286 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



which have appeared of late years, have been published 

 in Scotland ; and when an English proprietor requires a 

 good bailiff, he generally sends to Scotland for one. 



Scotland and its adjacent islands contain a total of 

 nineteen millions of acres, or 7,600,000 hectares, nearly 

 three -fourths of which are absolutely unfit for cultiva- 

 tion ; this latter portion is mostly to be found in the High- 

 lands and Islands of the north, as the Hebrides and 

 Shetlands. The two and a half million hectares of arable 

 land may be divided as follows : 



Hectares. 



Meadows and artificial pasture, . . . 1,000,000 



Oats, ...... 500,000 



Barley, . . . . . 200,000 



Wheat, ...... 150,000 



Turnips, ...... 200,000 



Clover, ...... 200,000 



Potatoes, ..... 100,000 



Fallows, ...... 100,000 



Other crops, ..... 50,000 



2,500,000* 



The great country for oats is the Highlands, which 

 grow scarcely any other grain. In the Lowlands, the 

 four -year course is that now generally followed. The 

 average gross production of each crop being about the 

 same per acre as in England, the total vegetable produc- 

 tion destined for human food, including oats, which 

 forms, in fact, the chief food of the country, may be esti- 

 mated at 8,000,000 sterling, and the animal produc- 

 tion at about one -third more, which makes the whole 

 production 20,000,000. This, for a population of 

 2,600,000, gives an average of 8 each, as in England, 

 while it is only 5, 1 Os. in France ; and there is less 



* The remark which we made as to the distribution of the soil of England 

 holds also here. No data exist from which any precise information can be 

 hazarded on the subject ; but this uncertainty, we have no doubt, will be satis- 

 factorily set at rest by the returns to be completed in the present year. J. D. 



