392 



half a mile from the city into large reservoirs of filtration. A. paddle- 

 wheel furnished with screens pierced with nails and turned by the mo- 

 tion of the drain-water, seizes the paper, rags, &c., and allows the finei* 

 detritus to deposit itself in a blackish sediment in the farm-trenches and 

 upon the surface of the fields and meadows. The malarial exhalations 

 are neutralized by chemical methods. 



Meat-product per acre. — Mr. J. J. Mechi, one of the leading 

 scientific farmers of England, considers meat-making one of the main 

 points of his agricultural success. He regards it as an essential part in 

 good farming, to make meat and manure in summer as well as in winter. 

 This, however, cannot be done without shelter for animals, combined 

 with good ventilation to protect them from flies and other insects ; with 

 proper provision for this necessity, he has succeeded in putting on both 

 gTowth and fat in summer-time. He acknowledges that there is no 

 profit in feeding stock at market-prices, but where a farmer has suffi- 

 cient capital and knows how to use it, he will find stock-feeding profit- 

 able, on account of its sure product of the best and cheapest manure 

 he can obtain. Mr. Mechi finds his margin of profit in the very large 

 grain, root, and green crops which he is thus able to raise at a cost 

 below market-prices. He gives the following balance-sheet of his live- 

 stock operations for 1874 on his farm of 175 acres at Tiptree : 



January 1, 1874 : 



Value of live-stock, including poultry £737 19 



Corn and hay, the produce of the farm, consumed during the year, esti- 

 mated at market-prices 177 5 



Corn, oil-cake, malt, culms, bran, &c., purchased 431 5 3 



Grinding corn, medicines, veterinary, &c 21 



Live-stock purchased during the year 239 8 6 



Green and root croi)8 of 25 acres raised and consumed 88 6 2 



Total..-. 1,695 3 11 



January 1, 1875 : 



Value of live-stock, including poultry £926 2 



Fatmeatsold 691 19 2 



Wool sold 43 14 10 



Poultrysold 33 7 11 



Total 1,695 3 11 



The increase in value of the live-stock and poultry at the end of the 

 year was £188 3s., or £51 5s. 6d. less than the amount paid for new ani- 

 mals during the year. This deficit shows the extent to wiiich the whole 

 live-stock value, old and new, was reduced, and must be deducted from 

 the aggregate sales to show the net meat-product of the year. This will 

 leave £684 8s. 6d., which, at 9d. per pound, gives an average of 104 

 pounds of meat per acre, worth £3 18s. The total cost of feed, includ- 

 ing produce raised on the farm and purchased from without, amounts 

 to £717 16s. 5d., from which deducting the wool sold, £43 14s. lOd., 

 there remains £674 Is. Id., or £3 16s. 4^<Z. per acre as the actual cost of 

 production, leaving a margin of only Is. l^d. per acre to pay for labor 

 and attendance, which is estimated at £100 in the aggregate, or lis. 5d. 

 per acre. Mr. Mechi's profit, then, must have been in the raising of his 

 home crops, and in the fertilizing elements added to his land by his 

 abundant product of manure. 



French farm-products of 1874. — The first half of 1874 was marked 

 by high prices and a large importation of cereals, but the subsequent six 

 months witnessed a reaction, which extended into 1875, toward low 

 prices and large export. The large crops of last year in Europe, com- 



