Tlie Labour Bill in Farming. 
81 
crop of hay, 33 waggon-loads ; second crop, seed estimated at 
224 bushels. Practical men must judge for themselves as to 
the merits of this system. The farmer is convinced that it is, 
at any rate, well adapted to his own land ; and he expects, by 
means of it, to dispense with four men and four horses when 
it is in full operation, besides greatly increasing his food for 
sheep and cattle, and thus growing more corn upon the fields 
which are cultivated for corn, to compensate him somewhat 
for the smaller acreage of corn which his system involves. 
One point upon which Mr. Mathew insists is, that any 
falling off in the supply of labour, whether from a strike, a 
lock-out, or from natural causes, will reduce the supply of 
meat rather than the production of corn. From April 1 to 
the end of July, about one-half of his men were employed in 
growing roots and getting in the hay — in fact, in producing a 
supply of winter food for sheep and cattle ; and from the com- 
pletion of harvest to April again, one-half the men and boys 
were engaged in securing roots, cutting chaff, mincing and 
preparing food, littering yards, and attending to sheep and 
cattle. Thus the winter's work is regulated to a great extent 
by the operations of the spring and summer, and, summing the 
matter up in the farmer's words, " Few men in spring and sum- 
mer, mean few roots or little hay. This again means no stock 
during autumn and winter, and no stock during autumn and 
winter means 14 fewer men and boys than I employed last 
year." 
The moral drawn by Mr. Mathew is, that if the labour market 
is disturbed by any cause, the first to suffer is the labourer, 
the next the consumer, while the last and least sufferer is the 
farmer. After planting his spring corn comes the season for 
planting mangolds and kohl rabi, which may be done up to the 
10th of May. If that season is lost, so is the crop. Agricultural 
work is not like manufacturing work, which can be taken up 
where it was left off. The season once lost in farming is lost 
for ever.* You must try something else. Supposing, then, 
that mangolds and kohl rabi fail, swedes can be sown up to the 
10th of June. If this time goes by, you need not sow, for you 
will get no crop. White turnips, however, may follow up to the 
18th of July. If this season be missed through dearth of labour, 
the farmer will take to coleseed, which requires little or no 
labour. What, then, is the relative value of these crops ? Man- 
golds will carry one-third more stock than swedes, swedes will 
carry more stock than white turnips, and each of these crops 
will carry as much stock again as coleseed. The earlier crops 
* " Res rustica sic est, si unam rem sero feceris, omnia opera sero fades." 
VOL. XI.— S. S. G 
