12 



Consequently the profit to the producer on the capital employed 

 (£115 15s. 8d.) would be £13 15s. 2d. per cent., and hence by increased 

 production the loss of £2 18s. 8d. per acre in the conversion of the hay, 

 root and green crops, into meat, and in increasing the fertility on the 

 Wilton House Home Farm, between 1850 and 1873 is consequently 

 neutralised. This profit, coupled with the £1 1 Ss. l^d. per cent, shown 

 in the first diagram (8 acre cropping) are irrespective of 10 per cent, 

 allowed in the farm account for depreciation in working stock. More- 

 over, the extraneous circumstances attending the farm in question being 

 excluded from the 8 acre calculations, the meat products consequently 

 show an increase. 



It must, however, be admitted that no such increased production, 

 or such favourable results as are here foreshadowed, can be anticipated 

 until the Land Laws are so adjusted as to give necessary security to 

 the producer for the capital employed. This further consideration will 

 involve a careful solution of the landlord's and tenant's interest in the 

 matter, upon which I am anxious to say a few words. 



In considering the relative positions of landowner, tenant-farmer, and 

 labourer, it will be necessary to take into consideration their acquired 

 positions as existed for half a century previous to the abrogation of the 

 Corn Laws, when they stood in division, viz., landowners as capitalists, 

 landowners as freeholders and occupiers, tenant-farmers (large and small), 

 and labourers in general. 



Prof. ElHot demonstrates at folios 27 and 28 of his work, that " Pro- 

 tection,'' as heretofore afforded by law, gives a premium per bushel to 

 the producer on cereals, according to the cropping of the farm in ques- 

 tion, viz., wheat, 2s. 4d. ; barley. Is. 6|d. ; oats, Is. 6d. ; and beans, 

 Is. lOd. ; these premiums assumed butcher's meat to be sold at 6d. per 

 pound, under the impression that at that price it would be profitable. 

 Its production, however, on the Wilton House Home Farm is shown 

 (folio 32) to be a loss of 2^d. per lb. This loss is only to be neutralised 

 by increased production. The erroneously low estimate for meat, and 

 the high " Protection " price for cereals, induced farmers to enter upon 

 the cultivation of the soil without possessing the necessary capital for 

 developing the land's productiveness, and they thereby retarded the 

 progress of agricultural improvements. The landowners, however, 

 gradually acquired a knowledge of their properties, and drew a compara- 

 tive distinction between the interests arising from their capital as occu- 

 piers and as freeholders — the former assumed to be 10 per cent., and the 

 latter 3 per cent. Assuming the area of the farm of the freeholder to 

 be 273 acres, 2 roods, 18 perches (the contents of Wilton House Home 



