96 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 



tional rotation of crops, we have shown in Vol. I. p. 180. See pp. 80 — 82. But as the 

 statements there made are drawn from universal experience and reason, they 

 may be attacked until reference be had to the particular experiments which lie at 

 the ground of them. Every experiment which may be made concerning this neg- 

 lected subject is therefore of the highest importance and deserves to be carefully col- 

 lected; and in this point of view, I hold as very deserving of notice what Gasparin 

 says, concerning the relative value of manure in his Memoir on the Culture of the 

 Olive in the South of France (Bibhotheque Universelle, March, April, May, 1822). 



" The value of manure is very different according to the country, the vicinity of 

 cities, the usual culture, &c. At Avignon, where madder is cultivated, they reckon 

 100 lbs. Vienna weight (= 123 lbs. English), for ISg kreutzers (= 11 cts.), and as 

 high at Strasburg, where they cultivate tobacco. In Tarrascon, on an average 9|- ; 

 at Marseilles 13^ kr. ; and since we see a man becomes rich in those places where 

 manure is the dearest, we may justly conclude that it is not bought at its true value. 

 I have found by many experiments and comparisons, that 100 lbs. of manure may be 

 considered as equal in value to 0.128 metzen of wheat (nearly a quarter of a bushel). 

 The average product of 7 years of a garden of olives of 1600 young trees which were 

 not manured was 651 lbs. of oil. (One tree gave yearly 0.40 lb.) A similar number 

 of the same trees, which in 3 years had collectively 840 cwt. of manure, gave yearly 

 1497 lbs. of oil. (For one tree 0.93 lb.) One cwt. of manure, therefore, produced 

 3 lbs. of oil. The manure was horse-dung. 



'' The product of the larger trees was raised by manure in the same proportion. 

 Trees thirty years old not manured for a number of years gave 3^ lbs. of oil, whilst 

 those which had yearly 168 lbs. of manure on a mean average bore 8.14 lbs. of oil. 

 One cwt. of manure increased the product of oil about 2.91. A person yearly 

 manured his olives, and succeeded in obtaining as the mean product of 15 year old 

 trees, 4^ lbs. of oil. The trees situated near the house which had yearly 2 cwt of 

 manure produced 10 lbs. of oil." 



3. But since manure is collected from the excrements of animals, and 

 the litter laid under them ; therefore, of the mass of manure only, that 

 should be reckoned, which the fodder has contributed to increase, but not 

 the litter for the use of the beasts. 



We may assume that the manure consists of ^ litter, and f excrements, since we 

 shall rarely find anywhere in a foddering of 20 lbs. of dry stuffs, more than 4 1 lbs. 

 of litter employed. If from 20 lbs. of fodder ^ be deducted for imperceptible evapo- 

 ration, there remains 18^ lbs. of excrements against 4 1 lbs. of litter, = 4:1. Of 1872 

 lbs. of^ manure, 1521 lbs. belong to excrements; and since 1872 lbs. of stall-manure 

 are collected from 936 lbs. of dry vegetables, but of which ^ is from litter, = 187 lbs. ; 

 therefore the animals must be credited 1521 lbs. of manure, in value 1^ metzen (2 

 bushels) of rye ; and this must also be charged as a debt to the fields ; if we reckon 

 1872 lbs. of stall-manure, which consists of excrements and straw, as equal in value 

 to 1^ metzen of rye. The 351 lbs. of manure falling short of a cartload, may be 

 made up of litter at 0.28 metzen of rye ; which must be put down to the account of 

 the field. In the usual Farm-Accounts, the value of the fodder is brought into the 

 Cattle-Account, and the charge is made to manure equal to the value of the litter em- 

 ployed. But it is clear from these statements that thus the product of the field must 

 appear far too high on the cost of the Cattle-Account, and to this circumstance must 

 it be ascribed, that in so many cases the account of cattle kept for manure turns out 

 only loss and not gain. 



4. What kind of cattle kept for manure may be the most suitable for a 

 given farm, depends on the nature of the soil and the climate, which agrees 

 more with one kind of beasts and less with others ; on the local situation of 

 the fields ; on the cash value of the different animal products, Sic. 



5. It is only after a careful consideration of these different circumstances, 

 that we can know by what kind of animals, and by what use of the same, 

 the fodder necessary for the production of manure can be employed to the 

 highest advantage. 



If the value of the fodder is balanced by the value of the use of the cattle, then the 



