30 AGRICULTUKAL DEPRESSION 



Thus: — A mixed soil farm, of 950 acres, some of it 

 stiff land, and two-thirds of it arable, excellently 

 managed by an exceptionally good farmer and judge of 

 stock, with a capital of nearly ;^i 3,000, brought an 

 average annual profit between 1879 and 1893 of close 

 on ;^400 a year, or over 3 per cent, on capital. Profits 

 began with the starting of dairy work, and, since the 

 rent was reduced from 25s to i6s, have averaged for 

 the last six years 6 per cent, on capital. These 

 results have been obtained by mixed farming, without 

 any material alteration of cultivation, by the sale of corn 

 as well as milk, and live stock, and with the liberal 

 expenditure of £2 an acre on labour, and £1 5s 8d on 

 feeding stuffs and manures.^ 



An instance like this shows what may be accomplished 

 on land which has not been allowed to get out of order, 

 by energy and capacity with adequate capital, and suffi- 

 ciently reduced rents. 



Again, in Huntingdonshire, on stiff clay, a farm of 

 462 acres, two-thirds arable, has been farmed since 1880 

 with an average profit of nearly 5 per cent, on a capital 

 of ;;^4000, or 8s 5d per acre a year, without any material 

 change of cultivation, but with a reduction of rent from 

 ;^400 to £262. The proceeds have been from corn and 

 stock in nearly equal proportions.^ ^ 



A Northamptonshire farm of 324 acres, chiefly strong 

 land, has made in the past seven years an average profit 

 of about 6 per cent, on capital, even allowing for the bad 

 seasons of 1892 and 1893, when profits did not exceed 

 i^ per cent.^ 



In the county of Berks, where the depreciation of 

 land has been exceptionally great. Lord Wantage, in 

 1893, gave as the result of farming 4427 acres, a fourth 

 part of his Berkshire estates, an average net profit of 

 ;^8oo to £1000 a year, after paying 5 per cent, interest 

 on his very large outlay of capital in buildings, roads, and 

 other improvements, and a rent reduced in the same pro- 



' Pringle, Essex, App. C. I. 



^ Do., Beds, Hunts, and Northants, App. C. VII. 



' Ibid., App. C. X. 



