60 Large and Small Holdings 



from the increased number of beasts kept was also a very effective 

 means to the same end. Indeed this development of pasture-farming 

 often had quite astonishing results on the corn-harvests on poor land 1 . 



In addition to the other methods of reducing the cost of corn- 

 production, pasture-farming thus contributed largely to produce that 

 profitableness of arable farming vainly expected before 1846. Instead 

 of the predicted depression there was a period of prosperity. Corn- 

 growing continued to play the chief part on the larger and medium- 

 sized holdings, though pasture now held an important second place 

 beside it. Whether the actual area under corn was diminished cannot 

 be decided as regards the twenty years next following 1846. But it 

 seems improbable in view of the fact that between 1867 and 1878 

 there were no changes in the arable area which cannot be satisfactorily 

 explained by the nature of the harvests in the years in question 2 . In 

 all probability the arable area was even increased in the decade 

 1850-60, for wheat-prices reached an unusually high level in the 

 years 1853 to 1857. In any case, even if the area remained un- 

 changed, the total corn-production must have increased between 1850 

 and 1878, since the produce per acre was increased during that period 3 . 

 Similarly there is no doubt that this increased productivity and the 

 improved technique enormously increased the profits of the corn- 

 growers. A farmer informed the Commission of 1894 that on the 

 10,000 which he sank in his farm between 1861 and 1874 (partly as 

 tenant and partly as owner) he made on an average 8J per cent. In 

 1873 his profit was 10 per cent. 4 



Such high profits both on arable and pasture produced a veritable 

 land-hunger. The good old times of the Continental System seemed 

 to have returned. When a farm fell vacant, dozens of would-be 

 tenants competed for it 5 . The consequence was that rents were again 



1 See for a typical example A. Poggendorf, Die Landwirtschaft in England, Leipzig, 

 1860, p. 234. He says that the soil of a certain farm was so unproductive that in spite of 

 its relatively low rent several successive tenants went bankrupt. A new tenant undertook 

 the drainage of the land. After the work was completed he tried to get as heavy a green 

 crop as possible, to be fed off by sheep. Next he sowed barley and clover, and let the clover 

 too be eaten on the ground by the sheep. Then, sowing wheat, he obtained a crop of 

 25 bushels per acre. From one rotation to another the results improved, and he very soon 

 replaced his capital together with its interest. 



2 Levy, Die Not etc., p. 109. 



3 Caird, Landed Interest, p. 157. 



4 Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture, 1894, qu. 18,163-18,171. 



5 Report on Agriculture, 1881, qu. 35,760: "About 12 years ago farming had been 

 fairly good, and then there was such a rush for land that whenever land was to be let there 

 were 20 applications for it, and a man never considered what he was going to pay for it if he 

 could only get the chance of renting it." 



