;. YORKSHIRE. 19 







But every crop is fubje<ft to hazard, and to 

 a fluctuation in price; and although rape b^ 

 liable to be cut off by froft, it rarely is uc- 

 ftroyed by that means. Upon the whole, ic 

 may be confidered as one of the moft pro- 

 fitable crops in hufbandry. There have been 

 inftances, on cold unproductive old paflure 

 lands, in which the produce of the rape crop 

 has been equal to the purchafe-value of the 

 hnd. 



This produdtivenefs, or, in other words, 

 the profitablenefs of the rape. crop, is, how- 

 ever, held out by fome men as an objection 

 to its culture, under an idea that it mud im- 

 poverim the foil. 



Does not every fro (lit 8 foe crop impovefifo 

 the foil? Yet who will argue that good crops 

 are lefs eligible than bad ones ? A good crop 

 enables the farmer to repleniili and meliorate 

 his foil with manure and tillage, which 

 ought (generally fpcaking) always to be in 

 proportion to the recent produftivenefs of 

 the foil, and to the (late of foulncfs and 

 tilth in which the nature of recent crops have 

 placed it. 



VOL. II. E If 



