292 = 26 
British Agriculture. 
and three-fifths straw, though the proportion of straw to corn in 
wheat and oats is greater than in barley. A ton of wheat, at 
the average price of the last fifteen years, is worth 11/. 14s. ; a 
ton of barley, 9/. 12*. ; and of oats, 9/. But the wheat is more 
costly to grow, as it is four months longer in the soil, and 
therefore takes more out of it than either barley or oats, and 
requires either a better soil or more enriching preparation. On 
soils of equal quality the average weight of barley and oats 
yielded by an acre exceeds that of wheat in about the same pro- 
portion as it falls short of it in value per ton. Hence, where 
the soil and climate are equally suited to the production of these 
varieties of corn, the choice of one or the other is more a ques- 
tion of convenience than profit, and depends much on the local 
value of the different kinds of straw. 
The fertility of a soil may be expressed by examples taken, 1st, 
in the natural state of pasture, and 2nd, on similar soils after 
treatment. The maximum of fertility in the natural state is 
a rich pasture capable of fattening an ox and two sheep on an 
acre. Such soils are exceptional, though in most counties they 
are to be met with. The Pawlet Hams in Somersetshire, for 
example, is a tract of rich alluvial soil on the River Parrott, 
stretching along the sea-board. It is in permanent pasture, and 
js let for grazing at 5Z. to 6/. of rent an acre. Some of the marsh 
lands of Sussex and Kent are of equal fertility. And on certain 
limestone lands, not alluvial, in various parts of the country, 
both east and west, feeding pastures of great fertility are met 
with. Such lands, as they require neither labour nor manure, 
yield the largest rents to their owners. The profit to the stock 
feeder beyond the rent paid to the landowner depends on the 
skill with which he conducts his business. — The minimum of 
fertility may be exemplified by a bleak mountain pasture, where 
ten acres will barely maintain a small sheep. 
The artificial maximum and minimum of fertility which 
result from the treatment of soils of the same quality is more 
instructive, and may be clearly exemplified by taking two of 
the experiments which have been carried on by Mr. John B. 
Lawes of Rothamsted, in Hertfordshire, for the last thirty years. 
Confining the comparison to the average of the last twelve years, 
the foUowing is the v/eiglit in pounds of an average crop : — 
Coin. 
Straw. 
Total. 
lbs. 
Iba. 
Ihn. 
1st. Wheat grown continuously willioul luaiitircs 
730 
1120 
1850 
iJnd. „ „ „ with special manure ., 
2:U2 
4928 
7270 
