HIGH FARMING. 191 



very soon regained by the saving in manual labour and 

 time, and the results obtained are splendid. Vegetation 

 very quickly takes up the enriching properties thus 

 divided and distributed in showers. The effect of the 

 application is in some degree immediate ; and it may be 

 constantly exhausted, since it can be constantly renewed. 



This ingenious invention is evidently destined to meet 

 with the greatest success. Mr Huxtable began upon 

 sixty acres ; but now there are farms, particularly in 

 Ayrshire, where these pipes extend over five hundred. It 

 has the merit of being adapted to all systems of cultiva- 

 tion, and may be the means even of preventing the doing 

 away with pasturage : it is capable of application in 

 all climates, and may be carried on in hot countries, 

 where it would effect much greater wonders. It appears 

 capable of a still wider application than drainage, and it 

 can hardly be too strongly recommended to the attention 

 of French farmers. 



Owing to this increased quantity of manure, enhanced 

 still further by all the artificial manures which the ima- 

 gination has been able to discover, the return from cereals 

 may be increased in the same proportion as animal pro- 

 duction. Upon lands cultivated under the new methods, 

 the average return amounts to forty-four bushels per 

 acre of wheat, fifty-five bushels per acre of barley, and 

 sixty-six bushels per acre of oats : as the extent of wheat- 

 sown land is at the same time much increased, the total 

 production is more than doubled. These are not mere 

 speculations, but facts realised in many parts of the 

 United Kingdom. In every county there is one farm at 

 least where some rich proprietor is not afraid to make 

 these trials, and the body of farmers observe, study, and, 

 according to the extent of their resources, copy what is 

 successful. 



