CHEMICAL MANURES. 39 



Here are significant facts. I have said they come from distin- 

 guished practical men, animated with the desire of progressing, who 

 attack these problems with prejudice, and who are now lending me 

 the most valued help. 



With M. Cavallier, at Mesnil-Saint-Nicaise 



(Somme), from 44,444.14 Ibs. of manure 



(still cultivating the beet), the return was.. 30,011.01 Ibs. the acre. 

 From 1733 pounds of the chemical fertilizer 



it was raised to 53,013.03 " " 



The same results from wheat and Irish potatoes. 



With MM. Masron and Isarn, at Evreux, the com- 

 plete fertilizer produced the acre^ in wheat 58 bushels. 



While from 26,664.01 pounds of manure the acre were 



returned but 14.70 " 



With M. Bravay, in the department of Drome, on a 

 pebbly hillock, cleared for the experiment, the yield 

 from the complete fertilizer was 43.50 " 



From 25,737 pounds of barnyard manure 14.50 " 



And from the land without any fertilizer 3 " 



That is to say, hardly the seed. 



But the most remarkable result from wheat is that obtained by 

 M. Pousard from entirely uncultivated land in Champagne, hardly 

 worth $14.35 the acre, and from which he obtained, with 1066 pounds 

 of the chemical fertilizer, 47.50 bushels of wheat ; with 1555 cubic 

 feet of manure, 19 bushels. In giving me an account of these result? 

 M. Pousard wrote me : " The land upon which I am operating is a 

 land which has never known the plough, and is hardly worth $14.35 

 the acre. The wheat developed vigorously before the winter of 1865, 

 and in the whole course of its vegetation was always superior to the 

 v neighboring grain on manure. To this vigor it owed so quick a ma- 

 turity that I was able to harvest it before the rains. I could have 

 sold it at a high price as seed-wheat, for the grain was remarkably 

 fine." 



At the market prices the acre would have yielded : 



Culture with the Chemical Fertilizer. 



1119 quintals of wheat, at $6.65 $73.88 



Cost of fertilizer 27.02 



Profit $46.86 



Culture with Barnyard Manure. 



1555 cubic feet of manure, at 4 per cent $62.20 



4.44 quintals of wheat, at $6.08 26.99 



Loss $35.21 



I need not remark that M. Pousard in this remme kept no account . 

 of details, but simply set in relief the contrast of the results a con- 

 trast the more significant, as it shows a difference of from $60 to $70 

 that is to say, four times the value of the cost. 



