72 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



a low point, and the stage of ruin, both of the farmer 

 and of the land is near at hand, as in some of the worst 

 districts, this expenditure has fallen. But even in these 

 districts, so long as it was possible, the energetic farmer 

 has clearly worked on the plan of trying to beat low 

 prices by full production, and the evidence of propor- 

 tionately heavy outlay on feeding stuffs and manures is 

 very striking. In the case of nearly all the successful 

 farmers, the expenditure has been considerable and 

 generally maintained continuously. Where a change 

 of cultivation has taken place, with the increase of stock, 

 there has been also a considerable increase in the outlay 

 on cake. 



There is very naturally some difference of opinion 

 as to the financial results of this type of expenditure. 



Thus, Mr H. H. Scott thinks " high farming does not 

 pay so well as it did. ... I expend about £iSoo 

 to ;^2000 in artificial foods alone At one time, when 

 prices of stock were good, I do not think there was any 

 expenditure I made that yielded me more profit than 

 that expenditure on artificial foods ; but now there is no 

 direct profit from it, and last year I made out that there 

 was a loss from it." But Mr Scott is speaking under the 

 pressure of the great drop in prices of stock in 1893, ^"d 

 he admits that there is " an indirect profit by the benefit 

 the consumption is to the farm," and that it cannot be 

 "in the end good policy to reduce the condition of the 

 soil, even though it does not pay for a year or two at 

 present. I believe in good and liberal cultivation." 



Mr Wilkinson, also from Northumberland, holds 

 strongly that, even on secondary land, wise outlay 

 in feeding stuffs and artificial manures might help 

 farmers to get over their difficulties. " You can go 

 beyond justifiable expenditure, but with careful attention 

 to your business, and careful spending, cakes and 

 manures still pay." 



Mr Pell, though he condemns as reckless many of the 

 later forms of expenditure, still believes that the farmer 

 who goes in for thorough clean farming and the best of 

 everything has more chance of holding his own. 



