Market Conditions and Production 77 



wide extension of arable farming and later in the combination of this 

 with meat-production, received as heavy a check as can well be 

 imagined. The immediate effect of the drop in prices was a period 

 of agricultural distress : to which lively expression was given before 

 the Royal Commissions appointed in 1880 and 1894 respectively. 

 The cause of the farmer's difficulties was clear. The rents at which 

 they held their farms no longer corresponded to the profits obtainable 

 from corn-growing 1 . But it was natural that after so long a time of 

 prosperity the demand for farms should not fall off as quickly as did 

 the profits from them, and so that rents should not drop to the same 

 degree as prices. Such a position, however, could only be maintained 

 temporarily. When on many of the arable farms rents disappeared 

 altogether 2 it was only a question of how long the farmers would 

 continue to sacrifice their capital. In a short time numbers of farms 

 were given up, and many of them remained unlet even at the lowest 

 rents. This was more especially the case in the corn-growing eastern 

 counties, Essex, Norfolk, Lincoln, Suffolk, etc. The area under corn 

 showed a correspondingly rapid decrease, particularly the area under 

 wheat and barley. In addition, the decrease in corn-growing neces- 

 sitated a decrease in the green-crops taken in connection with it ; 

 turnips especially, which were an essential feature in the usual rota- 

 tion, often could not be grown at a profit when corn had ceased to 

 pay 3 . The following table illustrates the decrease in certain branches 

 of agriculture between 1880 and 1909* : 



Area (in 1000 acres}. 



Years 1881-85 1891-95 1896 1901 1909 



Wheat 2563 1852 1609 1617 1734 



Barley 1900 1767 1778 1635 '379 



Beans 415 263 236 237 301 



Peas 228 209 193 152 168 



Turnips 1468 1388 1337 1144 1056 



Flax 411-6 



Hops 67 57 54 51 32 



No doubt this fall in the production of crops hitherto so important 



1 See the Final Report of 1897, especially the sections Farm Accounts, Rents as a Cause 

 of Depression, Reductions Insufficient, Rents not reduced soon enough. 



2 Ibid. 



3 F. A. Channing, The Truth about Agricultural Degression, 1897, a reprint of his Minority 

 Report as a member of the Commission of 1894 : " If the estimates of the cost of the four- 

 course system and of the returns from roots and seeds are approximately correct, to make 

 ends meet a return from the two corn crops is demanded, which is impossible at present 

 prices, " p. 68. 



4 Agricultural Statistics, 1903, pp. 44 f., and 1909, Pt I. 





