17 



effects on the ciDps would be hi|^hly valuable. In order to study 

 liiese effects a Statistical Department has been set up, in which 

 Mr. R. A. Fisher and his assistant, Miss W. A. Mackenzie, 

 have undertaken an analysis of the meteoroloj^ical conditions at 

 Rolhanisti'd in conjunction with the crop records since 1852. 



THE NEED OF ORGANIC MATTER IN THE SOIL. 



However skilfully artificial manures are used it is essential on 

 all ordinary farms to add organic matter to tlie soil. Four ways 

 have been inveslij^j-ated for doing- this. 



1 — Farmyard Manure. — Some 40,000,000 tons of farmyard 

 manure are mnde by the farmers of the United Kingdom, but it is 

 estimated by Hall and Voelcker that some 50% of the value is lost 

 through avoidable causes. Thanks to the generous assistance (»f 

 Viscount Elveden, it has been possible to retain an expert chemist, 

 Mr. E. H. Richards, expressly for the purpose of studying this 

 important question. Broadly speaking, the conditions to be 

 secured in the making of the manure are sufficient supplies of 

 nitrogen comjx)unds and of air to allow the cellulose-decomposing 

 organisms to break down the straw. For the storing of manure, 

 however, it is necessary to have shelter from the rain and from 

 access of air. The best methods of securing these conditions 

 require working out for particular cases, which can be done after 

 consideration of all the local circumstances. 



Field experiments have shown that farmyard manure made 

 and stored u.nder these conditions is of higher fertilising value than 

 the ordinary material — the crop being- 10% or more beyond that 

 given by manure kept in the usual way. An experiment has been 

 begun in w hich one lot of bullocks is kept in a covered yard and an 

 equal lot in rm open yard, and the manure from both will be com- 

 pared. During the War, when all sources of loss had to be 

 studied, and as far as possible stopped, the necessary conditions 

 were vigorously brought to the notice of farmers and Executive 

 Committees by the Food Production Department and the Journal 

 of the Ministry of Agriculture. Savings of several per cent, on old- 

 established practice are possible, and every per cent, saved would 

 mean in the aggregate some £200,000 at present prices. 



A beginning" has been made with a much more difficult 

 problem — the handling of manure on a dairv farm. The conditions 

 here are ver\' different from those on an ordinary mixed farm 

 where bullocks are fattened : it is desirable that the dung- should be 

 as little in evidence as possible and that the urine should be quickly 

 and completely removed from the cow-sheds. So important is 

 this that it must be done even if loss be thereby incurred. Two 

 methods have been studied : — 



(a) The solid excreta are removed and stored under cover and 

 out of access of air ; the liquid manure is collected in a tank and 

 applied to temporary or permanent grass land and on the stubbles 

 prior to the root crop. 



This method is already in use on certain dairy farms, but when 

 a careful examination was made a considerable deficit on the 

 nitrogen account w as revealed : the liquid contained only about one- 



