t as he was very careful never to over-state
a case, Lord George assumed, that it would require three hundred
hundredweight of guano to an acre to produce an extra quarter of wheat.
According to this estimate, one hundred thousand tons of guano, applied
to the land in 1845, must have added six hundred and sixty-six thousand
six hundred and sixty-six quarters of grain to the wheat crop, or, in
other words, bread for six hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred
and sixty-six additional mouths. 'And now for turnips,' he continued.
The Norfolk authorities whom he quoted have in like manner proved that
two hundred-weight of guano will add ten tons per acre to the turnip
crop. But again, for fear of exaggeration, he supposed that three
hundred-weight would be requisite to create such increased fertility. In
this case, two million hundredweight of guano would add six million six
hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty tons to the natural
unmanured produce of the crop. Now it is generally considered that one
ton of Swedes would last twenty sheep three weeks, and that each sheep
should gain half a pound of meat per week, or one pound and a half in
three weeks; thus twenty sheep feeding on one ton of turnips in three
weeks should in the aggregate make, as the graziers say, thirty pounds
of mutton. But to be safe in his estimate, he would assume that one ton
of turnips makes only half this quantity. 'Multiply, then,' exclaimed
Bentinck with the earnest air of a crusader, 'six million six hundred
and sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty by fifteen, and you have no
less than ninety-nine million nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand and
nine hundred pounds of mutton as the fruits of one hundred thousand tons
of guano; which, at ninety-two pounds per man--the average Englishman's
allowance--affords meat for one million eight hundred and sixty thousand
nine hundred and fifty-five--nearly two million of her Majesty's
subjects.'

This is a specimen of those original and startling calculations to
which the House was soon to become accustomed from his lips. They were
received at first with astonishment and incredulity; but they were never
impugned. The fact is, he was extremely cautious in his data, and no
man was more accustomed ever to impress upon his friends the extreme
expediency of not over-stating a case. It should also be remarked of
Lord George Bentinck, that in his most complicated calculations he never
sought