CHAP. XI.] SYSTEMS OF FARMING 301 



mixtures sold as " Turnip Manures," " Potato Manures," 

 and so forth, must be in the majority of cases more or 

 less wasteful if they are to be effective everywhere. 

 Instead of applying a kind of average manure, the farmer 

 ought to have such an appreciation of manurial principles 

 that he can adapt his fertilisers as economically as 

 possible to his own soil and conditions of farming. 



In discussing the application of fertilisers to crops, 

 even when the special features presented by the soil are 

 neglected, we can draw no conclusions as to the proper 

 methods of manuring unless we take into account the 

 place the crop occupies in the rotation adopted by the 

 farmer, and also the character of his land and style of 

 farming. For example, we have not to consider the 

 wheat crop as standing by itself in the manner we see 

 it in the Rothamsted experiments, but as it is generally 

 grown in practice — after a clover crop, or perhaps after 

 mangolds which have been manured with dung. 

 Furthermore, one man may be in possession of good 

 land in high condition, and may be farming "high" for 

 big crops ; he will be justified in a greater outlay upon 

 fertilisers than would be advisable for an equally good 

 farmer on poorer land, where it may be more economical 

 to be content with smaller crops and to keep down the 

 expenditure. The manuring to be adopted on a given 

 farm must be looked at as a whole, as a system to be 

 shaped as much by various wider considerations of 

 farming policy as by the particular crops that are being 

 grown. It is easy, for example, to indicate the com- 

 position a manure for Swedes should possess, but 

 whether a farmer should spend 15s. or 40s. an acre on 

 fertilisers for his Swede land depends entirely upon the 

 general character and style of his farm. It is for 

 this reason that many field experiments, however 

 ostensibly designed on a cash basis to show the returns 



