COUNTRY LIFE
WHAT may be called an arbitration award, argued out in the most scientific manner, has been published (in the Estates Magazine) in the battle that has been proceeding, most fiercely, between the composters and the users of artificial manures. The long series of decisions on details cannot be summarised, but some " distinctions that are plain and few " may be emphasised. First, there is no evidence that artificial manures make crops either unhealthy in themselves or unwholesome to their consumers, as some of the composters argue. Most of the plant maladies complained of were rampant before the day of artificials. Negatively the composters are not justified. On the other hand they are wholly and completely justified in the positive conclusion that what matters supremely to the health—and perhaps wholesomeness—of crops is humus, or what architects well call " vegetable soil," which can only be maintained or increased by compost or animal manure or green manuring. Given sufficient of this, artificial or chemical manures may serve a useful purpose, especially perhaps in promoting early maturity.
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