RURAL ECOXOMICS 1819 



obiection is the large amount of straw used, but the writer proposes to mix 

 dry soil with the straw and intends to experiment with this next year. 



The ventilation is on the " King " system which is according to the 

 writer, most suitable for this kind of buildinsf. 



RURAIv ECONOMICS. 

 1312 - The Possibilities of Increased Crop Production. — Russell e. j., in The journal 



of the Board of Agriculture, Vol. XXIIl, No. 6, pp. 555-560. London, September igi6. 



In his presidential address on 6th September, at Newcastle, to the Agri- 

 cultural vSection of the British Association, Dr. E. J. Rl'ssell took as his 

 subject the possibilities and prospects of increased crop production. 



In the development of agricultural methods in England the three great 

 lines of progress have been : a) the introduction, usually from Flanders, of 

 crops that had not previoush'' been grown on British farms, b) the removal 

 of obstacles which prevented crops from making as full growth as thev^' 

 might, and c) the introduction of new methods for increasing the growth 

 of the plant. The body of the address was devoted to a consideration of 

 the means of i) increasing the yields per acre, and ii) reducing the cost 

 per acre and increasing the certainty of production. 



Increased yields per acre. The main obstacles to increased plant-growth 

 lie in the climate and in the soil. Climate apparently cannot be altered ; 

 therefore crops and varieties suited to conditions must be grown. Soil can 

 be altered, and it is possible to do a good deal in the way of changing it to 

 suit the crops that are wanted. Light soils, clays and loams were each- 

 considered by Dr. Russell. 



On light soil the tWo great obstacles to be overcome are the lack of wa- 

 ter and the poverty in plant nutrient ^ The problem can be dealt with by in- 

 creasing the depth of soil through which the roots can range, or by adding the 

 necessary colloidal substances, clay, marl, or organic matter. The addition 

 of organic matter must generally be accompanied by the addition of lime or 

 limestone and all the plant nutrients — nitrogen, potash and phosphates — as 

 well as by constant cultivation to keep down weeds and retain soil moisture. 

 When all this is done, light soils become very productive ; but on account of 

 the costs of the above j^rocesses, crops must be grown which bring in a high 

 money return — potatoes, greens, peas, sugar-beet, or two crops in a season. 

 The best hope for improvement of light soil lies in increasing the number of 

 money-finding crops, improving the methods of growing them and the rela- 

 tion to the other crops, or the Hve stock, and improving the organization for 

 disposing of them, so that farmers will feel justified in spending the rather 

 considerable sums of money without which these light soils cannot be suc- 

 cessfully managed. 



Heavy land can be im})roved by liming or chalking followed by diainage. 

 Mole drainage promises to be an efficient and much cheaper substitute for 

 the old system of draining, but co-ordination and a certain amount of con- 



