FARM ACCOUNTS 85 



capital of tenant has gradually shrunk from ,^5000 to 

 ^3000. 



Accounts for four years — 1882, 1886, 1890, 1893 — 

 of a strong clay farm in Beds of 260 acres, three- 

 fourths arable, show the labour item stationary at 

 about £306, cake and manures going up from £6g to 

 ;^I03, and an average profit of ;£'82, or 6s 4|d an acre, 

 or a little over 3 per cent, on capital. Rent has been 

 reduced about 25 per cent., from ;^484 to £2)S^- But 

 in 1893, while the rent secures to the owner a return 

 of 27s 5d an acre, the tenant has a loss of over 19s 6d 

 an acre. And over the four years the owner gets an 

 average of 33s an acre, and the tenant only 6s 4d.^ 

 These are very moderate returns, but show an attempt on 

 the part of owners to meet the times, but there is clearly 

 a margin to make the tenants' returns more satisfactory.^ 



A farm of 840 acres in Dorset, excellently worked for 

 thirty-six years by a business-like farmer, shows, over 

 twenty years, average outgoings for labour ^878 ; 

 manures, feeding stuffs, etc., ;^5I0; and rent ;^505. 

 The average profit has been ^279. Rent was reduced 

 to ^^505 in 1886, to £411 in 1890, and to ^357 for 1893. 

 The last two years give: — 1892, rent, £411; labour, 

 ;^949 ; manures, etc., ^724; and profit, ^223 ; for 1893, 

 labour, ;^956 ; manures, etc., ^^"684 ; rent, £3S7 I and profit, 

 ;;^I93. Considering the times such an account is a record 

 of good sense and good management and fair play.^ 



A light and sandy farm in East Suffolk of 260 acres, 

 more than half arable,^ " in the hands of a first-rate 

 farmer," and near a good market, shows from 1874 to 

 1894 an average profit of ;^i68, or 8| per cent, on 

 capital, while rent has averaged ;^245, and has been 

 reduced from 23s an acre in 1877 to 13s an acre in 

 1894, over 40 per cent. Labour and fertilising have 

 been kept up to a high uniform level, averaging £^331 

 and ^614 respectively.* 



' Pringle, Beds., &c., App. C. II. Farm Accounts, p. 63. 



- Ibid., App. E. 8, p. 118. Farm Accounts, p. 148. 



' Rew, Dorset, App. B. 6, p. 61, see p. 18. Farm Accounts, p. 86. 



* Wilson Fox, Suffolk, App. A. I. D. Farm Accounts, p. 174. 



