56 CHEMICAL MANURES. 



Cost of 800 sheep $372400 



600,000 Ibs. of pulp 684*00 



38,160 cake 513.00 



Cost of colza and seeds 256.50 



Shepherd workmen 95.00 



Interest, cost of commission 47.50 



Total of expense., $5320.00 



Wool and sheep 4750.00 



275 tons of manure, representing 570.00 



Total of receipts $5320.00 



This brings the price of manure to $2.03 the ton ; let us put it at 

 $2.09. 



Observe here, gentlemen, that we have not to do with a general 

 account, in which every detail of the culture is registered. No, I 

 repeat, it is an especial account, the result being independent of all 

 outside operations a fattening of sheep with the pulp of the beet, 

 which is cheaper than forage. Well, under these conditions the 

 manure still costs $2.09 the ton. 



And M. Cavallier observes that if he had used wheat straw, instead 

 of colza and seeds from the ponds of the Soimne, the manure would 

 have cost $3.01. 



The third account I will take for example relates to the farm of 

 Bechelbronn, in Alsace. I borrow the elements from the Rural 

 Economy of M. Boussingault. According to this account, manure 

 costs only 97 cents the ton, which justifies the opinion that manure is 

 the cheapest of fertilizers, and costs almost nothing. 



But if we examine things more closely, we will find an objection, 

 \vhich changes all the economy of this account, and changes the price 

 of manure from 97 cents to $2.82. 



With the same data, how can we arrive at so different a conclu- 

 sion? 



The explanation is very simple, and I beg you will take note of it, 

 for it furnishes me an opportunity of warning you against an error 

 in matters of accounts into which agriculturists often fall. 



By a kind of tacit agreement, founded on the belief that the pro- 

 duction of manure is one of the necessities we cannot avoid, we 

 count the consumption of the animal at the price of cost, not at the 

 price of sale. But is it not evident that this manner of proceeding 

 is defective ? 



When an agriculturist annexes a sugar-boiler or distillery to his 

 farm, does he count the beets fed it at the price they cost? No, 

 he values them at the price for which he could buy them. When he 

 sells an animal, does he deliver it at the price it cost him ? No, he 

 takes the mercury of the market for his guide. 



To obtain the real cost of manure, expenses should be accurately 

 divided, to define with certainty the origin of its benefits, and to 

 know how much is due to economy and perfection of tools. -In a 

 well-directed farm an account should be opened for the stables alone, 

 the creditor of all which is a source of real value milk, butter, ani- 



