M 



i 



ON AGKICUJ/H UK. 



Mm. M. D. BANNISTER, F.8J. 



&>27. That u hat you ntimuu-d it at Ye. 

 6838. ii.ivo ;. ..vii utiio quartern of wheat 



to, thretli i> u ti-iv g. 



6899. We khould'like to kn.>.. the 'results of tii.ii 

 field. We are very much inu-iv 



-. and al*o if you uould lot us know what 

 tovk ul whi- o houiu very mucli like in 



obtain some . vs. 



In No. 1 you charge OB. Gd. 

 a load for tho yard dung carted and i>i 

 tar did it have to bo carted:' I should say 100 to 

 JUO yards. 



6M1. Were those loads about a ton each? They 

 are yard loads. 



.. What v.ci-ht would they bo:- About 15 cwt. 

 ,:re no manures or dung of 

 kind applied to that field .- No. 

 ;. Does that account for the low yield of two 

 quarter* per :n i< i .:m iiL'.-linocl ti lliink it has 

 got a good deal to do with it. It is rye after wheat 

 and dredge corn after a fallow. 



.No. t is a very good field. Tin- only arti- 

 ficial manure it got was 1 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia 

 per acre? Yes. 

 6836. Nothing else? No. 

 5837. In No. o there are no artificial manures? 



6838. Coming to No. 7, 300 yards of town refuse 

 at 3s., can you give me any idea what tonnage there 

 would bo in that? That is what ho pays for it. 

 I should think it would be about half a ton to the 

 yard. It would not be any more rather loss if any- 



. 1 should say. 



6839. In that case there are no artificial manures? 



'. Tho yield there is 8 quarters of oats and 

 barley to the acre? Yes. 



-l"l. That is after potatoes? Yes. 



.'. Have you any idea, roughly, what proportion 

 of i lie residual value should be put against this crop? 

 This is a field that has not had a straw crop for 

 20 years, so that there would be, I should say, a 

 very large proportion of residuals from this field 

 a great deal more than there would be from an 

 ordinary wheat crop after fallow. 



6843. Coming to No. 8, what kind of oats did you 

 grow there? The yield is just over 7 quarters per 

 acre. My reason for asking is that your seed cost 

 84s. a quarter? I think they were Gorton's or 

 Button's but I would not be certain. 



6844. That is tho actual cost? Yes. 



6845. Then No. 9, 15 acres of wheat after mangolds. 

 Tho yield there is only 3 quarters per acre ? Yes. 



6846. It there any reason that you know of why there 

 should bo such a small yield? That is on the chalk, 

 and it has dried right out. 



6847. The rent and rates are 11s., I see? Yes, it is a 

 hill farm. 



6848. I see in No. 10 you have " Proportion of culti- 

 vations and seed and manure for rope, 27 l"s. MM." 

 Why do you put all that in? The system we have in 

 Sussex, where a man grows rape and folds it, is to 

 reckon that one-third of the cost of the labour, seed, 

 rent and rates is carried forward to the following year 

 as in tho nature of organic action, and in addition v . 

 charge the folding it before midsummer at 40s. an 

 acre and if after midsummer at Gd-. an -icre. w , that 



resents one-third of the previous crop. 



6849. You have only 3$ quarter- . Is not 

 that a very |>oor yield:- Very poor indeed. 



686<' ial reason for it? It is the 



amo noil nn tho previous piece. 



and I live in the s amo dis- 

 trict? Yet. 



6862. I suggest to you. you are very much over 

 fttating tin- .if wheat, and that 3 quarters 

 pr acre would I You must re-m-mbiT 

 that in tho 1." mile* I takp nil that district along 

 through HurU, and you get double the crop there 



thnt ..iir farm. 



6863. I was not alluding to my own farm? I mean 

 our di-.tr 



6664. I)o von know Mr. Prat- hing mnohire 



owner at Cnckfiddf Y<x. 



6865. In January of this ypnr I got information, 

 A- to a rK>H-h in th. I ' f Commons, to 



get til* price fixed for this harvest I am tell.n 



i'\ uay .if introduction to my question and Mr. 

 I'm; me oil iln- L'L'nd January as follows: 



"1 have owned and uoik.d ihre.simig machinery and 

 have threshed by t 1 . 



i the average yield is li 

 will agree with me that Mr. 1'rai 

 forward, reliable man? Yes. and lor ih.- disii 

 has thi-.-hed in 1 entirely agree with hi. i sinuate, but 

 ho has never gone south <il t tickiicld. His brother did 

 all the south and all n!< ; under the 



hills where we can grow good eroji . J!m I'ratt has 

 threshed nothing except in the northern part ol the 

 YAe.ild; it is forest Ian.; .ily. 



The Chairman of the Hasuard'.s Heath and 

 Cuckficld District Council is Mr. 



5857. In January he writes to say that he ha* taken 

 25 estimates and found lhat 1 1. average yield is six 

 sacks per acre?- I think he in right. He covci 

 samo district as Mr. Pratt, practically. 



5858. He would go south in gome districts? Has- 

 sock's people come right up t<> (!and. 



>. At any rate, you agree that a yield of 3 

 quarters for the district I am speaking of would bo 

 right, and where you go nouth \ou get a better yield? 

 Yes. 



5860. In some cases you give the rent as 12s. an 

 acre? Yes. 



6861. That is not very good land, is it? They are 

 old tenants. 



5862. ^Vitll nearly all the prices you have fixed in 

 your estimates I agree, but as regards tractor plough- 

 ing, 30s., is not the price asked today .T.N. ('.<!.: 

 but this plough -iniie previous to th. 



in wages. Since the increase I have taken the prici s 

 at the increased price, but where th" work was done 

 prior to the increase [ have (alien it at the prices paid 

 at that time. 



6863. Do I understand that so far as the figures you 

 have put before the Commission are c 

 of the prices are on the <-ld rate of wages and some 

 on the new? Certainlv, according to the (time at 

 which they were done. 



5864. There is nothing on the face of tho papers 

 themselves to show us what rate the wages is charged 

 at? No. I could of course give that if necessary. 



5865. At any rate so far as No. 1 is concerned you 

 have put the tractor ploughing at 30s., and the once 

 ploughed, two horses, at 36s.? Yes. 



6866. As a matter of fact, on the heavy land would 

 I be right in .saying that last winter a hoise was not 

 able to work on the land at all from the end of 

 October until the beginning of May? Yes, that is 

 right. 



5867. So that the working days so far as cultiva- 

 .ire concerned are very very limited?- I should 



think in an average year the working days on the 

 \\Valden land are two-third.-; of the year. This year 

 it is. of course, a very great deal loss. 



5868. By the Wealden land you mean the li. 

 clay? Yes. 



5869. So far as the heavy clay land is concerned 

 you have given no estimates except this one of growing 

 beans? Yes. My difficulty was tbis: 1 did not like 

 to give any instances where a crop was grown out of 

 what was the proper rotation. A great many of ' 

 fields had been growing white straw crops in the 



-f thi> national circumstances for three \- 

 running. and I did not ihink it was fair in order 

 to get at the reasonable oott I > take cases where it 

 would show a small yield owing to your taking a third 

 straw crop. 



5870. I do not care so much for the yield because 

 it is tho average I "in*! with, but T think 

 your principle is right, to take the an ram- cost of 

 the average operations and then take the average 

 yield. That is my own idea of the only way you can 

 get at the cost of growing wheat. Hut be that as 

 it may. taking your own principle of the avi" 

 cost of the var: 'inns to grow the crop, yon 

 have not given us an illustration of that principle 

 applied to growing a crop of wheat on fallow in the 



ivy land? No. thnt is so. 



5871. Would such a crop represent considerably 

 more than tho Inchest of these costs of growing n 

 crop on fallow? You would not plough on Woalden 



