364 



TJie Country Gentleman's Magazine 



EXPENSE OF WORK DONE. 



Total expense of wearing parts, repairs, 

 oil, and grease, as per bills for the 18 

 months 56 8 o 



Wire rope, nearly one-fourth worn . . . 23 o o 



79 8 o 

 This, on the 967 acres cultivated, gives 

 about IS. 8d. per acre for wear, &c., 

 of tackle. To cover interest and de- 

 preciation of capital invested, 10 per 

 cent, must be charged on ^682 for 16 



months 102 6 o 



This gives 2s. 2d. per acre for this item. 



WORKING EXPENSES PER DAY. 



One engineman ^^o 3 o 



Four men (two anchor, one cul- 

 tivator, and oneporterman), 

 at 2s. 6d o 10 o 



One boy at is. 6d., and a horse 



at 3s. 6d 050 



6 cwt. of coals, at 8d. . , . 040 



968 acres in 176 days, at ..12 o — 193 12 o 



968 acres, at 7s. 9d., or under 176 days, at 



£2, 2s. Sd ^375 6 o 



From the above it will be seen that after all ex- 

 penses are paid a fair profit is realized, besides the 

 land being in first-rate condition to go on with in 

 a regular coui'se of farming. 



Before the introduction of artificial fertilizers, the 

 difficulty and cost of transporting manure to so great 

 an altitude rendered it impossible to cultivate such 

 land to a profit ; but what with powerful steam 

 machinery and portable manures, the difficulties are 

 greatly diminished, and there is no question that large 

 tracts of similar land might be profitably brought under 

 culti%'ation, or, at all events, laid down to grass. 



When on the moors of Derbyshire and Yorkshire 

 last month, small farms I saw dotted here and there 

 with beautiful green sweet pastures showed that to 

 a considerable extent these moors might be turned to 

 account for the summer grazing of sheep and cattle. 

 Wealthy lowland farmers would be only too glad of 

 the opportunity of taking such farms, as are the 

 lowland farmers of Scotland of holding "a hill farm.' 



A noble correspondent of Mr Mechi, who 

 owns large estates in Ireland, asks — 



With regard to over 8,000,000 acres, in England 

 and Wales, of waste land, what would be the pro- 

 bable cost of bringing it to the state of culture you 

 ■desire? Next, when this is ascertained, would it pay 

 the cost ? Thirdly, how many years' lease ought to 

 be given to a tenant, or to a company, willing to 

 undertake it ? Landlords possessing such property 

 will surely be anxious to have accomplished that 

 which they are unable or unwilling to attempt. 



A facility for transfer of land would be a boon to 



all England, when it becomes necessary to sell. I 

 most strongly object to tenant-right in any sense. All 

 contracts should be free. At this moment I am, with 

 all other Irish landowners, a great sufferer by that 

 most unwise and unjust measure, called the Irish 

 Land Bill. Tenants there ride rough-shod over the 

 owners of property. They object to an increase of 

 rent when leases fall in, they decline to purchase at 

 anything like value, and they threaten to murder any 

 man who dared to take a farm at a higher rent than 

 they are willing to give. In case of going before the 

 barrister appointed to decide between the parties, the 

 tenants produce any number of witnesses to prove 

 what they have done, at least three-fourths of which 

 is positively untrue ; these barristers, who are a re- 

 spectable, and often a clever set of men, are bewildered, 

 but consider that they are bound to cany out the Act, 

 although some are ready to admit its injustice. My 

 Irish property is let on 20 years leases, at moderate 

 rents, with the full understanding that at the expira- 

 tion of the term a fresh valuation would be made. 

 Some open lands at 2s. per acre, which now, fenced 

 and drained, are well worth i8s. or 20s.; men there, 

 commencing with their own labour, now rich and 

 comfortable, but ready to ask for compensation, al- 

 though they have been repaid live times over. 



Here good tenants require £\1 per acre to take a 

 farm ; it used to be £iQ. Small bad farmers have 

 neither the money nor ability, as a rule, to farm 

 tolerably well ; and they will gradually be obliged to 

 retire, which I consider a misfortune. My great diffi- 

 culty is to impress on them the absolute necessity of 

 education for their children. 



Mr Meclii's reply is as follows : — 

 There can be no doubt that the proper conversion 

 of our common lands is a paying operation, and no 

 better evidence need be adduced tlian that which your 

 lordship gives of the success and wealth of your Irish 

 tenants, who have done so. I presume that our Land 

 Improvement Companies would make the necessary 

 advances on the security of the land. It appears to 

 me that the reclamation of our waste lands presents to 

 these companies a vast field for the investment of the 

 capital which awaits their demand for it, could they 

 find opportunities for its utilization, which has not 

 hitherto been the case. It certainly does appear 

 anomalous that while we are constantly deploring the 

 want of capital in agriculture, we, as landowners, 

 omit to apply for it, although abundantly available. 

 The value of such unreclaimed land could be easily 

 ascertained. Hereabouts it would readily command 

 from £'^ to ^10 per acre. Most of our heath in this 

 neighbourhood has been reclaimed and converted into 

 corn land, and although the cost has been considerable, 

 I hear no complaints as to its not having been a profit- 

 able operation. In fact there is always a ready sale 

 for unreclaimed land. The landowner's outlay wonld 

 probably vary from ;^5 t0p^i5 per acre for fencing, 

 roads, farm buildings, and draining, where the latter 



