CHEMICAL MANURES. 103 



DEBIT. 



First Year Beets. 

 Expenses of all kinds $41.37 



Second Year Wheat. 



Expenses of all kinds $34.52 



Fertilizer for two years 38.QO 



Total expense $113.89 



Difference $85.10 



$85.10, to pay for the additional fertilizer worth $18.05, which 

 compensates for the loss resulting from the exporting of the pulp and 

 straw. 



You will remark that in the calculations it is supposed that the 

 whole of the azote came from the soil, and that it must be returned 

 to it, pound for pound. Now, it is a purely gratuitous supposition I 

 have voluntarily made, to add force to my demonstration and put it 

 beyond all dispute. 



I know that returns obtained for two years may rightly be con- 

 sidered as maximum returns. I admit the possibility of seeing them 

 sensibly lowered in years unfavorable to the chemical fertilizers. But 

 what a margin, however ! and how admit that the profits I have 

 shown can be changed into loss ? 



You perhaps think it strange, my dear sir, that I enter on these 

 details. If I thought to clear up the question in this manner, it is 

 because I am doubly interested : First, because I feel constrained to 

 say aloud, and without hesitation, what I believe to be the truth, and 

 because we cultivators and a few farmers cannot allow ourselves to 

 be gratuitously accused of wasting the productive forces of a soil con- 

 fided to our care. Our responsibility, our future, even, are engaged 

 in the question. We cannot allow, without protesting, that we work 

 without judgment. For myself, faithful to the prescriptions of M. 

 Ville, I will continue to apply his teachings, having always present 

 in my mind, as he recommends in such precise terms, the inflexible 

 law of restitution imposed upon us, whose character and signification 

 it is so difficult to define. In acting thus, I have the certainty of in- 

 creasing the fertility of the lands which form the whole of my farm, 

 while developing the resources of the present. A. CAVALLIER. 



November 7, 1867. 



SECOND CULTURE OF WHEAT BY MEANS OF CHEM- 

 ICAL FERTILIZERS. 



The land I have operated upon (primitive formation, or, to be more 

 exact, mica-schist) is a poor land, rented at $2.50 to S3 the acre, 

 wasted by a triennial rotation under the worst conditions from time 

 immemorial, and not to my knowledge have the vices of this rota- 

 tion been corrected I do not mean by abundant manuring, but 

 by any manure at all. These lands are situated at a considerable 

 height above the farm-buildings, and difficult of access ; it is easy, 



