70 
The Labour Bill in Farming. 
land has a natural fertility far surpassing that of the British isles, 
and perhaps labour is far cheaper. Happily for consumers, 
distance, and the difficulty of transit, is the only protection 
enjoyed by the home producer ; and the price of wheat depends 
not upon his will but upon the genial rain which quickens, and 
the sunshine which is sure to mature the crop, if not here, at any 
rate in some of the countries that are ready to supply us with 
their superabundance. 
It will thus be seen that the British farmer, who, like other 
men, follows his calling for profit, is limited in his power of 
making this profit by natural conditions not applicable to ordi- 
nary producers, while from these conditions he can never hope 
to be free. We are also face to face with the fact that the 
ordinary business of farming is not one in which high profits are 
made. If, on an average of years, he makes from eight to ten 
per cent, upon his capital, he may be reckoned fortunate indeed. 
There may be some farmers, exceptionally favoured in respect of 
rents and quality of soil, whose percentage of returns is larger ; 
but I suspect there are very many more who cannot point to so 
large a return. In few trades would this rate of interest be 
deemed an adequate one, considering the risk run and the skill 
and amount of personal supervision necessary. The farmer 
cannot turn over his capital three or four times in the course 
of a year. On the contrary, he has to spend so much for rent, 
for labour, manure, and seed, long before he receives any return 
for this outlay ; and whatever profit he makes must be led up 
to by a long course of industry, by continued expenditure, and 
patient expectations very often bitterly disappointed. 
If, however, the British farmer, as a rule, makes at the best 
only three or four per cent, above the rate of interest he would 
receive, with little risk, if his capital were invested on the 
mortgage of house property, and no more than he would re- 
ceive in many modern investments, reckoned fairly safe, leaving 
no remuneration for his personal services upon the farm, the 
question now to be considered is an urgent one. It seems to be 
capable of statement in this way : — Labour is one chief item in 
farming outlay. Its tendency, shown by recent events, is to rise 
in value. From a public point of view, as well as in the interests 
of a class with whom wo must all sympathize, it is desirable 
that labour should rise in value ; but the farmer, like the 
labourer, must live. Some perscms, indeed, on this point have 
replied almost in the words of the French wit, who, when 
simihir appeal was made to him, said, " Je n'cn vols pas lal 
necessite." But as rural society is now constituted, and under* 
our present system of agriculture, it must be assumed that the landi 
is meant as much for the support of the farmer as the labourer: 
