any whit diminished. The other 

 halh no floure left therein at all ; and it is not only 

 the worst and weakest of all the other sorts, but 

 also appointed in old time for servants, slaves, and 

 the inferior kind of people to feed upon. Here- 

 unto, likewise, because it is drie and brickie in tiie 

 Avorking, some add a portion of rie-meale in our 

 time, whereby the rough drinesse thereof is some- 

 what qualified, and then it is named mescelin, that 

 is, bread made of mingled corne." In tlie hou.se- 

 hold book of Sir Edward Coke, in 1596, we find 

 constant entries of oat-meal for the use of the 

 house, besides " otmell to make the poore iblkcs 

 porage," and " rie-nicall, to make breade for the 

 poore." The household wheaten bread was partly 

 baked in the house and partly taken of the baker. 

 In the same year it appears, from the historian 

 Stow, that there was a great fluctuation in the 

 price of corn ; and he particularly mentions tiie 

 price of oat-meal, which would indicate that it was 

 an article of general consumption, as well in a 

 liquid form as in that of the oatcakes of the north of 

 England. 



In 1626, Charles I., upon an occasion of subject- 

 ing the brewers and maltsters to a royal license, de- 

 clared that the measure was " for the relief of the 

 poorer sort of his people, whose usual bread was 

 barley ; and for the restraining of innkeepers and 

 victuallers, who made their ale and beer too strong 

 and heady." The grain to be saved by the weak- 

 ness of the beer was for the benefit of the consu- 

 mers of barley-bread. 



At the period of the Revolution, (1689,) wheaten 

 bread formed, in comparison with its present con- 

 sumption, a small portion of the food of the people 

 of England. The following estimate of the then 

 produce of the arable land in the kingdom tends to 

 prove this position. This estimate was made by 

 Gregory King, whose statistical calculations have 

 generally been considered entitled to credit. 



At the commencement of the last century, 

 wheaten bread became much more generally used 

 by the laboring classes, a proof that their condition 

 was improved. In 1725, it was even used in poor 

 houses, in the southern counties. The author of 

 "Three Tracts on the Corn Trade," published at 

 the beginning of the reign of George III. says, 

 " it is certain that bread made of wheat is become 

 much more generally the food of the common peo- 

 ple since 1689 than it was before that time; but it 

 is still very far from being the food of the people 

 in general." He then enters into a very curious 

 calculation, the results of which are as follow : 

 " The whole number of people is 6,000,000, and of 

 those who eat 



Wheat, the number is, 3,750,000 



Barley, - - - 739,000 



Rye, - - - - 888,000 



Oats, - - - - 623,000 



Wheat, 

 Rye, 



Barley, 



Oats," 



Pease, 



Beans, 



Vetches, 



Vol. I.— 90 



Bushels 



14,000,000 



10,000,000 



27,000,000 



16,000,000 



7,000,000 



4,000,000 



1,000,000 



In all 79,000,000 



Total 6,000,000" 

 This calculation applies only to England and 

 Wales. Of the numlier consuming wheat, the pro- 

 portion assigned to the northern counties of York, 

 Westmoreland, Durham, Cumberland and North- 

 umberland, is only 30,000. Eden, in his History 

 of the Poor, says, " about fifty years ago, (this was 

 written in 1797,) so small was the quantity of 

 wheat used in the county of Cumberland, that it 

 v.as only a rich family that used a peck of v.heat 

 in the course of the year, and that Avas used at 

 Christmas. The usual treat for a stranger was 

 a thick oatcake (called haver-bannock) and butter. 

 An old laborer of eighty- five, remarks that, when 

 he was a boy, he was at Carlisle market with his 

 father, and wishing to indulge himself with a pen- 

 ny loaf made of v. heat flour, he searched for it for 

 some time, but could not procure a piece of wheat- 

 en bread at any shop in the town." 



At the time of the Revolution, according to the 

 estimate of Gregory King, 14,000,000 bushels of 

 wheat were grown in England. In 1828, accord- 

 ing to the estimate of Mr. Jacob, in his Tracts on 

 the Corn Trade, 12,500,000quarters,or 100,000,000 

 bushels, were grown. The population of England 

 at the Revolution was under five millions, so that 

 each person consumed about three bushels annually. 

 The population, at the present time, is under fifteen 

 millions, so that each person consumes about seven 

 bushels annually^ 



OS rROTECTING SEED-CORN FROM THE DE- 

 PREDATIOJV OF BIRDS. 



From the Southern Agriculturist. 



January 25, 1834. 



INIr. Editor, — A Young Planter in your Novem- 

 ber number says, " there are many of your readers 

 who can make valuable communications." If you 

 think the method I have adopted to get rid of 

 minding corn when planted, as coming under that 

 head, you are welcome to it. It is by sooting. 



Half a bushel of seed-corn is put in a tub, and 

 hot water poured on it, a half-pint of tar is then 

 added, and the coru kept constantly stirred until 

 every grain is thinly coated with it. Soot is now 

 put in and the whole stirred until every grain is 

 perfectly black. This method I have adopted for 

 many years; never have a minder, and the stand 

 is much better than when I had to mind it. The 

 crows and larks will visit your fields as soon as the 



