Agricultural Capital and Profits 



Still, on the whole, agricultural capital 

 accumulated and good profits were realised. 

 As always happens, the farmers who made 

 the profits were those who first adopted 

 improvements and scientific methods, and 

 those who complained most of agri- 

 cultural distress were those on the margin 

 of cultivation who stuck to the old 

 routine. The increased production, says 

 Porter, came about with a very small 

 addition to the amount of labour em- 

 ployed, and resulted mainly from improv- 

 ing the soil, throwing down fences which 

 divided the farms into small patches, 

 better rotation of crops, draining and new 

 methods of manuring (e.g-> use of crushed 

 bones, and later guano ; in 1841 only seven 

 ship cargoes of guano were imported a total 

 of 1,733 t ns an d in 1845 the numbers 

 had risen to 683 ships and nearly 221,000 

 tons). Porter calls attention also to the 



