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A\TOSE AIMONg 2
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o
AGRICULTURE.
afterwards, one farmer in Roxburghshire is said to
have had 100 acres of turnips in one year. Towards
the end of the century, turnips and artificial grasses
formed the basis of improved A.in every county.
A great rise in the value of land took place. The
war-prices in the beginning of the present century
gave a further stimulus to the reclamation of land.
The improvements, however, were mnot effected
without a great revolution in the state of the rural
population. Formerly, the farms were small, and
often laboured by the members of a single family.
A consolidation of farms took place, which neces-
sitated a great change in the social condition of
employers and employed, producing often painful
contrasts. Of late years, the commercial prosperity
of the country has greatly helped to clevate the
rural population, and necessitated improvements in
cottage accommodation.
Scottish A. is distinguished for great economy in
labour, forming a contrast in this respect to that in
the chief corn districts of England. Few farms are
to be seen in the richer districts without having a
fixed steam-engine for driving the barn and other
machinery. Labour-saving machines have also been
freely introduced. With soil, climate, and situation,
the mode of cropping varies greatly over the country.
In the Lothians, the six-course shift is common :
namely, 1st, wheat ; 2d, beans or potatoes; 3d, wheat;
4th, turnips; 5th, barley or wheat ; 6th, grass-seeds.
In certain situations, the potato-crop has lately been
still more extensively planted, occupying the place of
the bean or the turnip. On secondary farms, the five-
course rotation becomes more common: 1st, wheat,
or barley; 2d, grass; 3d, grass; 4th, oats; 5k,
turnips or potatoes. The larger proportion of the
surface of Scotland, however, is devoted to pasture
for sheep and cattle. The mountainous tracts are
generally unfit for cultivation. Little else has been
done in the way of improving them than digging a
few surface-drains, and improving the breeds of the
stock they feed. Sheep-farms vary in extent from
1009 to 60,000 acres. A few of the best stock-farms
may summer and winter a sheep to the acre, but
most require three acres. The black-faced are reared
upon the most elevated and exposed ground, while
the Cheviots thrive on those parts that are less so.
No other food is usually given in winter than what
is left on the fields in autumn. Cross-breeds between
the Cheviot and the Leicester are reared in the
lower ranges, where a supply of turnips may be had
to give to the ewes while suckling their offspring.
When the sheep are to be fattened, they are taken
to the arable districts. The opening of steam-
navigation, and lately, the system of railways, have
been of infinite benefit to Scottish A. in getting a
market for fat animals.
In North America, the same crops are raised as
in corresponding latitudes in Europe. The winters
in Canada and the United States are much more
severe than those of Western Kurope, while the
summers are quite as hot, and far more moist,
and hence arise considerable variations in the
practices of agriculture. In Canada and the
northern states, wheat is the staple article of export.
In all the chief exporting districts, wheat and red
clover are grown as alternate crops. Betwixt
latitudes 42° and 39°, wheat is often grown alter-
nately with maize, after the land has been under
pasture for some years. Again, betwixt latitudes
39° and 35° the climate is better suited for
maize than wheat, which becomes less productive.
The best pastoral regions are in south Ohio and
throughout Kentucky. Below latitude 35°, maize
is much less productive, and the climate becomes
suitable for cotton. This plant furnishes the
staple article of production from latitude 35° to
the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Rice is the
most profitable crop in the southern states; but its
culture is chiefly confined to the tidal swamps,
which can be flooded by fresh water. The sugar-
cane is limited to the rich alluvial lands on the banks
of the Mississippi as far north as latitude 31°
Tobacco is a principal crop in Virginia and some
other states. The West India Islands, surrounded
by the warm waters of the gulf, are free from the
cold north winds of the American continent. This
circumstance favours the growth of the cane, which
is so susceptible of injury from frosts. The rich
lands of these islands produce large crops of sugar.
Coffee is also grown to a considerable extent on
several of the Antilles. On the Pacific coast, the
climate is charvacterised by mild winters and dry
summers, so that the methods of agriculture must
conform to those of the countries bordering on the
Mediterranean.
The soil of South America appears to be much
more fertile than that of North America. In the
southern parts, the winters are comparatively mild,
when contrasted with those on the same latitudes in
the British possessions. The valley of the Rio de la
Plata is admirably suited for rearing sheep and
cattle, which are found in immense herds in the
interior. Brazil is densely wooded, shewing the
abundance of the rains, and the capabilities of the
country for the growth of the sugar-cane. In the
north, where the dry seasons are of longer duration,
there are immense grassy plains called savannahs,
covered with herds of wild-cattle. Though no cattle
were found on the continent when discovered by
Europeans, it has been asserted that more cattle
are now running wild in South America than the
whole domesticated cattle of Europe.
Clina possesses a climate having a great simi-
larity to that of the United States, cast of the
Rocky Mountains. The winters are cold, and the
summers moist and hot. Rice forms the great
staple crop in the warmer regions of the south,
wherever the land can be irrigated. This plant is
also cultivated to a limited extent on dry lands,
along with millet and maize. The density of the
population in China, is an indication of the advanced
state of its A. The careful manner in which all the
refuse of the towns and villages is husbanded and
applied to the land, while weeds are not suffered
to grow among the crops, is the true secret of the
productive A. of the Chinese.
The condition of A. in China shews what we
might expect from enlightened policy in the promo-
tion of that of /ndia. The monsoons which prevail
over Hindustan during summer cause a great luxuri-
ance of vegetation while they last ; but the extreme
droughts that precede and follow them parch and
wither up the shallower-rooted plants. Over a large
part of India, irrigation is required to produce many
of the cropswith certainty. In the tropical latitudes,
rice is the most abundant grain-yielding plant, and
forms the chief food of the people. The numerous
rivers of Northern India supply the means of irriga-
tion, and the production of food then becomes a
matter of comparative certainty. Where the winters
are cool, wheat and barley are grown at that season,
and rice, maize, millet, &c., in summer, just as we
find in the irrigated valleys of the south of Spain.
At the present time, the principal drawbacks to the
better cultivation of land are the deficiency in the
means of transporting the produce, and the tenure
by which the land is held. The immense quantities
of cotton and flax which are grown and literally lost
for want of a market, is a subject that is beginning
to attract attention, since our manufacturers are
suffering from the scarcity of raw material.
It would be out of place to give an outline of the
