THE RURAL PROBLEM. 9 



the effective organisation of agriculture in the future will require 

 the business manager in a new form. The amount of business on 

 the ordinary farm does not provide scojae for the faculties or yield 

 adequate remuneration to secure the services of managers of the 

 type who have made possible the modern exjDansion of industry 

 and commerce, men who are urgently needed in the direction of 

 an agricultural industry which is in open competition with supplies 

 from world-wide sources. In the future farming operations must 

 be organised on a larger scale to provide scope for the capable 

 manager of the commercial side of the industry, or co-operative 

 societies must be formed to supply the element of commercial 

 management in the processes of buying and selling. 



While changes in the nature or amount of produce were being 

 made, changes were occurring in the methods of production, 

 especiall}^ in the employment of more machinery and power. In 

 1907 it was estimated that the value of agricultural engmes, 

 machinery, implements and tools annually purchased in Great 

 Britain amounted to £1,500,000. The number of engines on farms 

 in that year (excluding those temporarily hired) was 34,450, and 

 the horse-power 213,523.* This would be much greater than the 

 amount of power emploj^ed in 1875, but the exact amount of the 

 difference is unknowai. The amount of ploughing done by steam 

 has slightly declined since the " eighties," but in almost every 

 other sphere the amount of power used has increased. But more 

 important than the application of mechanical power has been the 

 development of horse implements, especiallj' for harvesting. Drills, 

 horse-hoes, and other implements have become lighter in draft, 

 more efficient and adaptable ; but the great development has been 

 in the adoption of machinery for harvesting hay, corn and potatoes, 

 and in the extended use of power for barn-machinery, including 

 [ threshing machines, trussing machines, and others for preparing 

 : foods. Other machines have been adopted which effect a saving 

 of labour at certain seasons, such as the shearing machine, and still 

 I others which improve processes while not effecting a great saving 

 of labour, as the cream separator. The chief labour - savers 

 : have been the harvesting machines. These have regularised 

 '■ employment, and done away with the need for a large number 

 I of casual workers. Or, to speak more accurately, in some instances 

 j the absence of casual labour has forced the adoption of these 

 I machines. 



The result of the adoption of more power and machinery in 

 agricultural production was that output did not decline with the 

 number of persons employed ; indeed, output per man was increasing 

 while total output was falling. From 1871 to 1901 the number 

 of persons engaged ua agriculture feU about 30 per cent, while 



* Cd. 6277, 1912. 



