244 TALKS OX MANURES. 



I have never said I wanted unfavorable seasons. I should not 

 dare to say so, or even to cherish the wish for one moment. But 

 I do say, that when we have a season so favorable that even poorly 

 worked land will produce a fair crop, we arc almost certain to have 

 prices below the average cost of production. But wheu we have 

 an unfavorable season, such crops as barley, potatoes, and bcaus, 

 Dften advance to extravagantly high prices, and the farmer wlio has 

 good crops in such a st-ason, gels something like adequate pay for 

 his patient wailing, and for his efforts to improve his land. 



'* That sounds all very well," said the Squire," but will it pay to 

 use these artlGcial manures V " 



I do not wish to wander too much from the point, but would 

 like to remark before I answer that question, that 1 am not a 

 special advocate of artificial manures. I think we can often make 

 manures on our farms far ch apcr than wc can buy them. But aa 

 the Squire has asked the question, and as he has selected from Mr. 

 Lawes' results, the year 1800, I will meet him on his own ground, 

 lie lias selected a season specially unfavorable for the growth of 

 barley. Now, in sucli an unfavorable year in this country, barley 

 would be likely to bring, at least, $\:2~t per bushel, and in a favor- 

 able season not over 75 cents a bushel. 



Mr. Lawes keeps his land clean, which is more than c^in be said 

 of many barley-growers. And in this unfavorable season of 1800, 

 he gets on his three unmanured plots an average of 730 lbs. of 

 barley, equal to 151^ bushels per acre, and not quite 800 lbs. of 

 straw. 



Many of our farmers frequently do no better than this. And 

 you must recollect that in such careful experiments as those of 

 Mr. Lawes and Dr. Gilbert, great paiii.s would be taken to get all 

 the barley that grew on tl)C laml. Willi us, barley is cut with a 

 reaper, and admirable as our machines are, it is not an easy matter 

 to cut a light, spindling crop of barley perfectly clean. Then, in 

 pitching the cr )p and drawing it in, more or less barley is scattered, 

 and even after we have been over the field two or three times with 

 a steel-toot'i rake, there is still considerable barley left on the 

 ground. I think we may safely assume that at least as much barley 

 is left on the ground as we usually sow — say two l)ushels per acre. 

 And so, instead of bavin;; 15^ busliels per acre, as Mr. Lawes had, 

 we should only harvest 13i bushels. 



Of all our ordinary farm crops, barley is attended with the lea.<^t 

 labor and expense. We usually sow it after corn or potatoes. On 

 sjch stnmg land as that of Mr. Lawes, we ought to plow the land 



