78 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



2s 6d an acre for management were also charged, the 

 deficit would be about i!^200 a year. But the owner has 

 in the eleven years drawn no less than ^5236 from this 

 farm. A reduction of about 26 per cent, would have 

 left the tenant with a profit equal to 5 per cent, interest 

 on his capital. 1 



A Bedfordshire farm of 922 acres, one-third pasture, 

 well worked with plenty of capital and excellent build- 

 ings, shows over twelve years — 1882 to 1893 — and com- 

 paring the averages of 189 1-2-3 with 1882, a drop in the 

 total outgoings from £4.96y in 1882 to ;^3430, or 30 per 

 cent., while labour has fallen from i^iooo in 1882 to an 

 average of ;^854, or 14J per cent, and cake and manures 

 have risen from ^^272 to an average of ^{^'352, an increase 

 of 29 per cent. Rent at the same time has fallen from 

 ;^ 1 2 56 to ;i^io69, or II per cent, and in the last year to 

 ;^944, or 24 per cent. The balance of profits over losses 

 for the twelve years has been ;!^i8ii i6s, an annual 

 average of £1^0 19s, or 3s 3^d an acre, as the total 

 return for interest on capital, and for management and 

 personal work ; whereas, worked commercially, with 

 interest on capital and something for management, the 

 tenant should have been getting ^^400 more. But the 

 owner has drawn in the twelve years in rent i^i 3,241 or, 

 about ;^ii20 a year, or over 24s an acre.- 



A farm in the Lincoln Union of 320 acres, nearly all 

 arable, shows over the nine years from 1885 to 1894 a 

 total loss of ;^464 19s 5d, or average loss of i^5i 15s 3d, 

 or 2'2 per cent, on average capital of ;^2309, without 

 charging interest on capital or for management. Labour 

 has averaged ;6^434, and in last two years stands at 

 ;^48o and ;^487. Manures, feeding stuffs, and seeds have 

 averaged ;^229, and for last two years are ;^237 os 6d, 

 and ;^27i 2s 4d, an increase in the essential outgoings. 

 The rent has averaged ^^^23 5, and has not been sensibly 

 reduced in these years. A reduction of rent by about 

 ;^ioo a year would have changed the tenant's loss of 

 ;^464 into a profit of the same amount, or about 2 per 



• Wilson Fox, Line, p. 63, App. A. i A., p. 117. Farm Accounts, p. 127. 

 ^ Pringle, Beds, &c. p. 112, App. C. III. Farm Accounts, p. 64. 



