Nov. 3, 1855.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



733 



to compel the necessary returns to be made. There i 

 w ere to be two classes of returns : — 1st, Returns of 



and 2dly, estimates. In the facts would be 



facts, 



and 



an account of the 

 The estimates were 



returned the acreage of land, 

 extent of each crop that was grown. 



comprise returns of the crops harvested : and the 

 class of returns were to be required by the 



the second between the 1st and 10th 





to 



first 



1st July . 



November in each year. As it was further supposed 

 that the collection of agricultural statistics would be of 

 ceneral utility, the expense was to be defrayed out of 

 the National Exchequer. Testing in another manner 

 the opinion of those gentlemen who said they would be 

 advantageous to all classes, he begged leave to say that 

 last year 40007. had been expended, from the estimates of 

 the House of Commons, in obtaining through the poor-law 

 machinery returns of this nature frcm different parts 

 of the kingdom. They themselves knew something of this, 

 having been one of the counties selected for that experi- 



These counties were in number 10 or 





ment. 



10J, 



feeling of the 



counting the West Riding of Yorkshire. They had been 

 selected by the poor-law board, and as far as the returns 

 went were curious instances of the 

 country. From the report which the committee 

 had received from the poor-law inspectors, he should 

 just read extracts. The reports from these 10 counties 

 out of the 32 were strong indications of the feelings of 

 the farmers throughout England upon the subject — I 

 although they would bear in mind that the matter had 

 been only tried, and was merely an experiment in these 

 11 counties— or not so many — 10£. The counties 

 selected were Suffolk, Norfolk, Hampshire, Wiltshire, 

 Leicestershire, Berkshire, Worcestershire, Brecknock- 

 shire, Shropshire, Derbyshire, and the West Riding of 

 Yorkshire. How, then had the farmers received the 

 poor-law inspectors iu their endeavours to obtain tl 

 returns for the Board of Trade I In Norfolk and Suffolk 

 the same poor-law inspector had reported that in several 

 unions the co-operation of the guardians had been re- 

 fused, and that hostility had proved itself to exist through 

 the agency of market-place and a market- table discussion. 

 This had been stated in documents presented to the 

 House of Commons. In some of the unions, the docu- 

 ment in question went on to say, success had been 

 impeded by the unconquerable prejudices of occupiers, 

 and large occupiers, whom it was impossible to reach 



would do him some good. (Loud cheers.) Some parties 

 thought it would be a beneficial measure. But at the 

 taking of Kertch, in the Sea of Azoff, a great number 

 of quarters of corn had been destroyed which it was 

 said had cost the importers but 12s. a quarter ; 

 and there had no doubt been a great quantity 

 destroyed which had only cost this price. Now . 

 if an inquiry were established into what they were 

 to get for their corn, what quantity was likely to 

 cone to market, &c, the greatest possible advantage 

 would be given to the importer, and the buyer of corn 

 would be ready for them. In consequence, it could not 

 be said that it was a beneficial consideration for the 

 farmer ; but in order to see what it was likelv he 

 would be able to produce, this measure was proposed ; 

 and as to prices — look at present prices, and say 

 whether it was probable they could do better, or even 

 as well. (Laughter and cheers). Why meddle with 

 them, then, and injure their concerns? When they 

 were making their fortunes by farming, was it not pro- 

 voking to have an inquiry made into what they had got! 

 He would simply ask this : If there were a great many 

 large shops of the metropolis which at a certain season 

 of the year were compelled to sell at a reduced rate ; 

 and if the concerns of these houses were published, and 

 returns made of all that their back shops contained 

 stored away, because it would not sell, and if all this 

 were done with a view that we might not know how to 

 buy their goods, why, we should only want to know what 

 they had got to sell, wait till they were forced to reduce 

 their rates, and then become their customers. (Great 

 cheering.) He would be glad to know where the dis- 

 tinction was betwixt the case of the shopkeeper and that 

 of the farmer. Yet there were many opinions preva- 

 lent upon the subject, and he wished to take the course 

 which was best and most beneficial for the agricultural 

 interests. But as at present advised, with these docu- 

 ments before him, and knowing the opinions of the 

 inspectors of ten counties, he felt obliged to say that he 

 should have some difficulty in being able to acquiesce 

 in this measure. 



was amply repaid by the superior manner in which it 

 was performed. 



■"^P^^H 



£UbfcfiNf< 



Bread for the People secured by the Skilful Cultivation 

 and Efficient Super v is i<m of Estates. By Lay ton 

 Cooke, Land Agent and Purveyor. W. II. DaltOE", 

 Cock spur Street 



Mr. Cooke supposes that 48 bushels of Wheat are 

 obtainable per acre in this country I y "energy, skill, 

 and capital;' possessed " in the requisite degree ; " and 

 that if these qualities in other d rees produce respec- 

 tively 82 and 16 bushels per acre, then of the land 

 under cultivation it may be assumed that one-tenth 

 is held under the first, three-tenths under the second,, 

 and six-tenths under the third supposed case. The 

 who! will yield thus after the rate of 240 bu Is pH 

 10 acres, which is supposed to be the present average 

 yield of the country. And then the following specula- 

 tion is indulged in :— 



" If a change in the cultivation should occur, to place 

 the occupiers in the following position : — 



Tenths. Bushels. 



8 in the first clnss of 48 bushels m 144 



4 in the second i saof32 „ 128 



3 In the third class of 16 - — 48 



no 



and if reached impossible to convince by argument. In 



Hampshire and Wiltshire, again, the experiment of | bring, and the result of the attachment to his allotment 



Crewkerne. — At the annual meeting of this society 

 the Bishop of Bath and Wells enumerated some of the 

 advantages of an allotment ; amonj; others, its affording 

 a pleasing pursuit after the labours of the day, the 

 delidit which the cultivation of vegetables was sure to 



collecting agricultural statistics in that district the 

 inspector regretted to say had u failed." He attributed 

 this to the refusal to report (so essential) of a numerous 

 body of agriculturists, who had demurred on the grounds 

 of the injurious tendency, insidious nature and mis- 

 chievous character of the inquiry ; and it was thought 

 that the Government had an eye to taxation, or some 

 other thing of the kind, injurious to the interests of the 

 farmers. In their own county (Leicestershire), as the 

 • gentlemen he was addressing were well aware, the 

 Loughborough Union had considerably resisted the 

 inquiry ; great resistance had been shown in another 

 union ; in Bilsden Union it had been found totally im- 

 possible to obtain any report at ail. Mr. Ingram, the 

 clerk to the Bilsden Union, had written to Mr. Weale, 

 the inspector, in January, 1855, regretting to inform 

 him that the Agricultural Statistics Committee had come 



to the conclusion that the serious difficulties and oppo- 

 sition thrown in their way rendered it impossible to com- 

 plete the returns of last year. Several classifiers appre- 

 hended that the effect would be to place the guardians 

 and ratepayers in antagonistic positions, were the law 

 carried out. This was, therefore, the feeling in five 

 counties. Now, in Berkshire it was found that there 

 was a general and determined opposition to the adoption 

 of the measure ; and it having become desirable to hold 

 a special meeting to meet objections and explain away 

 difficulties, it was found to be in vain to attempt assem- 

 bling the board of guardians on any day but that of their 

 ordinary meetings, from their distrust of the inquisitorial 

 objects, utility, and consequences of the proposed returns. 

 In Worcestershire and Brecknockshire, the only counties 

 where the measure had been tried, only seven out of 35 

 unions had complied. In Shropshire and Derbyshire, 

 the prejudice that they would open an undue inter- 

 ference with private business had taken hold of the 

 minds of many wealthy and respectable farmers. And 

 what the inspector spoke of as most provoking was, that 

 several of the committee had themselves refused to fill 

 up the schedules I One favourable account had been 

 obtained from what could hardly in any degree be called 

 an agricultural county— the West Riding of Yorkshire. 

 It was very well understood that the West Riding of 

 Yorkshire was one vast hive of manufacturing industry ; 

 but greater unanimity had prevailed there iu making 

 these returns ; and the same passages^ found in the 

 reports of other counties were not seen in the reports 

 relative to that county. He (Mr. Packe) should be the 

 last person to wish to state anything in bitterness or 

 hostility. But he had read nothing which had con- 

 vinced him of the advantages of those agricultural sta- 

 tistics ; and yet the farmers' concerns were to be laid 

 open, as recommended in this report of committee. From 

 * noble friend of his, whom everybody knew well in 

 that county, and for whose zeal in agricultural matters 

 he had the greatest possible admiration, he differed, in 

 so far as when he ventured to say " it would do the 

 farmer no harm," he (Mr. Packe) must reply, "it would 

 do him no good." The farmer had been rather hardly 

 dealt with of late years by the legislature ; and it must 

 be proved to him (Mr. Packe) not only that the measure 

 in question would do the fanner no harm, but that it 



which the cottager generally felt, drawing him away, as 

 it did, from injurious pursuits and immoral recreation, 

 and giving him a stake in the country. A well-kept 

 allotment was the index to the habits and tastes of its 

 owner. The same feelings which prompted him to keep 

 it clean and free from weeds would operate upon his 

 domestic tastes ; he would like also to see his cottage 

 clean and cheerful, his children orderly and happy, and 

 his pig, if he kept one, well looked after. lie also 

 treated his children, in a moral sense, on the same 

 principles as he did his garden, knowing that if not 

 trained to morality their minds would be choked with 

 noxious weeds. He took care that they attended regu- 

 larly at school and church, and that he never went 

 himself to the beerhouse. The beerhouse was the bane 

 of England. It was that which filled our workhouses 

 and gaols, and brought to ruin those who haunted it. 

 Even, to make the best of the beerhouse haunter, he 

 was a cruelly selfish being, for he spent in his own in- 

 dulgence the means which ought to go to the support of 

 his own family ; and, not content with this, he too often 

 reeled home to maltreat the wife whom he had so solemnly 

 sworn to protect, and the children so prone in after- 

 life to follow his pernicious example. Some remarks 

 had been made in the report upon the important sub- 

 ject of education. He, for one, was inclined to carry it 

 out much further than by many was thought either 



The time wii coming when 



neces-ary or prudent. 



machinery would be employed in agriculture to a much 

 greater extent than now, and when, therefore, the 

 labourers who worked it must obviously be intelligent 

 and skilful. But what sort of preparation for such 

 labour were the children of labourers but too generally 

 undergoing ! Why, while still a child, having learnt 

 hardly anything whatever, a boy was generally taken 

 from school just at the time when he might begin to 

 profit by it, and put to keep birds from the corn. Some 

 few years ago he had a friend, a clergyman in Hamp- 

 shire, who was an enthusiast in education, and who 

 made up his mind that he would do what he could to 

 carry out his views. Accordingly, he built commodious 

 school-rooms, engaged the best masters, and induced 

 both the farmers and labourers to send him their 

 sons, and to allow them to remain at school a much 

 longer period than usual. He adapted his education to 

 the wants of each class, so as to fit them for the relative 

 positions which they would be called upon to fiii — 

 instructing the farmers' sons not only in the elementary 

 subjects which were taught in common to both classes, 

 but also, among other sciences, the important science of 

 agricultural chemistry. In a few years he was sur- 

 rounded by an intellectual population. But Ws object 

 had not been effected without opposition. One farmer 

 was particularly annoyed when he found it becoming 

 more difficult and more expensive than formerly to get 

 the birds frightened. But the Government, appreciating 

 that clergyman's exertions, had rewarded him with the 

 deanery of Hereford, and at a public meeting the other 

 day he had had his health proposed by the very larmer 

 who had formerly found so much fault with him, aud 

 who frankly admitted that he had seen his error, ana 



that if it had cost hfm more to get his labour done lie 



i: The average produce would be increase to 32 

 bushels per acre, or 50 percent, on the produce of the 

 kingdom ; and if the whole of the cultivate land wore 

 in the occupation of tenants of the first class, and waft- 

 cultivated according to the most approved modes at 

 present in practice, the increase would be 100 per cent, 

 on the present average produce of the kingdom." 



Of course any result deemed probable may be calcu- 

 lated on assumed data in this manner, and the method 

 of attaining it may be represented in a variety of ways, 

 most of them probably less plausible than the above. We 

 do not think, however, that the advantages of energy, 

 skill, and capital, are in any degree enforced by the 

 representafion of the results which on assumed data 

 they may be shown to produce. 



The history of a single instauce such as that related 

 by our correspondent " B," the other week, at page 69t>, 

 is much more conclusive than any speculations as to 

 possibilities on the wide scale of the whole country can 

 be. Besides we are not willing to admit the data on 

 which Mr. Cooke proceeds. 



No one is more anxious than we are to impress the 

 truth that produce depends on cultivation quite as muck 

 as it does on the original quality of the land ; but we 

 do not believe that six-tenths of the Wheat land of this 

 country yield only 1 6 bushels per acre, nor do we be- 

 lieve that that degree of energy, skill, and capital which 

 obtains 48 bushels per acre over one-tenth will be suf- 

 ficient to obt'iiu that quantity from all. The nine- 

 tenths which, according to Mr. Cooke, yield less than 

 this produce, do so on account of a natural disability of 

 soil as well as on account of an unfortunate disability 

 in their occupiers — and the former consideration 

 is one which underlies and affects whatever amount of 

 energy, capital, and skill may be brought to bear upon 

 the land — so that over a naturally poor soil a greater 

 effort must be made to produce the same result. 



As a specimen of Mr. Cooke's speculations on this 

 subject we extract the following passage from his 



pamphlet : 



"It has been suggested, that double the annual 



amount of produce mi^ht be obtained by adopting an 



improved mode of culture, and it is proposed to indicate 



the means by which a gradually increasing population 



might be provided for, from a territorial area, which 



admits of no extension. 



Million. 



Assuming the 46 millions of acres now under cultivation, 

 and farmed according to the present management, to be 

 equal to the population of 1841, namely 



By bringing into cultivation 15 millions of acre* capable of 

 improvement into a state equal to that of the 46 millions 

 of acres, the annual production would be increased one- 

 third in quantity, and sufficient for an additional popu- 

 lation of ... 



By bringing 5 millions of acres of the inferior descriptions 

 of Grass land into a state of cultivation equal to th« 

 average of land now available to that purpose, would 

 provide for an additional population of 



26 



8 



3 





Assuming the several descriptions of land capable of being 

 cultivated to snch a depth a? would increase the produce 

 one-half in quantity, the addition would be sufficient for 

 the sustenance of a population of 



37 



18 





The extra cultivation of the land effected by reducing it to 

 a more minutely granulated state, exposing a greater 

 surface to the action of atmospheric influences, dew and 

 rain admitting of the manure being more intimately 

 diffused throughout the soil, and affording greater tacih- 

 ties for the roots of plants to obtain nourishment, would 

 tend to increase indefinitely the productiveness of the 

 earth; but the additional amount of produce obtainable 

 by these means are dependent upon the degree of pulveri- 

 sation attained, which for the present pu pom is sup- 

 j ed to effect the production of food to the extent of 

 [ per cent, on the amount previously obtained, and 

 consequently sufficient for a population of 

 Giving a gross quantity corresponding to a population 

 of millions 



Vi> 



27 

 I 





"No inconsiderable additional amount of produce 

 might be obtained by the general adoption of appliances 

 familiar to the more intelligent cultivators of the present 

 day, and this quantity would be capable of expansion as 

 the science of agriculture shall be further developed. 



" Much is also expected from geological, chemical, 

 botanical, and mechanical discoveries, and from 



