AGRICULTURAL COMMISSIONS 305 



Settled Land Acts assisted the transfer of limited estates, 

 a Minister of Agriculture was appointed in 1889, and in 1891 

 the payment of the tithe was transferred from the tenant to 

 the landlord, which generally meant that the whole burden 

 was now borne by the latter. 



Still foreign imports continued to pour in and prices to fall. 

 Wheat land, which was subject to the fiercest competition, 

 began to be converted to other uses, and between 1878 and 

 1907 had fallen in England from 3,041,314 acres to 1,537,208, 

 most of it being converted to pasture or ' tumbling down ' 

 to grass, while a large quantity was used for oats. The price 

 of live stock was now falling greatly before increasing imports 

 of live animals and dead meat, while cheese, butter, wool, and 

 fruit were also pouring in. Farming, too, was now suffering 

 from a new enemy, gambling in farm produce, which began to 

 show itself about 1880 and has since materially contributed 

 to lowering prices.^ The enormous gold premium in the 

 Argentine Republic, with the steady fall in silver, was another 

 factor. As Mr. Prothero says, * Enterprise gradually weak- 

 ened, landlords lost their ability to help, and farmers their 

 recuperative power. The capital both of landlords and 

 tenants was so reduced that neither could afford to spend an 

 unnecessary penny. Land deteriorated in condition, drainage 

 was practically discontinued . . . less cake and less manure 

 were bought, labour bills were reduced, and the number of 

 males employed in farming dwindled as the wheat area con- 

 tracted.'^ The year 1893 was remarkable for a prolonged 

 drought in the spring ; from March a to May 14 hardly 

 any rain fell, and live stock were much reduced in quality 

 from the parching of the herbage, while in many parts the 

 difficulty of supplying them with water was immense. 



In the same year another Commission on Agriculture was 

 appointed, whose description of the condition of agriculture 



^ K. A. S. E. Journal (1893), p. 286; (1894), p. 677. Sometimes to 

 artificially raising them, ' Ibid. (1901), p. 34. 



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