14 



little doubt tha/t the saving of labour on the 15J million acres* 

 which in 1901 still remained under the plough was in the aggre- 

 gate greater during the 20 years than on the two million 

 acres laid down to grass. Many expedients, other than actu- 

 ally stopping the plough, were adopted to reduce the labour 

 bill. But while manual labour has no doubt been econo- 

 mised to some extent by curtailing some of the opera- 

 tions which require it, the main cause" of its reduction is un- 

 Machinery. doubtedly the extended use of labour-saving machinery. This 

 is referred to by the large majority of Correspondents in all 

 parts of the country. With the exception of the self-binding 

 harvester, which was introduced into this country in the 

 early " eighties," few machines for the performance of a 

 specific manual operation have perhaps been invented since 1881 

 (unless milking machines, shearing machines, and, perhaps, 

 potato diggers come within that category), but whereas 20 years 

 ago labour-saving machinery was fully employed by com- 

 paratively few, it has now become almost universal on all 

 holdings of sufficient size to make its use practicable. The 

 substitution of mechanical for horse or hand power for fixed 

 machinery, e.g., thrashing machines, chaif cutters, pumps, &c., 

 has taken place largely, although it has made, comparatively 

 speaking, little progress for tractive purposes. It may, indeed, 

 be questioned if steam is so largely employed in the cultiva- 

 tion of the land as it was 20 years ago. But the displacement 

 of manual labour arising from the greatly extended use of drills, 

 horse-hoes, mowers, binders, manure distributors and the like 

 must have been in the aggregate very great, and probably to 

 this more than to any other single cause the reduced demand for 

 farm labourers may be attributed. 



It must be remembered, however, that some of the altera- 

 tions in agricultural practice which have taken place during 

 the past two or three decades have tended to check tho 

 reduction of the demand for labour. The increase by nearly 

 half a million in the number of cows and heifers in-milk or 

 in-calf during the past 30 years is an inadequate measure of 

 the great extension of dairying, and particularly of milk- 

 selling, which has taken place. The introduction of the centri- 

 fugal separator in 1879 and the great improvement which 

 has been made in machinery and appliances for use 

 in dairying have facilitated manual operations and enhanced 

 the value of the produce, although not perhaps actually effect- 

 ing much saving in the amount of labour required, but the daily 

 milking of so many more cows must have had some influence 

 in maintaining the demand for labour. Although the serious 

 decline in the acreage under hops has, in certain districts, 

 restricted labour, there has been some compensating increase 



In 1906 the area of arable land in Great Britain is 15,022,056 acres. 



