52 ITS ECONOMIC VALUE. 



from 8 to 12 tons per acre for roots, and from 15 to 20 

 tons for potatoes, along with artificials, which may cost 

 from 25s. to 60s. per acre additional, are quoted as 

 general dressings. 



The majority of recent experiments with farmyard 

 manure would seem to indicate that, even in the case 

 of what are considered small dressings, the extra re- 

 turn in crop the first year after application is not such 

 as to cover the expense of the manure. Of course, as is 

 commonly pointed out, the effect of farmyard manure 

 is of a lasting nature, and is probably felt throughout 

 the whole rotation, or even longer. This, to a certain 

 extent, is no doubt true ; still it may be strongly 

 doubted whether farmyard manure is, after all, an 

 economical manure, as compared with artificial man- 

 ures. The desirability of manuring the soil and not 

 the crop is, in this age of keen competition, no longer 

 believed in; and the Eothamsted experiments have 

 shown that it is highly doubtful whether even the soil 

 benefits to anything like a commensurate extent by 

 the application of large quantities of farmyard manure. 



