JAMES HAY,
Little Ythsie, 13th December 1849.
Having lately had an opportunity of examining a number of actual accounts of income and expenditure on various farms, I can confirm the substantial accuracy and fairness of the above statements, Nos. I. and II. Mr Hay's statement above, referring to the system of agriculture with which, in this part of the country, we are most conversant, may, in my humble opinion, be regarded as fair and just, and as near the average that a comparison of a number of individual cases would indicate, as it can be made.
I am sensible that, in many cases of calculations—more especially in those in which certain assumptions have to be made—it is quite possible, even with a show of fairness, to bring out by means of figures almost any result that may be desired; but it is to be observed that, in the above statements, the same assumptions (if they can be regarded as such) are made on both sides of the comparison, with the exception of the prices at which agricultural produce is taken; and it is submitted with confidence that these are neither made higher in the one case, nor lower in the other, than experience warrants.
W. HAY,
Tillydesk, 14th December 1849.
No. IV.
Estimated Value, of the produce upon a farm in Roxburghshire of 500 acres,
managed according to the five-shift rotation, thus:—
200 acres of corn crop.
200 " of grass.
100 " of turnips.
——
500
It is here assumed that there are no local advantages, the whole green crops being consumed upon the farm by sheep and cattle.
I. Produce of Corn Crops.
| Bush. | Bush. | Bush. | |||
| Oats, | 100 acres, | at 48, = | 4800, off 2400, | leaves for sale, | 2400 |
| Wheat, | 60 " | at 38, = | 1980, off 180, | " | 1800 |
| Barley, | 40 " | at 42, = | 1680, off 340, | " | 1340 |
Average Value during the ten years preceding Crop 1848.