LINCOLNSHIRE, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, MIDLANDS 1 3 



to ruin the fertility of other counties. But the last ten 

 years have made tremendous inroads on tenants' capital, 

 and the bad seasons of 1 892 and 1 894 have still further 

 weakened the corn farmers, as the drought of 1893 struck 

 down the grazing men. 



The position of the small freeholders in the Isle of 

 Axholme and elsewhere is dealt with in the chapter on 

 small holdings. 



In Cambridgeshire, while much of the fen land in the 

 Wisbech district (used largely for fruit growing) and 

 some of the medium turnip and barley land in the 

 Newmarket district has pulled through without much 

 loss, the heavy land has followed much the course of 

 Suffolk and Bedfordshire, has been allowed to seed 

 itself down, and " is on the verge of abandonment," while 

 rents have fallen from 50 to 80 per cent. Changes of 

 tenancy have been frequent, celebrated flocks of sheep 

 have been broken up, and farmers are on the brink of 

 bankruptcy. But the economical position is not every- 

 where unsatisfactory. Mr Pell, farming 1034 acres of 

 good land in the Isle of Ely, had, up to 1892, been able 

 to pay himself a rent of 47s an acre, though he lost 

 money in 1893 ^^^ 1S94. Such an experience cannot 

 be unique, and obviously leaves a margin for a moderate 

 rent for owners, and a small profit for occupiers. 



Mr Turner, Assistant Commissioner, reporting at 

 the end of 1893, gave a gloomy account of the position 

 of the heavy, and formerly most productive, wheat and 

 bean land in Warwickshire, and of the decay and 

 abandonment of land and buildings in these districts. 

 Rents have fallen from 25 to 60 per cent. Other evid- 

 ence puts a more favourable light on the condition of 

 other parts of Warwickshire. Staffordshire has suffered 

 less, rents having fallen from 10 to 20 per cent. ,but in Mr 

 Carrington-Smith's opinion, the tenant farmer has borne 

 most of the loss. On the other hand, landlords have a 

 smaller margin, as the increase of stock and dairy 

 farming demands outlay on buildings. The spread 

 of dairy work and stock feeding has mitigated the 

 depression. 



