The Farmer 



counted on saving enough money to retire upon. 



So the test of the business capacity of the 

 farmer is the clear profit he makes per acre, 

 provided that at the same time he keeps his 

 land in good heart and his hedgerows and 

 headlands in proper condition. One often sees 

 the latter a perfect scourge to neighbouring 

 farmers. And surely it is only common sense to 

 argue that the greater the gross yield per acre 

 the larger is the margin of profit for the culti- 

 vator ? This is not invariably true, but in 

 general terms it is indisputable. How can a 

 man, paying los. per acre and obtaining a gross 

 yield of say ^^3 per acre, do his duty to the 

 country, to his family, to his landlord, or, most 

 important, how can he do justice to the land 

 itself? 



In dealing with farm budgets I think the 

 most satisfactory way is to ignore tenant-right 

 valuation; thus violent fluctuations due to the 

 seasons need not appear in the farm books, and 

 taken over a period of years this valuation is 

 fairly constant. Study the gross receipts of a 

 farm over a period of years and you have the 

 amount of foodstuff which the farm is producing 

 for the nation. Compare current receipts and 

 current expenditure for a similar period and 

 you have the farmer's profit or loss. Included 

 in expenditure should be interest on working 

 capital and all depreciation under respective 



59 



