4 On Liquid Manure. 



most praiseworthy zeal in order to convince the British agricul- 

 turist of the benefit which, in the opinion of some, liquid manure 

 is capable of securing to the farmer. 



I am sure the agricultural community is much indebted to 

 men like Mr. Mechi, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Telfer, and others, for 

 their exertions to adapt the Flemish system of liquid manuring 

 to the peculiarities and advanced condition of English agriculture. 

 And though many may differ as to the extent to which irrigation 

 with liquid manure may be carried out, no one can deny that on 

 some farms in this country it has produced surprising crops. 



In other places, however, liquid manure has not been so suc- 

 cessfully employed, and in some cases its application has proved 

 a complete failure. 



Some instances have come under my personal observation in 

 which considerable expense was incurred for the erection of 

 tanks that now are deserted, experience having shown that 

 no good whatever was produced by the application of liquid 

 manure to the land. There can be no reasonable doubt that this 

 conclusion is well founded on fact, and that there are soils 

 which are not benefited in the least by its use. 



It must be borne in mind that the system of liquid manuring 

 can no longer be regarded as an agricultural novelty, but that 

 it has been tested on a large scale under the most varied circum- 

 stances. At the best its success has been but partial; and as 

 the necessary arrangements involve a great outlay of money, it 

 becomes a question of importance to decide whether on a par- 

 ticular farm it is likely or not to be more remunerative than the 

 ordinary methods of applying manure to the land. The solution 

 of this important question is difficult, since it is complicated by 

 considerations of a purely practical kind. Means of procuring the 

 necessary amount of water for the proper dilution of liquid manure 

 do not exist everywhere, or can only be devised at a ruinous ex- 

 pense ; it is, moreover, still a question with our best agricul- 

 turists whether the expenses which have to be incurred for 

 erecting steam-engines, constructing liquid-manure tanks, and 

 laying down a network of distributing pipes, are commensurate 

 with the result. It is not my province to touch the question in this 

 aspect ; practical considerations of this kind are much better left 

 in the hands of those who have a more immediate interest in 

 the cultivation of the soil, and who are in a much better position 

 than myself to form a reliable opinion on questions that involve 

 considerations of pounds, shillings, and pence. 



But apart from the purely practical difficulties that stand in 

 the way of properly estimating the merits of liquid manuring, 

 there are several points which justly belong to the province of the 



