298 



Effect of Railways upon Agriculture. 



Vol. XII. 



upon the average that I have taken, and also 

 taking the number of persons that will tra- 

 vel to market, and in various ways, at \d. 

 per mile, the whole amount of charge of 

 carriage for imports and exports is £40 8s. 

 9d. By the old mode of conveyance the 

 expense would have been, assuming GJ. per 

 ton per mile for the goods, which I find to 

 be as low as you can carry it by the old 

 mode, £142 16s. M. 



That is for the same distance! — Yes. 

 On what principle do you assume Qd. to 

 have been the charge by the ordinary roadsl 

 I speak from my own experience of thirty 

 years. I have had a great deal to do with 

 carting, both for agricultural produce and 

 manufacturing produce, and I have found 

 that I could never get it done under Qd. a 

 ton in England ; it costs rather more than 

 that. 



In giving an account of the produce of a 

 farm, you deduct for home consumption 1 — 

 Yes, I do. 



Therefore, upon a farm such as you have 

 stated, there would be a saving of £102 7s. 

 ^6.1 — Yes. Then taking that at twenty 

 years' purchase, it will give £2,047 10s.; if 

 you take it at thirty years' purchase, it will 

 amount to £3,071 5s. 



Have you given the supposed rental of 

 that farm"? — No, I have not; the rental 

 would be about £400. 



This expense, then, would be in addition 

 to the rent ? — Yes. 



And the same farm which without a rail- 

 way would be only worth £400, would be 

 worth £500 after a railway was established] 

 — Yes; 10s. an acre more. 



You have stated the advantages which a 

 particular farm would have in being able to 

 send its produce to market by railway, and 

 bringing back manures; will you state what 

 is the advantage in respect to stock in par- 

 ticular? — The advantage in respect to stock 

 is very great indeed, both in bringing lean 

 stock from the district in which it is reared 

 to the richer district in which it is fed, and 

 also for the transmission of the cattle, when 

 fed, to the market for the consumer. 



Are you able to show to what extent that 

 worksl — I have some statement here upon 

 that subject: the rate hitherto charged by 

 railways for the conveyance of stock is 

 pretty nearly the same per mile as the ex- 

 pense of driving, and where the great saving 

 occurs is in the condition of the animals, es- 

 pecially in fat stock; the loss from driving 

 them being equal, in the case of fat bullocks 

 on a drive of from 60 to 70 miles, to the 

 whole expense of the transport; it is at least 

 five per cent, upon the value of the bullock. 

 The advantage as regards the conveyance 



of the produce is an advantage of so much 

 per ton ? — Yes. 



Was not the use of manures imported from 

 abroad limited to certain distances from the 

 ports'! — Certainly; either from the ports or 

 from canal communication. 



The introduction of railways enables them 

 to be sent to much greater distances at the 

 same cost] — Decidedly. 



In that way districts which were not able 

 to profit by those manures are now able to 

 do so 1 — They are. 



In consequence of the introduction of rail- 

 ways, have not there been manufactories es- 

 tablished in different parts of the country for 

 the manufacture of sulphuric acid for the 

 use of agriculture] — Yes; there has been a 

 very extensive introduction of artificial che- 

 mical manures in consequence of the facility 

 of transport, and I have no doubt that it will 

 very greatly increase. 



What manures do you principally allude 

 to] — I allude to Liebig's chemical manures. 

 I have not myself, in my experience, found 

 any great efficacy in those manures, but 

 there are other manures which have been 

 found very efficacious; there are the urates, 

 prepared from urine; there is bone-dust; 

 there are rape-cake and nitrate of soda ; and 

 there are mixed manures, consisting of seve- 

 ral ingredients chemically combined. 



Is not the use of sulphuric acid for agri- 

 cultural purposes considerably increasing] — 

 I think it is: it is very much used for dis- 

 solving bones. 



May not railroads be used to carry ma- 

 nures from towns to a much greater extent 

 than was formerly the case] — Certainly. 



And in that way the waste that now takes 

 place will hereafter, it may be hoped, be pre- 

 vented ] — To a considerable extent. 



Have you considered to what extent rail- 

 ways may be made useful for the purpose oi 

 mixing soils] — Yes, I have. 



Will you state your opinion upon that sub- 

 ject] — The transport of earths for mixing 

 soils, if the railroads could carry them to 

 the immediate ground where they were to 

 be applied, would be of very great advan- 

 tage; but the difficulty of availing yourself 

 of the benefit of railways for the transport 

 of the soils is, that the soil must be refilled, 

 in most cases, and carted to a considerable 

 distance. » 



Railways would be useful only in cases 

 where those earths could be easily obtained] 

 — Exactly. 



7ake the transport of sea-sand] — Sea-sand 

 in Ireland is carried thirty miles up the 

 country in little carts, and is found to pay 

 the farmer for the carriage when applied to 

 clayey and mossy soils. 



