AGRICULTURE 



quantities and descriptions of the manures best suited to the crops grown 

 upon them, and feeding experiments on sheep and cattle. Many of 

 these have been fully described in the journals of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society of England, and have proved of great service to agriculturists. 



Agricultural instruction is also given through the County Council by 

 means of classes held throughout the county by experts for the benefit of young 

 farmers, and others when such subjects as the Principles of Manuring Soils, 

 Injurious Insects, Diseases of Crops, Farm Weeds, Feeding Stuffs, Manage- 

 ment of Live Stock, Grasses and Clovers, &c., are explained by lectures 

 followed by discussion. Dairy classes are also held at the Central School, 

 Gloucester, as well as at other centres, and visits of advice are paid to cheese 

 and butter making dairies where difficulties have been experienced. Popular 

 lectures on Farriery, Horticulture, Poultry-keeping, and Bee-keeping, and 

 instruction in Thatching and Hedging have also been given, with satisfac- 

 tory results. The work of the County Council as regards cider-making has 

 already been mentioned and has proved useful. The amount of money 

 annually placed at the disposal of the agricultural sub-committee by the Educa- 

 tion Committee of the County Council is only 1,500, although agricultural 

 land pays a very large proportion of the county rate. Of this sum >Tioo 

 is allocated to scholarships at agricultural schools or colleges, 100 is 

 contributed to the National Cider Institute, and the remainder is absorbed 

 in lectures, classes, examinations, research and establishment charges. At 

 the present time several series of experiments in manuring are being carried 

 out on different farms by Mr. Drysdale Turner, the Agricultural Director. 



The present condition of agriculture in the county may be said to be 

 satisfactory. Rentals on the hills have probably fallen since 1 875 on the average 

 at least fifty per cent., and in individual cases the reductions are still greater. 

 In the vale the reduction may be averaged at twenty per cent. Landowners 

 are, however, still required to pay the tithe rent-charge and keep their 

 buildings in repair, which costs at least as much as when rents were at 

 the higher standard. Meanwhile the tenant farmers have, with the help 

 of their reduced rents and improved implements, together with increased 

 attention to business, succeeded in adjusting their practice to the altered cir- 

 cumstances, and although fortunes cannot now be easily made in agriculture, 

 there is no occupation presenting such attractive features to the man with 

 moderate capital as that of a tenant farmer upon a large estate under a 

 landlord who may be relied on to deal fairly with his tenants, as is happily 

 the general rule in the county of Gloucester. 



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