368 HIGH FARMING, 1837-1874 



fertilisers, portable, cheap and abundant, were placed at the com- 

 mand of the farmer. Without manure the attempt to grow roots 

 or clover failed ; their introduction only protracted the shift, and 

 aggravated the difficulty of inevitable exhaustion. Now, however, 



(» the principle was gradually established that he who put most into 

 his land got most out. Farmers recognised by experience, when the 

 -J means were at their disposal, that, on the one hand, if they ruined 



■ their land their land ruined them, and that, on the other hand, 

 only those who have lathered can shave. It was m readiness to 



' invest_capital_iLLJth£jaii4 that one ^ of the chief d iffeieiiceslDelween 

 the earlietJ2ace_of_agricultiirists and the modern type of farmer 

 became jnost conspicuous. The main^bject g of the former were to 

 feed their Jamihes and avoid every possible outlayjpf cash . Hard- 

 living and hard-working, they rarely thought of spending sixpence 

 on manure, still less on cattle food to make it. They gave httle to 

 the land and received little. The consequent loss in the national 

 means of subsistence can scarcel}'^ be exaggerated. Modern farmers, 

 on the other hand, not only pnrnhj^/l tVinnsanrls nf tnris of ar tHicial 

 fertilisers. They also boughtjor- their live-stock vast q uan tities of 



1 feeding-stuff, which supplemented t heir own pr oduce. Roots, clover, 

 beans, barley-meal, hay, chaff, as w^ell as artificial purchased food, 

 were supphed to the sheep and cattle, which once had only survived 

 the winter as bags of skm and bone. Just as guano from Peru 

 was turned into EngHsh corn, or bones from the Pampas into EngHsh 

 roots, so the Syrian locust-pod, the Egyptian bean, the Indian com, 

 or the Russian linseed Avere converted into EngHsh meat. The 

 gain to the nation was immense, and to the farmer it was not smaU, 

 The return on his money was quickened. He sold his stock to the 

 butcher twice within the same time which was formerly needed to 

 prepare them once, and that less perfectly. At the same time his 

 command of manure was trebled in quantity and quahty, and on 

 clay lands his long-straw muck was of special value. 



The chang^es which have been noticed in modern farming necess i- 

 tated more frequent operations of tillage, which, without mechanic al 

 inventions would havpi been too costlv to be possible . Here, again, 

 science came to the aid of the farmer, and supphed the means of 

 making his labour cheaper, quicker, and more certain. The Royal 

 Agricultural Society may legitimately pride itself on the useful part 

 which it has played in introducing to the notice of agriculturists 

 the new appHances which mechanical skill has placed at their service. 



