186 



ROYAL COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURE. 



SO Augutt, 1919.] 



Ma. L. X. GOOIMNII. 



[Continued. 



4846. Would you turn to the second page of your 

 evidence, where you give the cost of keeping a h.it-. - 

 Am I right in assuming that all tli.- prices in this 

 calculation of the cost of horse food are mark, i | 



Yes; the value that food would lie t<> tin- man if 

 he sold it, and did not giro it to his horse. 



4847. This includes oats, and beans, and nth, -i 

 things? Yes, oats and beans chiefly and maize. 



IM-v All the prici are market prices? Yes, tin \ 

 arc based upon market prices. 



4849. How do you arrive at the market price of 

 roots? I should not say roots at market prices 1 

 am sorry. 



4860. Could you give us any indication as to how 

 much is roots and how much is bran in the fourth 

 iifinr I am afraid I cannot, because some farmers 

 in their returns gave them together. 



4851. Taking the fourth item in tho column on the 

 right hand, have you any idea how much is grass 

 and how much is lucerne? No, I could not tell you 

 that. 



4852. How much land would you consider was suffi- 

 cient to summer a horse for 19 weeks, bearing in 

 mind the amount of corn, and straw, and roots, and 

 bran, Ac., he is getting? It depends entirely upon 

 the weather. In this present summer, for example, we 

 have had a very long drought, and the pasturage 

 which would have kept 10 or a dozen horses in the 

 ordinary way has not been sufficient for more than 

 half that number. 



4853. What would be about the rent of this pasture 

 land The rent would vary considerably in some part* 

 of Norfolk. 



4854. That would be the rent of this light pasture 

 land? 1 an acre, or perhaps 1 10s. 



4855. If in some cases that 4s. 3d. for grazing repre- 

 sented all grass a horse would be grazing about four 

 acres of land for 19 weeks? V. 



4856. Is not that somewhat excessive? No, I think 

 not, because the land would be very little used any 

 other part of the year. 



4857. Would one horse consume all the grass grown 

 on four acres of land in 19 weeks? On that light land. 



4858. Are you sure about that? Yes, I should say 

 so. These pastures very often get dried up in the 

 summer, and then the farmer has to cart clover and 

 lucerne to the horse. 



4859. What amount of straw would the horse be get- 

 ting? That is hay and straw mixed, and chaff. 



4860. It includes the cost of cutting? Yes, they 

 give him chaff when he is at work. 



4861. Do you consider he would consume all this 

 quantity of hay and corn and oats and roots when at 

 grass in 19 weeks? He does not get it when he is at 

 grass. When lie i.s at grass he only gets about 3 stone 

 usually. 



4862. Can you tell me the price of these roots? 

 About 3d. a stone. 



4863. Two shillings a cwt.? Yes, 40s. a ton. 



4864. How many tons of roots could you grow on 

 this light land ? I cannot tell you ; I have not gone 

 into that at present. 



4865-6. So that you are not at all sure about the cost 

 of horse labour? I am sure in this way, that tli. -. 

 returns have been received from the farmers, and that 

 as near as they can do it they have put it at what it 

 has cost them. They have put it down very low in 

 some cases. It is considerably lower than what they 

 actually give them. I am quite sure the prices havo 

 been put down on the low side. In some cases they 

 give their horses 4 to 5 stone of roots a week. 



4867. The whole of your calculations rest, as far as 

 horse labour is concerned, on this estimate here? 

 Yes, it is based upon actual returns received from tho 

 farmers themselves. 



4868. It is quite possible that the actual cost of 

 horse food is much less than is shown here, even on an 

 average? It is more likely to be more. I should think. 



4869. Would you look at the table on the next page, 

 setting out the cost of keeping farm horses in Norfolk ? 

 You remember some questions put by Mr. Smith to 

 you a* to tho high cost in the case of No. 4 ? Yes. 



4870. If you look at the figures on tho right hand of 

 tho page yon will see they are carrying nearly 4^ horses 

 per 100 acres? Yes. 



4871. In some cases take No. 5 for instance, where 



the weekly cost of the horse in the stable is 1 Is. 4d 



they are only carrying two horses to the 100 acres? 

 The reason tor that is that No. 4 refers to fen land, 

 which requires a larger number of horses to work than 

 the other land. The cost of feeding the farm h< 

 based on returns received from farmers of all classes 

 of land in order to get tho average cost of a working 

 horse. 



4872. You sai<l. in answer to Mr. Smith, that the 

 cost of keeping a horse might vary to some extent 

 according to the nature of the land that a horse on 

 heavier land would be doing heavier work, and would 

 therefore require better feeding? I have shown that 

 in these returns. 



4873. That being so, you have averaged the cost" 

 of the keep of the horse on heavy land together with 

 the keep of the horse on light land ? I have taken the 

 average for all classes of land, and taken the cost of 

 the keep of the horses on that land. 



4874. You have taken the average cost of the keep 

 of the working horses on lands of all types, and have 

 applied that average cost to t^ie cost of cultivation 

 on very light lands? Not on very light lands on 

 light lands. 



4875. Land with a yield of 21 bushels an acre, or 

 something of that sort? Yes. 



4876. You have taken in all these cases a certain 

 amount of depreciation in the horsos. Is it at all 

 possible that some of the horses which appear in this 

 table as, for instance, in No. 4 are not entirely 

 working horses, but may be brood mares that are 

 producing foals? Of course, a good many farmers 

 breed a foal. 



4877. Would the cost of keeping those horses appear 

 in the average statement here?- No. because when a 

 horse is turned out she ceases to receive the corn and 

 chaff, and stover, if she has a foal. 



4878. On page 4 you give the cost of ploughing with 

 tractors, and you estimate half a gallon of lubricat- 

 ing oil for the tractor to the acre. Do you consider 

 that a tractor would actually use half a gallon of 

 lubricating oil per acre? That is the actual return 

 received from a farmer who works a tractor very 

 often and works light land. It is based on the cost 

 over the last three years to that farmer. 



4879. Mr. Overman : This 6,000 acres on the 

 Uiddlesworth estate is only a portion of tho estate 

 which you farm yourself, is it not? I do not farm 

 the whole of the 5,000 acres ; 5,000 acres is the whole 

 estate. Until quite recently we farmed 3,000 acres, 

 but last Michaelmas we let a large farm, and at the 

 present time I am farming just over 2.000 :i. 



4880. What proportion of that have you got under 

 the plough now? About 1,500. 



4881. Of course, there is some which is down to 

 temporary grass? The 1,500 acres include the tem- 

 porary grass. 



4882. The 1,500 includes the yearly seeds? Yes. 



4883. When the Board of Agriculture asked for 62 

 per cent, of the existing arable land in Norfolk to 

 be put in with cereals it was rather a disastrous thing 

 for these light lands, was it not? In our particular 

 district it was a very disastrous thing. 



4884. What percentage did yon get yourself at that 

 time:' Wo had got that practically at the time, and 

 we had to break up very little extra land. 



4885. Did you get your 62 per cent. ? Not quite ; 

 we broke some of the Heath land up. 



4886. I would like to clear up, if we can, this 

 question of the cost of keeping horses. Could you 



.help me by indicating what farm No. 3 represents? 

 That is Mr. Fred Allen, of Swaffham. 



4887. I know his farm, and I understood his land 

 was nearly all arable? There are 100 acres of pasture 

 and 1,000 acres of arable. 



4888. In all probability, in that case Mr. Allen had 

 to K' v 'e his horses pretty well the same ration of corn 

 throughout the summer as he had to do in the winter? 

 He does, as I said ; he gives them the same quantity 

 of corn in the summer; that explains the high cost 

 during the summer. 



