CALCAREOUS MANURES-PRACTICE. 127 



(unless as being too low) by any person who is well informed by practice 

 and experience. 



But there is one important apparent omission of a proper charge in the 

 last statement of expenses. This is tlie increase of lahor of tillage, har- 

 vesting, &-C., caused by the crop being doubled in quantity. This is cer- 

 tainly "a fair ground of charge; and, if estimated alone, would serve to 

 reduce considerably the statement of increased net product, and conse- 

 quently of increased value of land. But there were also omitted sundry 

 items of increased production, which together would undoubtedly much 

 more than compensate for the increase of labor in tilling a deeper and 

 richer soil, and in harvesting, removing and preparing for sale or use, 

 a double quantity of crop. These items of gain are, first, the additional 

 ofFal, in corn-stalks, fodder and shucks, and wheat or oat straw, and chaff- 

 second, the limited proportion of clover grazed or mowed— and third, the 

 further gradual increase of crops, in subsequent time. Probably the first 

 class of Items alone would balance the increased expense of labor; if not, 

 the addition of the second (the clover) certainly would be enough. And 

 if that be doubted, the subsequent annual increase upon the first doubling 

 of the crops (which only is estimated above) will not only furnish a fund 

 to meet any such deficiency, but also will greatly, and beyond any calcula- 

 tion here attempted, augment the whole profit of marling, and consequently 

 the intrinsic value of the land to tlie proprietor. 



I admit the practical difficulty of applying this rule for estimating the 

 value of land, or of its improvement, however certain may be its theore- 

 tical truth. It is not possible to fix on the precise clear profit of any farm 

 to its owner and cultivator ; and any error made in these premises is in- 

 creased sixteen and two-third times in the estimate of value founded on 

 them. Still we may approximate the truth with most certainty by using 

 this guide. The early increase of crop from marling will, in most cases, be 

 an equal increase of clear profit, (for the subsequent improvement and the 

 additional oflTal will surely pay for the increase of labor— ) and it is not very 

 difficult to fix a value for that actual increase of crop, and thereby to esti- 

 mate the value of the improvement, as farming capital.* 



This mode of valuing land, under a different form, is universally re- 

 ceived as correct in England. Cultivation there is carried on almost en- 

 tirely by tenants ; and the annual rent which any farm brings, on a long 

 lease, fixes beyond question what is its annual clear profit to the owner. 

 The price, or value of land, is generally estimated at so many " years' pur- 

 chase," which means as many years' rent as will return the purchaser's 

 money. There, the interest of money being lower, increases the value of 

 land according to this mode of estimation ; and it is generally sold as high 

 as twenty years' purchase. My estimate is less favorable for raising the 

 value of our lands, as it fixes them at sixteen and two-thirds years' pur- 

 chase, according to our higher rate of interest on money. 



But though this rule for estimating the true value of land, and of the 

 improvements made by marling, may be unquestionable in theory, still a 

 practical objection will be presented by the well known fact that the income 

 and profits of farmers are not increased in proportion to such improve- 

 ments, nor is there found such a vast disproportion as this rule of estimat- 

 ing values would show, between the profits of the tillers of poor and of 

 rich lands. These positions are admitted to be generally well founded — 

 but it is denied that they invalidate the previous estimates. A farmer may, 



* No degree of uncertainty in the application, however, detracts from its truth. For 

 if the annual average net profit derived from marling be considered as an unknotvn quan- 

 tity (x), it is not therefore the less certain that x X 16| = the increased intrinsic value of 

 the land. 



