42 CHEMICAL MANURES. 



To make this truth plainer, permit me to remind you that the 

 cultivation of the soil involves two kinds of expenses : 



Fixed expenses, which are always the same, be the culture good or 

 Lad ; such are the taxes, the rent that the farmer pays his proprietor, 

 the cost of seed, etc. 



Then come the variable expenses, which comprehend transporta- 

 tion, thrashing of the grain, and finally the manures. 



Now, I maintain that the agriculturist who uses but little manure 

 loses, while the one who uses much is always benefited. How can 

 it be otherwise? The fertilizer is the foundation of the harvest. 



But these are too grave questions to be simply announced. Let us 

 analyze facts, let us decompose the account of the products and ex- 

 pense, to definitely fix our ideas upon this point. To give more 

 generality to our conclusions, I will take as a point of departure the 

 return of 20 bushels, which is the mean return in France. Accord- 

 ing to Matthieu de Dombasle, the minimum expense for such a return 

 is 824.82 the acre. Reduced to $20.60 the acre by the price of the 

 straw, thus there results from this discount 



Fixed expenses 



Kent $3.81 



General expenses. , 4.39 



Cost of culture 3.63 



Seed 3.86 $16.60 



Variable expenses 



Manuring 6.24 



Harvest, thrashing, etc 2.87 9.11 



Total expenses $25.71 



From which is deducted the straw _A-^_ 



Remains $21.49 



for 20 bushels, which raises the price of a bushel to $1.03. 



Suppose that without changing anything in the regime of the farm 

 of Roville, without reducing the number of animals, without mod- 

 ifying the existing relation between the .different cultures and the 

 mode of culture, we had suddenly increased the cost of manuring, by 

 a quantity of the chemical fertilizer, to $10.13 the acre, which would 

 bring it from $6.24 to $16.37 the acre, all the other expenses remain- 

 ing the same. What has been the consequence ? The return would 

 have passed from 20 bushels to 44 bushels ! I say 44 I might say 

 49 bushels, but like best to take a minimum and from $1.03 the cost 

 of a bushel of wheat would be brought down to 93 T % cents. 



Let us take up our figures again : 



Fixed expenses, like the preceding $16.60 



Variable expenses Manuring $16.37 



Harvest and thrashing. . . 5.06 21.43 



Total expenses $38.03 



The straw deducted _8il? 



Result... "829.90 



