SECTION IV.-MANURES SUITED FOR 

 SPECIAL CROPS 



IN discussing the application of fertilizers to crops, conclusions 

 as to the correct method of fertilizing cannot be drawn unless 

 we take into account the place which the crop occupies in 

 the rotation adopted, as has been shown on p. 199. The 

 manuring to be adopted on any farm must be regarded as a 

 whole, and not merely with reference to one particular crop. 

 The system most suited to the farm depends upon many 

 other factors than the crop grown at the moment. It is 

 easy to prescribe a manure suitable for one particular crop, 

 but little advantage results unless there is some knowledge 

 of the general manner in which the farm is conducted. The 

 style of farming and the amount of fertilizer that can be 

 profitably employed are very largely dictated by considera- 

 tions of labour, rent, railway facilities, proximity to markets 

 and other practical conditions. The farmer of new land uses 

 little fertilizer because he is living upon capital originally 

 stored in the virgin soil. In many parts of Great Britain 

 a conservative system of farming is maintained in which the 

 land has already attained a certain condition, and will 

 continue to yield average crops with little outside aid in the 

 form of purchased fertilizers and foods. On the other hand, 

 the intensive farmer is using his land as a manufacturer uses 

 his plant, bringing in large quantities of raw material and 

 steadily increasing his production from year to year. On 

 allotment lands, that have sprung up during the war, much 

 of the land taken over was in the worst possible condition, 

 but, with the expenditure of much labour and fertilizers 

 land which produced no food has given good results in a very- 

 short interval of time. The reason why this transformation 

 was practicable was because the value of the labour expended 

 was not counted. Where the allotment holder engaged a 



