On the Valuation of Unexhausted Manures. 
33 
have to be settled, either by agreement, or by a recognised cus- 
tom for a given district or locality ; and the question is open 
for consideration whether the rate should approximate to the 
farm- or to the market-value. As the quantity of dung to be so 
valued will depend very much on the quantity of straw produced 
at the last harvest, the valuation will, so far, take into account 
the previous condition of the land. High condition of land 
means large corn-crops, and the tendency of the effect of high 
manuring is to increase the straw in greater proportion than the 
corn ; and as 1 ton of straw makes from 3^ to 4 tons or more 
of dung, the difference between the number of tons of dung 
paid for on entry on land in poor condition, and the amount to 
receive for on quitting in high condition, may be very large. 
If in addition to the value of dung, reckoned per load or ton, 
the manure-value of the purchased food, if any, consumed in 
its production were also allowed, it might be objected that the 
incoming tenant would thus have to pay for the same manure 
twice over. In answer it may be said that the addition to the 
weight of a yard of manure by the excrements due to the con- 
sumption of purchased food is comparatively immaterial ; but if 
it were decided that a reduction should be made on this score, 
about three-fourths of the weight of the purchased food would 
probably be sufficient to deduct from the total number of loads 
or tons of dung. What proportion of the original manure-value 
of the purchased food, as shown in Table I., at page 11, should 
be allowed, will depend upon whether it has been consumed on 
the land, or in the yards or buildings. If on the land 17s., 
md if in the yards or buildings 16s., for every 20s. of original 
manure-value should be allowed. 
The condition of the land in regard to recent manuring would, 
as in the case of the amount of dung produced from the straw of 
the last harvest, be further represented in the amount of straw to 
be valued as such at the next harvest. How much the amount 
of straAv may vary on the same land and in the same seasons, 
according to " condition," may be illustrated by what is, how- 
ever, admittedly a very extreme case. The continuously un- 
manured plot in my experimental wheat-field gave over a series 
of years an average of only about 14^ cwts. of straw per acre ; 
whilst a highly-manured plot gave, over the same period, an 
average of 46i cwts., or nearly 3^ times as much. 
Supposing the amount of straw were to be taken as an item in 
the valuation for compensation, as here proposed, the question 
j whether the consuming or the market price should be adopted 
1 would, as in the case of the dung, be still open for consideration. 
Shortly after the publication of my Paper read before the 
London Farmers' Club in 1870, Mr. Smith, of VVoolston, writing 
VOL. XL— S. S. D 
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