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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



have alluded, causing the victory to capital in the contest for 

 farms, will be most beneficial for the advancement of sgricul- 

 ture, yet I believe the tenants of the present day with small 

 means will eventually be beat.'ii out of the market; they have 

 gradually been falling away for years past, and thtir places 

 will in the future be filled by men with capital derived from 

 other sources. Competition, hereafter, will still be fierce 

 between capital and skill at home for farms ; and with the 

 whole world to sell in our market, 'twill be fierce there for 

 prices. Although there is room for considerable advancement, 

 and improvement in increased production by the exercise of 

 skill aud capital combined, yet I do not anticipate that the 

 tenant's share of agricultural money-making in ihe future will 

 be any greater than it has hitherto been. Competition for 

 farms will keep down percentage returns, and where profits 

 beyond a low average are made, it will be where farms are not 

 offered for fierce competition iu the market, or where very 

 unusual skill is displayed by the tenant. 



la agriculture every operation is so open that no amount of 

 skill is long concealed ; by imitation it quickly becomes gene- 

 ral property. The largest profits have been made from good 

 lands, because they have been compsratively more cheaply 

 rented, considering quality ; and the largest returns have 

 resulted from a medium system of good management, and 

 avoidiag either extremes. Stock farms of late years, with the 

 high price of meat, have been by far the most desirable occu- 

 pations. 



In the greatly increased returns derived from the soil, how 

 has the labourer fared ? What has been his good fortune, 

 and hi3 proportion of the profits ? We must admit that from 

 93. to 12s. per week, as iu this district, is not an extreme rate 

 of payment ; but it is a fnatter for congratulation tbat the 

 law of supply and demand, as relating to the labour market, 

 has within the last few years operated to the labourer's advaii- 

 ta;;e, aud thtre is now no need for a labourer to go the round 

 of his parish asking for labour, and ultimately fiodiug a tem- 

 porary asylum in the union-house, because of the want of em- 

 ployment. A good man u now actually sought after, and the 

 prices of harvest-work and task-work have riseu, whereby the 

 labourer's position is decidedly improved. 1 must admit that 

 his gain in the increased agricultural returns of the present 

 time are indeed small, and his pecuniary position is but 

 sligUily improved ; yet, notwithstanding, he stands infinitely 

 better in the social scale as a more free and independent man; 

 and if the labourer will but use bis improved position aris;ht — 

 1 long to see him able to command a better home, a better 

 education, and mire of the physical and intellectual comforts 

 of existence — I fully believe such a future is opening for the 

 labouring man, and he will participate more fully than hereto- 

 fore iu the advantages of Agricultural Money Making. So 

 late as the reign of James the First, a man v/as accounted a 

 serf; and previous to that period the most exacting laws were 

 passed, compeliiiig him to work from five o'clock in the morn- 

 ia? till between seven aud eight o'clock in the evening, at a 

 very low scale of wages — at a penny or twopence per day ; 

 but, with the increase of England's agricultural produce, the 

 labourer's position has gradually improved. Old notions are 

 giving way, and Christian feeling so far begins to prevail 

 practically aud truly, that au houest man with true nobility of 

 feeling, of bearing, aud of character, though he has not a 

 pound in his pocket, is as much esteemed — ah ! aud nsore than 

 he who has tiiouaand? without that worth which money cannot 

 purchase, aud without which the millionaire goes down to bis 

 grave pitied by some, scorned by others, and quickly forgotten 

 by all. 



I would make this one observation by way of digression ; — 

 Highly aa I prize the present. Poor Law, yet it caunot culture 

 provident and self-reliant habits; and I believe an exaltiug 

 auxiliary might be established upon the principle of a life 

 insurance, whereby, by a monthly payment, every member 

 after 60 or 65 years of should be entitled to a proportionate 

 raouthly out-door moiiey allowance; and such an institution, sup- 

 ported by suitable funds iu addition to the monthly payments 

 of its members, would exalt the labourer in feeling, and pro- 

 duce in him prudent and self-reliant habits, which would free 

 him from the prospect of the workhouse as his ulterior home, 

 and assist many a man to rise in the scale of society. 



I would now cursorily glance at the changes which would 

 have a tendency to increase the amount of profit derived from 

 the soil, but I shall confine myself to a very few remarks 



upon the curreucy laws, the free transfer of land, the abolition 

 of the malt tax, the relationship of landlord and tenant, and 

 improved farmirg. 



I do not pretend to a full understanding of the currency 

 laws which the legislature of the kingdom has thought proper 

 to enact, but I am aware, as many are painfully aware from 

 a bitter experience, that we have frightful monetary panics 

 occurriug at intervals, and it is perfectly clear to me that if 

 the currency laws have the effect of heightening the value of 

 money, such increase, beyond its natural value, is most de- 

 trimentel to the producing interests, as it has the direct eifect 

 of causing produce to be sold below its natural value in the 

 market and increases the coat of production. I can fully 

 uiiderstand the reasonableness of the suggestions made by 

 cur friend Mr. Haward, who has so ably advocated currency 

 reform, end this portion of the subject I gladly leave in his 

 hands. 



I am convinced the free transfer of land will act most bene- 

 ficially in lessening the system of mortgage, and nominal 

 ownership, iu iucreasing the number of wealthy owners, and 

 by assisting to create outlay in modern improvement, such as 

 the erection of the necessary buildings and the like. 



I view the malt tax as decidedly detrimental to agricultural 

 money makina-, not simply from the fact that it tends to de- 

 teriorate the value of barley by lowering the price, but by 

 checking its consumption and by renderin* the ordinary quali- 

 ties of barley unavailable aud unconvertible to malt for the 

 labourer, or for feeding or fattening purposts for cattle. I 

 will forbear entering into the injustice of this tax, as your rules 

 would forbid such a treatment of the subject. 



Great as would be tlie benefit resulting from these changes, 

 the abolition of the malt tax and the free tiansfer of land, yet 

 I view them as insignificant when compsred with the conse- 

 quences which would result from a fiiil and extended arijust- 

 raeut of the relationship between landlord aud tenant. When 

 I view the history of au estate, a count)', or a country, I can 

 plaiuly see that that relationship is the fundamental basis of 

 agricultural success or failure, of progress or stagnation. 

 French agriculture is an instance of stagnation, for even 

 Monsieur TrdiO:uiais admits tbat, with all the advancement of 

 that intelligent people, her agriculture for the past 300 years 

 has even retiOgraded, and France is the living representative 

 of a lauded proprietary impoverished by their own exaction, 

 and of a tenantry fettered to poverty and debarred from pro- 

 gress by their ruthless position. With rents extreme, coven- 

 ants absurd, and tenure insecure, they are fettered by rapacity, 

 routine, and poverty to the past, and barricaded Irom advance- 

 ment. England (speaking generally) is the living exponent 

 of that correct feeling of reciprocity between landlord and 

 tenant, which 1 believe has been the corner stone of England's 

 agricultural success, I admire the glorious feeling of mutual 

 confidence which has subsisted especially upon such estates as 

 the Earls of Yarborough and Leicester, and no estates and no 

 tenantry have more signally flourished. Although England's 

 agriculture has prospered so well in the past, yet I can plaiuly 

 see that the full development of her agricidture depends upon 

 the full development of liberality of sentiment on the part of 

 the landlord. L'.beral and good farming will follow upon 

 liberal and wise conditions, and before improvements can be 

 general aud permanent in the yet backward spots, the tenure 

 must be secure or the investment safe, and the skill of the 

 tenant must be unfettered by clauses which tend to prevent 

 outlay and improvement iu the soil rather than to guard the 

 landlord from injury or exaction I believe Engliiud's agri- 

 culture in the future is quite capable of continuous and vast 

 improvements ; even now we know of much plough laud and 

 pasture but half farmed, whilst I am convinced there is nuich 

 waste land, with the increased demand, capable of reclamation 

 and profitable culture. I think there is no question as to the 

 course we must puraiie at the present time, with present pros- 

 pects and present prices. Beef, mutton, wool, b;rley, aud all 

 the comparative luxuries of life, must ha-ve our especial att?n- 

 tion. Even the imports themselves point to this result, for 

 the imports of grain of every description have increased 160 

 per ceut. since 1846, whilst the number of animals imported 

 have not increased since the first importation after the removal 

 of the tariff dues. I am convinced the more stock that is 

 reared upon any description of farm, upon the .'egitimate 

 principles of correct breeding aud prudent fattening, the 

 greftter vfill be the Agricultural Money Making throughout 



