Postscript to Paper. 247 



Postscript to Paper Rbad at the Meeting oe the British 

 Association at Cambridge^ 1904 : — ' 



It may be advisable to note that my paper has been written from 

 a practical farmer's point of view solely. His efforts should, I 

 snggest, be directed mainly to methods for the most economical 

 production of crops, and the prevention of the diseases to which 

 both crops and animals are liable. The discovery of new manurial 

 resources, the question of the application of chemical fertilizers, 

 and the advisability, or inadvisability, of adopting curative methods 

 for plaut and animal diseases should be left to the scientific 

 observer. As to the last named it is of importance to remember 

 that when all the conditions are favourable to health the diseases of 

 plants and animals exist as a rule to a comparatively small degree, 

 and that they only do so to an injurious extent when circumstances 

 are unfavourable. As regards the truth of this rudimentary fact I 

 have had ample evidence both in the case of my Indian and 

 Clifton-on-Bowmont experiences, where healthy conditions of soil, 

 and general circumstances favourable to health, have shown most 

 marked results as regards the diseases to which animals, plants, 

 potatoes, and turnips are liable. It is of great importance, too, to 

 remember that when, by preventive measures, the farmer spends 

 money in such a way as to reduce losses from diseases, he is certain, 

 as I have previously shown, to get a profitable and permanent return 

 for his outlay, while the return from curative measures is always" 

 uncertain, and costly, and is generally of a temporary nature. 



One word more. It is of practical interest to note that the 

 farmers of the Eastern States of America are recruiting their rtin- 

 ont lands, not as farmers are being urged to do here, and are doing 

 to a considerable extent, by purchased fertilizers, but by growing 

 leguminous crops by which, at the smallest cost, the land can be 

 both chemically, and, what is generally of more importance, 

 physically fertilized, and much of the required nitrogen obtained 

 from the atmosphere. In this connection a question of great 

 importance in its immediate and consequential results arises. It is 

 this. If the land by good farming can, with the aid of natural 

 agencies solely, be fully supplied with nitrogen, why should the 

 farmer purchase it ? And if there is no need of his doing so why 

 should the landlord have to pay, under the Unexhausted Manures 

 Act, for any portion of nitrogen-yielding manures .' It is a remark- 

 able fact that the efforts made by the legislature, by means of costly 

 experiments with artificial manures, and an act to protect the pur- 



