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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  22,  1903. 
Farmers,  Occupiers,  and  Income  Tax, 
Here  ai’e  two  terms  of  description,  but  are  the  two 
synonymous  %  That  is  a  question  suggested  by  a  letter 
from  Mr.  R.  H.  Wallace  to  an  agricultural  journal.  We 
think  that  verv  wide  distinctions  may  be  drawn  between 
the  two,  for  it  is  only  necessary  to  take  a  very  short 
country  drive  to  see  them.  We  fear  there  are  too  many 
occupiers  of  land  at  the  present  day — if  we  mean  by  occu¬ 
piers  those  who  are  not  farmers,  i.e.,  those  who  make 
the  best  use  of  the  land  they  cultivate. 
The  term  occupier  is  of  especial  interest  just  now’,  for 
the  collectors  of  income  tax  are  going  their  rounds,  and 
charging  33  per  cent,  of  the  rent  as  farm  profit ;  but  if 
this  33  per  cent,  should  amount  to  £l50  per  annum  or 
less,  his  call  is  cancelled,  and  the  farmer  hears  nothing 
more  about  it.  Now’,  we  think  that  this  system  is  all  in 
favour  of  the  perpetuation  of  bad  tenants  and  opportunist 
landlords.  If  the  latter  can  find  a  tenant  who  will  farm  at 
a  low  rent,  but  not  ask  much  in  the  way  of  repairs  to  start 
with,  he  lets  him  the  farm,  and  in  such  a  case  a  man 
might  have  £6,000  or  £7,000  invested  in  his  larm,  whilst,  if 
his  rent  be  no  more  than  £450  per  annum,  he  will  be 
assessed  for  income  tax,  schedule  B,  at  £150,  and  be 
exempt  from  payment. 
Another  man,  with  a  much  smaller  acreage  and  smaller 
capital,  might,  if  he  were  highly  rented,  be  assessed  at 
£300  per  annum  and  have  to  pay  on  £150.  The  present 
system  may  be  the  best  from  an  official’s  point  of  view, 
but  it  is  one  full  of  anomalies.  A  more  sensible  system 
would  be  the  assessment,  of  farm  profits  proportionately 
to  the  capital  that  should  reasonably  .be  required  for  each 
farm.  Arable  land  would  require  very  much  the  same 
capital  as  good  grass,  but,  of  course,  common  and  mountain 
land  would  be  on  an  entirely  different  basis. 
It  would  appear  that  farm  profits  have  beeii  assessed 
differently  to  those  of  professional  and  tradespeople  be¬ 
cause  of  the  difficulty  of  discovering  what  farmers’  profits 
are,  and  no  doubt  a  majority  of  farmers  would  agree  to 
this,  because  they  would  argue  that  there  are  no  profits, 
but  that  is  begging  the  question,  and  w’e  think  that,  for 
many  things,  it  would  be  better  for  farmers  to  be  assessed 
the  same  as  other  tradespeople.  They  would  have  to  keep 
good  books  of  account,  and  that  would  be  a  real  benefit  to 
them,  for  the  book-keeping  of  a  large  proportion  of  them 
is  most  rudimentary.  They  estimate  their  financial  posi¬ 
tion  by  the  state  of  their  banking  account  without  making 
any  estimate  of  bills  outstanding  or  condition  of  crops, 
stock,  and  tenant  right. 
Many  farmers  who  do  not  keep  proper  books,  if  urged 
to  do  so,  would  reply  that  they  have  no  time  for  useless 
amusements.  But  are  books  useless 'I  We  doubt  whether 
any  farmer  can  really  make  the  best  use  of  his  holding 
without  not  only  keeping  proper  cash  accounts,  but  also 
keeping  such  records  of  the  regular  routine  work  of  his  farm 
that  he  can  easily  make  an  analysis  of  the  working  of  each 
field,  and  show  a  profit  and  loss  account  of  every  crop. 
Farmers  very  often  have  but  a  hazy  idea  as  to  where 
their  profit  comes  from,  and  frequently  give  credit  in  the 
wrong  place.  It  is  this  characteiustic  which  has  done  so 
much  to  prevent  farmers  from  adapting  themselves  to 
changed  conditions  of  farming.  They  are  me  most  con¬ 
servative  set  of  people  upon  earth,  and  would  most  of 
them  prefer  to  farm  exactly  as  their  fathers  did.  If  Wheat 
is  too  cheap  for  profit,  something  must  be  done  to  niake  it 
dearer ! 
But  the  difference  between  farmers  and  occupiers.  A 
too  conamon  type  of  the  latter  is  the  man  who  keeps  little 
or  no  live  stock,  no  sheep,  and,  except  for  tw’o  or  three 
milk  cows  and  a  few  rearing  calves,  no  cattle.  He  sells  i 
everything  off  the  land  that  is  saleable,  and  that  his  land¬ 
lord  will  allow  him  to  ;  he  lets  his  seeds  to  a  butcher  or 
cattle  dealer,  and  his  roots  in  a  similar  manner.  His 
manure  has  little  cake  in  it  and  is  of  poor  value,  and  he 
has  no  money  to  spend  in  artificials.  His  crops  are  a 
gradually  diminishing  quantity,  and  he  only  manages  to 
struggle  on  by  reducing  expenses  to  a  minimum.  Well! 
We  call  such  a  man  an  occupier,  not  a  farmer  ;  and  this 
picture  is  a  faithful  likeness  of  a  person  actually  existing. 
He  is  a  type,  but  only  one  of  many.  When  his  tenancy 
comes  to  an  end  w’e  do  not  envy  the  owner  of  the  property. 
Tenants  like  these  would  ruin  an  estate  and  depopulate 
the  country,  for  they  employ  no  labour  to  speak  of.  What 
a  contrast  to  a  tenant  like  this  is  that  other  type — the 
real  farmer,  of  which  we  know  many  excellent  specimens. 
He  does  not  need  to  sell  fodder  or  roots,  for  his  farm  is 
heavily  stocked  with  the  best  of  cattle  and  sheep,  and  it 
is  often  he  who  comes  to  the  rescue  and  buys  hay,  &c.; 
when  the  other  man  wants  to  sell  it.  The  land  is  kept  in 
the  highest  state  of  fertility,  for  when  his  waggons  take 
away  his  heavy  crops  of  grain  and  Potatoes  they  are  fre¬ 
quently  loaded  back  with  cake  and  artificial  manures.  Not¬ 
withstanding  that  he  uses  freely  the  best  modern  machinery 
he  is  almost  invariably  a  large  employer  of  labour,  and 
is  sometimes  handicapped  in  this  respect  for  want  of  suffi¬ 
cient  cottages  wherein  to  house  the  men  he  would  employ. 
Men  like  this  are  w’anted  in  greater  numbers  to  arrest  rural 
depopulation.  Landlords  can  do  little  by  themselves,  but 
tenants  of  this  stamp,  with  sufficient  encouragement  from 
a  good  landlord,  can  do  everything. 
Besides  the  difference  between  these  types  in  their  in¬ 
fluence  on  village  life  there  is  also  an  equally  important 
one  as  regards  their  effect  on  the  national  welfare.  The 
land  of  Great  Britain  is  too  restricted  in  area  to  afford  un¬ 
necessary  waste,  and  the  country  cannot  afford  to  tolerate 
men  of  the  occupier  type. 
Mr.  Hanbury  is  taking  a  very  personal  interest  in  his 
Department,  and  is  attending  meetings  of  Chambers  of 
Agriculture,  which  largely  consist  of  farmers  of  the  best 
class.  We  hope  that  personal  contact  with  them  will  in¬ 
fluence  and  assist  him  in  foi’warding  the  interests  of  good 
farming. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
A  severe  frost  will  not  suit  everyone,  but  from  remarks  we 
liave  heard  lately  from  a  number  of  farmers  we  fancy  that  the  ice¬ 
bound  condition  of  the  land  is  not  unwelcome  to  the  majority.  A 
good  pulverising  by  frost  action  is  necessary  tO'  put  the  soil  into 
a  fine  friable  state  after  the  soakings  which  the  surface  has  lately 
undergone  ;  roots  are  so  plentiful  as  to  threaten  a  difficulty  about 
their  consumption,  and  the  condition  of  sheep  folds  has  been  so 
bad  as  to  necessitate  temporary  removal  of  the  sheep  to  grass. 
The  Potato  trade  has  been  quite  stagnant,  and  frost  may  give 
it  new  life,  so  we  are  all  welcoming  this  wintry  weather  as  a 
blessing,  although  we  may  have  difficulty  in  finding  work  for 
men  and  horses  if  it  lasts  for  any  length  of  time.  Of  course, 
manure  leading  is  the  fir.st  resource,  and  to  make  it  spin  out  as 
long  as  pos.sible,  we  are  carting  to  one  of  our  remotest  fields. 
These  outlying  fields  are  apt  to  be  neglected  as  regards  a  fair 
distribution  of  farmyard  muck  in  favour  of  those  fields  which  lie 
more  conveniently  handy ;  but  continued  neglect  of  this  kind  will 
in  the  end  tell  a  tale,  and  the  far  away  field  must  have  its  turn 
sometimes,  although,  perforce,  not  so  frequently.  This  field 
received  an  autumn  fallowing,  and  a  crop  of  .stubble  wag  carted 
into  a  corner.  This  is  being  mixed  into  the  heap  of  manure  and 
will  be  a  useful  addition  to  its  bulk. 
The  men  have  made  good  progress  with  laying  the  big  hedges, 
and  there  are  plenty  of  strong  thorns  for  gapping  and  similar 
purposes,  so  two  one-horse  carts  are  employed  in  removing  them 
to  the  places  where  they  will  be  I'equired.  Two  horses  and  three 
men  are  busy  at  this  work,  and  as  one  horse  and  cart  are  fulh 
occupied  in  leading  Turnips  for  the  yards,  we  are  not  short  Oi 
work  at  present.  So  far.  Turnips  have  not  been  frozen  very  hard 
so  we  continue  to  use  those  which  are  still  unpied.  The  store-, 
will  be  useful  later,  perhaps. 
Ewes  must  have  some  hay  or  other  dry  food  as  long  as  sever* 
weather  lasts.  Cut  .straw  with  an  admixture  of  dried  grain 
malt  culms,  or  a  little  meal  is  a  good  substitute,  and  on  arab 
farms  there  are  often  too  many  calls  on  the  haystack.  You 
horses  running  out  must  also  have  extra  attention;  keep  th* 
out  if  possible,  but  feed  them  well. 
As  bacon  pigs  are  killed  off,  fill  up  the  sties  with  others 
once  and  keep  them  aired.  Pigs  are  often  thrown  amiss  by  bt  g 
put  into  a  sty  which  has  not  lately  been  occupied. 
