156 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  17,  1899. 
forty  or  fifty  years  ago.  Almost  everything  he  has  to  buy  is  50  per 
cent,  cheaper  than  at  that  period,  whereas  the  farmers’  share  of  the 
produce  of  the  farm  being  in  kind,  not  in  cash,  when  turned  into  the 
latter  very  necessary  material  is  found  to  be  somewhat  of  a  reductio 
ad  absurdum.  If  we  take  as  an  example  a  typical  arable  farm, 
20  per  cent,  grass,  and  put  the  produce  at  a  fairly  good  estimate  as 
follows : — ■ 
1855-65  1899 
Wheat  1  qr.  per  acre . 
.  £2 
15 
0 
...  £1 
6 
0 
Barley  1  qr.  „  „  . 
.  1 
15 
0 
...  1 
6 
0 
Mutton  40  lbs.  „  , . 
.  1 
3 
4 
...  1 
1 
8 
Beef  25  lbs.  ,,  , . 
.  0 
16 
8 
...  0 
12 
6 
Wool  9  lbs.  „  . 
.  0 
13 
6 
...  0 
5 
9 
Pork  14  lbs.  „  „  . 
.  0 
6 
6 
...  0 
5 
6 
£7 
10 
0 
£4 
17 
5 
Here  we  show  a  gross  depreciation  per  acre  of  £2  12s.  4d.,  or  35  per 
cent.,  and  unless  our  figures  are  in  error  the  farmer  is  bearing  the 
brunt  of  the  burden  of  depression. 
But  all  this  is  entirely  apart  from  the  question  which  we  at  first 
raised,  that  of  the  actual  supply  of  labour,  cheap  or  dear.  The  fact 
is  that  useful  farm  hands  cannot  be  had,  although  the  wages  offered 
are  in  money  value  higher,  and  in  purchasing  value  immensely  higher, 
than  those  formerly  paid.  How  is  it  ?  Well,  for  one  thing  there  is 
very  little  female  labour  in  the  fields  nowadays.  England  has  become 
such  a  mass  of  mansions  and  villa  residences  that  the  supply  of 
domestic  servants  has  run  short,  and  no  wonder,  when  we  see  all  the 
smartest  girls  from  the  lower  middle  classes  working  at  the  desk,  the 
telegraphic  instrument,  or  the  typewriter.  The  girls  from  the  lower 
classes  can  now  obtain  situations  in  towns  at  good  wages,  and  do  not 
need  to  give  a  reference.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  there  are  none 
left  in  the  country  ? 
It  is  this  dearth  of  female  and  child  labour  that  accentuates  and 
makes  so  serious  the  absence  of  skilled  men.  We  do  not  mean  that 
we  would  go  back  to  the  days  when  4d.  per  day  was  the  top  wage 
for  the  crow  tenter  ;  hut  now  the  farmer  who  wishes  to  keep  the  rooks 
from  his  new  sown  grain  may  have  to  pay  14d.  for  a  tenter,  and  may 
have  much  difficulty  in  obtaining  one  at  that  price.  The  schools  are 
made  so  pleasant  to  the  children,  and  they  are  taught  so  many  interest¬ 
ing  things,  that  they  are  loth  to  leave  their  schoolmaster  for  the  open 
air  and  freedom  of  the  fields,  even  when  pressed  to  do  so  by  the 
parents  anxious  for  their  children  to  be  earning  a  livelihood. 
No  doubt  there  is  much  to  be  commended  in  this,  and  from  one 
point  of  view  Sir  John  Gorst  and  his  colleagues  of  the  Board  of 
Education  deserve  well  of  their  country ;  but  how  is  the  farmer  to 
get  his  work  done  ?  How  is  the  labourer  to  be  retained  in  the 
village  ? 
The  energies  of  the  Education  Department  are  now  directed 
towards  the  extension  and  improvement  of  secondary  education,  and 
the  Grammar  and  other  local  middle-class  schools  are  to  be  subsidised 
and  brought  into  touch  with  the  red  tape  of  the  Board  of  Education. 
No  doubt  this  will  have  a  wonderful  effect  in  encouraging  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  lawyers,  parsons,  doctors,  and  such  like,  of  whom  we 
already  have  too  large  a  supply;  but  it  will  not  do  anything  to 
help  the  farmer  in  his  search  for  skilled  artisans  of  the  farm,  but 
will,  on  the  contrary,  still  further  encourage  rural  depopulation. 
People  will  no  doubt  say,  \ou  have  had  gratis  the  advantages  of 
technical  education  as  administered  by  the  County  Councils,  and  the 
village  people  have  made  such  poor  use  of  their  opportunities  that 
the  money  has  been  diverted  to  the  towns,  who  better  appreciate 
it.  But  the  great  drawback  to  the  utility  of  the  Technical  Educa¬ 
tion  Act  lay  in  the  prohibition  of  its  application  to  elementary 
schools,  and  if  in  the  future  any  effort  is  to  be  made  to  teach  the 
people  how  to  remain  in,  and  make  the  best  of,  rural  England  Jhe 
first  lessons  must  be  given  at  the  village  schools. 
We  must  cease  to  cram  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  village  with 
knowledge  only  suitable  for  town  life  ;  but  having  taught  the  three 
U’s,  and  trained  the  mind  to  habits  of  thought  and  reflection,  we 
must  take  a  lesson  from  our  continental  neighbours,  and  form  an 
agricultural  side  to  the  school  by  sending  the  master  or  some  other 
properly  qualified  teacher  into  the  fields  with  his  class,  to  give  his 
pupils  practical  instruction  in  the  forces  of  Nature,  and  teach  them 
how  to  use  those  forces  for  the  benefit  of  themselves  and  others. 
Impressions  thus  stamped  on  the  youthful  mind  would  be  far 
more  lasting  and  far-reaching  than  any  that  can  be  acquired  later 
by  attending  intermittent  courses  of  technical  lectures.  The  pupils 
will  have  been  taught  to  see  with  their  own  eyes  and  hear  with 
their  own  ears,  and  not  to  depend  for  knowledge  on  the  text-book 
and  the  daily  paper. 
[The  remarks  of  our  able  coadjutor  on  appropriate  education  in 
rural  districts  are  excellent.  For  years  past  much  of  the  teaching 
imparted  in  village  schools  has  been  inappropriate;  but  apart  from  that 
the  present  scarcity  of  labour  is  in  no  small  measure  traceable  to 
another  cause,  the  effects  of  which  were  not  foreseen  in  the  old 
prosperity  days,  that  were  then  mistakenly  thought  would  endure 
for  ever.] 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Harvest  is  now  quite  general  ;  the  dry  weather  and  heat  have  ripened 
off  the  corn  very  rapidly,  and  some  of  the  Barley  too  quickly.  It  rubs 
out  a  nice  bright  sample,  but  there  will  be  a  good  deal  of  small.  Binders 
are  at  work  almost  everywhere.  A  thirty  mile  journey  through  an  early 
district  took  us  past  scores  of  fields  recently  reaped,  and  we  only  saw  one 
which  had  not  been  done  with  a  binder.  Farmers  have  no  choice,  for 
extra  men  cannot  be  had.  Trade  is  good  in  the  towns,  and  men  cannot 
be  spared,  whilst  the  immigrant  Irish  are  much  less  numerous  than 
formerly.  Either  matters  at  home  must  have  improved  or  the  competition 
of  the  string-binder  has  been  too  strong  for  them. 
There  is  one  thing  in  the  harvest  field  which  we  do  like  to  see  well 
done,  and  that  is  the  stooking  of  the  sheaves.  When  stooks  are  well 
made  they  seldom  get  very  wet,  and  at  least  it  takes  rain  a  long  time  to 
penetrate  them.  The  stooks  not  only  look  better  when  placed  in  straight 
even  lines,  but  much  tunning  to  and  fro  is  saved  when  the  carting  day 
comes.  Do  not  be  afraid  to  make  the  stooks  too  long.  If  rain  comes  the 
end  sheaves  get  wetted  the  most  and  take  longest  to  get  dry,  so  the 
longer  the  stook  and  the  fewer  the  number  of  corner  sheaves  the  better. 
Last  week  Turnips  were  in  a  parlous  state.  We  saw  many  fields  full  of 
withering  leaves  lying  down  to  die  ;  fortunately  the  wind  became  cooler, 
and  after  a  couple  more  days  we  had  a  beautiful  night’s  rain,  which 
revived  things  wonderfully.  The  land  is  now  almost  if  not  quite  a9  dry 
as  ever,  and  we  are  longing  for  more  rain  notwithstanding  the  harvest. 
As  a  fact  a  nice  rain  on  the  Barley  stooks  would  do  them  good,  and 
make  the  Barley  malt  better. 
The  August  lamb  fairs  are  here,  and  trade  is  very  bad.  No  wonder, 
as  the  root  prospect  is  so  poor.  Good  useful  lambs  can  be  bought  at  £1 
per  head.  No  one  dare  speculate,  for  fog  and  old  pasture  are  dear,  and 
there  is  only  a  poor  growth  after  the  mown  seeds.  Many  flockmasters 
are  anxious  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  next  eight  weeks. 
The  Lincoln  annual  ram  fair,  fixed  a  month  earlier  than  usual, 
ended  in  a  regular  slump,  half  the  animals  having  been  passed,  and 
those  sold  realised  about  half  the  price  of  last  year.  The  invincible  Mr. 
Dudding  made  an  average  of  £75  each  for  five  sheep,  and  was  the  only 
one  with  an  increased  average. 
[A  sum  of  £375  for  five  sheep  does  not  indicate  particularly  bad 
times,  as  times  go,  for  Mr.  Dudding,  though  we  very  well  remember  one 
animal  realising  £300.] 
College  of  Agriculture,  Downton,  Salisbury. — The  summer 
session  of  this  College  terminated  on  Thursday,  August  10th,  when  the 
following  awards  were  made  : — The  College  diploma  after  two  years’ 
residence  and  passing  in  all  subjects  taught,  to  Percival  Hurlbutt,  Dee 
Cottage,  Queen’s  Ferry,  and  T.  S.  Bliss,  Queensbury,  Cobham,  Surrey. 
The  College  scholarship  of  £15,  to  H.  Hincks,  Terrace  House,  Richmond, 
Yorks.  The  Reginald  Bles  prize  (£10),  to  John  Benson,  Harnage, 
Shrewsbury.  TheWrightson  prize  (£10),  to  O.  F.C.  Yarborough,  Camps- 
mount,  Doncaster.  Certificates  of  practical  proficiency,  to  Hurlbutt  and 
Bliss.  The  following  prizes  were  also  awarded : — To  H.  R.  Board, 
Farley,  Westerham,  Kent,  for  agriculture,  chemistry,  building  construc¬ 
tion,  veterinary  science,  botany,  collection  of  grasses,  and  collection  of 
farm  weeds.  To  J.  Benson,  for  agriculture,  chemistry,  practical 
chemistry,  surveying  and  levelling,  building  construction,  veterinary 
science,  and  botany.  To  A.  D.  Philips,  of  Ileybridge,  Tean,  Stoke-on- 
Trent,  for  agriculture,  practical  chemistry,  veterinary  science,  and 
botany.  To  K.  B.  F.  Foyster,  All  Saints’  Rectory,  Hastings,  for 
chemistry  and  attention  to  farm.  To  T.  S.  Bliss,  for  practical  chemistry, 
surveying  and  levelling,  and  knowledge  of  live  stock.  To  W.  D.  Heskett, 
The  Hollies,  Penrith,  for  surveying  and  levelling  and  building  construc¬ 
tion.  To  H.  Hincks,  for  collection  of  grasses.  To  P.  Hurlbutt,  for 
milking  and  waggon  driving.  To  M.  R.  Heath,  29,  Warrior  Square, 
St.  Leonards- on-Sea,  for  attention  to  farm.  To  F.  B.  Toms,  Crosswood 
House,  East  Molesey,  for  attention  to  farm. 
