280 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



Channel, when some enterprising and clever practical 

 man there takes the matter up to try the experiment on 

 a large scale. 



We shall then learn what is already known in some 

 of our provinces, such as Brittany and part of Nor- 

 mandy, but scarcely out of these all the advantages of 

 this crop, which occupies the land only during three 

 months of the year, and which consequently figures in 

 the first rank among catch crops, which accommodates 

 itself to all soils, requires little manure, has scarcely any 

 exhausting effect upon the land, keeps the ground per- 

 fectly clean by the rapidity of its growth, and which, 

 notwithstanding, yields on an average fifty-fold, and 

 may easily be raised to double that quantity. Maize 

 itself, although much more exhausting, does not give 

 more. Chemical analysis shows that the flour of buck- 

 wheat is at least as nourishing as that of wheat, taking 

 weight for weight; and we have processes of grinding 

 now which remove its roughness. 



Among domestic animals, the goat is one which, 

 though little in favour owing to its capricious and de- 

 structive instincts, merits a better appreciation on 

 account of its fecundity, and one which appears to be 

 perfectly adapted for such districts as Wales. The last 

 statistics show that the number of goats is rapidly in- 

 creasing in Ireland, at which I am not surprised. Be- 

 sides throwing usually two kids, while the sheep pro- 

 duces (in general) only one, and being of a more hardy 

 constitution and less subject to disease, the goat, when 

 well fed, gives an abundance of extremely rich milk, 

 which may be made into excellent cheese. In France, 

 where all agricultural industries are known, although 

 often too very imperfectly practised, whole districts owe 

 their prosperity chiefly to the goat. Such is the Mount 



