208 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



to export what she at present imports. Tlie tiilies 

 of arable land might be valued at so much wheat, 

 barley, oals, or beans, aci'ordin<^ as the land n)ight 

 be fir" for the production of such crops ; and the 

 grass-land, at eo much cheese, or beelj and mutton, 

 according as it might be fit for a dairy or for fat- 

 tening sheep or oxen ; and the sum to be paid to 

 the clergyman settled every year, according to the 

 average price of the several articles. 



No circumstance retards (he improvement of 

 land more than the present mode of exacting 

 tithes. Nothing can be more galling to an indus- 

 trious man, than that, when he has laid out a large 

 sum on the improvement of his I'arm, and it is be- 

 ginning to yield him an increased return, the tithe- 

 man should come and take the tenth of the fruits 

 of his industry, capital and talent. " The tenth of 

 the natural produce," say many, '' belongs to the 

 church ;" but surely it never was intended, and 

 certainly it never was justice, tliat the church 

 should take the tenth of that which is produced 

 by artificial and expensive cultivation, without 

 also bearing a tenth part of the expense of such 

 cultivation. This seems clear and evident, to all 

 farmers at least. " If (such is their language) I 

 lay down my land to pasture, yon will not receive 

 one-tenth part of the tithes you now take: what 

 sort of right then have you to the tithes that are 

 produced by expensive cultivation 7" 



If a field of pasture, the produce of which is worth 

 five shillings per annum, is broken up and improv- 

 ed by draining, &c., at an expense of 15/. or 201. 

 per acre, and in consequence, produces an annual 

 return of 51. per acre, can there be any reason or 

 justice in the church's having a right to demand 

 and receive twenty limes the sum she received 

 when the land was in poor sheep- pasture ? Surely 

 not : for it is the great expense of artificial cultiva- 

 tion, that the farmer has been at, which has pro- 

 duced this great return. The land is worth little, 

 if any more, to the landlord than before ; and if 

 the supposed new mode of cultivating it were to 

 be discontinued, it would return to its original value. 



Rent and profits. — The rent of land and the 

 profits of the farmer arise fmm the excess of the 

 value of the produce over the expense of cultivat- 

 ing it, — the rent belonging to the landlord, and 

 the profits to the farmer, in return for his capital, 

 and for his skill in liirming. When all circum- 

 stances, connected with agriculture, are in a na- 

 tural state, the price of labor and the expense of 

 cultivating the soil will rise and fall, as the price 

 of the produce of the soil rises and falls. But the 

 impolitic interference of government with circum- 

 stances that bear upon the price of produce, has 

 had the effect of lowerinir the price of produce, 

 without, at ihe same time, lowering the price of 

 production. Hence a great portion of the poorer 

 soils has been thrown out of cultivation, because 

 the expense exceeded the price of all the produce. 

 Such has been the case with respect to all the 

 poor, thin, clay land of Beverston farm ; which is 

 now employed in breeding young cattle, there be- 

 ing little expense attending this mode of reaping 

 the natural yearly produce of it. The rents have 

 thus been greatly reduced, the profits have almost 

 entirely disappeared, and left the agriculturist to 

 live upon his capital. Unable to cultivate his land 

 in the way he was accustomed to do, he endea- 

 vors, by cross-cropping it, or cropping it out of the 

 regular course, to make up by increase of crop the 



deficiency of the price, — a mode which has the 

 effect of ultimately diminishing the produce and 

 impairing the powers of the ground, which gets 

 worn out and overrun with weeds; so that the 

 expense of putting it " in place," or in good condi- 

 tion again, will be much greater than what would 

 have kept it in good condition. 



Thus, the instability of ourcorn-laws, and ofthe 

 circulating medium of the country, has not only 

 destroyed much of the property of the agricultu- 

 rist, but has paralyzed the farmer's operations, 

 deteriorated the quality of the soil, and made ihe 

 agricultural improvements of this kingdom retro- 

 grade, to a degree unprecedented in the annals of 

 agriculture. It has undone all the improvements 

 that have been made since 1796. 



The present distressed state of agriculture is felt 

 by every one connected with it either directly or 

 indirectly. The laborer is distressed, because 

 there is no demand for his labor; — the farmer, 

 because the price he gets for his produce does not 

 enable him to meet the demands upon him ; — the 

 landlord, because the rent which he now receives 

 will not enable him to support that rank in society 

 which he used to hold, while he views with did- 

 satisfiiciion the elevation which the money capita- 

 list has attained in consequence of impolitic inter- 

 ference with existing laws. 



It is only by descending ft-om the character and 

 standing in society which they held previously to 

 1820, and by the strictest economy and most in- 

 dustrious habits, that the farmers can now get 

 both ends to meet; for, although their rents are 

 lowered, yet their expenses, together with the 

 growing evil of the poor-rates and other parochial 

 taxes, are as great in all parishes, and in those 

 adjoining the manufacturing districts they are 

 much greater. 



j/ccounts. — The mode of keeping the accounts 

 on this farm is simple and correct. All payments 

 of rents, tithes, poor-rates, taxes, tradesmen's bills, 

 &c., are entered as they are made, and the expense 

 of labor as entered weekly. This forms the ac- 

 count of disbursements. In the weekly account 

 for labor, the number of hands employed — the 

 wages 1 hey receive, whether by the day or the 

 piece, with the kind of work they are employed in, 

 are all entered, so that the expense of the turnip 

 crop, the hay harvest, the corn harvest, paring 

 and burning, &c. for any year, may be known at 

 a glance. 



A separate account is opened for the receipts. 

 In this account an entry is made of every thing as 

 it is sold, specifying the persons to whom and the 

 price at which it is sold, — also the quantity, whe- 

 ther of sheep, beasts, cheese, butter, corn, &c. 

 This forms the account of receipts; and the ba- 

 lancing of this with the former shows the profit or 

 loss of any year. 



NOTES ON EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE, BY A 

 CHARLESTON! AN. 



No. 3. 



From the Soutliern Catiinet. 

 Wheat. — In my last I gave some notes on the 

 rotation of crops in Great Britain, — a judicious 

 mode of culture, which is now adopted to a con- 



