The Agricultural Lessons of " The Eighties." 275 
per annum. They are assisted by 800,000 horses working on 
an average 2,500 hours per annum, or by, say, 250,000 horses 
working all the year round. Since, when at work, each horse 
represents the equivalent in mechanical effort of thirty-two men, 
thirty-two times 250,000, or say eight millions, of additional 
labourers would be required to replace the 800,000 horses em- 
ployed by agriculture, if the same amount of cropping now pro- 
duced in the country were to be raised by entirely unassisted 
manual labour. These eight millions of labourers would require 
200,000,000/. wages, while the 800,000 horses they would dis- 
place may be considered as costing in food, attendance, and 
general expenses 50/. each per anmim, or 40,000,000/. a year. 
In other words, the use of horses and implements in the agri- 
culture of England represents an economy of ] 60,000,000/. per 
annum, as compared with what would be the cost of cultivation 
solely by hand. It is further probable that the total agricultural 
steam-power now existing in England is not less than half the 
horse-power of the country, or say 400,000 horse-power ; and if 
it be presumed that this, like the horse-power, is only active 
for a third or fourth of the year, there remains, say, 120,000 
horse-power, which, if replaced by men at the rate of sixty- 
six men per horse-power, would saddle existing agricultural 
production with a further eight millions of men, costing another 
200,000,000/. in wages. From this amount there would be 
only a small deduction for engine attendants, who, allowing 
one man to every ten horse-power, would cost little more than 
350,000/. per annum. These estimates are mere speculations, 
and are diffidently offered only for what they are worth, but 
they probably indicate the character of the changes in agricul- 
tural economics which have followed upon the application of the 
mechanic's art to the cultivation of the soil. 
Dan. Pidgeon. 
THE AGRICULTURAL LESSONS OF 
"THE EIGHTIES." 
Eighteen hundred and eighty was launched into existence 
at a period of intense agricultural and commercial gloom. I shall 
not readily forget the feeling of thankfulness with which I 
regarded twelve o'clock at night on December 31, 1879. At 
any rate, a doleful, ruinous year had departed. There might 
be no great reason for rejoicing, but with a new year came new 
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