PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 359 



In Scotland the average of cereals is — 



Wheat 30 bushels. Potatoes 6 tons. 



Barley 40 do Turnips 10 do 



Oats 46 do 



In the United States the average is less than in England and Scotland; 

 but as comparisons are odious, I will not make them. The quantity pro 

 duced on any given soil is affected by the season, climate, soil, nature of 

 the crop, variety sown, and method of culture; therefore it is difficult to 

 liscover the maximum produce of certain parts of any country, and the 

 average production of the whole. The heavy crop of one j'ear may not be 

 leaped the next, though the soil may be treated precisely in the same man- 

 ner, because the season may be cold, warm, dry or wet, which all farmers 

 know exerts an influence; still, high farming will meet with but few fail- 

 ures, even on these accounts. The quantity of food which a field will j'ield 

 depends upon the kind of crop grown; for instance, thirty-two bushels of 

 wheat will yield 1450 lbs. of flour, six tons of potatoes will give 

 4,J00 lbs. of dry, nutritious food. So turnips, clover, luccrn, or 

 cabbages, will furnish more than three times as much food for cat- 

 tle, as a good pasture field will. Still more money can be made near a 

 mirket for the hay, if sold off the farm, and this is allowable, where manure 

 can be obtainsd in abundance for the purposes of top-dressing or irrigation. 

 It is only near towns that these circumstances co-exist. Farmers living 

 remote must raise fat stock, and sell their corn, or employ green crops in 

 tie production of cheese and butter, and must study the theory of rotation 

 of crops, which informs us that the roots of nearly all plants throw off, by 

 excretion, certain substances peculiar to themselves, which are injurious to 

 the successful growth of the same family, but admirable as nutrition to 

 other species. If rye refuses to grow after rye, it is because the rye had 

 poisoned the land for plants of its own kind; if it is allowed to rest a year 

 in fallow, the poisonous matter becomes decomposed, and it will grow ano- 

 ther crop of rye; or, if you sow beans, their excretions will promote the 

 growth of rye, if sown the following autumn. There is another reason why 

 a second crop of the same grain will not do well, and that is, that the first 

 crop has taken up too much of some necessary matter that the second crop 

 needs. We do not meet with this difficulty in irrigation with liquid ma- 

 nures, because they add to the soil what tlie previous crop carried off, be- 

 sides washing from the earth any impurities that may have been loft in it; 

 therefore, by its application, we may reap the same crop for an indefinite 

 number of years. Besides, we may employ our liquid manures ricli in ni- 

 trogen, which will much increase the crop, and if it consists of cereals, add 

 to the gluten. Night soil, for instance, contains 



Fatty oil 1.1 



Soluble phosphates 0.7 



Husk 15.0 



Gum 0.5 



Water 4.2 



Albumen 1.3 



Starch 40.4 



Gluten 35.2 



Sugar 19 



100.3 



