82 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



were ;;^I339 and ;i{^i048. The rent paid in the former 

 year was ;^I372, in the latter, ;^i 257. The net loss to 

 tenant on the two years, ^83, was about 066 per cent, 

 on his capital, no allowance being made for interest or 

 management. Interest at 5 per cent, on capital would 

 have been ^^^32 5. A reduction of 20 to 25 per cent, 

 would have done something to share the loss of the two 

 years fairly between landlord and tenant.^ 



On a farm of 1600 acres in the Caistor Union the out- 

 lay on labour in 1892-93 was ;!Ci523, and on manures 

 and feeding stuffs ^^270, while rent was ;^I700. The 

 loss in that unfavouralDle year was ;^232, which might 

 have been converted into a profit of 3 per cent, on 

 tenant's capital by a reduction in rent of 28 per cent., 

 leaving the owner 15s an acre.^ 



A strong soil farm in the Spilsby Union of 812 acres, 

 two-thirds arable, shows in 1893-94 outlay for labour 

 ;^885, for manures and feeding stuffs ;£^407, and a loss of 

 ;:f302 for the year, or 6 per cent, on capital — ^^5000. 

 But the rent is ;^ioi7, or 25s an acre. This certainly 

 leaves an ample margin to protect the tenant from the 

 wasting away of capital.^ 



Seven years' accounts of a 490 acre farm (300 acres 

 arable) in the same district show net profits averaging 

 ^420 from 1887 to 1890, and net losses averaging 

 ;^I92 from 1891 to 1893-4, or a net profit over the whole 

 seven years at the rate of ^^157 a year. In 1893 labour 

 was ;^682 ; manures, feeding stuffs, etc., ;^633 ; and rent, 

 including tithe, ;!^523. To make ends meet, and give the 

 tenant even 3 per cent, on his capital during the last 

 three years, rent should have been reduced nearly 70 per 

 cent., which, as tithe is included, would be nearly 

 impossible.* 



Mr Pringle gives the results of the balance sheets of a 

 grass farm in Yorkshire, where sheep-breeding and dairy 

 farming are carried on, for two good years, 1880 to 1883, 



' Wilson Fox, Line, App. A. i. M., p. 126. Farm Accounts, p. 136. I 

 ^ Ibid., App. A. I. N. Farm Accounts, p. 136. " 



' Ibid., App. A. I. P. Farm Accounts, p. 126. 

 * Rew, Norfolk, p. 26, App. E. 4, p. 115. Farm Accounts, p. 146. 



