Chapter LXXII: Act 1893: compelled sellers of fertilizers (i.e. manures), (1)

manufactured or imported, to state the percentage of the nitrogen, of the soluble and insoluble phosphates, and of the potash in each article sold, and this statement was to have the effect of a warranty. Similar stringent conditions applied as regards the sale of feeding-stuffs for live stock. The Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs Act 1906, amending and re-enacting the act of 1893, provided for the compulsory appointment by county councils of official samplers. It also provides penalties for breaches of duty by the seller, but grants him protection in cases where he is not morally responsible. The Finance Act of 1894, with its great changes in the death duties, overshadowed all other acts of that year both in its immediate effects and in its far-reaching consequences. The Copyhold Consolidation Act 1894 supersedes six previous copyhold statutes, but does not effect any alteration in the law concerning enfranchisement. The Diseases of Animals Act 1896 provided for the compulsory slaughter of imported live stock at the place of landing. The Light Railways Act and the Locomotives on Highways Act were added to the statute book in 1896, and various clauses in the Finance Act effected reforms in respect of the death duties, the land-tax, farmers' income-tax and the beer duty. The Chaff-cutting Machines (Accidents) Act 1897 is a measure very similar in its intention to the Threshing Machines Act 1878, and provides for the automatic prevention of accidents to persons in charge of chaff-cutting machines. The Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1899 has special reference in its earlier sections to the trade in dairy produce and margarine. In 1899 was also passed the act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland.

The year 1900 saw the passing of a Workmen's Compensation Act, which extended the benefits of the act of 1807 to agricultural labourers.

Acreage and Yields of British Crops.

The most notable feature in connexion with the cropping of the land of the United Kingdom between 1875 and 1905 was the lessened cultivation of the cereal crops associated with an expansion in the area of grass land. At the beginning of the period the aggregate area under wheat, barley and oats was nearly 10 1/2 million acres; at the close it did not amount to 8 million acres. There was thus a withdrawal during the period of over 2 1/2 million acres from cereal cultivation. From Table I., showing the acreages at intervals of five years, it will be learnt that the loss fell chiefly upon the wheat crop, which at the close of the period

TABLE 1.--Areas of Cereal Crops in the United Kingdom
-- Acres

YEAR. WHEAT. BARLEY. OATS. TOTAL.

1875 3,514,088 2,751,362 4,176,177 10,441,627
1880 3,065,895 2,695,000 4,191,716 9,952,611
1885 2,553,092 2,447,169 4,282,594 9,282,855
1890 2,483,595 2,300,994 4,137,790 8,922,379
1895 1,456,042 2,346,367 4,527,899 8,330,308
1900 1,901,014 2,172,140 4,145,633 8,218,787
1905 1,836,598 1,872,305 4,137,406 7,846,309

occupied barely more than half the area assigned to it at the beginning. If the land taken from wheat had been cropped with one or both of the other cereals, the aggregate area would have remained about the same. This, however, was not the case, for a fairly uniform decrease in the barley area was accompanied by somewhat irregular fluctuations in the acreage of oats. To the decline in prices of home-grown cereals the decrease in area is largely attributable. The extent of this decline is seen in Table II., wherein are given the annual average prices from 1875 to 1905, calculated upon returns from the 190 statutory markets of England and Wales (Corn Returns Act 1882). These prices are per imperial quarter,---that is, 480 lb. of wheat, 400 lb. of barley and 312 lb. of oats, representing 60 lb, 50 lb. and 39 lb. per bushel respectively. After 1883 the annual average price of English wheat was never so high as 40s. per quarter, and only twice after 1892 did it exceed 30s. In one of these exceptional years, 1898, the average rose to 34s., but this was due entirely to a couple of months of inflated prices in the early half of the year, when the outbreak of war between Spain and the United States of America coincided with a huge speculative deal in the latter country. The

TABLE II.--Gazette Annual Average Prices per Imperial Quarter
of British Cereals in England and Wales, 1875-1905.

Year. Wheat. Barley. Oats.

s. d. s. d. s. d. 1875 45 2 38 5 28 8 1876 46 2 35 2 26 3 1877 56 9 39 8 25 [] 1878 46 5 40 2 24 4 1879 43 10 34 0 21 9 1880 44 4 33 1 23 1 1881 45 4 31 11 21 9 1882 45 1 31 2 21 10 1883 41 7 31 10 21 5 1884 35 8 30 8 20 3 1885 32 10 30 1 20 7 1886 31 0 26 7 19 0 1887 32 6 25 4 16 3 1888 31 10 27 10 16 9 1889 29 9 25 10 17 9 1890 31 11 28 8 18 7 1891 37 0 28 2 20 0 1892 30 3 26 2 19 10 1893 26 4 25 7 18 9 1894 22 10 24 6 17 1 1895 23 1 21 11 14 6 1896 26 2 22 11 14 9 1897 30 2 23 6 16 11 1898 34 0 27 2 18 5 1899 25 8 25 7 17 0 1900 26 11 24 11 17 7 1901 26 9 25 2 18 5 1902 28 1 25 8 20 2 1903 26 9 22 8 17 2 1904 28 4 22 4 16 4 1905 29 8 24 4 17 4

weekly average prices of English wheat in 1898 fluctuated between 48s. 1d. and 25s. 5d. per quarter, the former being the highest weekly average since 1882. The minimum annual average was 22s. 10d. in 1894, in the autumn of which year the weekly average sank to 17s. 6d. per quarter, the lowest on record. Wheat was so great a glut in the market that various methods were devised for feeding it to stock, a purpose for which it is not specially suited; in thus utilizing the grain, however, a smaller loss was often incurred than in sending it to market. In 1894 the monthly average price for October, the chief month for wheat-sowing in England, was only 17s. 8d. per quarter, and farmers naturally shrank from seeding the land freely with a crop which could not be grown except at a heavy loss. The result was that in the following year the wheat crop of the United Kingdom was harvested upon the smallest area on record--less than 1 1/2 million acres. In only one year, 1878, did the annual average price of English barley touch 40s. per quarter; it never reached 30s. after 1885, whilst in 1895 it fell to so low a level as 21s. 11d. The same story of declining prices applies to oats. An average of 20s. per quarter was touched in 1891 and 1902, but with those exceptions this useful feeding grain did not reach that figure after 1885. In 1895 the average price of 480 lb. of wheat, at 23s. 1d., was identical with that of 312 lb. of oats in 1880, and it was less in the preceding year. The declining prices that have operated against the growers of wheat should be studied in conjunction with Table III., which shows, at intervals of five years, the imports of

TABLE III.--Imports into the United Kingdom of Wheat Grain, and of Wheat Meal and Flour--Cwt.

Year. Wheat Grain. Meal and Flour. Total.

1875 51,876,517 6,136,083 58,012,600 1880 55,261,924 10,558,312 65,820,236 1885 61,498,864 15,832,843 77,331,707 1890 60,474,180 15,773,336 76,247,516 1895 81,749,955 18,368,410 100,118,365 1900 68,669,490 21,548,131 90,217,621 1905 97,622,752 11,954,763 109,577,515

wheat grain and of wheat meal and flour into the United Kingdom. The import of the manufactured product from 1875 to 1900 increased at a much greater ratio than that of the raw grain, for whilst in 1875 the former represented less than one-ninth of the total, by 1900 the proportion had risen to nearly one-fourth. The offal, which is quite as valuable as the flour itself, was thus retained abroad instead of being utilized for stock-feeding purposes in the United Kingdom. In the five subsequent years the proportion was fundamentally altered, so that with a greatly increased importation of grain, that of meal and flour was in the proportion of about one-ninth. The highest and lowest areas of wheat, barley and oats in the United Kingdom during the period 1875-1905 were the

Wheat . 3,514,088 acres in 1875; 1,407,618 acres in 1904. Barley . 2,931,809 acres in 1879; 1,872,305 acres in 1905. Oats . 4,527,899 acres in 1895; 3,998,200 acres in 1879.

These show differences amounting to 2,106,470 acres for wheat, 1,059,504 acres for barley, and 529,699 acres for oats. The acreage of wheat, therefore, fluctuated the most, and that of oats the least. Going back to 1869, it is found that the extent of wheat in that year was 3,981,989 acres or very little short of four million acres.

The acreage of rye grown in the United Kingdom as a grain crop is small, the respective maximum and minimum areas during the period 1875-1905 having been 102,676 acres in 1894 and 47,937 acres in 1880. Rye is perhaps more largely grown as a green crop to be fed off by sheep, or cut green for soiling, in the spring months.

Of corn crops other than cereals, beans and peas are both less cultivated than formerly. In the period 1875-1905 the area of beans in the United Kingdom fluctuated between 574,414 acres in 1875 and 230,429 acres in 1897, and that of peas between 318,410 acres in 1875 and 155,668 acres in 1901. The area of peas (175,624 acres in 1905) shrank by nearly one-half, and that of beans (256,583 acres in 1905) by more than one-half. Taking cereals and pulse corn together, the aggregate areas of wheat, barley, oats, rye, beans and peas in the United Kingdom varied as follows over the six quinquennial intervals embraced in the period

Year. Acres. | Year. Acres. 1875 . . 11,399,030 | 1890 . . 9,574,249 1880 . . 10,672,086 | 1895 . . 8,865,338 1885 . . 10,014,625 | 1900 . . 8,707,602 | 1905 . . 8,333,770

Disregarding minor fluctuations, there was thus a loss of corn land over the 30 years of 3,065,260 acres, or 27%.

The area withdrawn from corn-growing is not to be found under the head of what are termed ``green crops.'' In 1905 the total area of these crops in the United Kingdom was 4,144,374 acres, made up

Crop. Acres. Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,236,768 Turnips and swedes . . . . . . . . . 1,879,384 Mangel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477,540 Cabbage, kohl-rabi and rape . . . . 225,315 Vetches or tares . . . . . . . . . . 139,285 Other green crops . . . . . . . . . 186,082

The extreme aggregate areas of these crops during the thirty years were 5,057,029 acres in 1875 and 4,109,394 acres in 1904. At five-year intervals the areas

Year. Acres. | Year. Acres. 1875 . . 5,057,029 | 1890 . . 4,534,145 1880 . . 4,746,293 | 1895 . . 4,399,949 1885 . . 4,765,195 | 1900 . . 4,301,774 | 1905 . . 4,144,374

These crops, therefore, which, except potatoes, are used mainly for stock-feeding, have like the corn crops been grown on gradually diminishing areas.

The land that has been lost to the plough is found to be still further augmented when an inquiry is instituted into the area devoted to clover, sainfoin and grasses under rotation. The areas of five-year intervals are given in Table IV. Under the old Norfolk or four-course rotation (roots, barley, clover, wheat) land thus seeded with clover or grass seeds was intended to be ploughed up at the end of a year. Labour difficulties, low prices of produce, bad seasons and similar causes provided inducements for leaving the land in grass for two years, or over three years or more, before breaking it up for wheat. In many cases it would be decided to let such land remain under grass indefinitely, and thus it would no longer be enumerated in the Agricultural Returns as temporary grass land, but would pass into the category of permanent grass land, or what is often spoken of as ``permanent pasture.'' Whilst much grass land has been laid down with the intention from the outset that it should be permanent, at the same time some considerable areas have through stress of circumstances been allowed to drift from the temporary or rotation grass area to the permanent list, and have thus still further diminished the area formerly under the dominion of the plough. The column relating to permanent grass in Table IV. shows clearly enough how the British Isles became

TABLE IV.--Areas of Grass Land (excluding Heath and Mountain
Land) in the United Kingdom--Acres.

Permanent
Year. Temporary (i.e. (i.e. not broken up Total.
under rotation). in rotation).

1875 6,337,953 23,772,602 30,110,555 1880 6,389,232 24,717,092 31,106,324 1885 6,738,206 25,616,071 32,354,277 1890 6,097,210 27,115,425 33,212,635 1895 6,061,139 27,831,117 33,892,256 1900 6,025,025 28,266,712 34,291,737 1905 5,779,323 28,865,373 34,644,696

more pastoral, while the figures already given demonstrate the extent to which they became less arable. In the period 1875-1905 the extreme areas returned as ``permanent pasture''--a term which, it should be clearly understood, does not include heath or mountain land, of which there are in Great Britain alone about 13 million acres used for grazing---were 23,772,602 acres in 1875, and 28,865,373 acres in 1905. Comparing 1905 with 1875 the increase in permanent grass land amounted to over five million acres, or about 21%.

On account of the greater humidity and mildness of its climate, Ireland is more essentially a pastoral country than Great Britain. The distribution between the two islands of such important crops of arable land as cereals and potatoes is indicated in Table V. The figures are those for 1905, but, though the absolute acreages

TABLE V.--Areas of Cereal and Potato Crops in Great Britain and Ireland in 1905.

Wheat. Barley.

Acres. Acres. Great Britain . 1,796,993 1,713,664 Ireland . . . . 37,860 154,645

Total . . . . . 1,834,853 1,868,309

Oats. Potatoes. Great Britain . 3,051,376 608,473 Ireland . . . . 1,066,806 616,755

Total . . . . . 4,118,182 1,225,228

vary somewhat from year to year, there is not much variation in the proportions. The comparative insignificance of Ireland in the case of the wheat and barley crops, represented by 2 and 8% respectively, receives some compensation when oats and potatoes are considered, about one-fourth of the area of the former and more than half that of the latter being claimed by Ireland. It is noteworthy, however, that Ireland year by year places less reliance upon the potato crop. In 1888 the area of potatoes in Ireland was 804,566 acres, but it continuously contracted each year, until in 1905 it was only 616,755 acres, or 187,811 acres less than 17 years previously.

A similar comparison for the several sections of Great Britain, as set forth in Table VI., shows that to England belong about 95% of the wheat area, over 80% of the barley area, over 60% of the oats area, and over 70% of the potato area, and these proportions do not vary much from year to year. The figures for cereals are important, as they indicate that it is the farmers of England who are the chief sufferers through the diminishing prices of corn; and particularly is this true of East Anglia, where corn-growing is more largely pursued than in any other part of the

TABLE VI.--Areas of Cereal and Potato Crops in England, Wales and Scotland, and in Great Britain, in 1905.

Wheat. Barley.

Acres. Acres. England . . . . 1,704,281 1,410,287 Wales . . . . . 44,073 91,243 Scotland . . . 48,641 212,134

Great Britain . 1,796,995 1,713,664

Oats. Potatoes. England . . . . 1,880,475 434,773 Wales . . . . . 207,929 29,435 Scotland . . . 962,972 144,265

Great Britain . 3,051,376 608,473

country. Scotland possesses nearly one-third of the area of oats and nearly one-fourth of that of potatoes. Beans are almost entirely confined to England, and this is even more the case with peas. The mangel crop also is mainly English, the summer in most parts of Scotland being neither long enough nor warm enough to bring it to maturity.

The Produce of British Crops.

Whilst the returns relating to the acreage of crops and the number of live stock in Great Britain have been officially collected in each year since 1866, the annual official estimates of the produce of the crops in the several sections of the kingdom do not extend back beyond 1885. The practice is for the Board of Agriculture to appoint local estimators, who report in the autumn as to the total production of the crops in the localities respectively assigned to them. By dividing the total production, say of wheat, in each county by the number of acres of wheat as returned by the occupiers on June 4, the estimated average yield per acre is obtained. It is important to notice that the figures relating to total production and yield per acre are only estimates, and it is not claimed for them that they are anything more. The fact that much of the wheat to which the figures apply is still in the stack after the publication of the figures shows that the latter are essentially estimates. The total produce of any crop in a given year must depend mainly upon the acreage grown, whilst the average yield per acre will be determined chiefly by the character of the season. In Table VII. are shown, in thousands

TABLE VII.--Estimated Annual Total Produce of Corn Crops in the United Kingdom, 1890-1905 --Thousands of Bushels.

Year. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Beans. Peas.

1890 75,994 80,794 171,295 11,860 6313 1891 74,743 79,555 166,472 10,694 5777 1892 60,775 76,939 168,181 7,054 5028 1893 50,913 65,746 168,588 4,863 4756 1894 60,704 78,601 190,863 7,198 6229 1895 38,285 75,028 174,476 5,626 4732 1896 58,247 77,825 162,860 6,491 4979 1897 56,296 72,613 163,556 6,650 5250 1898 74,885 74,731 172,578 7,267 4858 1899 67,261 74,532 166,140 7,566 4431 1900 54,322 68,546 165,137 7,469 4072 1901 53,928 67,643 161,175 6,154 4017 1902 58,278 74,439 184,184 7,704 5106 1903 48,819 65,310 172,941 7,535 4812 1904 37,920 62,453 176,755 5,901 4446 1905 60,333 65,004 166,286 8,262 4446

of bushels, the estimated produce of the corn crops of the United Kingdom in the years 1890-1905. The largest area of wheat in the period was that of 1890, and the smallest was that of 1904; the same two years are seen to have been respectively those of highest and lowest total produce. It is noteworthy that in 1895 the country produced about half as much wheat as in any one of the years 1890, 1891 and 1898. The produce of barley, like that of oats, is less irregular than that of wheat, the extremes for barley being 80,794,000 bushels (1890) and 62,453,000 bushels (1904), and those for oats 190,863,000 bushels (1894) and 161,175,000 bushels (1901). Similar details for potatoes, roots and hay, brought together in Table VIII., show that the

TABLE VIII.--Estimated Annual Total Produce of Potatoes, Roots and Hay in the United Kingdom, 1890-1905--Thousands of Tons.

Year. Potatoes. Turnips. Mangels. Hay.

1890 4622 32,002 6709 14,466 1891 6090 29,742 7558 12,671 1892 5634 31,419 7428 11,567 1893 6541 31,110 5225 9,082 1894 4662 30,678 7310 15,699 1895 7065 29,221 6376 12,238 1896 6263 28,037 5875 11,416 1897 4107 29,785 7379 14,043 1898 6225 26,499 7228 15,916 1899 5837 20,370 7604 12,898 1900 4577 28,387 9650 13,742 1901 7043 25,298 9224 11,358 1902 5920 29,116 10,809 15,246 1903 5277 23,523 8212 14,955 1904 6230 28,033 8813 14,860 1905 7186 26,563 9493 13,554

production of potatoes varies much from year to year. The imports of potatoes into the United Kingdom vary, to some extend inversely; thus, the low production in 1897 was accompanied by an increase of import from 3,921,205 cwt. in 1897 to 6,751,728 cwt. in 1898. No very great reliance can be placed upon the figures relating to turnips (which include swedes), as these are mostly fed to sheep on the ground, so that the estimates as to yield are necessarily vague. Mangels are probably more closely estimated, as these valuable roots are carted and stored for subsequent use for feeding stock. Under hay are included the produce of closer, sainfoin and rotation grasses, and also that of permanent meadow. The extent to which the annual production of the leading fodder crop may vary is shown in the table by the two consecutive years 1893 and 1894; from only nine million tons in the former year the production rose to upwards of fifteen million tons in the latter, an increase of over 70%.

Turning to the average yields per acre, as ascertained by dividing the number of acres into the total produce, the results of a decade are collected in Table IX. The effects of a prolonged

TABLE IX.--Estimated Annual Average Yield per Acre of Crops in United Kingdom, 1895-1904.

Year. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Beans. Peas. Potatoes.

Bush. Bush. Bush. Bush. Bush. Tons. 1895 26.33 32.09 38.67 22.98 22.62 5.64 1896 33.63 34.16 37.97 25.69 25.34 4.93 1897 29.07 32.91 38.84 28.91 27.55 3.47 1898 34.75 36.24 42.27 31.13 27.60 5.23 1899 32.76 34.64 40.57 30.19 27.22 4.82 1900 28.61 31.67 39.97 28.18 25.89 3.77 1901 30.93 31.70 39.35 24.29 25.97 5.81 1902 32.91 35.83 44.50 31.49 28.51 4.92 1903 30.15 32.38 40.81 31.27 26.56 4.45 1904 26.97 31.25 40.80 23.23 25.75 5.24

Mean, 10 Years 30.85 33.28 20.35 27.68 26.24 4.84

1905 32.88 34.79 40.38 32.33 25.71 5.86

Turnips
and Hay, Hay,
Year. Swedes. Mangels. Rotation. Permanent.

Tons. Tons. Cwt. Cwt. 1895 13.11 16.44 29.08 25.21 1896 12.79 14.99 27.95 24.14 1897 13.90 18.03 32.53 30.71 1898 12.74 17.71 36.49 34.27 1899 9.97 17.41 31.04 29.11 1900 14.29 19.97 32.42 30.98 1901 12.95 19.37 28.98 23.85 1902 15.35 20.85 35.29 32.57 1903 12.44 17.19 33.07 31.27 1904 14.83 18.57 33.43 31.04

Mean, 10 Years 13.21 18.18 32.06 29.32

1905 14.19 19.91 32.24 28.37

spring and summer drought, like that of 1893, are exemplified in the circumstance that four corn crops and the two hay crops all registered very low average yields that year, viz. wheat 26.08 bushels, barley 29.30 bushels, oats 38.14 bushels, beans 19.61 bushels, rotation hay 23.55 cwt., permanent hay 20.41 cwt. On the other hand, the season of 1898 was exceptionally favourable to cereals and to hay. The effects of a prolonged autumn drought, as distinguished from spring and summer drought, are shown in the very low yield of turnips in 1899. Mangels are sown earlier and have a longer period of growth than turnips; if they become well established in the summer they are less susceptible to autumn drought. The hay made from closer, sainfoin and grasses under rotation generally gives a bigger average yield than that from permanent grass land. The mean values at the foot of the table--they are not, strictly speaking, exact averages--indicate the average yields per acre in the United Kingdom to be about 31 bushels of wheat, 33 bushels of barley, 40 bushels of oats, 28 bushels of neams, 26 bushels of peas, 4 3/4 tons of potatoes, 13 1/4 tons of turnips and swedes, 18 1/4 tons of mangels, 32 cwt. of hay from temporary grass, and 29 cwt. of hay from permanenet grass. Although enormous single crops of

TABLE X. Decennial Average Yields in Great Britain of Wheat, Barley and Oats--Bushels per Acre.

10-Year Periods. Wheat. Barley. Oats.

1885-1894 29.32 33.02 38.21 1886-1895 28.81 32.68 38.23 1887-1896 29.49 32.82 38.13 1888-1897 29.19 32.97 38.51 1889-1898 29.86 33.26 38.86 1890-1899 30.15 33.50 38.81 1891-1900 29.92 33.13 38.46 1892-1901 29.83 32.80 38.26 1893-1902 30.53 32.83 38.64 1894-1903 30.95 33.16 39.05 1895-1904 30.56 32.82 38.81 1896-1905 31.21 33.04 38.92

mangels are sometimes grown, amounting occasionally to 100 tons per acre, the general average yield of 18 1/4 tons is about 5 tons more than that of turnips and swedes. Again, although from the richest old permanent meadow-lands very heavy crops of hay are taken season after season, the general average yield of permanent grass is about 3 cwt. of hay per acre less than that from clover, sainfoin and grasses under rotation. The general average yields of the corn crops are not fairly comparable one with the other, because they are given by measure and not by weight, whereas the weight per bushel varies considerably. For purposes of comparison it would be much better if the yields of corn crops were estimated in cwt. per acre. This, indeed, is the practice in Ireland, and in order to incorporate the Irish figures with those for Great Britain so as to obtain average values for the United Kingdom, the Irish yields are calculated into bushels at the rate of 60lb to the bushel of wheat, of beans and peas, 50lb to the bushel of barley and 39lb to the bushel of oats.

The figure denoting the general average yield per acre of any class of crop need re-adjustment after every successive harvest. If a decennial period be taken, then--for the purpose of the new calculation--the earliest year is omitted and the latest year added, the number of years continuing at ten. Adopting this course in the case of the cereal crops of Great Britain the decennial averages recorded in Table X. are obtained, the period 1885-1894 being the earliest decade for which the official figures are available. It thus appears that the average yield of wheat in Great Britain, as calculated upon the crops harvested during the ten years (1896-1905), exceeded 31 bushels to the acre, whereas, for the ten years ended 1895, it fell below 29 bushels. A large expansion in the acreage of the wheat crop would probably be attended by a decline in the average yield per acre, for when a crop is shrinking in area the tendency is to withdraw from it first the land least suited to its growth. The general average for the United Kingdom might then recede to rather less than 28 bushels of 60 lb. per bushel, which was for a long time the accepted average--unless, of course, improved methods of cultivating and manuring the soil were to increase its general wheat-yielding capacity.6

Crops and Cropping.

The greater freedom of cropping and the less close adherence to the formal system of rotation of crops, which characterize the early years of the 20th century, rest upon a scientific basis. Experimental inquiry has done much to enlighten the farmer as to the requirements of plant-life, and to enable him to see how best to meet these requirements in the case of field crops. He cannot afford to ignore the results that have been gradually accumulated--the truths that have been slowly established--at the agricultural experiment stations in various parts of the world. Of these stations the greatest, and the oldest now existing, is that at Rothamsted, Harpenden, Herts, England, which was founded in 1843 by Sir John Bennet Lawes (q.v.). The results of more than half a century of sustained experimental inquiry were communicated to the world by Lawes and his collaborator, Sir J. H. Gilbert, in about 130 separate papers or reports, many of which were published, from 1847 onwards, in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.7

In the case of plants the method of procedure was to grow some of the most important crops of rotation, each separately year after year, for many years in succession on the same land, (a) without manure, (b) with farmyard manure and (c) with a great variety of chemical manures; the same description of manure being, as a rule, applied year after year on the same plot. Experiments on an actual course of rotation, without manure, and with different manures, have also been made. Wheat, barley, oats, beans, clover and other leguminous plants, turnips, sugar beet, mangels, potatoes and grass crops have thus been experimented upon. Incidentally there have been extensive sampling and analysing of soils, investigations into rainfall and the composition of drainage waters, inquiries into the amount of water transpired by plants, and experiments on the assimilation of free nitrogen.

Cereals--Amongst the field experiments there is, perhaps, not one of more universal interest than that in which wheat was grown for fifty-seven years in succession, (a) without manure, (b) with farmyard manure and (c) with various artificial manures. The results show that, unlike leguminous crops such as beans or clover, wheat may be successfully grown for many years in succession on ordinary arable land, provided suitable manures be applied and the land be kept clean. Even without manure the average produce over forty-six years, 1852-1897, was nearly thirteen bushels per acre, or about the average yield per acre of the wheat lands of the whole world. Mineral manures alone give very little increase, nitrogenous manures alone considerably more than mineral manures alone, but the mixture of the two considerably more than either separately. In one case, indeed, the average produce by mixed minerals and nitrogenous manure was more than that by the annual application of farmyard manure; and in seven out of the ten cases in which such mixtures were used the average yield per acre was from over two to over eight bushels more than the average yield of the United Kingdom (assuming this to be about twenty-eight bushels of 60 lb. per bushel) under ordinary rotation. It is estimated that the reduction in yield of the unmanured plot over the forty years, 1852-1891, after the growth of the crops without manure during the eight preceding years, was, provided it had been uniform throughout, equivalent to a decline of one-sixth of a bushel from year to year due to exhaustion--that is, irrespectively of fluctuations due to season. It is related that a visitor from the United States, talking to Sir John Lawes, said, ``Americans have learnt more from this field than from any other agricultural experiment in the world.''

Experiments upon the growth of barley for fifty years in succession on rather heavy ordinary arable soil resulted in showing that the produce by mineral manures alone is larger than that without manure; that nitrogenous manures alone give more produce than mineral manures alone; and that mixtures of mineral and nitrogenous manure give much more than either used alone--generally twice, or more than twice, as much as mineral manures alone. Of mineral constituents, whether used alone or in mixture with nitrogenous manures, phosphates are much more effective than mixtures of salts of potash, soda and magnesia. The average results show that, under all conditions of manuring--excepting with farmyard manure--the produce was less over the later than over the earlier periods of the experiments, an effect partly due to the seasons. But the average produce over forty years of continuous growth of barley was, in all cases where nitrogenous and mineral manures (containing phosphates) were used together, much higher than the average produce of the crop grown in ordinary rotation in the United Kingdom, and very much higher than the average in most other countries when so grown. The requirements of barley within the soil, and its susceptibility to the external influences of season, are very similar to those of its near ally, wheat. Nevertheless there are distinctions of result dependent on differences in the habits of the two plants, and in the conditions of their cultivation accordingly. In the British Isles wheat is, as a rule, sown in the autumn on a heavier soil, and has four or five months in which to distribute its roots, and so it gets possession of a wide range of soil and subsoil before barley is sown in the spring. Barley, on the other hand, is sown in a lighter surface soil, and, with its short period for root-development, relies in a much greater degree on the stores of plant-food within the surface soil. Accordingly it is more susceptible to exhaustion of surface soil as to its nitrogenous, and especially as to its mineral supplies; and in the common practice of agriculture it is found to be more benefited by direct mineral manures, especially phosphatic manures, than is wheat when sown under equal soil conditions. The exhaustion of the soil induced by both barley and wheat is, however, characteristically that of available nitrogen; and when, under the ordinary conditions of manuring and cropping, artificial manure is still required, nitrogenous manures are, as a rule, necessary for both crops, and, for the spring-sown barley, superphosphate also. Although barley is appropriately grown on lighter soils than wheat, good crops, of fair quality, may be grown on the heavier soils after another grain crop by the aid of artificial manures, provided that the land is sufficiently clean. Experiments similar to the foregoing were carried on for many years in succession at Rothamsted upon oats, and gave results which were in general accordance with those on the other cereal crops.

Additional significance to the value of the above experiments on wheat and barley is afforded by the fact that the same series, with but slight modifications, has also been carried out since 1876 at the Woburn (Bedfordshire) experimental farm of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, the soil here being of light sandy character, and thus very different from the heavy soil of Rothamsted. The results for the thirty years, 1877-1906, are in their general features entirely confirmatory of those obtained at Rothamsted.

Root-Crops.--Experiments upon root-crops--chiefly white turnips, Swedish turnips (swedes) and mangels--have resulted in the establishment of the following conclusions. Both the quantity and the quality of the produce, and consequently its feeding value, must depend greatly upon the selection of the best description of roots to be grown, and on the character and the amount of the manures, and especially on the amount of nitrogenous manure employed. At the same time, no hard-and-fast rules can be laid down concerning these points. Independently of the necessary consideration of the general economy of the farm, the choice must be influenced partly by the character of the soil, but very much more by that of the climate. Judgment founded on knowledge and aided by careful observation, both in the field and in the feeding-shed, must be relied upon as the guide of the practical farmer. Over and above the great advantage arising from the opportunity which the growth of root-crops affords for the cleaning of the land, the benefits of growing the root-crop in rotation are due (1) to the large amount of manure applied for its growth, (2) to the large residue of the manure left in the soil for future crops, (3) to the large amount of matter at once returned as manure again in the leaves, (4) to the large amount of food produced, and (5) to the small proportion of the most important manurial constituents of the roots which is retained by store or fattening animals consuming them, the rest returning as manure again; though, when the roots are consumed for the production of milk, a much larger proportion of the constituents is lost to the manure.

Leguminous Crops and the Acquisition of Nitrogen.--The fact that the growth of a leguminous crop, such as red clover, leaves the soil in a higher condition for the subsequent growth of a grain crop--that, indeed, the growth of such a leguminous crop is to a great extent equivalent to the application of a nitrogenous manure for the cereal crop--was in effect known ages ago. Nevertheless it was not till near the approach of the closing decade of the 19th century that the explanation of this long-established point of agricultural practice was forthcoming. It was in the year 1886 that Hellriegel and Wilfarth first published in Germany the results of investigations in which they demonstrated that, through the agency of micro-organisms dwelling in nodular outgrowths on the roots of ordinary leguminous plants, the latter are enabled to assimilate the free nitrogen of the air. The existence of the root nodules had long been recognized, but hitherto no adequate explanation had been afforded as to their function.

Since Hellriegel's striking discovery farm crops have been conveniently classified as nitrogen-accumulating and nitrogen-consuming. To the former belong the ordinary leguminous crops--the clovers, beans, peas, vetches or tares, sainfoin, lucerne, for example--which obtain their nitrogen from the air, and are independent of the application of nitrogenous manures, whilst in their roots they accumulate a store of nitrogen which will ultimately become available for future crops of other kinds. It is, in fact, fully established that these leguminous crops acquire a considerable amount of nitrogen by the fixation of the free nitrogen of the atmosphere under the influence of the symbiotic growth of their root-nodule-microbes and the higher plant. The cereal crops (wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize); the cruciferous crops (turnips, cabbage, kale, rape, mustard); the solanaceous crops (potatoes); the chenopodiaceous crops (mangels, sugar-beets), and other non-leguminous crops have, so far as is known, no such power, and are therefore more or less benefited by the direct application of nitrogenous manures. The field experiments on leguminous plants at Rothamsted have shown that land which is, so to speak, exhausted so far as the growth of one leguminous crop is concerned, may still grow very luxuriant crops of another plant of the same natural order, but of different habits of growth, and especially of different character and range of roots. This result is doubtless largely dependent on the existence, the distribution and the condition of the appropriate microbes for the due infection of the different descriptions of plant, for the micro-organism that dwells symbiotically with one species is not identical with that which similarly dwells with another. It seems certain that success in any system involving a more extended growth of leguminous crops in rotations must be dependent on a considerable variation in the description grown. Other essential conditions of success will commonly include the liberal application of potash and phosphatic manures, and sometimes chalking or liming for the leguminous crop. As to how long the leguminous crop should occupy the land, the extent to which it should be consumed on the land, or the manure from its consumption be returned, and under what conditions the whole or part of it should be ploughed in--these are points which must be decided as they arise in practice. It seems obvious that the lighter and poorer soils would benefit more than the heavier or richer soils by the extended growth of leguminous crops.

Remarkable as Hellriegel's discovery was, it merely furnished the explanation of a fact which had been empirically established by the husbandman long before, and had received most intelligent application when the old four-course (or Norfolk) rotation was devised. But it gave some impetus to the practice of green manuring with leguminous crops, which are equally capable with such a crop as mustard of enriching the soil in humus, whilst in addition they bring into the soil from the atmosphere a quantity of nitrogen available for the use of subsequent crops of any kind. In Canada and the United States this rational employment of a leguminous crop for ploughing in green is largely resorted to for the amelioration of worn-out wheat lands and other soils, the condition of which has been lowered to an unremunerative level by the repeated growth year after year of a cereal crop. The well-known paper of Lawes, Gilbert and Pugh (1861), ``On the Sources of the Nitrogen of Vegetation with special reference to the Question whether Plants assimilate free or uncombined Nitrogen,'' answered the question referred to in the negative. The attitude taken up later on with regard to this problem is set forth in the following words, which are quoted from the Memoranda of the Rothamsted Experiments, 1900 (p. 7):--

``Experiments were commenced in 1857, and conducted for several years in succession, to determine whether plants assimilate free or uncombined nitrogen, and also various collateral points. Plants of the gramincous, the leguminous and of other families were operated upon. The late Dr Pugh took a prominent part in this inquiry. The conclusion arrived at was that our agricultural plants do not themselves directly assimilate the free nitrogen of the air by their leaves.

``In recent years, however, the question has assumed quite a new aspect. It now is--whether the free nitrogen of the atmosphere is brought into combination under the influence of micro-organisms, or other low forms, either within the soil or in symbiosis with a higher plant, thus serving indirectly as a source of nitrogen to plants of a higher order. Considering that the results of Hellriegel and Wilfarth on this point were, if confirmed, of great significance and importance, it was decided to make experimenis at Rothamsted on somewhat similar lines. Accordingly, a preliminary series was undertaken in 1888; more extended series were conducted in 1889 and in 1890; and the investigation was continued up to the commencement of the year 1893. Further experiments relating to certain aspects of the subject were begun in 1898. The resuits have shown that, when a soil growing leguminous plants is infected with appropriate organisms, there is a development of the so-called leguminous nodules on the roots of the plants, and, coincidenrly, increased growth and gain of nitrogen.''

The conclusions of Hellriegel and Wilfarth have thus been confirmed by the later experiences of Rothamsted, and since that time efforts have been directed energetically to the practical application of the discovery. This has taken the form of inoculating the soil with the particular organism required by the particular kind of leguminous crop. To this end the endeavour has been made to produce preparations which shall contain in portable form the organisms required by the several plants, and though, as yet, it can hardly be claimed that they have been generally successful, the work done justifies hopes that the problem will eventually be solved in a practical direction.

Grass.--Another field experiment of singular interest is that relating to the mixed herbage of permanent meadow, for which seven acres of old grass land were set apart in Rothamsted Park in 1856. Of the twenty plots into which this land is divided, two were left without manure from the outset, two received ordinary farmyard manure for a series of years, whilst the remainder each received a different description of artificial or chemical manure, the same being, except in special cases, applied year after year on the same plot. During the growing season the field affords striking evidence of the influence of different manurial dressings. So much, indeed, does the character of the herbage vary from plot to plot that the effect may fairly be described as kaleidoscopic. Repeated analyses have shown how greatly both the botanical constitution and the chemical composition of the mixed herbage vary according to the description of manure applied. They have further shown how dominant is the influence of season. Such, moreover, is the effect of different manures that the gross produce of the mixed herbage is totally different on the respective plots according to the manure employed, both as to the proportion of the various species composing it and as to their condition of development and maturity.

The Rotation of Crops.

The growth, year after year, on the same soil of one kind of plant unfits it for bearing further crops of the kind which has exhausted it, and renders them less vigorous and more liable to disease. The farmer therefore arranges his cropping in such a way that roots, or leguminous crops, succeed the cereal crops.

It is not only the conditions of growth, but the uses to which the different crops are put, that have to be considered in the case of rotation. Thus the cereal crops, when grown in rotation, yield more produce for sale in the season of growth than when grown continuously. Moreover, the crops alternated with the cereals accumulate very much more of mineral constituents and of nitrogen in their produce than do the cereals themselves. By far the greater proportion of those constituents remains in circulation in the manure of the farm, whilst the remainder yields highly valuable products for sale in the forms of meat and milk. For this reason these crops are known as ``restorative,'' cereals the produce of which is sold off the farm being classed as ``exhaustive.'' With a variety of crops, again, the mechanical operations of the farm, involving horse and hand labour, are better distributed over the year, and are therefore more economically performed. The opportunities which rotation cropping affords for the cleaning of the land from weeds is another distinct element of advantage. Although many different rotations of crops are practised, they may for the most part be considered as little more than local adaptations of the system of alternating root-crops and leguminous crops with cereal crops, as exemplified in the old four-course rotation--roots, barley, clover, wheat.

Under this system the clover is ploughed up in the autumn, the nitrogen stored up in its roots being left in the soil for the nourishment of the cereal crop. The following summer the wheat crop is harvested, and an opportunity is afforded for extirpating weeds which in the three previous years have received little check. Or, where the climate is warm and the soil light, a ``catch-crop,'' i.e. rye, vetches, winter-oats or some other rapidly-growing crop may be sown in autumn and fed off or otherwise disposed of prior to the root-sowing. On heavy soils, however, the farmer cannot afford to curtail the time necessary for thorough cultivation of the land. The cleaning process is carried on through.the next summer by means of successive hoeings of the spring-sown root-crop. As turnips or swedes may occupy the ground till after Christmas little time is left for the preparation of a seed-bed for barley, but as the latter is a shallow-rooted crop only surface-stirring is required. Clover is sown at the same time or shortly after the cereal and thus occupies the land for two years.

The rotations extending to five, six, seven or more years are, in most cases, only adaptations of the principle to variations of soil, altitude, aspect, climate, markets and other local conditions. They are effected chiefly by some alteration in the description of the root-crop, and perhaps by the introduction of the potato crop; by growing a different cereal, or it may be more than one cereal consecutively; by the growth of some other leguminous crop than clover, since ``clover-sickness'' may result if that crop is grown at too short intervals, or the intermixture of grass seeds with the clover, and perhaps by the extension by one or more years of the period allotted to this member of the rotation. Whatever the specific rotation, there may in practice be deviations from the plan of retaining on the farm the whole of the root-crops, the straw of the grain crops and the leguminous fodder crops (clover, vetches, sainfoin, &c;) for the production of meat or milk, and, coincidently, for that of manure to be returned to the land. It is equally true that, when under the influence of special local or other demand--proximity to towns, easy railway or other communication, for example--the products which would otherwise be retained on the farm are exported from it, the import of town or other manures is generally an essential condition of such practice. This system of free sale, indeed, frequently involves full compensation by purchased manures of some kind. Such deviations from the practice of merely selling grain and meat off the farm have much extended in recent years, and will probably continue to do so under the altered conditions of British agriculture, determined by very large imports of grain, increasing imports of meat and of other products of stock-feeding, and very large imports of cattle-food and other agricultural produce. More attention is thus being devoted to dairy produce, not only on grass farms, but on those that are mainly arable.

The benefits that accrue from the practice of rotation are well illustrated in the results obtained from the investigations at Rothamsted into the simple four-course system, which may fairly be regarded as a self-supporting system. Reference may first be made to the important mineral constituents of different crops of the four-course rotation. Of phosphoric acid, the cereal crops take up as much as, or more than, any other crops of the rotation, excepting clover; and the greater portion thus taken up is lost to the farm in the saleable product--the grain. The remainder, that in the straw, as well as that in the roots and the leguminous crops, is supposed to be retained on the farm, excepting the small amount exported in meat and milk. Of potash, each of the rotation crops takes up very much more than of phosphoric acid. But much less potash than phosphoric acid is exported in the cereal grains, much more being retained in the straw, whilst the other products of the rotation--the root and leguminous crops--which are also supposed to be retained on the farm, contain very much more potash than the cereals, and comparatively little of it is exported in meat and milk. Thus the whole of the crops of rotation take up very much more of potash than of phosphoric acid, whilst probably even less of it is ultimately lost to the land. Of lime, very little is taken up by the cereal crops, and by the root-crops much less than of potash; more by the leguminous than by the other crops, and, by the clover especially, sometimes much more than by all the other crops of the rotation put together. Very little of the lime of the crops, however, goes off in the saleable products of the farm in the case of the self-supporting rotation under consideration. Although, therefore, different, and sometimes very large, amounts of these typical mineral constituents are taken up by the various crops of rotation, there is no material export of any in the saleable products, excepting of phosphoric acid and of potash; and, so far at least as phosphoric acid is concerned, experience has shown that it may be advantageously supplied in purchased manures.

Of nitrogen, the cereal crops take up and retain much less than any of the crops alternated with them, notwithstanding the circumstance that the cereals are very characteristically benefited by nitrogenous manures. The root-crops, indeed, may contain two or more times as much nitrogen as either of the cereals, and the leguminous crops, especially the clover, much more than the root-crops. The greater part of the nitrogen of the cereals is, however, sold off the farm; but perhaps not more than 10 or 15% of the of either the root-crop of the clover (or other forage leguminous crop) is sold off in the animal increase of in milk. Most of the nitrogen is the straw of the cereals, and a very large proportion of that of the much more highly nitrogen-yielding crops, returns to the land as manure, for the benefit of future cereals and other crops. As to the source of the nitrogren of the root-crops--the so-called ``restorative crops''--these are as dependent as any crop that is grown on available nitrogen within the soil, which is generally supplied by the direct application of nitrogenous manures, natural or artificial. Under such conditions of supply, however, the root-crops, gross feeders as they are, and distributing a very large extent of fibrous feeding root within the soil, avail themselves of a much larger quantity of the nitrogen supplied than the cereal crops would do in similar circumstances. This result is partly due to their period of accumulation of nitrates in it is the greatest. When a full supply of both mineral constituents and nitrogen is at command, these root-crops assimilate a very large amount of

TABLE XI.--The Weight and Average Composition of Ordinary Crops, in lb. per Acre.

Weight of
Crop. Total Nitro Sul-
Crop. At Pure -gen. phur. Potash.
Harvest. Dry. Ash.

Wheat, grain, 30 bushels 1,800 1530 30 34 2.7 9.3 Wheat, straw 3,158 2653 142 16 5.1 19.5

Total crop 4,958 4183 172 50 7.8 28.8

Barley, grain, 40 bushels 2,080 1747 46 35 2.9 9.8 Barley, straw 2,447 2080 111 14 3.2 25.9

Total crop 4,527 3827 157 49 6.1 35.7

Oats, grain, 45 bushels 1,890 1625 51 34 3.2 9.1 Oats, straw 2,835 2353 140 18 4.8 37.0

Total crop 4,725 3978 191 52 8.0 46.1

Maize, grain, 30 bushels 1,680 1500 22 28 1.8 6.5 Maize, stalks, &c. 2,208 1877 99 15 .. 29.8

Total crop 3,888 3377 121 43 .. 36.3

Meadow hay, 1 1/2 ton 3,360 2822 203 49 5.7 50.9

Red Clover hay, 2 tons 4,480 3763 258 98 9.4 83.4

Beans, grain, 30 bushels 1,920 1613 58 78 4.4 24.3 Beans, straw 2,240 1848 99 29 4.9 42.8

Total crop 4,160 3461 157 107 9.3 67.1

Turnip, root, 17 tons 38,080 3126 218 61 15.2 108.6 Turnip, leaf 11,424 1531 146 49 5.7 40.2

Total crop 49,504 4657 346 110 20.9 148.8

Swedes, root, 14 tons 31,360 3349 163 70 14.6 63.3 Swedes, leaf 4,704 706 75 28 3.2 16.4

Total crop 36,064 4055 238 98 17.8(*) 79.7

Mangels, root, 22 tons 49,280 5914 426 98 4.9 222.8 Mangels, leaf 18,233 1654 254 51 9.1 77.9

Total crop 67,513 7568 680 149 14.0 300.7

Potatoes, tubers, 6 tons 13,440 3360 127 46 2.7 76.5