84 CLIMATE AND RESOURCES OF 



of ground, on the same day that I did, and irrigated his field 

 three times ; his crop was only, according to his statement, 

 threefold the seed sown. My crop was at the rate of nearly 

 twenty-three bushels per acre, and his a little over nine 

 bushels. 



It is necessary in estimating the value of a crop, to take 

 into consideration the produce per acre, the increase of pro- 

 duce over seed sown, the amount expended in manure, and 

 the cost of the cultivation of the land. I gave my field a 

 dressing of farmyard manure, a few broken bones, and some 

 brick-kiln ashes. The manuring I gave my field would have 

 been considered a very light one in England. I, however, 

 mentioned this case in a pamphlet I published in 1870, and 

 am told that the excess of my crop over that of the next field 

 was due to the " heavy dressing " of manure no inquiries 

 having been made as to the amount of manure used by me. 

 I doubt if the cost of preparing my field and applying manure 

 was as much as in preparing it the usual way, as fewer plough- 

 ings were given. No money was expended in irrigation, and 

 the produce was more. That the produce was not still more 

 was owing to the land not being taken in hand early enough 

 in the season, and to its not being ploughed sufficiently deep. 

 Since 1869 I have had a rain crop, and a cold-weather crop, 

 every year from this field without irrigation, and in no single 

 case has the crop raised by me been in any way inferior to the 

 crops on the surrounding fields, although only one crop has 

 been taken each year from them, and in general my crops have 

 been markedly better. Objection was taken to this experi- 

 ment, as it was on a small scale. As a servant of Government I 

 am precluded from making any large experiments, or should 

 gladly have done so. I cannot, however, admit the argument 

 that what has succeeded on a small scale would fail on a larger 

 scale. The contrary is more likely to be the case. I have on 



