l820 RTTRAL ECONOMICS 



trol over the whole drainage area is needed, it being undesirable that a great 

 fundamental improvement should be at the merc}^ of individuals. 



The cultivation of cla)^ land is always risk\ however, as it is suited only 

 to a limited number of crops, and is difficult to cultivate, and hence most 

 men lay down this land to permanent grass. This risk can be reduced : 



a) by quicker ploughing in autumn so as to bring the work well 

 forward ; this seems only possible by the use of the motor plough. Dr. Rus- 

 sell believes that motor ploughs and cultivating implements will play a con- 

 siderable part in the improvement of heavy land ; 



h) by keeping up the supplies of organic matter in the soil ; the sim- 

 plest plan seems to be the adoption of the North Country system, in which 

 the land is alternately in grass and in tillage. Dr. Russell thinks that de- 

 monstrations on such lines, in heavy land districts, would resolve many of 

 the farmers' doubts as to the advisabilt}^ of breaking up some of their 

 grass land. 



Loams present no special dfhculties. The crop may be hampered bj- 

 lack of root room, in which case periodical deep ploughing or subsoiling 

 may bring about a substantial improvement ; subsoiling at Rothamsted at 

 a cost of about £ i per acre was followed by an increased yield per acre of 

 lo cwt. of potatoes worth 35 s. 



All the above soils can next be further improved by proper treatment 

 with fertilisers. Dr. Russell anticipates considerable improvements from a 

 closer co-ordination of crop variety and soil and climatic conditions. 



Reduction of Cost per Acre and Increase of Certainty of Production. One 

 of the most hopeful ways of attacking this problem is to increase the effi- 

 ciency of the maniirial treatment ; the whole of the fertilising constituents 

 applied to the soil are never recovered iu the crops but by arranging a proper 

 rotation, and by using a poperly balanced manure the loss can be much 

 reduced. As regards this latter point Dr. Russell pleads for agreement 

 between the county aiithorities as to a uniform scheme in their manurial 

 experiments. Economy is also possible in the management of farmj'ard 

 manure, the prodiiction of which is estimated at 37 million tons annually, 

 valued at £ 9 250 000, compared with an annual consumption of £ 6 500 000 

 worth of artificials. 



Further saving is possible in the soil itself ; where there is no crop there 

 is a loss of valuable nitrates ov^er the winter, the heaviest loss occurring on the 

 best manured land. This emphasises the need for spring dressings of quick- 

 acting nitrogenous manures, and accounts for the marked improvements that 

 set in on many soils when spring dressings are given. A good way of getting 

 round the difficulty is to sow a catch crop in autumn and either to plough 

 it in before the main crop is sown, or to feed it to stock whichever is more con- 

 venient. Leaving arable land in grass for a few years the gain in nitrogen, 

 during this period, may balance the loss during the arable period ; this is 

 already done in several rotations, but it suffers from the disadvantage that 

 the land during its recuperative grass period is producing less than during the 

 arable period. Dr. Russell next dealt with the improvement possible in cul- 



