382 ADVERSITY, 1874-1912 



animals to be slaughtered at the port of landing, was a valuable 

 step towards preventing the spread of infection. The Agricultural 

 Rates Act (1896) and the subsequent Continuation Acts (1901, etc.), 

 though they were only palliatives which did not settle the many 

 questions involved in the increasing burden of rates, rendered the 

 load of local taxation for the moment less oppressive. After all, 

 agriculturists received little assistance from Parliament. They had 

 to help themselves. Conditions slowly mended. More favourable 

 seasons, rigid economy in expenses, attention to neglected branches 

 of the industry have combined to lessen the financial strain. But the 

 greatest relief has been afforded by the substantial reduction in the 

 rents of agricultural land, which has resulted in a fairer adjustment 

 of the economic pressure of low prices as between owners and 

 occupiers. 



The state of agriculture in 1901-2 has been described by a dis- 

 tinguished man of letters, who is also a practical farmer. In the 

 two portly volumes of his Rural England, Sir H. Rider Haggard 

 has collected a mass of evidence, gathered from what he himself 

 saw and heard in 27 counties of England. The work is a monument 

 of physical energy and endurance. It is also a contemporary 

 record of rural facts and conditions, to which time will add historical 

 value. Future generations will turn to Rural England as the present 

 generation turns to Arthur Young, or William Marshall, or James 

 Caird. Yet the situation which Sir H. Rider Haggard described 

 ten years ago has already improved. The problem of agricultural 

 labour continues to be acute ; the burden of rural rates has doubled. 

 But no unprejudiced observer in 1912 would paint the picture of 

 farming to-day in such gloomy colours. Owing partly to the 

 reduction of rents, partly to the improvement in prices obtained for 

 agricultural produce, partly to economies in management, the 

 present financial condition of agriculture, as compared with 1901, 

 may be described as prosperous. If he were not haunted by the 

 unknown terrors of social legislation, and the consequent insecurity 

 of his tenure, a tenant-farmer might possibly admit to himself in 

 secret that his industry has not been in a sounder position for the 

 last 35 years. 



Since the disasters of 1874-85, and under the continuous pressure 

 of foreign competition, agriculture has profoundly changed. A 

 loss of capital so great, a period of depression so prolonged, the 

 intrusion of so new and disturbing an element in every calculation, 



