Manurial Value of Feeding Stuffs. 245 * 



depleted of available food that the matter of fertilizers is of deepest 

 concern. 



380. British practice. In Great Britain, where many of the farm- 

 ers are long-period tenants, the manurial value of feeding stuffs is 

 recognized by law in a manner that tends greatly to the betterment 

 and permanence of her agriculture. The Agricultural Holdings Act, 

 which is the law governing the relations between landlord and ten- 

 ant, directs that when a tenant is vacating his leasehold he shall be 

 reasonably compensated for the improvements he has made. Among 

 these, credit must be given for the fertilizing value of feeding stuffs 

 which the tenant may have purchased and fed out, and also, under 

 certain conditions, for the fertilizing value of grains produced on 

 the farm and fed to stock. In order to furnish data to guide the 

 valuers, who serve in settlement between landlord and tenant, Dr. 

 Voelcker, chemist of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 

 and Dr. Hall, director of the Rothamsted Experiment Station, 

 working jointly, recommended, 1 after full and extended study, that 

 in such cases the outgoing tenant should be credited, and the in- 

 coming tenant charged, substantially as follows: 



For all unused manure resulting from feeding purchased feeds to 

 stock on the leasehold, the tenant shall be credited with the value of 

 one-half the nitrogen, three-fourths of the phosphoric acid, and all 

 of the potash the feeds originally contained. The money value of 

 such manure shall be ascertained by multiplying the pounds of the 

 three fertilizing elements, as calculated, by the current value of each 

 per pound in commercial fertilizers. Where the manure has been on 

 the land one year and thereby fed a crop, only one-half of its orig- 

 inal value shall be credited. If two crops have been grown on the 

 manure, one-fourth of its value shall be allowed, and so on for four 

 years, after which the manure is considered exhausted. 



A committee appointed by the Council of the Central and Asso- 

 ciated Chambers of Agriculture 2 recommend in substance that the 

 Voelcker-Hall table of valuations be adopted practically without 

 change, but that compensation be allowed for but three years instead 

 of four. 



The principles of the English law should be drafted into every 

 lease drawn between landlord and tenant in this country. 



381. Fertilizers retained and voided. In the case of mature ani- 

 mals neither gaining nor losing in weight, substantially as much 



1 Jour. Royal Agr. Soc. Eng., 1902. 



2 Central Chamber of Agriculture, Rpt. Com. Scale of Compensation for Unex- 

 hausted Improvements, 2d ed., July, 1908. 



