188 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



cultural faults she richly deserves it ; yet, when we see the 

 demand — the immense demand which has receiitlj' sprung up, 

 as if by magic, for agricultural machinery upon the contiient 

 generally, and the immense importations which are now taking 

 place of machinery from England, it well becomes us, as au 

 agricultural people, to devote our energiej to the carrying out, 

 in lividually, every desirable established improvement which 

 tends to lessen the cost of production or to increase the re- 

 turn ; and, further, to exert our ingenuity aud assiduity to 

 surpass our previous successes, or, with ihe improved ma- 

 chinery and the important strides which other agricultural 

 and continental nations are trying to make, we may find we 

 are ultimately surpassed, and thereby lose that agricultural 

 pre eminence which has hitherto been our legitimate pride and 

 our monetary advantage. 



What is England's agricultural position at the present time, 

 when compared wilh her own history, especially of half a cen- 

 tury since, and what her comparative agricultural produce 

 and consequent agricultural money making? We have the 

 record that in 1387, on the Mauor Farm of Hawsteatl, in Suf- 

 folk, 66 acres of wheat produced 09 quarters of grain, and 26 

 acres of barley yielded 52 quarters 2 bushels, thus producing 

 about one qisarter of wheat to the acre, and two quarters of 

 barley. 



In the time of the Stuarts, about 1688, the wheat produced 

 in England did not exceed 2,000,000 quarters, whilst in 1859 

 the wheat produce of the kingdom is computed at upwards of 

 14,000,000 quarters, and upwards of 30,000,000 quarters of 

 grain generally. But (o descend to a more recent comparison, 

 embracing the last fifty years, I find the select committee of 

 the House of Commons, which sat in 1813, to enquire into 

 the state of the corn trade, reported, that through the exten- 

 sion of and improvement iu cultivation, the agricultural pro- 

 duce of the kingdom had been increased oue-fourth during the 

 ten years preceding the time of their enquiry. 



In 1821, Mr. Wakefield computed tlie average produce of 

 all the wheat lands iu England at no more than seventeen 

 bushels per acre. In 1810, Mr. MCulloch was of opinion 

 that the produce of the wheat lauds of England had been 

 raised to an average of twenty-six bushels ; whilst at the 

 present moment such has been the rapid improvement in the 

 science of agriculture and in the cultivation of the soil, that 

 the average produce of wheat through England has amounted 

 to upwards of twenty-eight bushels, showing an increase of 

 between seventy and eighty per cent, within the present 

 century. 



If such has been the increase in wheat produce, the yield 

 iu other grain has equally increased, whilst meat in the same 

 time has, 1 believe, been doubled in produce— even increased 

 100 per cent. I have no doubt but the gentlemen present can 

 in recollection trace that progress, commencing from the intro 

 duction of turnip husbandry, which has been increasing and 

 extending till even the clay lands of England now produce a 

 heavy weight of root?, especifilly mangold wurizel, and each 

 clay firm now yields an annual return in meat produce. Not 

 only has the laud been made to produce roots wherewith to 

 manufacture meat, and not only have improved methods of 

 rearing and fattening animals been adopted, but the animals 

 themselves have been so vastly improved in quality by judi- 

 cious crossing and care in breeding, that the fattening process, 

 which was usually a work of some three, four, or five years, is 

 now effected in half that time, and the average weight of the 

 animals killed has increased one-third. I believe, therefore, 

 that comparing 1800 with 1859, from thirty to forty millions 

 more in money value of meat are now annually produced, and 

 considerirg that the population of England has doubled with- 

 in that period, such a result as doublin< the meat produce of 

 the kingdom is most salutary. Mow, why is it that Englasd 

 has surpassed continental nations sgriculturally, and why has 

 England's agriculture been so rapidly developed to its present 

 proportions? 



Undoubtedly her extensive manufactures and commerce, 

 the increase of her wealth and popu'aticn have been of sig- 

 nal service, in creating a home demand for every luxury, and 

 every neces.«ary which the soil has produced ; but even such 

 a demand, and all the skill, industry, and capital which 

 England has so successfully invested in the cultivation of 

 the soil, would have been powerless aud unemployed but for 

 the good understanding which has existed between land- 

 lord and tenant, either legally or from a high sense of 



honour, and thereby giving security to investment, and as- 

 suring to the tenant the full parlicipation in the profits re- 

 sulting from his exertion and improvements. I, of course, 

 speak but generally, as I can see much that is glaringly 

 defective— much that I desire to see amended, as a mutual 

 and national advantage in that relationship ; but progress 

 in agriculture has depended, and does depend, not simply 

 upon the means, the skill, or the capital, but upon the mo- 

 tives which impel men to put forth their resources ; and 

 tenants, from prudential reasons, will not invest, if under 

 the conviction that they may sow improvements and anotlier 

 reap the fruits of their toil and outlay. What has made 

 France so inferior in her agricultural position — in her agri- 

 cultural money-making.'' Independent!}' of continually 

 parcelling and dividing the land into small holdings, it has 

 been the abominable system practised of letting to metayers, 

 or a class of tenaiits which have usually paid to their land- 

 lord a third or a half of their produce. Such a system has 

 offered no inducement or incentive to exertion and ciitlay, 

 and the result has been a tenantry retained in beggary by 

 exaction, and uuexcited to efTort by any hope of reward or 

 of rising in the scale of society to a position of competency 

 and comparative comfort. 



Italy has been similarlj' situated with France, and her 

 agricultural resources are equally undeveloped. 



Seeing, then, how vast the moaetsry increase in corn and 

 meat from the soil of England, within the last half-centurv, 

 amounting to upwards of 70 per cent, of the former, and 

 100 per cent, of the latter, the question naturally arises, 

 " Who has been the great gainer, the landlord, tenant, or 

 labourer?" We may conclude that we have not lived the 

 last fifty years to arrive at the fact that we cannot produce 

 a coomb of wheat or a pound of meat as cheaply as cur 

 great grandfathers. The truth is, even with the increased 

 capital required, we can and do produce our crops at a for 

 cheaper rate. Why, in 1815, the remunerative price for 

 wheat was SOs. per quarter; in 1827 Mr. Canning estimated 

 it at Cos. per quarter ; and in 1842 Sir R. Peel at 50"s. ; 

 whilst for the last 15 years the average price has been 548. 

 per quarter. Again, the price of wheat for the 10 years 

 ending, 



1805 was ... ... 81s. lOid. 



1815 ... ... 97s. 6"d. 



1825 ... ... 78s. 8d. 



1835 ... ... 56s. 7d. 



1845 ... ... 57s. lid. 



1855 ... ... 53s. lOid. 



— Thus, with a gradual depreciation in the value of pro- 

 duce, it is perfectly clear the agriculturists of England have 

 produced corn and meat at a far cheapji rate by the aid of 

 an improved and extended system of draining and stock 

 fanning— by the investment of more capital — by im- 

 proved manures, improved machinery, and increased skill; 

 and, at the same time, the rental value of land, which must 

 be considered an indication of profits, has risen coincident 

 withja fall in the price of produce. Thus the gross rental of 

 land by property-tax returns was, 



In 1815 

 1842 



£32,502,000 

 37,794,000 



which, at the same rate of increase, gives the propertv-tax 

 for 1859, in round numbers, £41,000,000, thus showing an 

 increase, in less than half a century, of £9,000,C0O sterling 

 in rental. I know well that many enclosures have taken 

 place within that period ; but such a source of increase of 

 rental is but a minor consideration, less than £1,000,000 

 compared with the increase resulting from general im- 

 provement. And that improvement must be indeed vast 

 which has been able to stand against prices, as far as wheat 

 is concerned, reduced in value 33 per cent., and rent in- 

 creased 28 per cent. 



It is quite clear, then, that in the matter of agricultural 

 money-making, the landed proprietors of P^ngland have been 

 the great gainers. They have most justly, most legiti- 

 mately, and most fairly reaped the larger share of that in- 

 creased produce, which has resulted from vast and progres- 

 sive improvements. Competition must always effect thia 

 result. Landed proprietors invested wisely, and they have 

 reaped, and will deservedly reap, the benefit arising from 



