FARM ACCOUNTS 83 



and two bad years, 1891 to 1893. In the former there 

 was a profit of ;!{^226 los iid, in the latter a loss of 

 £142 ys lod, while the rents paid were ;!^883 5s in the 

 former and £616 in the latter, tithe, rates, and taxes 

 being £64. i6s 2d and £$^ 3s lod. The average net 

 profit then was thus £21 os gd, while the average rent 

 was £74g I2S 6d, or 35 times the average net profit. 



But it must be admitted that, with the exception of 

 two or three cases quoted above, even these more favour- 

 able balance sheets do not give the farmer anything like 

 a fair commercial return. At most they show that there 

 is a margin in some cases out of which a profit could be 

 made, and that in some cases the balance between owner 

 and occupier in sharing the produce of the farm has been 

 made more approximately fair. 



On the other hand, some accounts show a not 

 unfair distribution of the economic pressure. A heavy 

 clay farm of 540 acres in Bedfordshire, where nearly half 

 the land has been laid down, still shows a labour bill in 

 1893 of £>79'^y ^rid for manures, feeding stuffs, etc., of 

 ;^826. From 1886 to 1893, seven years, the average net 

 profit was ^^198, or 7s 4d an acre, or nearly 4 per cent, 

 on capital, including the bad year 1893, when ;^322 was 

 lost. Rent and tithe stood at ;^3SO.^ 



Five years' accounts of a well worked farm on the 

 " Heath," near Sleaford, 790 acres, one-fourth pasture, 

 show average outlays, on labour, ^786 (last two years 

 ;^823 and ^^817); manures, feeding stuffs, etc., ^1311 ; 

 and a total profit of ^^^844 3s 2d on the five years, and 

 £i62) 1 6s 7d average profit, or nearly 8 per cent, on 

 capital. The rent, rates, and taxes together have 

 averaged £60"^. This would seem to give the owner a 

 fair return, considering the times, and enable the tenant 

 to scrape, along without any return for his skill and 

 work, but with enough margin to prevent loss of capital.' 



On a very strong clay farm in Hunts, 462 acres, two- 

 thirds arable, thirteen years' working from 1881 to 1893 

 inclusive, gives averages of labour ;^390, manures, etc. 



» Pringle, Beds., &c., App. C. VI. 

 ^Wilson Fox, Line, App. A. i. F., p. 122. Farm Accounts, p. 132. 



