120 



REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



He gives the potatoes, turnips, and beet a dressing of artificial 

 manure and urine. The other crops are dressed with dung and 

 urine. He buys his stock himself, but he is a member of a 

 co-operative society which keeps well-bred bulls. His seeds and 

 manures are bought through a Co-operative Supply Association. 

 He is a member of a creamery, bacon-curing establishment, and 

 egg export centre, and he disposes of his produce by means of 

 these Societies. He is now married, and has one child, a boy of 

 fourteen years of age. He and his wife, with the assistance of a 

 young girl from May to November, do most of the work on the 

 farm. For a number of years he went out and worked to other 

 farmers, and in this way added to his income. He now confines 

 himself entirely to his farm. 



The farmers of Denmark keep their accounts and balance 

 their books, not always perfectly, but much more accurately than 

 farmers do in this country. It is, therefore, comparatively easy to 

 see the result of their farming. The following balance sheet from 

 1st January 1903 to 1st January 1904 will show the result of 

 this small holder's operations. 



Balance-Sheet of 8| Acres Farm. 



Income. 



Delivered 20,696 lbs. milk 



to the Creamery . 

 Sold pigs and little pigs . 

 „ 3 calves . 

 „ eggs for about 

 „ 1058 lbs. green peas 

 „ berries . 

 Used in the household — 

 Milk, about . 

 Pork 



Eggs and Poultry . 

 The stock increased with 

 1 heifer and 1 calf 



; Expense. 



£ s. D. 



Bought meal for the cows 

 41 2 10 „ „ „ pigs 



23 3 8 „ seed of corn, beet, 



1 12 3 grass 



5 11 1 1 „ artificial manure 

 4 8 2! Repair of buildings and 

 3 6 8 [ tools .... 

 ! Rates and Taxes — Tithe 

 3 6 8 I — Fire Insurance 



2 15 7 I Girl's Wages . 

 2 10 I Day Labourer . 



Veterinary Account 



7 10 



£95 6 11 



Balance — payment for 

 own work, and interest 

 of farm's value . 



£ s. D. 

 13 3 6 

 12 3 10 



2 7 9 



15 



1 18 11 



2 16 

 2 4 

 5 

 5 



59 6 1 



£95 6 11 



£59, 6s. Id. is not a large amount with which to pay the 

 farmer for his own work and interest on his loan. Suppose the 

 farm is worth what he paid for it — viz. : £332 — interest on this 

 amount at 4 per cent, would be £13, which would leave as wages 

 to the farmer £46. It cannot be said that there is a fortune in 

 small holdings of this kind. Still, they compare favourably with 

 the same class of holdings in the United Kingdom. Outside the 

 crofting areas — which are not suitable for a comparison — there are 

 no districts in Scotland where holdings of this kind predominate. 

 There is, however, one district at least in England where there are 

 many of them — the Isle of Axeholme in Lincolnshire. We have 

 seen a balance-sheet of a ten-acre holding there, worked by the 

 farmer, his wife, and children. The return to them for their year's 



