THE 



MANUAL OF MANURES 



CHAPTER I 

 Introduction 



The question of manures is of paramount importance 

 to-day, and unfortunately it is not very well under- 

 stood ; yet on its comprehension depends the future 

 of agriculture on which, as the great war has shown, 

 our existence as a nation must depend. 



To be in a position to pay the high wages 

 demanded in these times of scarcity of labour, the 

 farmer must modernise his methods. And if, on the 

 one hand, he tries to reduce the cost of cultivation 

 by the use of labour-saving machinery, he ought, 

 on the other hand, to increase his profits by the 

 employment of artificial manures, as well as that of 

 the farmyard. 



But manures increase productiveness only when 

 they are intelligently and judiciously used. It is 

 of no use to apply a lot of manure when the increase 

 in production is worth less than the price of that 

 manure. It is useless to spend a great deal of 

 money on artificial manures, if they are applied at 

 seasons when they will be washed away in the 

 drainage. If they are applied to crops which 

 cannot profit economically by them, not given in the 



1 B 



