112 
Farming of Yorkshire. 
dust, to the acre. Seeds require a good dressing wlien not eaten 
off, and even when grazed, unless linseed-cake has been freely 
given to the sheep during the summer. Beans well repay the 
expense of manuring, and the same may be repeated of every 
crop. 
On well-drained and properly managed farms the produce of 
wheat varies from 36 to 40 bushels per acre : in some instances 
a higher estimate may be taken, while 20 to 24 bushels is the 
yield on those less cultivated or ill managed. The yield of oats 
is frequently 80 bushels, against 35 to 40 on the old-fashioned 
system, and of barley GO bushels. Few changes have been made 
in seed-wheat since the last Report, though a greater quantity 
of the white sorts is grown than formerly. In oats and barley 
there is no change. We have no statistical reports or reliable 
data for estimating the increased produce of the county in general. 
Whilst such returns are withheld any attempt to give an estimate 
would be mere guess-work. To show how valueless these esti- 
mates frequently are, we noticed that, in a report made some 
years ago, the quantity of grain sent by water-conveyance from 
the chief market-town of the district, through a series of 
years, was made use of to ascertain the production of that dis- 
trict, no allowance being made for the seed introduced nor the 
quantity delivered through other channels. This is not the time 
nor place to discuss the advantages or drawbacks of statistical 
information, even when legally enforced ; but we may be allowed 
to say that the returns are worthless if inaccurate and incomplete ; 
whereas no plan that we have seen appeared likely to realise these 
conditions. In estimating the increased yield of crops we have 
been guided by information received from the growers : when they 
tell us of their increase, we think no better evidence can be re- 
quired. On these strong, heavy soils wheat is more frequently 
grown than either oats or barley. 
Tin-nips. — With turnips the results are equally satisfactory, 
and consequently the number of sheep and cattle now reared and 
fed on a farm has been often doubled, and we believe there is 
room for still further increase. Of late years a considerable 
breadth of land has been sown with mangold in preference to 
turnips, the oval-shaped variety producing the most abundant 
crop ; but their more extensive cultivation is checked by the 
belief that they impoverish the soil for a following crop. We 
ourselves give the preference to swedes, which the experience of 
others confirms, and consider that a good crop of swede turnips 
(Skirving's Improved) is more profitable if the following crop be 
kept in view. A new kind, called the Devonshire Greytop-stone, 
has always produced good crops on the Wolds, and the demand 
for it is annually increasing. 
