222 THE PRINCIPLES OF 



We apply the same system of valuation to all tillages, as, 

 for example, harrowing. A team ought to harrow from twelve 

 to sixteen acres in a day. Now taking it at twelve acres a 

 day, and putting a lad and a pair of horses to the harrow. 

 We have 4s. for the two horses, Is. for the lad, and Is. for the 

 use of the implement for the day, that is 6s. That is why it 

 is that harrowing, we say, costs Qd. per acre. 



In the same way with reference to rolling. ^L team will 

 roll from twelve to thirteen acres per day. If it is a three- 

 horse roller you have 6s. for the horses and, say, 2s. for the 

 man that is 8s. That is about 8d., or if a driver is em- 

 ployed, 9d per acre. That is the principle on which we 

 value tillages, and I thought it necessary to clear up this 

 matter before taking out the cost of such an important item 

 as that of producing a wheat crop. Now let us try to come 

 to a conclusion on this matter. The cost of producing an 

 acre of wheat after clover. 



The first thing to decide is as to whether the clover 

 crop has paid its own way, and we may assume that it 

 has. The clover crop ought to pay its own way. In the 

 last Agricultural Commission there are a great many estimates 

 of the cost of producing crops, and it is very strange to see 

 the unanimity with which the clover crop, at all events, is 

 considered to be a paying crop in itself. The cultivation is 

 light, and 1J tons of hay with grazing is a very good return. 

 The clover crop therefore is out of debt, and more than that, 

 it has left a profit. 



That being the case, it is not necessary to charge the 

 wheat with any previous cultivation. At all events, we will 

 not do so, as we might have done, and as we would have done 

 if the wheat were taken after turnips. First, then, there is 

 dung-carting, including filling, carting, and spreading; that 

 we shall put at 10s., although a good deal depends on the 

 distance to which we have to cart the dung. 



