MEANS OF IMPROVING OUIl HUSBANDRY 59 



,)f every county ; the best practices of every district 

 thus became known to the whole nation ; men of 

 fortune and science turned their attention to the en- 

 couragement and improvement of this parent art 

 and the consequence has been, that a wonderful and 

 salutary change has come over that land, fraught 

 with abundance and with blessings. The value of 

 land 'has in consequence been enhanced three and 

 four fold, and its products have been increased in a 

 proportionate ratio. " In fertile districts," says Sir 

 John Sinclair, " and in propitious seasons, the farm- 

 er may confidently expect to reap from' 32 to 40 

 bushels of wheat ; from 42 to 50 bushels of barley ; 

 from 52 to 64 bushels of oats, and from 28 to 32 

 bushels of beans per statute acre. As to green 

 crops, 30 tons of turnips, 3 tons of clover, and from 

 8 to 10 tons of potatoes per statute acre, may confi- 

 dently be relied on. In the most favourable seasons 

 the crops are still more abundant." 



Now what has been our progress in agriculture 

 during the last sixty'years ] Has it not been retro- 

 grade 1 We have, to be sure, obtained abundant 

 crops from our rich virgin soils, and when these, un- 

 der bad management, have become exhausted, we 

 have occupied and exhausted others in their turn. 

 But what is the condition now of the lands that were 

 cultivated by our fathers half a .century ago 1 Do 

 they produce the average crops which are given 

 above as the products of Scottish husbandry, under 

 all our favourable circumstances even of climate and 

 of civil liberty 1 Are our crops half as large 1 Nay, 

 are they more than a third as large 1 Do we get 

 from our old districts an average of more than 10 to 

 13 bushels of wheat, of 14 to 17 of barley, or of 17 

 to 21 bushels of oats per acre "! At the close of the 

 last and in the beginning of the present century, the 

 surplus products of our Northern agriculture were ex, 

 ported to an immense amount. Now* we import the 



* In 1838-39. 



