SOO EXPORTATION' ; F MANURES. 



While I agree with M. de Bethu: e, that it is generally wibC to 

 encourage exportation, I also admit with him that there are sub- 

 stances in reference to which it woi Id be prudent to discourage ex- 

 portation ; oil-cake, this powerful rjeans of giving fertility to the 

 soil, might be placed in the foremost rank of such substances. I am 

 far from adopting all the principles if economists, which appear to 

 me to be frequently far too absolute. In my opinion, any exportation, 

 the consequence of which is the impoverishment of the soil, ought 

 to be prohibited. I should, for instance, oppose the exportation of 

 arable soil ; and in the same way, to allow an active manure to pass 

 into the hands of strangers, is, in my eyes, tantamount to exporting 

 the vegetable soil of our fields, to lessening their productiveness, to 

 raising the price of the food of the poor ; for as much labor is re- 

 quired, as much care and capital must be expended upon an ungrate- 

 ful soil to obtain a little, as upon a fertile soil to procure an ample 

 return. To permit tbe exportation of oil-cake is to hinder the hus- 

 bandman from taking advantage of all the circumstances with which 

 nature presents him ; it is as if a chill were to be brought over the 

 genial climate of France.* 



I have shown the advantages of the application of oil-cake in the 

 growth of wheat. I shall now inquire whether or not it is equally 

 useful in connection with hay and potato crops; the price of the 

 article being presumed to be the same as before. 



Upland meadows, when they have not been soiled, yield miserable 

 returns, and their situation renders them difficult of access to carts : 

 oil-cake in such circumstances comes powerfully to our aid. 



Taking the price of hay at os. per 22i) lbs., which is about its 

 present price in France, and taking into account the composition of 

 the after-math, we may reckon the azote contained in the hay of 

 natural meadows at 0.015. 



220 lbs. of hiiy, ronUininp 'A Ihs. of a7.«)tr, will be worlh 5*. Od. 



To produce which ."»f) lbs. ofaike (azoto 3.3 lbs.) worth 1*. Sd. 



would \>c n-qnirnl. 



Difference in value bolwoen the cost and the crop 3*. 4d. 



Upon this showing, nil-cake may be advantagponsly employed in 

 the amelioration of upland meadows. IJcsides the cost of the ma- 

 nure, however, there are the very necessary additions to be made of 

 the price of labor and rent. 



From the observations wiiich I made at Bechelbronn in 1839, I 



* I own I ani surprised at this pa.«i.s.Tpr in my rstornnd .-•uthor. There is nothlne 

 parallel in the inst.inces lie quotes. Did not the French liu>ti:in(lnien and oil -presser* 

 profit by the exportation of oil-cake they wonid ke«'p it at home; and the profit of the 

 farnier and inanufacinrer is the profit oi" the whole commnnity. To ex(M>rt the soi; 

 wouUI indeed be madness: it would obviou-;|y l)e killinu tin- p«Kx<e that lays l)ie pohlen 

 epRs ; but to e.xpnrl that which the .'oil prinluccs in abundance year after year, is a 

 totally different allhir. .M. Boussinpault's reasoning woubl le.-nl'the wine-rmwers of 

 Bordeau.x and niiru'undy to refuse \is n hopshead of their smallest prowlh : Ikry r.innot 

 send it to us icithout hnporrrishinf; tkrir fo i. ivy mori than thnj can Irt u» karc a }tiund 

 of thrir oil-cnkr. But one half of the vrpet.ibles tliat prow, lit le:l^t. are at work ar- 

 cuniul.itinp the materials from the atmosphere and water, out ol" which the other half 

 are supplied, and so the process of waste and supply, of de-itrurtion and reprmlurtloB. 

 goes on without limits, ami without end --F>o F.n. 



