364; 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



FARMERS' INCOME TAX. 



Sir, — I am desirous of calling the attention of your 

 Agricultural friends, by means of your wide-spreading 

 Journal, to the above matter, because, in the present 

 aspect of our Indian affairs, it is not impossible that, 

 before the termination of the three years for which the 

 new Assessment of Property and Income Tax is now in 

 course of preparation, we may again have it increased; 

 in which case, anything which tends unduly to enhance 

 its amount becomes matter of consideration to the 

 Farmer. 



It is a rule with Tax-Officers, to add the Tithe Rent- 

 Charge, whenever they can ascertain its amount, to the 

 Rent or Annual Value of the land, for the purpose of 

 calculating the assessment for Schedule B ; which ad- 

 dition, I contend, is clearly notauthorized by the Act of 

 Parliament. 



In order to bring anything within the scope of Sche- 

 dule B, there must be an occupation of it : this is the 

 very life and soul of Schedule B. In the ordinary case 

 — of tithe Rent-charge being paid to the owner of it — 

 there is no Occupation of anything besides the Land, on 

 the part of the Farmer. In some cases, it is true, the 

 Farmer rents or occupies the Rent-charge ; and, in such 

 case, he is liable to Schedule B in respect of the rent of 

 it : but these are exceptional cases. It is contended by 

 the Tax-Officers, however, that there is an Occupation 

 of the Tithes themselves, because a Rent-charge is paid, 

 which implies an Occupation. 



The reply to this is, that the tithes are extinguished 

 by the Tithe Commutation Acts ; and " Rent- Charge" 

 is a mere name given to a payment in lieu of them, from 

 which no Profit does or can accrue to the occupier of 

 the land; and differs widely from the old Compositions, 

 which were, doubtless, paid in respect of an actual occu- 

 pation of the Tithes themselves, from which Occupation 

 Profit was assumed to be derived. Profit from Occupa- 

 tion, then, is the thing to be taxed. But where there is 

 no Occupation of the Rent-charge, there can arise no 

 Profit, to be taxed. To this argument the Inland Re- 

 venue Office has been unable to furnish an answer. 



The rule for calculating the assessment to Schedule B 

 is very simple — viz. : Take the Rent (or, in case of a 

 person occupying his own land, the Annual Value), and 

 deduct from it one-eighth (for the tithe) ; then calculate 

 3^d. in the £ on the remainder ; and that, and no more, 

 is the amount at which the Occupier ought to be assessed 

 to Schedule B. 



In case any Farmer should find, in the Notice of 

 assessment, and of the day fixed for Appeals, with which 

 he ought in fairness to be (but is not always) served, 

 that he is assessed to Schedule B at a sum exceeding 

 the amount calculated according to the above rule, he 

 should at once give notice of appeal to the Tax-Surveyor 

 of his District, and attend the Appeal Meeting, with 

 evidence (such as his Lease or Agreement, if he have 

 any ; or, otherwise, the best proof he can give, by him- 

 self or others, of the fair annual value of his land) that 

 the assessment has been calculated upon some amount 

 which exceeds the rent or annual value of the land ; and 

 I cannot conceive upon what ground relief could be 

 refused to him. 



The addition of the tithe rent-charge to his rent may, 

 in some cases, increase a Farmer's Income Tax by one- 

 third of its proper amount — an excess too great to be 

 voluntarily passed over in silence. 



Amicus. 



P.S. If your agricultural contemporaries, in Town and 

 Country, would reprint the above, it would bring the 

 subject under the notice of Farmers generally. 



A NEW BREED OF SHEEP. 



Sir, — As all tenant farmers ought to prefer profit to 

 ornament, fashion, and mania, and as all actual merit is 

 profit, in breeding and feeding cattle and sheep, a friend of 

 mine, who has attended Smithfield Market for more than 

 half-a-centnry — which lias taken off the prejudice against 

 any kind of sheep that have weight, sufficient wool, plenty 

 of leau flesh, and tendency to early maturity — this old and 

 practical friend proposes a new breed of sheep, by putting 

 a heavjf-wooled Bakewell-framed Lincoln ram to gigantic 

 Hampshire-down ewes, which would increase the weight of 

 wool of the Down, and not decrease the weight of mutton, 

 hut increase both wool and mutton, and not lessen the lean 

 flesh of the Down. And to keep up the size and weight of 

 wool and mutton after the first cross, my friend proposes to 

 put half-bred Down and Lincoln to half-bred Down and 

 Lincoln, but not brother to sister. If you mean to breed 

 large-sized sheep, breed from the longest-featured male 

 sheep, with a Bakewell frame ; and if you mean to breed 

 small-sized sheep, breed from the smallest and shortest- 

 featured male sheep, as giants do not produce dwarfs, nor 

 dwarfs giants. We do not see the head and ears of a giant 

 upon the body of a dwarf, nor the head and ears of a dwarf 

 upon the body of a giant. " When I say a giant sheep, I 

 do not mean," says ray friend, " a giant sheep of fat flesh : 

 I mean a gigantic sheep in frame when in a lean state. 

 Whether large sheep or small are the most profitable I leave 

 it for every man to enjoy his own opinion — 

 ' A man convinced against his will 

 Is of the same opinion still.' 

 The generality of farmers who have been breeding small 

 sheep are looking out for larger rams with more wool upon 

 them, to increase the weight of wool, mutton, and lean 

 flesh. But in my opinion (says the old and experienced 

 gentleman) a sheep of the true Bakewell frame or cast, with 

 a Lincolnshire coat of wool on his back, is never too large 

 for profit. But in trying to obtain a Lincoln fleece upon a 

 gigantic sheep, mind you do not lose the handsome Bakewell 

 mould." But my friend finished by saying that upon all 

 land where clover and turnips can tie produced the Lincoln- 

 shire long-wools are the most profitable ; and he does not 

 see any reason why a Down should not be in the form or 

 cast of a Bakewell Leicester. And he conceives it possible 

 to breed Downs with a Lincolnshire coat of wool on their 

 backs, at the same time increasing the weight of mutton of 

 the Down as well as the fleece. 



Peterborough, Sept. 9. Samuel Arnsby. 



HIGH FARMING NOT SUITABLE TO SOME 

 LOCALITIES.— Dr. De Vitrie, in proposing "The 

 successful competitors" (at the South Tyne Agricultural 

 Society's meeting), said : " The society was as yet limited 

 in its extent, embracing only a particular district, and that 

 district in a high locality ; but, though in a high district, 

 there was not necessarily high farming. In fact, high 

 farming, in the agricultural acceptation of the term, was 

 not found to answer in that locality ; but, whilst high 

 farming was not practised by themselves, they would find 

 that, by treading cautiously in the steps of those who fol- 

 lowed high farming in cattle, selecting from their stock, and 

 carefully noting the result of their experiments, they would 

 soon arrive at the proper standard for the district. It was 

 once his fortune to live next-door to the highest stock- 

 farmer in the United Kingdom — a gentleman who, within 

 three years, had sold three bulls for 1,000 guineas a-piece, 

 and who had not an animal in the whole of his stock worth 

 less than fifty guineas. It would be an unspeakable plea- 

 sure to sonic of them, he knew, not only to see, hut to 

 handle those animals. The}' would find them soft and 

 elastic in their various ' points' — so much so, that they re- 

 minded him of the famous crinoline of the present day — 

 very elastic, with plenty of room. There were farmers of 

 another class — one not far from that place — who, not being 

 stock-farmers, farmed for dairy and agricultural purposes, 

 and who, neverthelesSj farmed upon scientific principles. 



