AGRICULTURE OF ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 29 



to her products annually. Their culture has shice 

 rapidly extended ; and the regenerating influence 

 they exert on the soil, and the immense addition to 

 the given products of any district created by them, 

 has excited the attention of every section of that 

 country. To the turnip may be traced the great 

 improvements made in raising cattle and sheep in 

 Britain, as the vast amount of food thus produced 

 from an acre enables the cultivator to enlarge his 

 flocks or herds to any desirable extent, and, by rapid 

 or comparative feeding, to exhibit their several qual- 

 ities. The discovery of a silver-mine, rich as Po- 

 tosi, would to England have been poverty itself 

 compared with the wealth flowing in upon the king- 

 dom from that single root, the ruta-baga ; and the 

 beneficial effects upon the comfort and happiness of 

 the people are immeasurably greater than could re- 

 sult from any such discover}". In this country we 

 have hardly begun to appreciate the value of the 

 root-crop. Public-spirited and intelligent farmers 

 have endeavoured to bring the subject to the notice 

 of their fellow-tillers of the soil, but deep-rooted 

 prejudices, and a dread of innovation, have in most 

 instances made the effort up-hill work, and, as yet, 

 productive of comparatively little eff'ect. Still the 

 ice has been broken ; an impression — a favourable 

 one, we believe — has been made on public sentiment ; 

 and when we remember that a long series of years 

 was necessary to place the root-culture on a firm 

 foundation in England, we see no reason to despair 

 of a like triumph over incorrect notions and the 

 production of similar benefits here. 



Population, by justifying, or, rather, compelling 

 English farmers to adopt peculiar systems of farm- 

 ing, may be said to create a wider diff'erence be- 

 tween the agriculture of the two countries than any 

 arising from the soil. Owing to what may be term- 

 ed an immense surplus population, the price of la- 

 bour is reduced to the lowest possible rate at which 



