120 



IAI. COMMISSION ON At.lMCI I.TI'KK. 



19 Au 9u .l, 



TIIC.M v- II. MIL 1.1. HON. K.U.K.. < I: 



2S3. In lyis great prewure was brought to boar 

 uii the (armor; lie was actuated by patriotic motives; 

 further, the spring mouths were vary fine. Ou the 

 other hand his labour difficulties were great. From 

 the above figures and from the present outlouk (given 

 u guarantee of 00*.), 1 should be inclined to estimate 

 that we might grow from about .',000,000 to 2,200,000 

 acres of wheat and 6,500,000 to ti, 700,000 acres of 

 total corn annually in England and Wales during tin- 

 next five yean. 



2984. (4) Past experience would seem to indn.au- 

 that, even were prices to reach and remain at a level 

 of 80s. per quarter, wo would be unlikely to get the 

 I ~7 1 75 acreages of wheat and other corn crops. 

 I mler existing condition*, 1 am doubtful if a market 

 price of 100s. per quarter would by itself .-ocuro 

 4,000,000 acres of wheat in England and Wales. 



2985. (5) Taking next Appendix B, dealing with 

 Meat Production, attention may be directed to the 

 first page of the summary ; this shows that the oobt 

 of producing meat has practically doubled. It should 

 be noted that as the animals in question are bred and 

 fed on the same farm there ore no intermediate profits 

 to be charged. Where animals pass from market to 

 market, losing weight and incurring charges for trans- 

 port, the cost of meat production might be consider- 

 ably higher than that shown. 



2936. (6) Attention may also be directed to the 

 great differences in the cost of winter and summer 

 feeding. In practice these differences are usually 

 reduced by the fact that cattle ore worth more per 

 live cwt. in spring than in autumn ; but the 

 figures show that, relatively, grazing must have l < i< 

 much more profitable than winter fattening. There 

 was evidence of this in the high prices paid for grass 

 let by auction and in the prosperity of the rearers of 

 Irish cattle. 



2987. (7) These figures point straight to the pecu- 

 liar conditions which in one sense have been the salva- 

 tion, in another the curse, of British husbandry during 

 the past half century. We possess a relatively large 

 area of land equally suited for tillage or grazing : the 

 comparative ease with which the change could be 

 made saved many farmers from bankruptcy in .the 

 first half of the period. In 1917 and 1918, when e\er\ 

 quarter of wheat we failed to grow increased the 

 national danger, there was a race between the plough 

 and the submarine, which, but for good luck, would 

 have had a fatal ending for us; and now every 

 quarter we fail to grow, though it probably adds to 

 the bank balance of the farmer, certainly adds to the 

 debit side of the nation's heavy account. 



2988. (8) In England and Wales at the present time 

 there are several millions of acres which in the in- 

 terests of owners and occupiers should be under grass, 

 and in the interests of the rest of the nation should 

 be under other crops. 



2989. (9) We have in fact not one agricultural in- 

 dustry but two tillage farming and grass farming 

 in this country. If we take the 27,000,000 acres of 

 cultivate! land in England and Wales and deduct 

 some 4 to 6 million acres, which for one reason or 

 another would be tilled under any probable conditions 

 that will arise in the near future, and some 7 to 9 

 million acres which would remain in grass, however 

 tempting corn prices might be, there remain from 13 

 t'i 16 million acres to which the problem raised In 

 these alternative industries applies. 



2990. (10) So far as I can forecast the economic 

 prospects of grass farming, I should class them as 

 good on perhaps two thirds and fair on the remainder 

 of the " intermediate " area of England and Wales- 



I In- country is likely to pay a price for its milk 

 i Inch will ensure, to the grass farmer at least, H 

 satisfactory return ; and even were the prices of 

 cattle and sheep to fall below probable rates, K rils ~ 

 land could be managed so as to yield certain profits. 

 The outlay in wages is small, and much grass land 

 i mild be cheaply improved by manuring. Grass land 

 generally is worse farmed than tillage land, and the 

 efforts now being made by the Agricultural Education 

 Committees in every county are more likely to result 

 in improvements on grass than on tillage land. 



3991. (11) Tillage farming represents a vei\ . 

 i-ut set of conditions: a heavy outlay of capital, a 

 high wages bill, more risks from weather, very uncer- 

 tain prices, much harder work. I would class the 

 l'io>j.ix'ta as fair only on one-fourth of the " inter- 

 mediate " area, and as very doubtful on the bulk of 

 i lie remainder. 



-".''.i:.'. (\.) Looked at from the national standpoint, 

 the first essential is that the industry should be in a 

 thriving state. Better prosperous grass farming than 

 bankrupt tillage. 



2993. Bankrupt tillage is extruo'dina: ilv wastes nl 

 in our climate. Reasonable production is only se- 

 cured in exceptionally good season , without capital 

 for buildings, drainage implements, etc., labour is 

 spent in vain. 



2994. (13) But provided that the industry pays its 

 way there is uo comparison from the national stand- 

 point between tillage and gross farming. The gross 

 value of the produce is more than doubled, the food 

 provided is increased four- to eight-fold, and th 

 wages fund is increased in a still higher degree. 



.'.''Jo. (14) Farming capital. In comparison with 

 the gross value of the produce, farming capital is 

 very small. It is a fortunate thing for the nation 

 when tillage farmers have a run of good years and 

 make high profite. It is also a good thing for the 

 nation that farmers as a cl-.i--, are c -I..M --tinted .md 

 stick to their profits. In reality these profits are not 

 income in the ordinary sense of the word. The 

 favourable years must be evened out with the un 

 favourable. Over a long life the profits are usually 

 small as compared with the profits made by men of 

 similar capacity in other industries. 



2996. Much of the farmer's profit goes into the 

 improvement of his land. Improvers of land, whether 

 landlords or tenants, always benefit the community. 

 Very frequently they fail to benefit either themselves 

 or their heirs. 



2997. (15) I think that the economic position of 

 agriculture would be improved by the development of 

 small farms up to, say, 100 acres at the exprn 

 holdings between 100 and 300 acres. The size of the 

 holding should be adapted to the area which can be 

 worked by one pair of horses. This holding might be 

 30 or it might be 100 acres (or even more) according 

 to the character of the land. It is not usually luck of 

 knowledge or lack of industry that cripples small 

 farmers, but the fact that the holdings are not of an 

 economic size; they are too small, that is, to employ a 

 pair of horses fully. High wages are likely to 

 increase the demand for small holdings. Men of the 

 best type will be able to save money, and a proportion 

 of them will prefer to farm for themselves rather than 

 to work for wages. 



2998. (16) Assuming that about one man in ten 

 employed in agriculture in England and Wales looked 

 forward to settling on the land, that his children 

 began life like himself as farm workers, and that he 

 occupied his holding for about half the time he 

 worked as a labourer, some 40,000 additional holdings 

 averaging 50 acres would be wanted by farm 

 labourers. To get this number and to provide similar 

 small holdings for the men occupying the larger farms 

 to be broken up it would be necessary to reduce the 

 total number of holdings between 100 and" 300 

 from 70,000 to about 55,000. As compared with 19M. 

 and apart from changes that will be made under the 

 Land Settlement Act, this .suggested provision for 

 farm labourers would affect the distribution of 

 holdings as follows: 



2999. Thousands of Holdings 



in England & Wah - 

 1914. As suggest, d 



6- 20 acres 132 ... 122 



20-100 acres 137 ... 192 



100-300 acres 69 ... 55 



300 and over acres ... 14 ... 14 



3000. (17) Tn view of the large area of the land of 

 Kngland and Wales \\hich i.elon^s to (lie class al.cive 

 referred to as " intermediate." of the much greater 

 value of tillage land than grass to the nation, and of 



