8o AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



Such instances as these of the complete transfer of 

 the economic loss of these bad times to the shoulders of 

 the tenant, placing him in the position of a man who 

 sacrifices his whole time and energies and capital to 

 produce wealth in which he is allowed no share what- 

 ever, are clearly inconsistent with common sense, and 

 ruinous to the interests of agriculture, to say nothing of 

 their injustice. 



A splendid "wold" farm of 837 acres, 90 per cent, 

 arable in North Yorkshire, " ably managed and in prime 

 condition," shows in the fifteen years from 1879 to 1893, 

 profits of ^2052 in seven years, and losses of ;i^i997 in 

 eight years. The net profit of fifteen years' working is 

 ^55 5s 8^d, or £1 13s 8d per annum, without charging 

 interest on ;!^I2 an acre capital. Labour has averaged 

 ^1009, ^rid last two years are ;^io69 lis 9d and 

 ^1084 19s 2d. Manures and feeding stuffs were in 

 1892, ;!^8i6, and in 1893, ^866. Thus the farm has 

 been thoroughly well kept up by the tenant, with the 

 result that the use of over i^ 10,000 of capital, and the 

 whole skill and energy of an expert farmer, has been 

 given for nothing. But in the fifteen years the owner 

 has drawn in rent^ no less than ;^i 3,887 los, and the 

 rent in 1893 still stands at ;^735, 15s. Such an absolute 

 transfer of the whole economic loss to the tenant seems 

 to us wholly incompatible with the interests of agriculture 

 and with common fairness.^ 



A grass farm of 43 1 acres in Northants, where labour 

 has since 1889 averaged £270, and cakes and manures 

 ;^38o, has made a loss of ;^ii2 a year, or nearly 

 3 per cent, on capital, while paying an average rent of 

 ;^7o8, which left an ample margin to allow the tenant 

 a small working profit. In five years the owner has 

 drawn ;^3357 15s, while the occupier has lost £$61 or a 

 seventh part of his capital.^ 



A farm of 750 acres, nearly all arable, in Mid Norfo'k, 



' In these accounts insurance is not separated from rent. 

 '^ Pringle, North Yorkshire, App. C. II., p. 47, See par. 52. Farm 

 Accounts, p. 192. 



' Pringle, Beds, &c., App. C. IX., p. 125. Farm Accounts, p. 130. 



