98 THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL [ch. 



gi'ass, dismissing their labourers and reducing their 

 working expenses to a minimum. Great was the 

 distress all round. Tales of those days are still told 

 in the villages, and are indeed often the only in- 

 formation possessed by the well-meaning agricultural 

 reformers who dwell in the cities. 



Part of the agricultural depression was due to the 

 opening up of the western states of Canada, and part 

 of the recovery was, in return, effected by the labour- 

 saving machinery invented and made out there. 

 Under the older system in vogue in 1890 the cost 

 of harvesting wheat came to 27s. to 305. per acre 

 on a certain large corn farm : with the new binders 

 the cost was reduced from 1897 onwards to 16s. to 

 18s. per acre on the same farm. Further, new 

 methods began to come in. Essex was invaded by 

 good Scotch farmers who were untrammelled with 

 any views as to the necessity for growing wheat and 

 beans, and turned instead to dairy produce and 

 potatoes. For miles round London and other large 

 cities dairying has saved the situation and once more 

 brought into use land that had gone derelict. Else- 

 where (e.g. in parts of Leicestershire) cattle are 

 bought and fattened, while costs of production are 

 cut down by the introduction of labour-saving devices 

 and by skilful management. The introduction of the 

 mangold into British agriculture has been a great 

 boon to the clay farmer ; this crop is much more 



