122 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



The net agricultural rental has fallen from £2j^ig^ in 

 1885 to i^ii,900 in 1893.1 



On another large estate which has always been low 

 rented and excellently managed, between 1881 and 1893, 

 out of a gross rent received of ^,"220,7 87, the sum of 

 ;^59,440 was expended, or an average of nearly 27 per 

 cent, of the gross rent. On this estate a comparatively 

 heavy outlay was incurred between 1880 and 1886 on 

 drainage to restore the condition of the land after the 

 wet seasons. The result of this prudent management 

 has been that the net rental between 1887 and 1891 was 

 15 per cent, higher than in 1881, and even in 1892 and 

 1893 is still considerably more than half the gross 

 rental. 



On a Bedfordshire estate of 9476 acres, the outlay has 

 been in the past fifteen years ^41,445 8s 6d, or an 

 average of 5s lod per acre each year. This is about 

 equivalent to 26 per cent, of the gross rent of 1879, and 

 about 38 per cent, of that of 1893."^ 



The agricultural rents on Lord Chichester's estate at 

 Stanmer have fallen from ;^9285 in 1877 to ;^53i9 in 

 1893, but the improvements and repairs have been kept 

 at ;^25oo to ^^2600, and in 1893 were ^^2678, or nearly 

 50 per cent.^ 



In the North of England the expenditure has been 

 most widely extended since farming became more diffi- 

 cult. Thus of Northumberland, Mr George Grey, who 

 is both an owner and agent, says : " Actually more has 

 been expended on buildings than formerly, in the hope 

 that increased facilities for feeding stock, etc., would 

 assist the tenant in farming his land. As a rule, farm 

 buildings and cottages are very good, and are far in 

 advance of twenty years ago.* 



Mr Hughes says : Farm buildings have been vastly 

 improved in Northumberland within the last fifteen 

 years. On the VVaterford estate, 6000 acres, about 

 14 per cent, of the gross rental goes to improvements 



1 Pringle, Beds, Hunts, Northants, p. 29. 



2 Ibid., App. B. II., p. 100. 3 Ingram, 3514, 3534, etc, 



* Wilson Fox, Glendale, p. 8. 



