44 FARMING ON FACTORY LINES 



The latest available census of agricultural labour 

 for England and Wales shows that prior to 1914 there 

 were, exclusive of female labour and farmers' male 

 relatives under 15 years of age, 1,002,743 males 

 working on the land. 



During the year 1913, in these two countries, ths#e 

 were: — 11,058,233 acres of ploughed land and 

 6,770,173 acres cut for hay, thus giving 9 male 

 workers (approximately) for every 100 acres tilled, 

 and 6 male workers to every 100 acres cropped. 



A similar and equally striking comparison between 

 the two countries can, I believe, be made between the 

 number of live stock on the land and the number of 

 people engaged in attending to that stock. True, 

 exact figures are apparently not ascertainable as to 

 the number of female farm workers in England and 

 Wales, but I hold that anyone with knowledge of 

 agricultural conditions in the two countries must 

 admit that Ireland has the greater number of 

 workers. 



WHERE CONTINUOUS CROPPING PAYS 



It may be argued that a fair comparison on the 

 lines stated above is not possible, inasmuch as it is 

 not feasible to obtain the same agricultural output 

 per man in Ireland, as in England and Wales. To 

 that contention the writer, who probably handles 

 more tillage in Ireland than any other farmer, and 

 who in addition is a partner in, and controls an 

 English farm, has no hesitation in making answer. 

 Not only is it possible for the Irish rural worker to 

 equal the present standpoint of his English contem- 

 porary, but, by the application of more progressive 

 methods, the agricultural output in both countries per 



