104 
and 1845 was as 16 to 23, or 7 bushels per acre, or nearly 
one-third. 
But it has been remarked, that moisture has great in- 
fluence. The quantity of rain which falls in any given 
locality is much the same, taken on an average; but the 
quantity, when compared with the general and equal dis- 
tribution of that quantity throughout the several days and 
months of the year, is of very inferior consideration. A 
great quantity at the same time is rather hurtful than bene- 
ficial; whereas, those moderate but golden showers, which 
regularly fall on a soil calculated to receive them, are 
sources of fertility to most of our cultivated plants. Wheat, 
however, requires very little rain, since in Australia, where 
are produced the best wheats that come to England, at 
Adelaide, during those months which correspond with our 
months of May, June, July, and August, the fall is only 3.88 
inches; while at London, during the same months, it is 8.49 
inches, (more than twice as much) ; or there are 60 days of 
rain at the latter and 19 days at the former place. There is 
no doubt whatever that the temperature of our different sum- 
mers, and especially during the months of May, June, July, 
and August, determines the quality of the grain. At 
Adelaide, in Australia, the mean temperature for these 
months is 79°, while the mean temperature for London 
is 60°. And, for the same reason, in spite of the wretched 
system of agriculture which prevails in Spain, Poland, and 
Sicily, the quality of their corn is superior to that which is 
produced by the skill and capital of the British farmer in 
ordinary years. The Dantzic red wheats, grown even in 
the Carse of Gowrie, have proved to be inferior to those 
grown in countries adjacent to the Baltic, showing, says 
Lawson, that the climate is not so well adapted to it. And the 
quality, as determined by weight, is of the first importance, 
for in some years the bushel of wheat will only yield 42 lbs. 
