HIGH FARMING. 225 



of selling 50 acres (one-fifteenth of the extent of his farm) 

 of potatoes on the ground. He has this further advantage 

 to an arable farmer, that, except against a railway, he has 

 not a fence on his farm. He had one hedge, but he 

 grubbed it up. 



We now come to the much-controverted case of Auch- 

 ness, in the county of Wigton. It lies in a nutshell : 240 

 acres rent under 22s. per acre ; as far as appears in the 

 account, subject to no charge for tithe or tax. If this be 

 so, Auchness, transported into the parish of Sutton Wal- 

 dron, and subjected to Mr. Huxtable's charge of 8s. Gd. 

 per acre for tithe and tax, would yield a landlord's rent of 

 13s. 6d. per acre, of which it appears that 7s. 6d. is interest 

 of money laid out in draining and extra building. This 

 poor farm has been forced by admirable management to 

 the extraordinary gross produce of 2518L 15s. annually, or 

 about 10Z. 9s. per acre. 



Gross produce 2518 15 



Debited with rent . . . 262\ 



labour . . . 417 > 1205 



Purchased food and manures . 526 ) 



It leaves a balance of . . 1313 15 

 to pay for the portion of the produce consumed in the 

 operations of the farm, tradesmen's bills, interest of money, 

 incidental expenses, and profit. The gross produce ap- 

 proaches very nearly to ten rents. Though the labour is 

 8s. per acre less than Mr. Rigden's (the difference perhaps 

 arising from the rate of wages, which are very high near 

 Brighton), the farming at Auchness is in many respects 

 higher than at Hove. At the former place the purchased 

 manures and cattle food amount to nearly 44s. 6d. per acre, 

 whereas at the latter they are only 21s. 6d. The gross 

 produce at Auchness exceeds that at Hove by 29s. per 

 acre, being 6s. per acre more than the excess of purchased 

 manure and food. The peculiar advantages of the farm at 

 Auchness appear to be, that it lies at a low elevation, near 

 a good shipping port, has water-power, ample and con- 



L 3 



