ADDENDA.

49 ?

aual allowance to a married farm-servant. If the land be in highorder, it will produce of potato oats, deducting as above, as muchas would amount to 9|th bolls of meal, or 18 months allowance;but the above is a fair general average, where no manure is ap-plied to the oat crop, nor the land in very high condition.

Next to oatmeal, as already mentioned, potatoes form the mostconsiderable portion of the food of the common people. Thereis a very great difference between the nourishment contained in,or the quantity of ardent spirits procured from, the Kidney ormeally kinds of potato, compared to that which is got from theOx-noble, Dutch Cluster, or Watery potato ; but, in general,four pounds of potato are equal to one pound of oatmeal, differ-ing somewhat in late seasons, when the quality of potatoes isworse, from imperfect ripening. If the hard labouring farm-servants could be subsisted on potatoes alone, a Scotch acre ofpotatoes would, after deducting seed, yield nourishment for manequal to that contained in 26 bolls of oatmeal, or four times asmuch as an acre of oats, at an average ; and if dung be liberallyapplied, and the land in good order, would, after deducting asabove, yield as much nourishment as is contained in 39 bolls ofoatmeal, or four times as much as a good crop of potato oats.But in this case, there is a great expense incurred, both fordung and for labour ; yet, if the same proportion of milk be aUlowed to four pounds of potatoes as to one pound of oatmeal,four times as many persons could be supported by an acre of po-tatoes as by an acre of oats. It is, however, only in those dis-tricts where fish is found in great plenty, that the common peo-ple can be supported by them and potatoes, without much oat-meal ; yet, with a small quantity of the latter, and with abund-ance of potatoes and fish, and a moderate share of milk, the in-habitants of the Western bounties and isles are maintained inhealth and vigour.

Meal, that is made from barley or bigg, also used with milk;makes very good porridge for wpmen and children, or for menWho do not work hard ; and there is no Way in which, in timesof scarcity, a cottager’s family can be so cheaply supported asby porridge and pot-barley, used along with milk. As the ma-nure is chiefly applied to potatoes or hear in the Highlands,that circumstance ought to be taken into the account; but theproduce of an acre, where four-rowed barley, or bigg, is usuallyraised, cannot be estimated higher than that of an acre of oats,because there is not nearly so much nourishment in a boll of bar-ley meal, as in a boll of oatmeal. It is by a mixture of all thesekinds of food, oatmeal only for brose, pot-barley only for brothor soup, and potatoes used in different ways, that the poor cot-tager or day-labourer subsists, with the greatest cheapness and e-conomy.

As wheat can never be the principal food of the common peo-