Swedes raised upon barren Land toith artificial Manure. 359 
It will be observed that no charge is made for pulling the swedes, 
because 4 or 5 tons per acre of green food (though some of the 
leaves were in a state of d(!cav), which have with the addition of a 
little straw maintained a flock of 120 ewes for five days, must 
far outweigh that expense, and in truth ought to convey a con- 
siderable sum to the credit side of the account. I have thus 
given every item of cost that can be laid against 21 tons of 
swedes per acre. The precise value of this root is, I am aware, 
hitherto an undecided question. In this neighbourhood I can sell 
them at the rate of 1/. per ton; but experiments made last year 
and others still in progress lead me to value them at 9(/. per cwt., 
at the very loicest — or 1 5.?. per ton when employed in fatting 
sheep in sheds on boards; nnd this exclusive of the value of the 
dung made by the sheep under cover. Therefore I do not hesi- 
tate to express an opinion that to persons w ho know how to use 
swedes they are worth ISs. a ton — an estimate which makes the 
crop worth 15/. 155. per acre, at a cost of 3/. \7s. 9d., giving a 
return of more than 300 per cent, for the outlay. 
I hope that it will not be thought an instance of too rapid a 
generalization when I draw from this experience the inference 
that with a skilful employment of labour, reliance on the prin- 
ciples of chemistry, and adequate capital, there is no soil, however 
poor, which will not abundantly repay the costs of cultivation. 
I am well aware that the estimate of " iQs. a ton, or of 1 .5.v. at 
the very outside," is that given in many books. Nor would I 
presume to express my own higher sense of their worth, but that 
continued experiments made by myself have left me no doubt on 
the subject. Will you permit me to observe that the want of 
accurate weights and measurements, and therewith of just valua- 
tion, is the great opprobrium of English agriculture. In this 
respect it is far less scientific than either the French or German. 
J have never yet met with a farmer who could tell me with any 
degree of exactness how much of food per day, an animal, whether 
sheep, or pig, or ox, will eat, under given circumstances of age, 
breed, condition, and shelter; and how much flesh he will put on 
by the consumption of so much food. Therefore 1 have deter- 
mined to seek out the information for myself ; and am prepared 
to prove, by repeated weighings of the food, that a full-mouthed 
south-down wether or ewe will, when confined to a shed upon 
boards, as in Journal V. Part i., eat on an average from 16 to 
18 lbs. a day of cut swedes, with 1 pint of oats and ^ lb. of 
barley-straw cut into chaff and salted, and that upon this Ibod the 
animal will increase 3 lbs. in live weight per week. Now I 
assume that this live incrkask (in a full-grown animal) is to the 
dead-weight : : 4 ; 3, because skin, head, bones, and entrails will 
be nearly a constant quantity — 
