24:2 THE SYSTEM OF FARM-YAKD MANURING. 



number of fields, or all the fields of a district or coun- 

 try. The figure which represents it is found by adding 

 together the produce of all the fields for a number of 

 years, and dividing the sum total by the latter. There 

 is accordingly a special average produce for every dis- 

 trict, by which tne next year's crop is judged. Thus 

 we talk of a full, or a half, or a three-quarter average, 

 as the produce happens to come up to the calculated 

 average, or fall one-half or one quarter below it. 



The question as to the actual condition of our corn- 

 fields may therefore be put thus : Has there been any 

 change in the figure which at any previous period ex- 

 pressed the average produce of the land, and in w T hat 

 sense ? Is that figure higher now than formerly, or has 

 it remained the same or fallen ? If the figure is higher, 

 this is of course a sign of an improved condition of the 

 land ; if it remains the same, the condition has under- 

 gone no change ; and if it is lower, there can be no 

 doubt that the condition of the land in that district has 

 declined. 



I select for my purpose the statistical data of the 

 produce of the Hessian Rhine district, one of the most 

 fertile provinces of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, with an 

 excellent wheat soil, and inhabited by a most indus- 

 trious and generally well educated population. (' Sta- 

 tistische Mittheilungen iiber Kheinhessen, von F. Dael, 

 DLL.' Mayence : 1849. Flor. Kupferberg.) 



These data embrace a period of fifteen years, from 

 1833 to 1847 ; they refer accordingly to the time when 

 guano was not yet used as manure in Germany. The 

 use of bone-earth w T as at that time also still very limit- 

 ed, and hardly worth taking into account. 



A produce of eleven grains of wheat to every two 

 grains sown, of five and a half accordingly, was held to 

 be an average crop for the Hessian Rhine district. (20 

 makers 14 bushels = 5120 hectolitres per hectare = 

 2-471 English acres.) 



Taking the figure 1 to express an average crop, the 

 amount of produce reaped in the Rhine district of 

 Hesse was : 



