e got to take the bad with the
good, and I have often heard you say that a good farmer who has his land
rich and clean makes more money in an unfavorable than in a favorable
season. Now, this year 1860, seems to have been an unfavorable one, and
yet your pet manure, superphosphate, only gives an _increase_ of 148
lbs. of barley--or three bushels and 4 lbs. Yet this plot has had a
tremendous dressing of 3-1/2 cwt. of superphosphate yearly since 1852.
I always told you you lost money in buying superphosphate."

"That depends on what you do with it. I use it for turnips, and
tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, melons, cucumbers, etc., and would not like
to be without it; but I have never recommended any one to use it on
wheat, barley, oats, Indian corn, or potatoes, except as an experiment.
What I have recommended you to get for barley is, nitrate of soda, and
superphosphate, or Peruvian guano. And you will see that even in this
decidedly unfavorable season, the plot 2_a.a._, dressed with
superphosphate and 275 lbs. of nitrate of soda, produced 2,338 lbs. of
barley, or 48-3/4 bushels per acre. This is an _increase_ over the
unmanured plots of 33-1/2 bushels per acre, and an _increase_ of 1,872
lbs. of straw. And the plot dressed with superphosphate and 200 lbs. of
salts of ammonia, gave equally as good results."

And this, mark you, is the year which the Squire selected as the one
most likely to show that artificial manures did not pay.

"I never knew a man except you," said the Squire, "who wanted
unfavorable seasons."

I have never said I wanted unfavorable seasons. I should not dare to say
so, or even to cherish the wish for one moment. But I do say, that when
we have a season so favorable that even poorly worked land will produce
a fair crop, we are almost certain to have prices below the average cost
of production. But when we have an unfavorable season, such crops as
barley, potatoes, and beans, often advance to extravagantly high prices,
and the farmer who has good crops in such a season, gets something like
adequate pay for his patient waiting, and for his efforts to improve his
land.

"That sounds all very well," said the Squire, "but will it pay to use
these artificial manures?"

I do not wish to wander too much from the point, but would like to
remark before I answer that question, that I am not a special advocate
of artificial manures. I think we can often make manures on our farms
far cheaper than we can buy t