CONTINUOUS CROPPING: DOES IT PAY? 27 



means. Often indeed it happened that between one 

 field tilled and another there would be one or two 

 fields let to outside tenants for grazing, and only at 

 certain times of the year was it permissible to cross 

 such fields with a cart. Also, this arrangement 

 necessitated the cultivation of fields to which for 

 other reasons than those given above access was diffi- 

 cult. 



RENT AND WAGES 



Let me refer again to the subject of rent. It may be 

 mentioned that those responsible for the scheme 

 expressed the opinion that they would consider the 

 experiment a financial success if it were proved by 

 the system of farming followed, the rent of £3 per 

 Irish acre could be paid, as well as interest at 

 bank rate on the capital invested, and dead stock 

 depreciated at the rate of 10% per annum. Not only 

 has this been done, but the profits for over a three 

 years' period amounted to on an average, slightly over 

 the sum of £582 per annum. 



It should also be pointed out that, under the 

 grazing system, the amount paid in wages was 

 extremely small. As a rule in the district, a herd 

 and an assistant, with casual labour for the repair- 

 ing of fences and ditches, are employed to about 

 every 1,000 acres of grazing, whereas under the 

 tillage system which was carried out, the labour in 

 the first year of the experiment was £293 7s. 9d., 

 in the second year £505 18s. 7d., and in the third 

 year £496 5s. 5d. A bonus to the workmen was 

 also paid annually, and the wages otherwise in- 

 creased very considerably over the rate paid when the 

 grass-fed bullock held sway. 



Another matter worthy of attention is that the 



