192 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



It is true that here the mean of the produce effected 

 by the mineral admixtures is rather less than that of 

 the rape-cake administered alone, but in point of 

 secular increase the superiority is very strikingly in their 

 favour, although as respects nitrogen the proportion 

 they contain is only l-9th part, whilst in the cake alone, 

 it is nearly three times as much. 



And now to conclude. At the outset of this examin- 

 ation of the Rothamsted experiment, we premised, in the 

 language of Liebig, that "the use of manure, rich in 

 nitrogen, by the farmer, prepares for the proprietor the 

 ruin of his land ;" and moreover, " that a field which 

 by manuring with salts rich in nitrogen has produced a 

 larger crop for one or more years is thereby impaired 

 in fertility for future crops." We also quoted a passage 

 from his last work on "Agricultural Chemistry," which, 

 by obvious implication, infers that the only means by 

 which the farmer can keep his soil in sustained fertility 

 is, by returning, from time to time, the mineral sub- 

 stances alienated from thence, in the condition of live 



stock and corn sent to market. Adopting these 

 propositions as the basis of our argument, we next 

 presumed to assert as demonstrable that the results of 

 the Rothamsted mamirial trials in corn growing, when 

 properly examined, completely confirmed these dicta ; 

 and the only postulate we sought in the demonstration 

 was this — that if, dividing into halves the period of years 

 involved in the use of nitrogenous manures, the yield 

 during the latter moiety of time was less than in the 

 previous period, that then the German controversialist's 

 doctrines were to be held as thereby proved. Now, 

 firstly, both in the wheat and in the barley experiments 

 a palpable secular decrease of this kind has been pointed 

 out, in every trial in which, by means of substances 

 selected and used by the experimentalists themselves, a 

 liberal amount of available nitrogen was deposited in 

 the soil. And hence, secondly, the English disputants 

 have with their own hands placed the garland of con- 

 troversial victory on their antagonist's brow. 



THE INTERNATIONAL TRIAL OF REAPING MACHINES, 



At Fouilleuse, on the 31st of July and the 1st and 2nd of August, I860.* 



[translated from the FRENCH.] 



REPORT OF THE JURY. 



1st. — At the grand general meeting which took place 

 at Paris in the month of June, our national agriculture 

 gave proof of energetic vitality, showing that it no 

 longer hesitated to adopt any improvement ; that very 

 far from deserving the reproach of determining for 

 ever to follow with obstinate perseverance the tradi- 

 tional practices of each locality, it seeks and encourages 

 all the improvements susceptible of increasing the 

 wealth of the nation. The scarcity of hands in the 

 country, which becomes more and more apparent in 

 proportion as the rural works multiply, and the dear- 

 ness of hand-labour, which naturally increases in pro- 

 portion with the want of hands, show no signs of being 

 arrested in their progress. At the same time that it 

 asks from science the means of increasing the fertility 

 of the cultivated soil, it exerts itself to transform the 

 landes and marshes into arable fields, and to plant those 

 districts which nature intended to be covered with 

 forests. It order that such works may be accomplished, 



* The jury, conatituted by a decree of the Minister of Agri- 

 culture, Commerce, and Public Works, dated the 13th July, 

 1860, was composed in the following manner : Messrs. 

 General AUard, President of Section to the Council of State, 



President 

 Lefour, Inspector of Agriculture, Commissary-General of the 



Meetin», and Vice-President 

 Baron Corberon, Deputy to the Legislative Corps 

 Baron Lesperu, proprietor. Deputy to the Legislative 



Corps 

 Baron Ravinel, Deputy to the Legislative Corps 

 Baron Segnier, Member of the Institute, and of the Imperial 



and Central Society of Agriculture of France 

 De Raynal, Advocate-General to the Court of Cassation, pro- 

 prietor and agriculturist of Veruay (Cher) 

 De Cetto, Administrator-General of the Domains and Forests 



of the Crown 

 Moll. Professor at the Conservatory of Arts and Trades, and 



Member of the Imperial and Central Society of Agriculture 



of France 

 De Behague, Member of the Imperial and Central Society of 



Agriculture of France, agricultural proprietor of Dampierre 



(Loiret) 



it requires that machinery should be substituted for the 

 arm of man, that the most efBcacious motive-power of 

 labour should be introduced into the field, and that the 

 mechanical arts should yield up all their secrets to the 

 farmer and the metayer. We have seen the village 

 wheelwright and the blacksmith make a thousand efforts 

 to acquire a little science, and perfect the rough tools 

 and implements of primitive agriculture. By degrees 

 agricultural machines are invented. Instead of the fan, we 

 have the winnowing machine ; the straw-cutter and the 

 root-cutter have replaced the knife and the hatchet ; the 

 thrashing machine tends to banish the flail ; the mechani- 

 cal separator cleans the grain and seeds more rapidly and 

 completely than could be done by the fingers of women 

 and children. Now, the sickle and the scythe may be 

 displaced in a great part of the most laborious work of 

 the harvest. The meeting — so interesting and, we may 

 say exciting — held in the month of June, on the Im- 

 perial farm at Vincennes, has demonstrated that for 

 mowing the natural or artificial pastures, there now 



Dailly, Member of the Imperial and Central Society of Agri- 

 culture of France 



Barral, Member of the Imperial and Central Society of Agri- 

 culture of France 



Count de Chassepot, agricultural proprietor, President of the 

 Committee of Amiens (Somme) 



De Brueil, agricultural proprietor of Pailiy (Haute Mame) 



Herve Maugon, engineer, Professor at the School of Bridges 

 and Embankments 



Emmery, agricultural proprietor of Nieul-sur-Mer (Chaente 

 Inferieure) 



Lecouteux, agricultural proprietor of the Chateau de Cereay 

 (Loire et Cher) 



Tresea, Professor at the Conservatory of Arts and Trades 



Tisserant, Inspector-General of the Agricultural Establish- 

 ments of the Crown 



Delozes, Director of the School-farm of Saint Gildas (Loire 

 Inferieure) 



Genuyt, agricultural proprietor at Ville-gusien (Haute Mame) 



De Corbigny, inspector of the Domains and Forests of the 

 Crown, at Saint Cloud 



M. Poilier, Joint Commissary-General of the Meeting, filled 

 the office of secretary to the jury. 



