446 
Agricultural Maxima. 
bushels of seed per acre. It came uj) thickly, and in the following spring and 
during the summer it presented an unusually luxuriant appearance, particu- 
larly when fully shot into ear, so much so as to attract the attention of all 
passers by. Many bets were made by practical men as to its probable yield, 
some estimating the produce at 9 quarters per acre. The field was harvested 
separately, and on threshing yielded 11 quarters 2 bushels per acre. In the 
same season and upon land almost adjoining, but occupied by another, 10 
quarters per acre were produced. In the parish from which I write, the same 
harvest produced upon land near the sea from 7J to 9 quarters of wheat per 
acre, and an equal yield of barley. These are the largest crops on record in 
this neighbourhood — 5 quarters of wheat per acre, and from 5 to 6 quarters of 
barley, being a full average. These heavy crops to which I have alluded can- 
not be in any degree owing to high or extra farming, for, although 1844 is of 
such recent date, yet at that period it was not the custom upon the good lands 
of this district, as now, to use artificial manure for roots, nor to consume them 
with so great an admixture of oil-cake and other artificial food as during the 
last few years ; and yet, for all this, the produce does not perceptibly increase ; 
on the contrarj-, with regard to the inferior grain, especially barley, it has 
become a general complaint through this part of the county that it has of late 
years deteriorated both in quantity and quality ; therefore I cannot but arrive 
at the conclusion that extra proUfic crops are not so much the necessary conse- 
quences of high farming as of favoitrahle seasons. K ow, 1844 being the most 
prolific year ever Imown in this neighbourhood, the question arises, What were 
the peculiarities of that season ? I am only in a position to assert that the 
summer of that year was the most genial I ever remember ; the drought was 
not equal to the two just past, but from the month of March till the end of 
September we had an unusual number-of sunny days, with fewer storms and 
atmospheric changes." 
. . . . " Since writing the above I have been informed by Mr. Wilkinson that 
the field in question had not been treated differently from other parts of the farm. 
The usual 4-course system was pursued ; but to lessen the acreage of the 
root-crop it is often the custom on such lands to take a crop of peas or beans 
after wheat, and then wheat again, as was the case in the instance referred to. 
With regard to the other crop of 10 quarters per acre, it was grown by a gen- 
tleman (Mr. Howes) who had occupied land in the parish for a period of fifty 
years, and who had been frequently heard to alfirm that he never before grew 
anything approaching to such a crop ; 7 quarters per acre being the largest crop 
his land ever produced previously to 1844. 
" It may also be interesting to state that Mr. Wilkinson again planted 
wheat on the field producing this very extraordinary crop the succeeding year, 
and the yield was something less than 4 quarters per acre. He farms 400 
acres, and the land is all of the finest quality. His statistics, given below, 
refer to the coomb of 4 imperial bushels. 
" The land I occupy is very similar, and I have come to the conclusion that 
to farm it unusually high, and stick to the usual 4-course system, is occa- 
sionally attended with great loss and disappointment. My jilan of late 5-ears 
has been to pursue no particular course, but to crop close and extend the rota- 
tion, as, for instance, thus : — 1, turnips or mangold-wnirzcl ; 2, wheat or oats ; 
3, barley ; 4, clover, or other seeds, or beans ; 5, wheat ; which is a kind of 
5-conrse shift, care being taken not to lay down more land with seeds than is 
required for the use of my horses. After barley, therefore, I usually gi-ow a 
field or two of beans, but always grow as large a shift of roots as possible, 
being generally well paid by the winter grazing of sheep and cattle, and also 
by the means thus afforded of getting the straw made into good manure." 
Mr. Wilkinson, the owner of the field in question, writes thus 
to Mr, Cubitt : — 
