MINUTKS OF EVIDENCE. 



26 August, 1919.] 



MR. M. D. BANNISTER, F.S.I. 



[Continued. 



5784. Mr. Rea: 1 am not quite clear about your 

 costs of horses, 36s. If you depreciate your horses by 

 20 per cent., that is practically -20 a year, taking the 

 value of the horse at 100? Yes. 



5785. That moans fs. per week or Is. -kl. a day? 

 Yes. 



5786. If you take the cost at 10s. a day inclusive 

 that leaves 8s. 8d. a day without depreciation. Do 

 you think they actually cost that. I am taking the 

 working days of course as being six days a week.? 

 I think they do. 



5787. The manure in crop No. 1 conies to 33 4s. 4d. 

 the total. 4 2s. 10s. of that is in respect of 

 sulphate of ammonia which we may take as used up 

 in the first year? Yes. 



5788. That leaves about 29 of manures which last, 

 the farmyard manure, the slag, and the one ton of 

 ground lime. What proportion of those have you 

 carried forward to subsequent crops? I should think 

 if you carried forward the lime on a five years' basis 

 that would be right, but I should not carry forward 

 any of the others after a wheat crop. This was put 

 on a clear fallow for wheat. 



'. Do you think the wheat would use up all the 

 farmyard d"ung and the basic slag?- 1 beg your 

 pardon, I should put the slag on n three years' basis 

 and the lime on a five years' basis. 



5790. And the dung?' The duns; I should not carry 

 forward. 



5791. You think that would all be absorbed? Yes, 

 1 think so. 



5792. Take No. 3, 9 acres, yield 67 i quarters of oats 

 that is 7^ quarters to an acre? Yes. 



5793. Yu have only got 7 tons of straw off the 

 9 acres. Would a crop yielding 07 J, quarters of oats 

 only yield as little straw as 7 tons? I should have 

 said not, only this is a ease where it has !on actually 

 threshed and it has produced that; otherwise 1 should 

 say it was impossible 



57!H. Has the straw been weighed? No. it has not 

 been weighed, but it has been measured and I do not 

 think there is any doubt that [ am within a quarter 

 of a ton of it. The straw has been phenomenally short 

 this year. 



57!>5. The same thing applies still more in the next 

 sheet. 30 quarters of wheat on four acres which is nine 

 quarters per aei<- and only four tons of straw, that is 

 one ton per acre an enormous crop of wheat and an 

 abnormally small crop of stray!' -These nre from two 

 farms in the same district and it is the same in both. 

 No. 4 is not a threshed result, it is estimated, but 

 No. 3 is where it has been actually threshed. 



57:tO. In No. 7 the same thing applies again Mid 

 even more strongly- 10 acres 80 quarters of oats and 

 barley and only six tons of straw half-ton of stra.v 

 to s (jimrters of grain? Yes. 



5797. To go bark to No. 4. " One year's rent and 

 rates. 20s." that is the 36 quarters to the four 

 :i"i i "i 



579-v What are the rates there? The rales there 

 would be about 5s. Od. in the ; it would be one-half 

 for the agricultural land. 



57!)9. So that the rent would be about 17s. or 

 17s. Od. an acre? In getting at the rent of the 

 land I have assessed a rent for the, house and deducted 

 that. This is the bare rent of the land without the 

 buildings. The inclusive rent of this farm would be 

 about 25s., I think. 



5800. Mr. Anker Rimmon*: Over what area are 

 these illustrations taken? They spread over about 

 15 square miles. I should think. 



5801. You have given uS five illustrations of the 

 cost of growing wheat. They vary from 19 16s. 7d. 

 to 11 8s. 6d. I take it that in your practice you 

 have to value every year on a certain number of 

 farms the tillages involved in wheat cultivation? 

 Yen. 



5802. Have yon ever known a case where you have 

 given or received 19 10s. 7d. as the cost of p re- 

 dwing an acre of wheat? All our valuations are 

 at Michaelmas, so that we never have any costs of 

 producing wheat. 



ho you think that 35s. an acre is really a 

 f.iir price for a two-horso plough? I am satisfied 

 that voii rould not do it under. 



' Would you allow .Vis. if yon were valuing?- 

 \V should allow 32s 



5805. For one plough? Yes. 



5806. What was your cost pre-yar P 15s. We are 

 up to 125 per cent, ; that is our valuer's increase. 



5807. What county is this? Sussex, Surrey, and 

 Kent the Valuers' Association. 



5808. What kind of wheat is this where you esti- 

 mate the crop at 9 quarters to 1 acre. It must be 

 a mistake. I have been fanning for 45 years and 

 I have never known of its being grown. I think I 

 heard once of its being grown, but that would be 

 coomb wheat. We will leave the question of the 

 terms alone, because they have been estimated. I 

 think you will agree that the cost of producing a 

 crop, whether it is a good one or a bad one, would 

 be the same? Yes. 



5809. Therefore in arriving at the cost of produc- 

 tion it is safer to' make out calculations on the cost 

 of producing a crop, be it good or bad, than upon the . 

 actual results you might get in any one year? 1 

 think so. 



5810. It would not be fair to take the results of an 

 abnormal year such as the present year, for example? 

 No. I think if you took the cost per a-?re and then 

 the average yield per acre you would probably get a 

 good deal nearer the fair price than by taking the 

 eosi of producing per quarter in isolated cases. 



5811. Taking those 15 square miles, what would you 

 say would be an average return of wheat how many 

 quarters per acre from your knowledge? Over the 

 average I should think four quarters. 



5812. If you add together the figures you have given 

 us you get a total of 78, which divided by five gives 

 you an average cost of production of 15 12s. Would 

 you say that that would be a fair average of the cost 

 of producing an acre of wheat on that 15 square 



miles? Yes. I think the instances I have taken are 



about fair for the district. 



; Is it customary in your district to manure 

 .ire fallow? Yes. 



I. In three of the five cases you have dung for 

 wheat and in one of the other c:<s it is very heavily 

 dressed with artificial manures. You would make 

 some allowance, would you not- T thought you did in 

 Sussex, but I know they would in Surrey for the 

 succeeding crop? There' must be something left for 

 the succeeding crop. Do you farm on a four field 

 basis or a five field? Four". 



5*15. On a four field basis there must be something 

 left for the succeeding crop? There would from the 

 slag and the lime but it would be something very 

 small from the dung. 



Speaking of lime, you based your estimate 

 upon n five years' allowance. Would it not be nearer 

 the mark to take the average on a 10 years' basis? 

 In my own county we always estimate the value of 

 lime at over 10 years? No. t do not altogether agree 

 with you there. 



5*17. Mr. Overman : As to your ploughing cost what 

 do you estimate you would plough in the case of No. 1, 

 the light land with a pair of hordes and a man n day? 

 Three quarters of an acre. 



3. Is it customary in a case of light land <tueh*ns 

 this in Sussex to fallow it? Yes. 



581 P. I see, still speaking of No. 1, that you have 

 applied one ton of ground lime at a cost of 12s. Od. 

 In No. 3 you apply three tons of ground lime at a cost 

 of 6 2 a ton? Yes. 



5820. Do you think it possible to buy lime at 

 12s. Od.? I should not have thought so if T had not 

 seen the bills for it quite where be got it T do not 

 know. 



5821. Mr. Cmitlry: I should like to know where he 

 got it? It was obtained in your district. 



5822. Mr. Overmnn: What is the usual quantity 

 of seed you put on for wheat in Sussex? About three 

 bushels. 



5823. How much do you put on for oats. I see in 

 No. 3 you charge 8 sacks of seed oats at 63s. a" 

 quarter?- One snek an acre. 



5824. And for barlev? Not very far from a sack. 

 ."-'25. Going to No 11, flow do you collect the shep 



dung? You have 50 loads of sheep dung. What does 

 that represent? It is dung made in the sheep fold 

 the lambing fold probably. Obviously the 50 loads 

 did not fro over the whole acreage. 



.V20. Have you over seen nine quarters of wheat 

 growing?- T have seen this piece. 



