—

If this plan of cultivating artificial graſſes were gone into, the production of grain, might be carried on to a confider- able extent in Middleſex, where, from the ſuperabundance of manure, it can be done to great advantage. About 15,000 acres of wheat*, in addition to thoſe now com- monly ſown, would prevent the neceſſity of importing even the ſmalleſt quantity of that article from abroad, and as the county of Middleſex itfelf could ſupply the ground that is neceſſary for that purpoſe; conſequently, it is an eaſy matter, to prevent our being obliged to depend on foreign countries for bread. Fifty years have not elapſed, fince Great Britain was accuſtomed to export grain, to the value of above a million and a half per annum †. The period has again ar- rived, when, under the auſpices of a Board of Agriculture, we may once more look forward to the ſame happy times. Encouragement to the huſbandman, or rather the removal of diſcouragements, is all that is neceſſary for ſecuring that valuable object.

The high price of lime(about 27 ſbillings per load), probably in conſequence of the great demand for that ar- ticle, for the purpoſes of building, makes it but rarely made uſe of as a manure in Middleſex. Means of obtain- ing it at a cheaper rate, ought, if pofſible, to be contrived. Perhaps all over the ifland, there could not be a better plan for employing the poor, than in preparing lime. The de- mand for that article, were it moderate, muſt be unbounded; and if conveyed by ſea(which would often be neceſſary),

* See Sir John Sinclair's Addreſs to the Landed Intereſt on the Corn Bill; in which this calculation is ſtated:— The balance of wheat, imported for 18 years, ending January 5, 1789, is 757,841 quarters; Which is at the rate of 42,657 quarters per annum. This, at the average of 3 quarters per acre, would only require 14,219 acres.

† During the ſpace of only s years, from 1743 to 1749, no leſs a quantity than 3,768,440 quarters of corn, of different Kkinds, the value of which, at the medium price of from 40 to 45s. could not be leſs than 8 millions, were actually exported.

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For remarks and additional obſervations.