44 
Journal  of  horticulture  and  cottage  gardener. 
January  i i,  mf. 
THE  AGRICULTURAL  RATING  ACT. 
There  is  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  unprejudiced  person 
that  the  industry  of  agriculture  has  fallen  on  evil  times,  and  that 
the  profits  thereof  are,  even  under  the  most  favourable  conditions, 
small  as  compared  with  those  of  many  mercantile  and  manufactur¬ 
ing  industries  ;  but  though  agriculturists  may  be  poor,  they  have 
pride  enough  to  renounce  any  claim  to  what  may  be,  and  in  fact 
has  been,  called  an  Agricultural  Relief  Bill.  Farmers  do  not  come 
for  alms,  but  for  justice.  In  the  case  of  machinery,  repairs  have  to 
be  paid  for  by  the  user  ;  when  the  machine  is  worn  out  it  is  sold 
for  its  value  as  old  metal. 
If  this  practice  is  applied  to  the  human  machines  employed  by 
farmer  and  manufacturer,  then  relief  to  the  poor  should  come  from 
the  pockets  of  those  who  have  employed  them.  If  this  principle 
were  carried  out,  mills  and  ironworks,  collieries,  and  similar  hires 
of  industry  would  pay  poor  rates  according  to  the  hands  they 
employ  rather  than  according  to  the  annual  value  of  the  ground 
they  occupy.  As  this  might  be  objected  to  as  a  tax  on  labour, 
there  are  two  alternatives  which  give  to  the  land  certain  measures 
of  justice  ;  one  is  to  charge  all  poor,  highway,  and  other  rates  on 
an  income  tax  basis— -that  is,  in  proportion  to  ability  to  pay.  This 
would  be  the  most  satisfactory  solution  to  the  anomalies  of  rating) 
but  the  times  are  not  ripe  for  its  application. 
The  Government  has  adopted  in  its  place  a  plan  by  which  a 
portion  (one  half)  of  the  rates  on  agricultural  land  is  returned  to 
the  occupiers  thereof,  or  rather  is  not  collected,  the  remaining  half 
of  the  local  expenditure  being  provided  for  by  grants  from  the 
imperial  exchequer.  This  means  when  put  in  practice  that  it  is 
paid  out  of  income  tax,  for  otherwise  the  rate  of  income  tax  would 
in  all  probability  be  reduced  -,  thus  the  money  at  any  rate  falls  on 
shoulders  able  to  pay  ;  whether  in  strict  justice  they  are  in  all  cases 
those  who  should  pay  we  are  not  now  prepared  to  discuss. 
The  Act  as  regards  most  of  its  clauses  is  a  very  simple  one, 
but  one  portion  of  it  has  raised  many  points  of  difference  between 
rating  authorities — we  mean  the  clauses  defining  what  is  and  what 
is  not  agricultural  land.  We  say  defining,  but  to  be  correct  we 
should  say  not  “defining,”  for  this  very  important  duty  is  left  to 
the  assessment  committees  to  determine,  subject  to  the  approval 
of  the  surveyor  of  taxes  for  the  district.  The  decisions  of  these 
authorities  are  subject  to  the  appeal  of  any  aggrieved  ratepayer  to 
the  justices  in  quarter  sessions,  just  as  in  any  ordinary  assessments. 
The  surveyors  of  taxes  are  themselves  by  no  means  unanimous 
in  their  ideas  as  to  what  should  be  included  in  the  Agricultural 
Land  Schedule,  for  whereas  many  would  include  horticultural, 
glass  structures  used  by  market  gardeners,  others  object  to  do  so 
and  we  think  with  considerable  reason,  for  tbe  buildings  of  the 
farm  are  ag  necessary  a  part  of  it  as  the  structures  of  the  market 
garden.  The  calf  shed,  which  is  the  rearing  house  of  the  farm, 
is  very  closely  analogous  to  the  greenhouse  in  which  are  reared 
the  Celery  plants  of  the  market  gardener,  and  should  be  put  in 
the  Bame  category,  so  that  farm  buildings  being  excluded  nursery 
structures  should  be  also. 
Another  point  of  difficulty  has  been  the  definition,  for  the  pur¬ 
poses  of  the  Act,  of  the  word  Park.  The  authorities  appear  to 
have  adopted  a  proper  view  in  considering  grass  land  to  be  a  park 
when  it  is  used,  with  a  house,  for  purposes  of  recreation  rather 
than  farmed  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term.  On  the  other  hand, 
land  let  to  a  tenant  farmer,  though  it  be  situated  around  a  mansion 
and  be  called  a  park,  would  not  be  rated  as  such,  but  as  ordinary  farm 
land.  There  are  three  requisites  to  constitute  a  park  in  law: — 
1,  A  R  ryal  license  ;  2,  Inclosure  by  a  wall  or  fence  ;  3,  Its  occupa¬ 
tion  by  beasts  of  chase,  such  as  deer,  and  these  strictly  legal 
definitions  would  probably  be  taken  as  the  legal  meaning  if  it  ever 
came  to  a  court  of  law  for  decision. 
Another  point  of  disagreement  has  been  the  inclusion  or  exclu¬ 
sion  of  game.  Where  game— i  <?.,  shooting  rights— has  been  let 
with  the  land  it  has  been  rated  with  it  as  part  of  the  land ;  but 
where  it  hai  been  let  separately  and  rated  separately,  whilst 
numerous  authorities  have  decided  that  it  shall  not  benefit  by  the 
Act,  a  few  have  been  of  a  contrary  opinion.  We  rather  incline  to 
look  upon  game  as  something  quite  apart  from  farming,  and  should 
prefer  to  see  it  rated  as  a  means  of  recreation  rather  than  as  part 
of  a  farm,  even  if  the  tenant  have  the  sporting  rights  in  his  own 
hands.  He  will  benefit  considerably  by  the  Act,  and  can  afford  to 
pay  full  rates  on  sporting  rights  if  others  do  the  same.  Thus,  if 
no  shooting  at  all  be  included  in  the  schedule  no  one  can  grumble. 
Many  persons  have  an  idea  that  the  ratepayers  will  benefit  under 
this  Act  during  the  current  half  year,  but  this  is  not  so.  True,  a 
payment  is  to  be  made  by  Government  to  the  local  authorities 
before  the  31st  March  next ;  but  this  money  is  intended  for  reduc¬ 
tion  of  agricultural  rates  in  the  ensuing  half  year,  and  has  been 
taken  no  account  of  in  the  estimates  of  the  local  authorities  for  the 
present  half  year. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
We  have  had  more  heavy  rain,  and  the  land  is  as  wet  as  at  any  time 
since  harvest  ;  there  are  certainly  less  floods,  but  the  soil  is  soaking 
with  the  moisture  that  may  be  wrung  from  it  with  very  little  pressure. 
Manure  carting  having  been  completed  for  the  present,  many  farmers 
are  now  short  of  suitable  work.  Plenty  of  employment  can  be  found 
ftr  thi  hands  at  fencing,  thrashing,  or  amongst  Potatoes,  Carrots, 
and  other  roots  ;  but,  except  the  delivery  of  produce,  there  is  little  to 
do  for  the  horses,  and  this  state  of  things  must  prevail  until  we  have  a 
spell  of  fine  weather. 
Sheep  on  Turnips  still  have  a  bad  lair,  and  we  are  sorry  to  say  the 
roots  are  disappearing  very  rapidly.  Sheep  generally  are  doing  well 
now,  and  their  bill  of  health  is  much  improved.  We  never  saw  so  many 
cattle  wintering  out  as  in  the  present  season,  this  being  an  arable  district, 
and  yard  keeping  under  ordinary  circumstances  abundant.  It  is  there¬ 
fore  evident  that  farmers  anticipate  a  scarcity  of  keep,  and  are  husband¬ 
ing  their  resources.  The  pastures,  being  very  soft,  are  much  cut  up  by 
the  hoofs  of  the  cattle,  and  will  have  to  be  well  rolled  before  spring. 
Farmers  intending  to  use  basic  slag  for  roots  would  do  well  to  apply 
it  early,  so  as  to  give  it  time  to  attain  solubility  before  the  plants  require 
it.  One  of  the  objections  to  basic  slag  has  been  the  difficulty  of  sowing 
it  without  a  special  drill.  It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  if  water 
be  sprinkled  on  basic  slag  from  a  rose  at  the  rate  of  about  a  gallon  to 
1  cwt.  and  the  slag  be  turned  over  immediately  and  well  mixed,  that  it 
may  then  be  sown  by  a  man  without  any  ill  effects  ;  in  fact,  he  might 
almost  sow  it  in  bis  Sunday  clothes.  It  should,  however,  be  sown  the 
same  day  as  it  is  damped. 
We  see  a  neighbour  planting  Cabbages  ;  his  plants  are  small  but 
healthy,  and  we  are  inclined  to  follow  his  example  at  once,  if  we  can 
procure  good  plants.  We  generally  grow  our  own,  but  ours  have  grown 
so  badly,  owing  to  the  wet,  cold  autumn,  that  they  are  quite  unfit  to 
plant  at  present,  being  hardly  large  enough  to  handle  with  any  ease. 
Wheat  has  made  marvellous  progress  the  last  fortnight,  and  may  be 
winter-proud  even  yet.  _ _ 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdbn  squarb,  London. 
Date. 
uai 
9  A.M. 
In  thb  Day. 
1897 
gfl® 
OS  ^ 
do  L3 
Hygrometer. 
Direc- 
tion  of 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Bain. 
January. 
o 
U  CO  03 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
8  unday  .. 
Monday  .. 
Tuesday  .. 
Wednesday 
3 
Inchs. 
30-S47 
deg. 
40-6 
deg. 
40-0 
S. 
deg. 
38-6 
deg. 
45-0 
deg. 
2»"1 
deg. 
47-6 
deg. 
24-8 
Inchs. 
4 
30-lBl 
36*6 
34-9 
S. 
38-2 
43-0 
34-6 
43-0 
48  2 
0-052 
5 
29'979 
42-4 
422 
s. 
38-3 
43-2 
34-L 
46-0 
27-0 
0-L04 
6 
29-737 
38-1 
37-2 
S.E. 
38-6 
46-9 
34-1 
52-8 
27-1 
0-100 
Thursday . . 
Friday 
Saturday  .. 
7 
19-752 
44-8 
44-2 
S.E. 
39-1 
16  6 
38-7 
49-7 
32-2 
0-236 
8 
29-674 
40-8 
40  2 
N. 
39-9 
42-2 
39-3 
42-2 
33-9 
0-826 
9 
29-661 
38-3 
38-3 
N. 
40-1 
43-4 
38-9 
43-8 
38-1 
0-038 
29-902 
40-2 
39  6 
3  «-0 
443 
35  6 
46-4 
30-2 
1-356 
3rd. — Pair,  but  sunless. 
4ih. — Overcast  almost  throughout.  .  _  .  . 
5th.— Dull  and  damp  early,  continuous  rain  from  8  A.M.  to  11  A.M. ;  then  dark  to 
1  P.M.,  and  fair  after. 
6th. — Bright  sun  all  morning  ;  fair  afternoon  acd  evening.  . 
7th,— Rain  from  4  a.m.  to  8  A.M.;  dull  day  and  dark  at  times,  and  rain  from  7  to 
8th.— Continuous  rain  from  6  a  M.  to  10  P.M. ;  then  drizzle  to  midnight. 
9th.— Continuous  rain  or  drizzle.  ,  ,  .  . , 
Temperature  near  the  average,  but  a  very  dull,  damp,  rainy,  and  uncomfor.able 
week. — G.  J.  SYMONS. 
