and is not yet fully explained-indeed, it is yet in its infancy. And a plant in its different stages of growth has a different effect. The fat of the plant is held in reserve for the seed; nothing is wasted in leaves, wood, &c.; the precious seed must have it. Hence, when this takes place, the stalk is comparatively worthless, to what it is prior to the change. And the fat cannot be appropriated so well in the seed as when it is diffused through the stalk. Tender herbage, therefore, is the best; and when secured before the direction of the oil takes place, so much the better will be the hay. BRITISH AGRICULTURE. The following estimates of the produce of British agriculture have been made at various periods. 1. By Gregory King, 1698.-Gregory King A.D. 1698, made the following estimate of the productions of Eng land: Or about 10,000,000 quarters. If one-sixth be deducted for seed, it would leave 8,366,666 for a population of less than six millions, or over 14 quarters for each. 2. 1764.—The author of a tract published in 1764 estimated the number of houses at 986,482, and the population at 5,918,862. It thus classifies the population: Potatoes were not then in general use, the people depended mainly upon cereals. 3. Mr. Colquhoun, 1812.-Mr. Colquhoun, in his work 'On the Power and Resources of the British Empire,' made the following estimate of the agricultural produce of the United Kingdom : Beans and Peas The same writer thus classified the value of the agricul The total produce of cereals was estimated at 35,000,000 quarters; deducting one-sixth for seed would leave 28,333,334 quarters of cereals for a population 18,627,426. of He estimated the number and value of the domestic animals as follows: Mr. Donelly valued the live stock of Ireland in 1841 at 21,105,8087., and in 1865 at 32,772,6097.; the estimate may therefore be considered as quite excessive. 4. Mr. Spackman, 1854.-Mr. Spackman, in his work, 'The Occupations of the People,' presents the following estimate of the annual produce of the United Kingdom :— Hay, seeds, garden and green crops Sheep and lambs-10,000,000 at 30,000,000 15,000,000 This estimate appears to include the value of the seed corn. I think it is excessive in quantity and value. The cereal produce of Ireland is estimated at 11,320,000l., in 1861 it was only 9,618,0981. The same writer, in another work, says the average produce of the land of England and Wales was— And he makes the area of cultivated land in the United Kingdom to be 46,522,970 acres, and the value of the produce 279,157,8201., or 61. per acre. 5. M. de Lavergne, 1860.-M. de Lavergne, in 'The Rural Economy of England, Scotland, and Ireland,' estimated the production of wool in France and England as being nearly equal; that of France at 60,000,000 of kilos., that of England at 550,000 packs of 240 lbs. each. He considered the French wool represented 35,000,000 of sheep. If the English sheep produced a heavier fleece, the proportion for the United Kingdom would be about 28,000,000. M. de Lavergne also estimated the number of cattle slaughtered in the British Isles at 2,000,000 head, giving 500,000,000 kilos. of meat; and the number of cattle in France at 10,000,000 head, producing only 400,000,000 kilos. of meat. 6. Mr. M'Culloch, 1858.-Mr. M'Culloch's 'Commercial Dictionary' gives the following estimate for 1858 :— |