1920] on British Crop Production 59 



is therefore the possibility of constant improvement of the soil ; larger 

 fodder crops enable more livestock to be kept, more livestock make 

 more manure, and more manure gives still larger crops. It is some- 

 times argued that meat or milk production is in some way opposed to 

 corn production, but on this method there is no antagonism : on the 

 contrary each helps the other ; the production of more meat is 

 consistent with, and indeed involves, the production of more corn. 



The simplest way of utilising animal excretions without loss is to 

 allow the animals to consume the crop on the land where it grows, 

 and this is frequently done excepting where the soil is so sticky as to 

 become very unpleasant in wet weather. Sheep are the best animals 

 for the purpose as they are easily penned in by light hurdles, these 

 being moved as each portion of the field is cleared ; this folding is a 

 common occurrence on the chalky and sandy soils of the southern 

 and eastern counties. 



Bullocks are' less tractable and cannot be enclosed by light 

 hurdles ; they are therefore generally kept in yards, roofed in if 

 possible, but oftentimes open. Sufficient straw is added to provide 

 them with bedding and to soak up the excretions. In this way the 

 fertilising constituents of the straw as well as of the food are returned 

 to the soil. 



In the case of dairy cows the treatment is rather different ; they 

 have to be properly housed in quarters which are sometimes palatial. 

 and for hygenic reasons they are allowed but little bedding. Their 

 manure is removed once daily — sometimes oftener — the primary 

 object being to get it away without contaminating the milk. The 

 investigations already referred to for which Lord Elveden provides 

 the funds are now being extended to the dairy farm to see how far 

 it is possible to save the manure without prejudice to the purity of 

 the milk. 



In the old days when farmyard manure was the only manure, and 

 the old type of implements alone were available, farmers had to arraDge 

 their crops on a definite plan in order to get through their work and 

 permanently maintain the productiveness of the land. There thus 

 grew up a system known as the rotation of crops, which contributed 

 very largely to the agricultural developments of the 'sixties, and 

 ultimately became a rigid rule of husbandry strictly enforced over 

 large parts of the country. Modern cultivation implements and 

 fertilisers justify much more latitude, however, and no good farmer 

 ought to be restricted in his cropping, provided of course that he 

 maintains the fertility of his land. It is sometimes a convenience on 

 the dairy farm to grow the same crop year after year on the same 

 land, and the Rothamsted experiments show that this can be 

 done, excepting only in the case of clover. With this exception 

 there is no more need to have a rotation of crops than to have a 

 rotation of tenants in a house. It is essential, however, that the land 

 be kept free from other competitors and from disease germs. Freedom 



