Abstract
AN article in the current issue (August) of the Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture under the above title somewhat modestly announces what must be regarded as one of the most notable advances in agricultural science made by our oldest agricultural research laboratory, the Rothamsted Experimental Station. For many years the composition and fertilising value of farmyard manure have occupied the attention of investigators. The chemical problems involved at first sight appear simple. When cattle are fed with food rich in nitrogen there is a corresponding enrichment of their excrement. “Cake-fed” dung has long been given a high value by the farmer, and on a purely chemical basis its merit was recognised by the man of science. Hence such publications as “Hall and Voelcker's Tables,” which give the “residual” values of various foodstuffs—that is to say, the value of the fertilising constituents (mainly nitrogen) in various substances present in the dung of animals to which they have been fed. But the perplexing fact emerged that dung with this higher theoretic value did not give crop increases corresponding to its assumed chemical Content. Nevertheless, so strong has been the effect of the publication of these theoretic values that they are given quasi-statutory effect. Entering tenants have generally to pay compensation “for improvements” based upon the quantity and quality of the foods consumed on the farm during the years preceding their
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Artificial Farmyard Manure. Nature 107, 828–829 (1921). https://doi.org/10.1038/107828a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/107828a0