The Siirvivat in Farmtnr/. 
261 
Average results obtained at twenty-three stations sliow that tile 
greatest yield — a little over 29 tons — was obtained from the 
application of 4 cwt. of nitrate of soda, 4 cwt. of superphosphate, 
and 4 cwt. of salt per acre, costing 21. 15s. The average yield 
of two unmanured plots at each of the twenty-three stations 
was not quite 15| tons, and the increase on the manured plots 
just referred to averaged nearly 13^ tons per acre, costing 
4ts. 2d. per ton. Where half the quantity of nitrate of soda was 
used, with the same quantities of superphosphate and salt, the 
increase was about 2 tons less, and the cost of the increase was 
only 3*". 3d. a ton. 
Now, the law of diminishing returns is sometimes applied 
as if it meant that the returns obtained when capital is expended 
in manure are necessarily less in proportion to cost than those of 
land left to its natural resources. The comparisons just given 
show how entirely mistaken this idea is. In the case of the 
barley, the increase on the manured plot cost only Is. 3d. per 
bushel, and it is certain that every bushel grown on the 
unmanured land cost a good deal more than that amount. 
Similarly, in the case of the mangel, the extra produce on one 
set of plots cost only o.s-. 3d. a ton; whereas, the 15| ton§ 
grown on the unmanured plots must have cost at least double 
that sum, because the quantity at 3;*. od. a ton comes to only 
21. lis. an acre. Further, out of ten sets of manured plots 
the increase over the produce of the unmanured land cost 6s. 7d. 
a ton or less, although the manure, including dung in two cases, 
ranged in cost up to 31. Ss. 6d. an acre ; and, as a ton of mangel 
is worth more than 6s. Id., it may fairly be said that every one 
of these seven dressings was remunerative, and that, therefore, 
the law of diminishing returns did not apply to it. Similarly, 
in the case of grass land, it might be shown, by citing the 
results of Mr. Martin John Sutton's experiments, that the increase 
obtained by the use of certain manures cost less than the produce 
of the unmanured land. 
On virgin land, obtained free of cost, the case might be 
different, although I imagine that few virgin soils would grow 
more than 15| tons of mangel per acre without manure, and, if 
I am right, the application of manure might be profitable. It 
is obvious, however, that the natural produce of rent-free virgin 
land costs much less than that of land in this country, and that, 
therefore, the law of diminishing returns would more quickly 
come into play in the former case than in the latter. 
In short, the abstract argument in favour of judicious high 
farming is this — that the cost of growing a small crop with 
little or no manure is nearly as gi'eat as that of growing a great 
