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NATURE 



[May 30, 1889 



the value of farmyard manure know perfectly well that 

 the sale of lambs, of young stock, and of dairy produce, 

 as well as of beef, mutton, and wool, exhausts land ; but, in 

 order to counteract this tendency, they invariably (we 

 speak of good farmers) purchase oil-cake, hay, and corn 

 in large quantities, sometimes to the extent of from ^i 

 to £2 per acre over the entire farm, and it is this fact 

 which is ignored by Dr. Griffiths. As to whether farm- 

 yard manure is a cheap manure or the reverse depends 

 greatly upon the skill of the farmer, but we may be sure 

 that when it is produced by well-bred animals, of high 

 value, or when purchases of stock are made judiciously, 

 farmyard manure may be properly regarded as a by- 

 product. 



It is questionable teaching on the part of an agricul- 

 tural chemist to run counter to the experience of 

 practical men, and we fear that Dr. Griffiths will not 

 carry his agricultural readers with him in his 

 opinions regarding the exhausting nature and ex- 

 pensive character of farmyard dung. Warming with 

 his subject. Dr. Griffiths asks, " Why will the farmer still 

 go sinking in the Slough of Despond, while faithful and 

 willing hands are continually being s'retched out in every 

 direction to help him ? Let him take a word of warning. 

 Be up and doing, and — whatever you (sic) do — be up to the 

 times. Do not let German, French, Belgian, or American 

 agriculturists, simply by dint of superior scientific know- 

 ledge and methods, outstrip you in that great competition 

 which is now going on amongst the nations of the world." 

 As in the previous quotation given, we see once more the 

 learned Doctor arguing upon wrong premises. In what 

 respects do German, French, Belgian, or American agricul- 

 turists outstrip the English farmer ? The average yields 

 of corn and the average results of stock-feeding obtained 

 by British farmers are far superior to those obtained by 

 German, French, and American farmers. The manner 

 in which our farmers have stood the shock of rapidly 

 falling grain prices is extraordinary. Farming has not 

 ceased to be a profitable occupation, but times have 

 recently been very difficult, partly on account of the fall 

 in the value of corn, and partly because the seasons have 

 been remarkably unfavourable for the last fifteen years. 



Dr. Griffiths proceeds to point out that in 1884 Germany 

 boasted 158 colleges and schools of agriculture, attended 

 by 17,844 students, and contrasts this fact with the very 

 few colleges and the 240 students of agriculture in 

 England. "If, says he, "Old England is to hold her 

 own, we must have these necessities. It may be said, Is 

 not England already taxed enough ? where is the money 

 to come from to support the colleges, schools, and experi- 

 mental farms ? We all admit that England is the rzc/tes^ 

 country in the world. Very well, then, if ^oor Germany 

 can support at least 158 agricultural colleges, and give 

 instruction to 17,844 students, surely England need not 

 grumble or be so mean." Does not Dr. Griffiths know 

 that the farmers, as a rule, in Germany and France, 

 do not care about the agricultural colleges? that there 

 is the greatest possible difficulty in inducing them 

 to send their sons to them ? that it is only by offering 

 exemption from the galling military service exacted from 

 all men in those countries, and by conferring upon students 

 the rank necessary for serving as officers in the army, 

 that the colleges and schools are filled at all ? Does he 



not know that the colleges and schools are chiefly useful 

 as a means of training the great army of professors and 

 teachers in those countries ? Does he not know that a 

 certificate of proficiency gained at a college is, in those 

 countries, absolutely necessary before a man can give 

 evidence in a court of justice on an agricultural ques- 

 tion .'' Does he wish to introduce artificial restrictions 

 such as this into England, and to substitute a patriarchal 

 system for that free enterprise which is the true reason of 

 the wealth and the excellence of England ? 



A very short time ago ^5000 was put aside by the 

 Government for grants on account of agricultural educa- 

 tion. No sooner was this offered than a struggle ensued 

 for participation in this small sum. Share lists have been 

 opened, in which one source of profit put before the in- 

 vesting public is a share of this same ^5000 as a means 

 of increasing the dividends of the promoters ! It is more 

 than likely that this same ^5000 will do more harm than 

 good, by encouraging bogus schemes and paralyzing the 

 natural enterprise which is the life-blood of English 

 supremacy. 



Dr. Griffiths has issued his book, and farmers are free 

 to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it. The agri- 

 cultural press is open, and there is that great body of 

 good practical farmers who are more fully alive to the 

 situation than Dr. Griffiths imagines, who, if not 

 " scientific " in their instincts, are shrewd men of busi- 

 ness, and the possessors of a knowledge of rural matters 

 which comes not from books, but through contact and 

 experience. 



Dr. Griffiths is a disciple of Ville, and the main object 

 of his work is to substitute a system of artificial fertilizers 

 for manuring through live stock. Farmyard manure, he 

 says, is imperfect, full of seeds of weeds and germs of 

 disease ; it is expensive to produce and to apply ; it 

 exhausts the land ; it is inferior to artificial manures ; and 

 its good properties, such as they are, are not easily re- 

 coverable. Such is Dr. Griffiths's indictment, which is 

 calculated to make farmers rub their eyes, and, having 

 made sure they had read aright, lay the book down. If 

 experience is of any value at all in regulating practice, it 

 teaches us that in our climate, and with our natural and 

 acquired advantages in races of cattle, the strength of our 

 position is our live stock ; that the fertility of the soil is 

 not only kept up but rapidly and durably increased by the 

 importation of purchased foods ; and that it is better for 

 the farmer to pay a " cake " bill than a manure bill. 



OUH BOOK SHELF. 



Elementary and Synthetic Geometry of the Poi?it, Line, and 

 Circle in the Plane. By N. F. Dupuis, M.A. (London : 

 Macmillan, 1889.) 



This is a work which we have read with considerable 

 interest. As the author states, " it is not an edition of 

 Euclid's * Elements,' in fact it has little relation to that 

 celebrated ancient work except in the subject matter." 

 Its alliances are with such treatises as Casey's " Sequel 

 to Euclid" and McDowell's "Exercises on Euclid and in 

 Modern Geometry," but it appears to us to be better 

 adapted in some respects than either of these works to 

 the use of junior students. These are too condensed for 

 some readers, whereas the book before us, without being 

 too diffuse, enters into greater detail, and leads the pupil 

 up, by a course of sound teaching, so as to enable him 



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