58 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



producing wheat which has been brought to such a state 

 of perfection. The English farmers spare no pains upon 

 the turnip crop ; for it they reserve almost all their 

 manures, the most thorough weedings, and the most 

 assiduous cares. On an average they obtain from five 

 to six hundred metrical quintals * of turnips per hectare ; 

 or the equivalent of a hundred to a hundred and twenty 

 metrical quintals of hay, and sometimes as much as double 

 this. Turnips require a light soil and wet summers, con- 

 ditions which render them so suitable for successful culti- 

 vation in England. 



It is easy to understand how such a resource, which 

 has but few analogies in France, would add to the pro- 

 duce of the natural pastures. Beans take the place of 

 turnips in the rotation on certain soils ; and on all, 

 artificial grasses complete the system. 



French official statistics estimate the extent of artificial 

 grasses at only 1,500,000 hectares. But, considering the 

 constant progress which this kind of cultivation is making 

 among us, I consider this statement no longer correct, 

 and have, accordingly, set it down at double that is 

 to say, three millions of hectares reducing the fallows 

 to an equal extent. With this addition, however, we 

 are still much behind the English ; for, putting Ireland 

 and Scotland out of the question, they have upon the 

 fifteen millions of hectares in England the same extent 

 of artificial grasses as we have upon fifty-three. Our 

 artificial grasses are quite as good as theirs, for their 

 soil being little suited for lucern, they have little besides 

 clover and rye-grass ; and however good the produce 

 of these crops may be, it does not surpass that of the 

 superior kinds which we possess : to say that they are 

 equal is saying a good deal. For some time past the 



* Metrical or new measurement quintal=100 kilos, or nearly 221 Ib. 



