THE CROPS. 59 



English have obtained remarkable results from Italian 

 rye-grass. 



The remaining crop used for forage is oats. France 

 sows about three millions of hectares of oats every year, 

 while upon a less extent in the British Isles a much 

 superior harvest is gathered. The average production of 

 oats in France, deducting seed, is eighteen hectolitres * 

 per hectare (about twenty bushels per acre) ; in the 

 United Kingdom it is about twice as much, or five 

 quarters per acre, and sometimes even as much as ten. 

 We find differences as great in France also, when compar- 

 ing those districts where the cultivation of oats is well 

 understood, and well suited to the soil, with others where 

 such is not the case : moreover, of all the cereals, it is 

 the one which naturally thrives best in northern climates. 

 The Scotch, as a nation, had at one time scarcely any 

 other food ; from which circumstance Scotland got the 

 name of the Land of Cakes, just as Ireland, in the same 

 way, came to be called the Land of Potatoes. 



Thus upon a total surface of thirty-one millions of 

 hectares, reduced to twenty by the uncultivated lands, 

 the British Isles produce much more food for cattle than 

 the whole of France, with twice the extent. The quantity 

 of manure, therefore, is proportionably three or four times 

 greater, independently of the animal products which go 

 directly for consumption, and yet this mass of manure is 

 not considered sufficient. Everything fitted for increas- 

 ing the fertility of the soil bones, blood, rags, oil-cake, 

 the refuse of manufactories, all kinds of animal and 

 vegetable waste, minerals considered as possessing fertil- 

 ising properties, such as gypsum, lime, &c. is assiduously 

 collected and put into the ground. British shipping go 

 in search of additional supplies to all parts of the world ; 



* A hectolitre is 2f bushels. 



