48 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE CKOPS. 



THE object of all cultivation is, to produce -the greatest 

 possible quantity of human food upon a given surface of 

 land : to attain this object, several widely different means 

 may be adopted. French agriculturists are greatly pre- 

 possessed in favour of the production . of cereals, because 

 these serve directly for the food of man ; but it is diffe- 

 rent in England, for, owing to the nature of the climate, 

 and upon a careful consideration of the subject, agricul- 

 turists there have been induced to take a more circuitous 

 course, which does not arrive at cereals until after having 

 passed through other crops, and it is found that this indi- 

 rect way is the best. 



One great drawback attends cereals generally, which 

 has not been sufficiently appreciated by the French culti- 

 vators : they exhaust the soil which bears them. This 

 defect is scarcely perceptible upon certain favoured lands^ 

 capable of producing wheat almost uninterruptedly; it 

 may be of little consequence, also, where land is plenti- 

 ful and population scanty, for there corn need be grown 

 only on the best soils, or that which is inferior may be 

 allowed to rest for several years before being again brought 

 under the plough ; but as population increases, a different 

 system must be adopted. If attention is not given to 

 restoring the fertility of the soil, in proportion to its 



