86 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



Accounts from 1883 to 1892 of a grass farm of 494 

 acres, only 96 arable, in Northumberland, show that 

 labour costs practically £1 an acre even on such a farm. 

 With a rent of about i8s an acre the tenant has made 

 an average profit of £126 a year, or 4 per cent, on his 

 capital.^ 



Some of the accounts show an almost hopeless 

 position. Thus a strong clay farm in Beds, of 800 acres, 

 from 1885 to 1890 inclusive, shows an average labour 

 bill of about £1 an acre, and amounting to £826 in 1890. 

 Feeding stuffs and manures averaged 21s 3d an acre up 

 to 1890, when this item fell below labour. The losses 

 of the tenant averaged £iS2, and the rent ;i{^543 up to « 

 1 890. To cover this tenant's loss, and to secure him even ! 

 3 per cent, on his capital, a reduction of over 60 per 

 cent in rent would be necessary ; and the rent would 

 sink to 5s an acre. Such farms would seem almost 

 unworkable at present prices, unless the labour item as 

 well as rent can be materially reduced.^ 



Another Bedfordshire clay farm of 275 acres averages, 

 from 1888 to 1893 inclusive, ^411 for labour, ;!^289 

 for manures, etc. Rent, rates, taxes, and insurance 

 have averaged £184. ys, and allowing 5 per cent, interest 

 on capital, the tenant's losses have averaged ;!^290 14s, 

 or more than double the rent. If no interest on capital 

 is allowed for, the losses still are ;!^i88, so that under 

 present circumstances the tenant would lose about 3 

 per cent, on his capital if he held the farm rent free. 

 Unless a material alteration can be made in the labour 

 item this farm seems unworkable.^ 



The following account also shows complete economic 

 breakdown : — 



The balance of profit on a farm of 1080 acres, on only 

 one-third of which rent is paid, was for fourteen years 

 from 1880, only ^^1284. In other words, the profits of 

 farming 1080 acres amounted, after paying a rent, which 

 spread over the whole is from 3s to 4s an acre, to about 



• Wilson Fox, Glendale, App. A. 8, p. 32. Farm Accounts, p. 163. 



* Pringle, Beds, App. C. IV. Farm Accounts, p. 66. jj 

 =* Ibid., App. C. V. Farm Accounts, p. 66. Ii 



