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Cornell University Library

mann
MAKING THE MOST
OF THE LAND
MAKING THE MOST
OF THE LAND

BY

JAMES LONG

AUTHOR OF
‘¢THE COMING ENGLISHMAN,” ‘THE SMALL FARM,”
‘©THE BOOK OF THE PIG,” ‘¢THE STORY OF THE FARM,” ETC,
3 y

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
Ricnarp Ciay & Sons, LimiTep,
BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E.,
AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED
TO THE
RIGHT HON. WALTER RUNCIMAN, M.P.,
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
WHOSE BRIEF TERM OF OFFICE HAS ALREADY BEEN
DISTINGUISHED BY HIS CLEAR PERCEPTION
OF THE NEEDS OF THE

AGRICULTURIST
Ricuarp Ciay & Sons, Limitep,
BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E.,
AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED
TO THE
RIGHT HON. WALTER RUNCIMAN, M.P.,
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
WHOSE BRIEF TERM OF OFFICE HAS ALREADY BEEN
DISTINGUISHED BY HIS CLEAR PERCEPTION
OF THE NEEDS OF THE

AGRICULTURIST
PREFACE

Tue time has arrived when all who. are con-
cerned with British Agriculture, whether as ex-
ponents or not, should face the present position.
The assumption that we produce the largest crops ©
of any nation in the world is no longer tenable,
as we show in the pages which follow. We are,
however, capable of producing much more than
we do. The sentimental view of Ministers of the
past that research, experiment, and demonstra-
tion are better left in the hands of the owners
and occupiers of land was but an expression
intended to hide their own incompetence or the
unwillingness of the Governments they repre-
sented to spend a shilling to enhance the
prosperity of the greatest and noblest of all
industries. Within a period: of a few years,
proposals—the importance of which we have
repeatedly urged, but which have been entirely
ignored by men who should have been the first

to legislate for their solution—have, under the
vii
viii PREFACE

present administration at the Board of Agri-
culture become established facts, and agriculture
is now in a fair way to become not only a
popular and profitable vocation but one in which
educated men may be glad to embark with the
certainty of finding scope for their money and
their ability.

The facts in this book may be briefly capitu-
lated, for they will to some extent indicate the
motive which has animated the author in its
production.

Our average yield of wheat is 31°7 bushels per
acre. We show that skilled farmers can grow
50 to 80 bushels of wheat; and indeed we
tabulate the average yield of certain crops, and
the yield which has been obtained by individual
farmers as follows :—

Average Yield Individual Yields

per acre. per acre.
Bushels, Bushels.
Wheat F ; 31°7 50 to 80
Barley , : 33°4 50 ,, 72
Oats . 5 ‘ 41°5 80 ,, 127
Tons. Tons.
Potatoes . : 60 12 to 18°5
Cwts. Cwts.
Meadow Hay . 23'8 50 to 60
Tons. Tons.
Mangels . 20 40 to 100
Swedes. ‘ 13% 25 55 30

Crops of less importance grown by leading
farmers bear a similar relationship to the average
PREFACE ix

yields. These figures not only imply that any
marked general increase would add enormously
to the wealth of the nation, and in consequence
to the comfort and happiness of millions of the
working-classes, but that there are large numbers
of farmers whose productive power is so small—
of necessity much below the average—that they
can barely obtain the simplest comforts of life.
We show, too, that by the acquisition of
knowledge and—what should naturally follow—
better cultivation, our capacity to feed more live-
stock would be immensely increased, and this at
a time when our flocks and herds are smaller in
proportion to our population than perhaps at
any other time in our history. This portion of
our argument is concentrated in our reference to
the many millions of acres of rough grazing
land which potentially represent the wealth of a
new nation. This land, worth no more than
half-a-crown an acre to rent, is capable of such
improvement that were it taken in hand at once
and treated as a few splendid men known to the
writer personally and by correspondence have
‘treated it, it should in ten years quadruple in
value. That so stupendous an area, unkempt
and uncultivated,—but now known to be so
amenable to cultivation that in extensive example.
x PREFACE

experiments it has increased in value from four
to six fold—should secure less attention than
the sands of the shore is inexcusable; yet we
look to the Minister of Agriculture to initiate
what we predict will be the greatest work ever
accomplished in connection with the land—the
reclamation of most of sixteen million wasted
acres. I cannot too strongly emphasise the fact
that artificial manures, including the new mem-
bers of the nitrogenous group, Nitrolim and
Nitrate of Lime, are used to much too small an
extent in British farming, and that with few
exceptions the best crops in the country are
grown by their aid. It may be a commonplace
truth, but to the mind of the writer there is
nothing in romance or ancient story more thril-
ling than the fact that by the employment of
artificial fertilisers in one case, or of a new
selection of plants in another, man is now able
to clothe the almost barren, if everlasting, hills
with rich verdure and almost as by the touch
of a wand to convert them into gold.

I have referred to the fact that farmers seldom
or never receive any recognition whatever of
their services to Agriculture, however meritori-
ous. It is true that honours have been bestowed
upon Englishmen in the name of Agriculture,
PREFACE xi

but I am unable to remember one instance in
which they were justified on this score. They
do these things better in France, where a simple
Order of Merit satisfies simple men. With us
farmers who have done great things are ignored,
while the politician is recognised.

I owe my best thanks to the Board of Agri-
culture for supplying me with important facts, to
Mr. R. H. Elliot, Mr. W. A. Cox, to Mr. James
Hunter of Chester, Professor Sheldon, Professor
Nuttall, to my son Mr. Harold Long, B.Sc., of
the Board of Agriculture, and to the officials
of agricultural colleges and tenant farmers too
numerous to mention, for information supplied.

James Lona.
CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

ARE WE SUPREME IN AGRICULTURE? . ‘ 5 I
CHAPTER II

WHAT WE PRODUCE . 3 j : ‘ £ 28

CHAPTER III

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH THE LAND . . 53

CHAPTER IV

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH OUR STOCK . + 122
CHAPTER V

THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS . . . + 147
CHAPTER VI

MAKING THE MOST OF OUR STOCK . . + 1973

CHAPTER VII

INCREASING THE RETURNS FROM A SMALL HERD
OF cows. : ; : ‘ 3 . 184
xiii
CONTENTS

CHAPTER VIII

WHAT A SMALL OCCUPIER CAN DO WITH LAND

THE RECLAMATION OF OUR WASTE LAND

CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER X

LANDLORDS AND THE LAND .

CHAPTER XI

SMALL OWNERSHIPS ¥ . .

CHAPTER XII

BUYING OR RENTING LAND.

THE HOUSING
LABOURERS

CHAPTER XIII

OF SMALL FARMERS

CHAPTER XIV

THE UNSUCCESSFUL FARMER

CHAPTER XV

AND

THE RATING OF LAND AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ITS

CULTIVATION

PAGE

197

2ii

236

244

250

256

263
CHAPTER I
ARE WE SUPREME IN AGRICULTURE?

THE almost universal belief of the British
agriculturist—under which term we designate
both landlord and tenant—that British agri-
culture holds the supremacy of the world is
erroneous and misplaced. Those who have
travelled in other countries and made them-
selves acquainted with the achievements of the
farmers who inhabit them can testify to the truth
of this assertion. This country long since
acquired a reputation—and a reputation which
was thoroughly deserved—for the superior char-
acter of the stock which it produced, and which
it continues to produce. It has supplied the
world with horses, cattle, sheep and pigs—all,
be it remembered, the very best of their several
kinds—and, much as we lament our backward-
ness in other directions, we cannot doubt
the fact that they have been unequalled by
the produce of any other country. We have

had the advantage of attending agricultural
B
2 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

exhibitions in various Continental cities, in
Canada and the United States, but in no case
have we found a single variety of the live-stock
of the farm which approaches the standard of
perfection reached in the British Isles. The
British farmer excels as a breeder of stock, and
his practice has been closely followed wherever
farming flourishes, but, if we except the United
States, with only approximate success.

In spite of the fact that our live-stock of each
class is divided into numerous breeds, each
materially differing in type, almost every breed
is approximately. perfect; but what is the result
in this, our chief department of production, as
compared with that in other countries? Denmark
supplies us with a stupendous quantity of butter
which we decline to manufacture in larger
quantities for ourselves; she buys our swine and
sends us bacon in return; she maintains a large
and prosperous agricultural population, the
poorest among which, the labourers, occupy
houses—sometimes with land attached—which
are their own. Yet Denmark has done, and is
still doing, her great work with a type of cattle
which a British farmer would refuse, so inferior
is it to his own. France, which stands at the
head of the dairy industry in other Continental
ARE WE SUPREME ? 3

countries, notoriously reaps enormous profits
for her produce, which is to a large extent
unique. In no country is finer butter made, nor
so large a variety of tasty cheese; but even
France fails with her live-stock. The important
breeds of horses, cattle, and sheep can be
numbered on the fingers of one hand, while
the pigs of the country we British scarcely
regard as pure varieties. Grouping the remain-
ing European countries, we are unable to recog-
nise more than two breeds of cattle which are
worthy of the name—those bred in Holland and
Switzerland—but neither sheep nor swine.

In America the live-stock as a whole is chiefly
derived from Great Britain. Taking, then, a
general purview of the live-stock of the world,
we arrive at the conclusion that we are an easy
first in the race against Europe and America
combined. This is no empty boast; it is simply
a statement of fact—a natural compliment to
British farmers, who have been so far un-
approached in this direction. We shall, how-
ever, have too much to say with regard to our
purely agricultural but historical deficiencies to
leave room for self-congratulation.

We have noticed on many occasions that
British agriculture has acquired a reputation
6 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

is larger than that of our greater neighbours
is thus easily explained, for the rule is that the
larger the area sown, the smaller the average
yield. It is partly for this reason that our
average of 31% bushels is beaten by Belgium
with 35°8 bushels, by Holland with 344 bushels,
by Switzerland with 334 bushels, and by
Denmark, which produced 42 bushels in the
last year recorded (1907). The much smaller
yield in most other European countries is owing
to the extensive area under cultivation. Thus,
in France wheat covers 16 million acres, in Italy
11 million, in European Russia 47 million, in
Spain 9 million, and in Austria-Hungary 12
million acres. Germany, however, with an
average of 42 million acres under cultivation,
comes very close to us with an average yield
of 29% bushels to the acre. When it is pointed
out that the British area covers only 1,925,369
acres, it will be recognised by those who desire
to be impartial that, so far from our boasting of
our wheat crop being justified, our position,
even in this one department of the farm—the
department in which we pride ourselves so
much—is entirely unworthy of our reputation.
In 1911, a year of almost unparalleled drought,
Lord Rosebery produced 80 bushels of wheat to
ARE WE SUPREME ? 7

the acre, and if our wheat land were farmed as
it will be when farmers have obtained a greater
grip of possibilities, there is no reason why this
figure should not be frequently reached.

Again, we are content with an average yield
of 33°3 bushels of barley and 41°5 bushels of
oats, but the smallest of our neighbours, all
notoriously successful on the land—I refer to
Belgium, Holland and Denmark—are able to
produce higher averages than these. The yield
of barley in Denmark, according to the latest
figures available (1907), was 40°9 bushels; the
average in Belgium is 49°: bushels, and in
Holland 48°3 bushels; Germany, however,
averages 34°7 bushels. Denmark produced 43
bushels of oats, Belgium an average of 56
bushels, Holland 53°8 bushels, Switzerland 54°3
bushels, and Germany 43'8 bushels, although
her area averages 10% million acres against
4,124,000 in the United Kingdom.

The Agricultural Returns provide us with
the details of three other crops—potatoes,
meadow hay, and clover hay—which enable us
to make a still further comparison. The potato
area in 1912 was 612,670 acres, and our average
yield 6°0 tons per acre; the Belgian average is
6°17 tons; the Dutch average is 5°77 tons; while
8 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

the German average, extending over 8,167,000
acres, is 5°54 tons. It has long been the custom
of many Englishmen to treat agriculture in
Germany with contempt, but if her oat and
potato crops alone were regarded as a standard
of the capacity of her farmers we should be
compelled to take the second place. Of six of
the leading crops, however, which are grown
upon British farms, Germany takes precedence
of ourselves in four—oats, barley, clover hay and
meadow hay—while her yield of wheat is
approximately close, and of potatoes superior
to our own, if we compare it with the yield of
the United Kingdom. The importance of these
facts, however, lies less in the nearness of the
yield than in the wide difference in the area,
thus :—

 

 

 

 

ENGLAND AND

WALES, 1912. GERMANY.
ro Years’ Average

Average Yield
Crops. Quarters.} Acres, (1902-11) Acres, (per acre)
Bushels. Bushels.

Wheat . . . . | 6,680,347 | 1,863,314 31°71 4,607,000 29°7
Barley . . ~ - | 5;542:405 | 1,456,522 33°40 4,977,000 34°7
Oats. . « ~ « | 9,245,690 | 2,072,479 41°59 10,554,000 43°8
e+ Tons. Tons. Tons. -
Potatoes . . . | 2,241,039] 462,903 6°03 8,167,000 5°5
Cwts. Cwts.

Meadow Hay. . | 6,094,432 | 4,941,534 | 23°83 13,456,000 36°0
Clover Hay . . | 2,031,052} 1,554,909 29°61 5,142,000 44°0

 

 

 

 
ARE WE SUPREME ? 9

The area covered by these crops alone is thus
nearly four times as large as that cropped in
Great Britain. No greater testimony can be
paid to the progress of agriculture in Germany,
where the application of science has accom-
plished so much. We may, indeed, go further
than this and add, that we are indebted as much,
and in some respects more, to Germany for
scientific knowledge than to our own institu-
tions. Some of the ablest of our agricultural
authorities were partially educated in Germany,
where experimental work has provided the whole
world with facts which have no equal in their
importance, if we except the work of Lawes and
Gilbert at Rothamsted.

For thirty years we have kept ourselves
au courant with the best work in both practical
and scientific farming. It has been our métier
to go often to see it for ourselves, and thus we
may claim some knowledge of the results which
have been achieved. Alas! how infinitely little
is our knowledge after all. How prodigious is
our ignorance as compared with what we know;
and yet it is possible to make comparisons with
the work of other countries whose progress we
should not envy but proclaim. The writer has
on so many occasions derived infinite pleasure
10 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

in obtaining facts abroad which were unobtain-
able at home, that he strongly recommends those
who have the means and time to travel where
they can learn something at first hand. We are
less insular than we were; there is no longer
the inclination to ridicule the man who goes
to Denmark to equip himself with facts, or to
Germany for education. The pride of British
practice was a characteristic of our people in
earlier days. Thus, on our return from a tour
of exploration in Denmark about 1883—-when we
were favoured with credentials which ensured
us the assistance of the leaders of the dairy
farming industry—our addresses and the reports
which were published in the press were regarded
by some, who should have been the first to
recognise the danger ahead of us, as quite
extravagant. The bare possibility of a little
Scandinavian country being able to compete
successfully with the mighty British agriculturist
was promptly ridiculed; and yet we were able
to learn from these people facts which were
entirely unknown at home. It was not until
attention was repeatedly directed to the growing
Danish exports that something was suspected,
and then the revelations we had made were
endorsed by other Englishmen, who went to
ARE WE SUPREME ? ll

Denmark silently to learn the truth. The facts
are now realised that Denmark is unassailable,
and her position in our butter market has been
strengthened by her equally strong position in
her trade with eggs and bacon—which are equal
to our best.

How is it possible to suppose that British
farmers can compete successfully with Denmark
in the production of these important articles of
food unless they proceed upon similarly effective
lines? The Danish farmer is a contributor to
a creamery, his milk being the raw material
from which his butter and, in part, his bacon
are produced. The creamery and bacon factory
work in unison and realise a maximum profit
at a minimum cost. In England there is no
such combination; the farmer makes his butter
on his farm, the result being that if a hundred
lots are sent to market the consumer is con-
fronted with a hundred brands. Instead, too,
of the bacon factory conducted on co-operative
lines, our farmers sell their pigs to curers, with
the result that, while they obtain a lower price
for the raw material—_the pig—they pay a
higher price for the finished article for their
breakfast-table.

What applies to the produce of the Danish
12 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

farm applies equally to the .various kinds of
produce which we import from other countries.
Thus we import large quantities of butter from
Russia, France, Sweden, Holland, Argentina,
and our colonies; cheese from France, Holland,
Italy, Switzerland, the United States, and
Canada; milk from France and the Netherlands;
and eggs from the entire Continent.

It may be truly said that British farming was
under a cloud until the amended Agricultural
Holdings Act was passed in 1906, supplemented
by the Development Grant in 1911. There
should be no political party in agriculture, but
unhappily party politics have prevailed, and
farmers themselves have contributed to a larger
extent than any other class of the community
to the maintenance in office of that party which
has for generations opposed all those forms of
progressive legislation which contribute to bring
the toe of the tenant too near the heel of the
landlord. Recognising the imperative demands
of agriculturists for an amendment of the Act of
1875, this party passed the Bills of 1883 and
1900, from which they had already shorn the
most essential clauses—those which practically
conferred freedom on the tenant of the land—
thus reserving to their successors the oppor-
ARE WE SUPREME? 18

tunity which they had chosen to ignore. To-day
the amended Act, passed by a Government
whose interest in agriculture has never been
acknowledged by the great Agricultural
Societies, is recognised by men of all classes
as a wise and just measure of reform which,
with slight modifications, one of which is prac-
tically promised—we refer to the question of
Disturbance—will settle the difficulties which
have so long existed between landlord and
tenant for a generation and ensure the better
cultivation of the land.

Success in agriculture depends very largely
upon the farmer’s skill in breeding and feeding
stock. We have seen that among other agri-
cultural produce we import stupendous quan-
tities of butter, cheese, bacon and eggs. Let us
endeavour to ascertain the reason why this prac-
tice is maintained. A very large proportion of
the milk produced in this country is sold for
consumption in its natural state, the balance
being converted into butter, cheese, and con-
densed milk. The great majority of our dairy
farmers find milk-selling a constantly growing
industry, less troublesome and more profitable
than the manufacture of butter or cheese of
average quality, the production of which is
14 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

surely, if slowly, being abandoned in most parts
of England. Not only do we find it necessary
to import increasing quantities of butter and
cheese—the value of which was 36 millions
sterling in 1910 against 194 millions in 1890
and 284 millions in 1900—but from time to time
milk itself is raised to famine prices owing to
its scarcity. In spite of this fact, however, and
of the great market at our doors, we fail to
maintain the number of our cows, which for
the past seven years have practically remained
stationary, but which have never been sufficient
for our needs. This deficiency is chiefly owing
to the insignificant number of small holdings.
Let us place the figures which relate to this and
other countries side by side :—

NUMBER OF COWS AWD HEIFERS IN GREAT BRITAIN
COMPARED WITH THE NUMBER OF COWS IN OTHER
COUNTRIES (‘‘ 000” omitted)

 

 

 

 

1904. 19gII. Population.
Great Britain. . . . 2,678 2,82. 330
Denmark . .. . (1903) 1,089} (1909) ae Pee
France . . « - ~ |(1895) 6,359] (1909) 7,538 | 39,276
Germany . . . +. 10,456 | (1907) 10,966 | 64,926
Holland. ap eas 973 1,068 5,911
Sweden. - . ..- - {(1905) 1,763] (1909) 1,847 5,476

 

Thus we see that although our population is
nearly seventeen times larger than that of
ARE WE SUPREME ? 15

Denmark, we own approximately only twice as
many cows. Let us compare each country in
another way. While we own one cow or heifer
—these being combined in our Returns—per
16 persons, Denmark owns one cow per 2°!
persons, France one per 5 persons, Germany one
per 5°9 persons, Holland one per §°5 persons,
and Sweden one per 2°9 persons. Such is the
result of a division of the land among a larger
number of the poorer members of the rural
population.

The number of cows owned by farmers is an
index to the prosperity of agriculture, but we
cannot claim that the humbler members of our
rural population share in that prosperity, nor
that this is equal to what it will be when they
obtain a stronger hold upon the land, which, as
we can testify, supplies so many of the small-
holders of the Continent with a great portion of
the food. The British farmer, with his cautious
yet hospitable character, lives entirely on
different lines. Where those before him pro-
vided their tables with food which was chiefly
grown upon the farm, he is quite contented with
bread made from imported wheat, with Danish
butter, Australian cheese, French or Russian
eggs, New Zealand mutton, Danish bacon, and
16 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

imported food-stuffs for his stock. This is not
as it should be, and with the advent of the small-
holdings system we shall ultimately find the
table furnished with the produce of the land in
the occupation of each man. If it be not so,
the system will have failed. That the farmers
of Great Britain should be fed by the farmers
of other countries is an untenable position,
however sad the facts.

We come, however, to another department of
the farm in which we are still further behind
our neighbours than with cows; we refer to the
pig, than which an increase in no class of stock
is more desirable in a country in which pig-meat
is so constantly consumed and so largely
imported from abroad. We have shown that
our breeds of swine are unequalled, and that
they have been appropriated by the best bacon-
curers of the Continent for the production of
meat for our consumption. With such material
at our command, with a market at our doors
which absorbs 54 million hundredweights of
imported pig-meat every year, of which nearly
half arrives from Denmark, it appears to us to be
a blot upon our agricultural escutcheon that we
fail so egregiously to retain this business for

ourselves.
ARE WE SUPREME? 17

Is it possible to believe that a small country
like Denmark can produce so large a quantity
of pig-meat for exportation and that we, with
nearly seven times the area under crop, plus
many millions of acres of mountain and heath
land, much of which is awaiting reclamation, are
unable to produce sufficient for ourselves? Our
pig population is unworthy of the country,
and has failed to reach three million head in
Great Britain during the last thirty years.
The number of pigs in England in 1911 was
2,414,000, in Ireland 1,428,000, and in Scotland
only 171,000, or less than the number in York-
shire; and yet there is no domestic animal which
is more prolific or better adapted to the require-
ments of the farmer and his men. Let us, how-
ever, make a comparison in order to exhibit our
deficiency as compared with other countries :—

NUMBER OF PIGS IN THE LAST RECORDED YEAR

 

 

Total. Head eae
Great Britain(1911) . . - . 2,822,154 14°4
United Kingdom. . . . . » 4,250,013 10°6
Scotland . . 1. s+ 2s 171,115 28'0
Denmark . ... + +s. 1,467,822 18
Belgium. . . * ee ee 1,116,500 66
Holland. . - . 2. + es > 1,259,844 4°7
France . . 2s e+ ee ee 7,305,850 53
Germany. . . - - + + + «| 22,146,000 2°9

 

c
18 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

Nothing can be cleafer than that the cause of
our vast expenditure on bacon and hams lies
in the fact that our pig population is too small.
That the larger number of pigs kept in Contt-
nental countries is chiefly owing to the system
of small farming, we cannot doubt. A Danish
farmer owning 50 acres breeds a larger number
of pigs than an average British farmer in
occupation of 200 acres, and the fact applies,
if in less degree, to the farmers of the other
countries referred to in the table.

The prosperity of British agriculture may be
increased in directions other than those to which
we have referred. It has been decided by
Parliament that the cultivation of the soil shall
not be confined to a single class. It is of greater
importance to the community and more bene-
ficial to the individual with small means—assum-
ing that he is disposed to work—that he should
be placed on the soil than that men with
capital should occupy large farms. The soil is
not only the source of food and of all the posses-
sions of the race, but it is the source of health,
and of the thew and sinew of the perfect man.
To deny it to the millions who are crowded in
factories, warehouses and business premises of
great cities is to court national disaster by
ARE WE SUPREME ? 19

reducing the birth-rate and by increasing the
number of hospitals, asylums and prisons, and,
worst of all, the death-rate and the suffering of
humanity. With regard to results of a more
mundane character, it may be fearlessly asserted
that our system of land tenure with its corollary
—large farms—is at the very root of our trouble,
for our prodigious expenditure in the produce
of foreign soil constitutes it a failure of the most
unfortunate type. While admitting that we
cannot grow all the food that we require for a
congested population, we shall show that our
production of milk, cheese, butter, pig-meat,
corn and other crops is smal! by comparison
with what it should be, and what it really is on
farms which are occupied -by brainy men.

We are great breeders of horses of various
types, but until the passing of the Development
Act not a shilling had been granted by the
Government of the country for the improvement
of those varieties which are bred upon the farm.
The grants which have been made by the Royal
Commission on Horse Breeding for a long
series of years have been restricted to the
employment of thoroughbred sires without any
very tangible result. It is now recognised that
these grants have failed to meet the farmers’
20 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

requirements, and in future sires of the Shire,
Clydesdale and Suffolk will be supplied for their
use. Farmers, however, breed hackneys, ponies,
coach and carriage horses, and sires are needed
in each case.

We have pointed out for twenty years that
our cow stock is not only ridiculously small, but
that the yield and quality of the milk supplied is
capable of great expansion and improvement. A
committee of the British Dairy Farmers’ Associa-
tion was appointed at the instigation of the writer
about 1885, with the object of establishing a
Milking Herd Book or a Recording Society,
but owing to the apathy of all concerned it was
dissolved, and the clock was in consequence put
back a quarter of a century. Now, however, that
Denmark has established five hundred such
societies, and that Scotland is following in her
wake, the attention of the authorities has been
drawn to the importance of the subject. Suc-
cessive Ministers of Agriculture have ignored
questions of this character, upon which so much
depends, and have been content with forms of
legislation which are of minor importance. The
time has arrived, however, when efforts must be
made to increase the number of our cows, their
yield, and the quality of their milk; but so long
: ARE WE SUPREME ? 21

as the policy of a Minister is confined to the
expression of pious opinions and friendly sug-
gestions such as are frequently made at agri-
cultural dinners, so long shall we lag behind
and watch with feigned amazement the gradual
increase of our imports.

We have keenly observed the work of suc-
cessive Ministers of Agriculture, with most of
whom we have come into contact; but while
expressing full appreciation of the sympathy of
the Man, it is in most cases impossible to acquit
the Minister of deficiency in that practical know-
ledge which would have induced him to recog-
nise the many defects in the system which he
was appointed to improve. That most promis-
ing Minister, Mr. Hanbury, was unhappily cut
off soon after his succession to office. What
course did Mr. Hanbury take when he went to
Whitehall? A simple and sensible one. He
wrote privately, and with his own hand, to a
number of leading agricultural spirits, asking
for suggestions and help to enable him to do
all that lay in his power for the farming com-
munity. No man reached the farmer’s heart so
quickly. Lord Onslow, too, whose death no one
deplores more than ourselves—for we spent
many happy hours with him in his room at the
22 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

House of Lords—held similar views, and was
prepared to go far had the exigencies of party
government permitted him, but unhappily he
left us just as he had grasped the situation and
was prepared to go ahead. Lord Carrington
was master of the subject of Small Holdings,
which was practically his hobby, but while in
his half-genial, half-aristocratic way he was “at
home to farmers” during. a few hours of the
Smithfield week, he made no effort to assist in
the solution of the problems of the hour, owing,
possibly, to the wear and tear of Anno Domini.
{n discussing the agricultural position with Lord
Carrington in December 1910, we specially
urged the importance of the Milk Recording
system, which his successor has fortunately |
recognised.

Mr. Runciman is a younger and business
man, and from him we have great expectations.
Such a man will take stock of the nation so
far as his own department is concerned. He
will, we believe, consider how to improve our
national breed of horses, the number and quality
of our cows, the commercial value of our sheep
and swine—and how the latter may do better
service on the breakfast-table—and the improve-
ment of our poultry and egg supply. Stock,
ARE WE SUPREME ? 23

however, important as it is, must be supple-
mented by larger crops; and here, too, the Min-
ister will find ample room for his acknowledged
capacity. Not only do we need improvement in
our methods of production, but of securing what
we grow. Our cultivated area needs expansion ;
broad acres still employed as sheep-runs or
utilised for sport must be reclaimed. Sandy,
moor, and peat land all respond to kindly treat-
ment, and to the ingenuity and skill of man.
What has been achieved in Germany, | in
Denmark, and the United States by perseverance
can be achieved by us, although we have no
instance on record which can be compared with
the conversion of sands in Germany and the
arid wastes of Montana and Nevada into fertile
and productive soils.

No prophet is needed to convince experienced
men that our live-stock could be doubled in
number and their quality commensurately im-
proved, or that our crops might be increased by
one-half. What is done by a few can be accom-
plished by all where the conditions are equally
balanced, and there are British farmers who
accomplish great things, while others achieve
nothing at all. There are various causes of
failure, the chief of which, we repeat, is the
24 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

excessive size of our farms. Not until farmers
‘are contented with fewer acres will they be able
to do better work.

The man who has sufficient capital to farm
a hundred acres is content with nothing less
than three hundred, with the result that he
cannot farm up to the hilt. His stock is
insufficient, while his tools are too ancient in
construction to enable him to be early with
sowing and harvesting; he is unable to obtain
the best seed that is grown, or to buy a sufficient
quantity of manures and feeding-stuffs, and in
consequence he fails in all departments. The
man, however, who is contented with a smaller
farm, and whose capital is in consequence
sufficient to enable him to obtain the best stock
to be found, to purchase the most perfect imple-
ments and the finest seed, and to be liberal and
judicious in his employment of food-stuffs and
manures, almost invariably succeeds. Success,
indeed, can be commanded in no other way.

These facts remind us of a form of stimulant
which is provided in France, where the develop-
ment of agriculture by Government aid is as
old as the hills—a point which we have totally
ignored. The great agricultural shows, which
are peripatetic and which are supported by the
ARE WE SUPREME ? 25

Government, confer honour upon those farmers
who have made their mark in any direction which
is connected with the breeding of stock, the
production of crops, or the improvement of the
soil. In the eourse of a few minutes we could
prepare a list of a hundred famous British land-
owners, farmers, seedsmen, and manufacturers
of implements and manures who have done
yeoman service in the cause of agriculture, not
one of whom has been officially recognised.
These men do not seek honour, but they deserve
it. Of late years, it is true, honours have been
frequently distributed in the name of agriculture,
but few of the recipients have contributed to the
solution of a single agricultural problem. A
mere breeder of stock and grower of crops, how-
ever superlative his work, is, in the eyes of the
Executive, but a hewer of wood and a drawer
of water unless he is also a politician. If for
no other reason than that the farmer so seldom
obtains official recognition, he might be encour-
aged with a decoration similar to the Mérite
Agricole of France, where his work is marked
by great capacity and where he has done good
service to the State.

Although we have touched upon the salient
points of our subject, there are others to which
26 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

full reference will be made. In order to make
the most of the land it is essential to ensure the
comfort of those who are engaged in its cultiva-
tion, and to keep them in touch with the markets
of the world by the aid of the telephone, which
we described in the Manchester Guardian as an
all-important instrument on the farm so long ago
as 1905. Farm labourers need good homes, with
ample gardens, credit banks, and other means
of helping them to obtain a cow or a pig.
Co-operative societies are a necessity of the time,
but the chief desideratum is the “Man.” Agri-
culture seeks a great personality who is a leader
not only acquainted with all that farmers need,
but endowed with the ability to express his
opinions with the power which is supplied
with inspiration. There is no class within our
seething population which has failed so igno-
miniously to produce the man they want as
British farmers. We have been almost con-
tinuously represented by failures, whether as
Ministers of Agriculture or as organisations
which are maintained in the agricultural interest.
Agriculture has been practically unrepresented
in Parliament for a generation.

There are ample means at our command for
obtaining facts—not only in the agricultural
ARE WE SUPREME ? 27

press and in modern text-books and encyclo-
peedias, but through the medium of our educa-
tional institutions. The children of the rural
classes, however, are, if that is possible, less
well instructed in all that pertains to country
life than the children in the towns. When their
education has been completed and they go to
work upon the farm, their knowledge of all that
pertains to it—the soil, the plants that grow in
the fields, the trees, birds and insects, the atmo-
sphere, the live-stock of the farm—all are closed
books to them, and if they are intelligent they
commence their real education without the
advantage of the slightest knowledge of
elementary facts. Nor can we boast of our
scientific work when we measure it with that
of Germany or the United States, while our
own dominion, Canada—as we can testify from
actual comparison—can show us example and
experimental farms which are far beyond our
hopes. It is quite possible that the present
Minister may alter all this and produce order
out of chaos, but until we are able to follow
the example of the United States and appoint a
permanent head of the Board of Agriculture we
cannot hope for continuous progress,
CHAPTER II
WHAT WE PRODUCE

Ir is important in discussing the value of
land to know all that can be known with regard
to its productive power, and of the total value
of the food which is consumed by the people in
these islands. The steady increase in our popu-
lation, and the stationary area of cultivated
land, involve continually increasing imports
from our colonies and from foreign countries.
According to the report of the Board of Agri-
culture, which was made in connection with the
Census of Production Act of 1906, the number
of agricultural holdings in Great Britain in 1908
was 508,629. Of these, 108,094 were between
I acre and 5 acres in extent, 231,819 were
between 5 and 50 acres, while 17,714 exceeded
300 acres in area.

The total value of the farm crops grown upon
this land, calculated at market prices, was placed
at 125 millions, of which £46,600,000 represents

the portion which was actually sold.
28
WHAT WE PRODUCE 29

If to this we add the value of the live-stock
sold, the wool, the dairy produce, poultry, fruit,
flowers, and the timber, we get a grand total of
£4 150,800,000.

That portion of the agricultural crops as
between what was produced and what was sold,
except for a comparatively small proportion
which was consumed in the homes of the farmers
themselves, was consumed by stock or employed
in feeding the land. These figures are the result
of careful estimates made by the Board of
Agriculture, but it should be pointed out that
although they are based on data which are by
no means precise, they may in most cases be
regarded as approximately correct.

If to the total sum already mentioned we add
the value of the total imports of agricultural
produce for the year, after deducting the exports,
we arrive at a grand total of £329,149,000, which
represents the value of those foods which, being
such as are produced in this country, were at
the disposal of the consumer in the year 1908.

The area of land in Great Britain which was
responsible for the crops grown in 1908 reached
475795323 acres, including 122 million acres of
mountain and heath land used for grazing and
2 million acres of woodland. Thus we arrive
30 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

at the value of the produce per acre, which
amounted to only £3 3s. 1d. Mr. Rew, the
Statistician of the Board of Agriculture, esti-
mates the value of the output of the woodlands
at 6s. per acre, and of the mountain grazings at
Ios. to 12s. per acre, which, we may at once point
out, is too high. If, therefore, we deduct from
the total area the wood and mountain lands, we
have remaining some 32 million acres of culti-
vated land which, according to Mr. Rew’s
estimate, returned an average of nearly £4 Ios.
per acre. Such is the pith and marrow of the
report, which should once and for ever prohibit
further expressions of pride at the magnitude of
our British crops.

Let us, however, make further reference to
these figures. We have seen that, according to
the official estimate, the average value of the
gross output—i.e. of the total produce of the
cultivated land of Great Britain—is only £4 tos.
per acre—an incredibly small sum. On such a
basis a farmer occupying 200 acres of land
obtains an average gross return of only £900.
Assuming that a farm of this size includes 40
acres of grass, and that of the arable land one-
half is under corn, producing an average yield
of wheat and oats, the returns from these crops
WHAT WE PRODUCE 31

alone should reach £550, leaving 80 acres for
roots, potatoes, clover and forage crops in addi-
tion to the pasture and meadow land. A farmer
who grows 10 acres of potatoes and 10 acres
of clover for sale as hay should add £170
to this sum, still leaving 100 acres for the
production of food for his stock. Whether this
food is chiefly used in the production of milk,
mutton, beef, or young cattle for sale for the
dairy matters little; it should return £7 an acre
at least. Most farmers breed or feed pigs and
poultry, and are able to realise tangible profits
from these sources, although, as we have shown,
pigs are not bred to the extent that they
should be. :

That our cultivated land is not made the most
of is too true, but our failure to do better is not
as deplorable as the official estimate suggests,
although it is probably sufficient to account for
the action of the Government in making the
Development Grant. A farmer of 200 acres
paying a rental of £1 an acre, £40 for rates
and taxes, and £300 in wages is not left with a
superfluity of income when he has paid for his
manures, seeds and feeding-stuffs, his black-
smith’s and harness maker’s bills, the wear and
tear of his horses and implements, and the multi-
82 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

tude of items the cost of which those alone are
able to realise who have been tenants of land.

We are quite unable to accept this official
estimate, believing it to be under the mark, just
as we are unable to believe that our rough
grazing lands return Ios. to 12s. an acre.
Whether we base an estimate on our corn, root
or grass crops we arrive at the same conclusion.
Four quarters of wheat at a minimum price of
30s. plus the straw, produces £7 to £8 an acre;
for, whether sold or consumed, straw possesses
a very definite value. Four quarters of barley
at an average of 25s., or five quarters of oats at
18s., plus the straw in each case, would return
46 to £6 tos. an acre. An average yield of
meadow hay. of 25 cwt. at 7os., with the sub-
sequent grazing, returns £5 an acre, clover and
seeds probably realising £7 ios. to S10.

In the official estimate turnips and swedes are
valued at £1 a ton. As our average yield is
134 tons to the acre, the return from this source,
based on this figure, would, if the estimated
value is correct, be greater still—a remark which
also applies to mangels, which average 193 tons
to the acre, and which are estimated at 16s. a
ton, although their actual value is greater than
that of the swede. Potatoes, which average 6
WHAT WE PRODUCE 33

tons, and which are officially valued at 50s. a
ton, also show a large increase on the estimate,
which, we carefully note, is based upon the
results of inquiries, and that the values are
described as “largely hypothetical.” When,
however, the turnip is valued at £1, straw at
36s., and hay from clover and seeds at 75s. a ton,
we are bound to notice that the figures, obtained
from public sources as they are, as applied to
official estimates of the yield of our crops are
contradictions of the estimated value of an acre
of produce grown upon cultivated land.

There is another phase of this question which
should be noticed. If £4 tos. represents the
average value of the gross output per acre it is
evident that there are farmers whose returns are
represented by a considerably smaller sum, and
who in consequence are losing money. As there
are others—and we should be glad if there were
more—who realise from £48 to £10 an acre, it
is obvious that, if we regard the latter as the
maximum, the minimum may be as low as 30s.,
which we are quite prepared to believe, for there
are farmers—and we have met such men—whose
limited capacity and intelligence unfits them for
the command of a farm.

One of the chief causes of the limited means
D
34 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

of farmers is found in the almost entire absence
of co-operation. Apart from the fact that by
the adoption of this system large sums are saved
in the purchase of the requirements of the farm,
and that sales are often effected with much better
results than without it, it is important to notice
that the price of produce of all varieties differs
widely and almost systematically in our pro-
vincial markets. Thus, comparing the prices
current in the markets quoted in the weekly
return issued by the Board of Agriculture for a
week in December 1912, we find that the highest
and lowest figures were as follows :—

 

 

 

 

Highest price. Lowest price.
Shorthorn cows in milk. . . . |. £26 £22 10s.
54 », fat, perstone. . Qs. 9a. 7s. Tod,
5 Scotland . . . 431 423 los.
Sheep (Downs) per Ib. . . . . od. od.
Beef (English) cwt. . . . . - 60s. 8d. 51s. 4a.
Mutton ,, Sopa Gene ee, SS 72s. 4a. 65s.
5, (Scotch) ,, . . ... 775. 72s. 4d.
Pork (British) . . oe 88s. 8a. 66s.
Butter, Dairy Fresh, per fh... Is. i Is. 3a.
Eggs (dozen) . . 2 e Is. 3a.
Cheese (Cheddar). . og ae, 70s.
Wheat (per bushel of 60 Ibs. Nar. 325. 2d. 26s. 6a.
Barley (,, ” 2505 )+ -» 335. 52. 235. 11d.
Oats: Cys 59: 99199 5p ie 225. 2d. 16s. 52.
Potatoes, (Dates)Ton . . . . 100s. 70s.
Hay (Clover) gi) ode eyes 1305. 82s. 6a.
>» (Meadow) San ae Sal ae te IIgs, 80s,
Straw (Wheat) i te ol ws 805. 50s.
», (Oat) ai: le) see id 80s, 46s. 6d.
Milk (gallon) . . 2... Is. ofa.

 
WHAT WE PRODUCE 35

The facts demonstrated by the above figures
are curiously consistent with our whole system,
or want of system, and they show at least why
it is that organisation is needed. We require
not only a national system of co-operation, but
of transit. The traders of our large cities cover
an area of fifty to sixty miles’ radius with their
motor vans, delivering goods at the doors of
their customers within a few hours of the receipt
of their orders. Agriculturists, however, have
not even conceived the idea of combining for
this or a similar purpose.

At Carlisle the price of straw was 46s. 6d. at
the same time that it was 80s. in Darlington.
When eggs were Is. 3d. at Taunton they were
Is. 9d. at Bristol. Pork was 66s. at Glasgow
and, simultaneously, 88s. 8d. at Birmingham;
while barley was 23s. 11d. in London at the
time that Bristol and Chelmsford farmers were
obtaining 30s. 6d. and sellers at Doncaster,
Shrewsbury and Nottingham 32s. 2d. to 33s. 5d.
as average prices.

Thus, there is much to be done, but if we may
judge by the limited progress of the past ten
years, we see no probability of the initiative
coming from the farmers themselves. We
agriculturists are apparently not built to
36 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

construct; the work must therefore be done by
the Government if it is to be accomplished
at all.

We have shown in another chapter that
Germany, in addition to smaller countries, is
already eclipsing us in the average yield per
acre of the chief products of the farm. Without
making any attempt to maintain the position
which we have held for so long as the leading
farmers of the world, we have quite enough to
do to ascertain the cause of these ridiculously
low returns. When, some years ago, it was
remarked by Prince Kropotkin that a large area
of grass land within sight of the cross of St.
Paul’s failed to produce a crop to the annual
value of £5 per acre it was claimed that some-
thing was wrong; but the statement was true,
for we know this land intimately, and,
unhappily, it is now shown on official authority
that the actual return per acre throughout the
country, after deducting an enormous area of
rough grazing land, fails to reach this extremely
low figure. No nation in the world can long
maintain an agricultural system which produces
such poor results. We shall attempt, however,
not only to ascertain why our returns are so
small, but to show that, in large numbers of
WHAT WE PRODUCE 387

instances, the results are much smaller, while in
others—and these of necessity fewer—they are
very much larger indeed.

British farming is not played out. ‘As we
shall see in a subsequent chapter, farmers of
the most intelligent and capable class are able
to realise substantial returns. They can grow
heavy crops year after year, and produce stock
which realises prices unknown in any other
European country; but a large proportion of the
occupiers of the land, owing chiefly to want of
technical knowledge, to proper appreciation of
the value of selected stock, of artificial manures,
and of intensive cultivation, are scarcely able to
keep their heads above water. The time is arriv-
ing, however, when all this will be changed.
The Development Fund will provide assistance
in many directions. Our average live-stock is
inferior in quality, while in numbers it is far
below the requirements of the country. Farmers
who are anxious for advice have few means of
obtaining it. There are no organisations through
the medium of which, as is the case in the
United States, Denmark, France and elsewhere,
they can obtain information, not only from
scientific, but from expert practical men by the
discussion of those subjects which are of the
88 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

greatest importance. There are few institutions
to which they can send their sons to be educated
in the science and practice of farming, and espe-
cially where they would be able to take part in
the daily work of the farm, at fees which are in
accordance to their means. The Development
Commissioners are providing stallions and bulls
for the purpose of improving the stock of the
country ; rams, boars, and poultry will probably
follow. In any case, no Government will have
completed its duty to agriculture until these
animals have been provided in sufficient number
for the requirements of farmers, and at a cost
within the means of the humblest small-holder.
We have consistently urged the necessity of
providing male breeding stock in the columns
of the press for many years, and we have simi-
larly pointed to the necessity for the establish-
ment of farm schools for the training of the sons
of small farmers at low fees, and the appoint-
ment of professors of agriculture in English
counties, as they have been appointed in France
for the past quarter of acentury. It is probable,
if we may judge by the recent statement of the
Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Runciman, that all
these proposals will be adopted, and that the
smaller farmers and small-holders will be enabled
WHAT WE PRODUCE 39

to take advantage of the various means which
will be afforded them in the belief that their
prosperity will be assured.’ The returns con-
taining the number of live-stock in Great Britain
in June 1912 show the importance of sustained
effort with the object of increasing the number
of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs.

Let us next ascertain how our cultivated land
is divided, both as regards its character and the
size of the occupations and holdings. The total
area of arable land is 14,795,517 acres, while
the permanent pasture reaches 17,415,869 acres,
of which nearly 16 millions are in England and
Wales, permanent pasture in Scotland being
limited to less than 14 million acres. When,
however, we come to the rough grazing land,
chiefly mountain and heath, we find that of the
12,801,000 acres Scotland furnishes 9,080,000
acres. In spite of the ability which is exercised
in the arrangement of the Agricultural Returns,
it is curious that, whenever Ireland is concerned,
difficulties arise. The returns showing the
produce of crops in Great ‘Britain include
summaries for Ireland—a remark which equally
applies to the Crop and Live-stock Returns—
but, while the area of the mountain and heath
land of Great Britain is shown in the same
40 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

Report, it is omitted altogether in the case of
Ireland, this land (5,343,126 acres) being also
omitted in the summary. This reference is
made in view of the fact that, with agricultural
autonomy in Scotland and Wales, each with its
set of statistical reports, we may find that in the
near future it will be impossible to obtain under
the same cover any satisfactory details with
regard to each country.

The rateable value of the agricultural land in
England and Wales, as defined by the Agri-
cultural Rates Act of 1896, was, in I9gI0,
423,732,277- Thus it will be observed that
Scotland is omitted altogether. On the other
hand, the same report gives the gross income
derived from the ownership of land in Great
Britain, as shown by Schedule A of the Income
Tax—Scotland being included in this instance—
as £42,142,692, the Income as applied to
England and Wales alone reaching £36, 366,987,
or some 50 per cent. above the rateable value.
Although these figures have been steadily
declining since 1876, there is no reason to
suppose that they actually represent the exact
position of the landowner, inasmuch as both
rents and the values of land have increased
materially during the past few years. It would
not be correct to place the number of owners of
WHAT WE PRODUCE 41

land as returned in the Domesday Book of 1870
—when the gross income of land in England
and Wales was placed at £48,938,o00o—in juxta-
position with the values of 1909-10; but, without
suggesting that they would enable us to ascer-
tain the average income of each owner, we may
at least assume that the result would be
approximate.

We turn next to the division of the land, the
chief portion of which is monopolised by farmers
occupying an average of 50 to 300 acres each.
Small-holders occupying from 1 to § acres
average 3°2 acres of cultivated land, or, with
rough grazings, 8°3 acres; small farmers occu-
pying from 5 to 50 acres average 20°4 acres each,
or, with rough grazings, 40°1 acres, these two
classes or groups occupying between them a
total of slightly more than 5 million acres of
cultivated land and 5 million acres of mountain
and heath land; farmers of from 50 to 300 acres,
who occupy nearly 19 million acres of cultivated
land and 64 million acres of rough grazing,
average 125'6 acres each, or, with rough graz-
ings, 167°8 acres; while large farmers, those
occupying more than 300 acres each, average
461°7 acres of cultivated land, or 534'2 acres,
including rough grazings. Thus these two latter
groups occupy nearly 35 million acres.
42 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

CONTINENTAL HOLDINGS

In Germany, in accordance with the latest
figures obtainable,’ 95 per cent. of the total
holdings ‘of land are under 49 acres in extent,
58 per cent. of these being under 5 acres, small-
holders occupying nearly one-half the total
agricultural land. The total number of occu-
piers of holdings under 49 acres in extent is
5,450,325, those occupying less than 5 acres
numbering 3,378,509. The total number of
small farms between 25 and 49 acres in extent
is 412,741, so that the number of occupiers of
farms between 5 and 25 acres is 1,659,000.
According to another return there are over 2
million owners of farms between 5 and 50 acres;
on the other hand, the number of farms between
49 and 494 acres—practically equal to 200
hectares—is 272,870. In Great Britain, if we
may make a comparison, the total number of
holdings of from 1 acre to 5 acres is, 108,000;
of 5 to 50 acres, 231,000; of 50 to 300 acres,
151,000; and of over 300 acres, 17,714.

If we turn to France we again find that the
small occupiers own more than half the land,
and 75 per cent. of the holdings; in other words,

1 Beruys- und Betriebszahlung, June 12, 1907.
WHAT WE PRODUCE 43

the owner-occupiers are in possession of 45
million acres of land, whereas in Great Britain
only 60,000, or 11°7 per cent. of the total number
of holdings are owned by their occupiers, while
of these 43,000 are from 1 acre to 50 acres in
extent.

There are in France 5,702,752 holdings,’ of
which 5,282,370 are under 50 acres in extent.

The figures are :—

Under 2} acres . ‘i : + 2,235,405
23 to12} 4, 3 3 ‘ . 1,829,259
12}to25 4, ‘ ‘ ‘ - 788,297
25to4gt yy : : : + 429,407
493 to74 yy ‘ is c 4 189,664

Although the agricultural land in Great
Britain is four and a half times as large in area
as that of Denmark, which covers less than 7
million acres, there are in that country 180,000
of a total of 249,983 holdings? between 1 acre
and 36 acres, 133,500 of these being under i2}
acres in extent. There is no land question in
Denmark, and it is a remarkable fact that the
almost complete ownership of the land by the
agricultural classes, which was the result of
reform during the last century, is co-existent
with the great prosperity of the country. Writ-
ing after our last visit to Denmark, we remarked

1 Statistique agricole de la France, 1892.
2 Statistisk Aarbog, 1909.
44 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

that the labourers, whose share of the land would
be gradually increased under the new law, and
the large proprietors each held one-sixth, the
remaining four-sixths belonging to the small
farming class. No less than 150,000 labourers
owned their own homes with the plots of land
attached to them, while at that time only 35,000
labourers, although owning houses, were without
land. The peasantry in Denmark are educated
in a manner altogether unknown in this country,
chiefly through the medium of schools estab-
lished for the purpose, from which ten thousand
young people return annually to their native
villages. During the previous thirty years
lectures upon agricultural subjects were delivered
throughout the whole of the country, and on a
scale which has no precedent in the agricultural
history of any country in the world. Thus it is
that a people whose personal efforts alone have
enabled them to retain the property which they
acquired have made a great advance in know-
ledge during a process of fifty years’ continuous
educational culture. During a period of thirty
years 1,140 square miles of land had been
reclaimed, chiefly from the sea, and placed under
cultivation. Intensive draining had advanced
Sthe harvest season and increased the yield of
WHAT WE PRODUCE 45

corn, while stock breeding societies, dairy.
societies and other institutions covered the entire
country, many receiving subventions from the
State. Of the 172,000 small farmers who kept
less than thirty cows, 70,000 kept from one cow
to three cows, 52,000 from four to nine cows,
and 50,000 from ten to twenty-nine cows, the
remaining cow-keeping farmers numbering only
7,500. Practically speaking, therefore, the dairy
farmers of Denmark are small-holders. In 1881,
two years before our pioneer visit to Denmark,
the number of cows was 898,000; in 1903, the
year of the last available return, the number had
increased to 1,089,000, while cattle of other kinds
had increased by 180,000. The Danish bacon-
curing industry was started about the same year,
1881. At that time the number of swine was
527,000; in 1909 the number had increased to
1,466,000, whereas in Wales and Scotland com-
bined the number of swine in 1911 was only
407,000. The number of horses had increased
during the same period from 347,000 to 486,000,
and the number of goats from 9,000 to 38,900.
The total area of cultivated land in Holland
iS 5,308,000 acres, while the number of holdings
above 2} acres in extent is 209,156, of which all
but 27,000 covered less than 49 acres each, these
46 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

comprising 86 per cent. of the total. The
tenants numbered 43 per cent., and the owners
57 per cent. It is necessary to bear in mind the
fact that land in Holland, which, when rented,
realises from 4os. to 80s. per acre, is of much
greater value than land in England, and that in
consequence the occupying owners are a wealthy
class of men, although, as we know from
numerous visits among them when acting as a
Commissioner at the International Exhibition at
Amsterdam in 1884, they are an exceedingly
industrious and frugal people. The Dutch
farmer, too, unlike ourselves, has largely in-
creased his stock of cows, dairy work being his
predominant industry. Between 1880 and 1904
the number of swine in Holland was raised from
334,000 to 861,000. There was also a marked
increase in the number of goats and horses
during the same period.

In Belgium the total area of cultivated land is
4,380,000 acres, a large proportion of which is
under plough and spade. While the population
of Denmark is 2,692,000 and of Holland
5,829,000, that of Belgium is 7,386,000. Den-
mark, however, covers the largest area, and
owns the largest number of swine. According
to the report we have already quoted, the number

} Verslag over den Landbouw in Nederland over IQII.
WHAT WE PRODUCE 47

of holdings in Belgium under 50 acres in extent
was 813,000, 715,000 being under 10 acres,
315,000 occupiers being also owners or part-
owners. Including the servants and permanent
day labourers, many of whom are women, we
estimate that the number of persons living on
the land in Belgium is 5 millions, or nearly
7o per cent. of the entire population. There
are, practically speaking, more small occupiers
of land in Belgium than there are agricultural
labourers in England. The large farms in the
little country number but few more than 5,000,
whereas, as we shall see, in England they
number 168,000.

Brief reference may now be made to Luxem-
burg, which, next to Denmark, has given a better
account of her agricultural position during the
past thirty years than any other country in the
world. With only 380,000 agres of cultivated
land out of a total area of 639,000 acres and a
population only equal to that of a leading
English city, the Duchy has raised herself by
steady but advanced work to a position of such
eminence that her methods, which are chiefly
educational and co-operative, deserve to be better
known. The land is divided into 39,962 separate
holdings, the average area of which is nearly
roacres. There are only 1,316 holdings or about
48 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

3 per cent. exceeding 49 acres... Thus Luxem-
burg is a country of small farmers. The
development of agriculture has involved the
creation of about a thousand miles of new roads,
the practical disappearance of fallow land, and
a complete revolution in the method of cultiva-
tion. There are some 400 agricultural syndi-
cates, including 30,000 members whose work is
chiefly confined to the construction of roads and
works of irrigation and drainage. The great
majority of the 500 villages in the Duchy are
provided with agricultural associations, with
their meeting rooms and their co-operative
branches for the purchase of implements, tools,
stock foods, seeds and manures, and their stores
or barns in which these implements are kept and
placed at the disposal of the members free of
cost. There are also numerous mutual societies
for insurance against mortality in cattle, a large
number of co-operative dairy societies, and
syndicates for the sale of fruit, the cultivation
of which on the public highways was commenced
some years ago instead of the eternal poplar.
Institutions for training boys and girls for their
life on the land are numerous, and this in a
country which is smaller than Sussex or Kent.

1 Berufs- und Gewerbezahlung, June 12, 1907.
WHAT WE PRODUCE 49

Such are the facts which relate to the culti-
vated land, its division, and the stock kept upon
it in the most important of the agricultural
countries of the Continent.

THE PRODUCTIVE POWER OF SMALL HOLDINGS

We now return to British holdings. It is a
curious fact that there was a slight diminution
in the number of holdings of from 5 to 50 acres
in this country between 1885 and 1908, although
the acreage was increased. On the other hand,
farms from 50 to 300 acres in extent developed
from 144,000 to 151,000, the area increasing by
560,000 acres. On the contrary, there was a
diminution in large farms over 300 acres in
extent from 19,000 to 17,000, the reduction in
the area being nearly 1,100,000 acres. This
points to some extensive divisions of property,
and the reduction in size of the larger farms.
In view of the extensive increase in the number
of small-holdings which is taking place year by
year, it will be well to point out that no fear
need be entertained of the diminution in the pro-
ductive power of the land by its devolution from
large to small occupiers; on the contrary, exist-
ing evidence is sufficiently strong to show that
the more extensive the small-holdings system,

E
50 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

the larger the amount of produce grown. Thus,
in 1908 the number of cows and heifers kept per
100 acres of small-holdings of 1 acre to § acres
in extent was 7, the number of other cattle 5, of
sheep 39, of pigs 22, and of horses 5. On small
farms of 5 to 50 acres the number of cows and
heifers was increased to 8, other cattle to 8, sheep
to 48, while pigs were reduced to 9, and horses
to 4. As the size of the farm is increased from
50 to 300 acres, however, the number of cows
and heifers is reduced to 6, the number of pigs
to 5, and the number of horses to 3, sheep and
other cattle increasing. On the largest class of
farms cows and heifers numbered 4, pigs 4, and
horses 3, cattle other than cows numbering 9 and
sheep increasing to 82. Again, the smallest
class of occupiers, under 5 acres, kept 940 fowls
and 86 ducks per 100 acres; the second class, 5
to 50 acres, kept 244 fowls and 21 ducks; the
third group, 50 to 300 acres, kept 77 fowls and
7 ducks; and the largest farmers, in the fourth
class, 37 fowls and 3 ducks. There was a similar
variation in the number of geese and turkeys
kept. The small farmer, too, is a larger producer
of milk and butter. Thus, in the first group,
2,729 gallons of milk and 144 pounds of butter
were produced per 100 acres; in the second group
WHAT WE PRODUCE 51

the milk produced was 3,307 gallons, and the
butter 206 pounds; in the third group the milk
reached 2,841 gallons, and butter 119 pounds;
while in the largest group of all milk reached
only 1,480 gallons and butter 41 pounds. Thus
the small farmer not only keeps a larger head
of cows, pigs, horses and poultry per 100 acres,
but he produces more milk and butter, and,
finally, he employs more labour. In the first
group the total number of permanent labourers
employed per 100 acres was 13°4, and of tem-
porary labourers 2°6; the number employed in
the second group was 6°5 and 1'1 respectively ;
in the third group 3°3 and 0°4, and in the fourth
group 2°6 and o'3 persons, the permanent
labourers including members of the occupiers’
families.

These facts are of great moment at a time
when so many are disposed to depreciate the
importance of the small farm. We are bound
to believe from past experience in this and other
countries that, with the better provision of educa-
tion, of consultants in each county, of demon-
stration farms, and of better seed and improved
stock for breeding purposes, of the use of which
small-holders can avail themselves, the already
marked difference in the productive powers of
52 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

the small-holder and the large farmer as a pig,
poultry,.and milk producer—for we are unable to
make any reference to similar statistics in con-
nection with growing crops—will be materially
enhanced ; indeed, we look for a type of intensive
farming which is possible only on small occupa-
tions, and which is capable of producing con-
siderably larger crops than are grown upon
farms of larger size. This point may be illus-
trated by comparison between the system of
French gardening or of English market garden-
ing of the highest type and the ordinary system
of cultivating vegetables and fruits. In the one
case the crops are not only earlier, and, con-
sequently, of much greater value, but they are
more numerous, reaching four and five succes-
sions in a season, whereas the average gardener
is content with one, or, at the outside, two crops,
both of which he maturés, and which in con-
sequence are of considerably less value than
crops grown upon the intensive system. There
are two reasons for this diminished value. The
first is the reduction in price owing to greater
competition in the later market, and the next
is diminished value owing to the coarser char-
acter of the product. This subject, however,
is discussed in another chapter.
CHAPTER III
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH THE LAND

WE lately received a letter from one of the
most successful among English farmers, in
which he expresses the opinion that this country
was never better farmed than it is to-day; he
believes that the land was never more produc-
tive, and that crops were never grown at smaller
cost—a true test, as he thinks, of success. He
adds that farmers aim at a whole crop, having
learned from experience that nothing else will
pay. We believe this to be a perfectly true
statement of the case as applied to the highest
class of the large farming community, which
includes men with capital, brains and experi-
ence, and those who occupy farms which com-
prise some of the best land in the country. As
we descend in the scale, however, we find that,
in a general way, tenant farmers possess less
capital, imperfect education, less extensive ex-
perience, and occupy inferior land, and the
result is that the larger crops are neutralised in

53
54 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

the Agricultural Returns by the smaller crops
which they grow. In addition to this, too, the
inferior and insufficient stock of the smaller
farmers not only reduces the average number
kept per 100 acres, but the average value per
head. We must not be led to suppose, however,
that these facts illustrate the advantage of large
farms as compared with small farms. Just as
the 200 acre farmer with insufficient capital at
his command would realise a large net income
by devoting all he has to the cultivation of 50
or 60 acres which he could stock well and
farm up to the hilt, so we believe that the farmer
in occupation of 500 acres of cultivated land
would make a larger return by the intensive
cultivation of a much smaller area. There are
remarkable exceptions, and these relate to men
who take front rank in their profession, and
who, like the ablest exponents of other types of
work, would probably have succeeded in other
lines of life.

Success upon a large farm depends, however,
not only upon the capital at the command of the
tenant, the character of the land he farms, and
the climate, but upon that blend of skill in the
growing of crops and the breeding of stock with
thorough business capacity which so few men
possess. This one feature in farming is too
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 55

often ignored. The most capable agriculturist
may be a bad business man, and as the profits
realised in farming depend largely upon good
judgment in buying and selling, it is of the
highest importance that this qualification should
be acquired by every young man who takes to
the land. Business habits in the market, the
fair, the auction ring, and the corn exchange are
not acquired at an agricultural college; they are
attributes which men have learned from their
fathers in daily practice, and, if for no other
reason, it is of the highest importance that young
men should gain some experience in this branch
of a farmer’s business.

One of the objects of this book is to show the
reader what has been done upon the land, that
he may better realise what can be done. The
professor of agriculture who informs a class of
students that they should aim at a given crop
of corn or roots will make little impression unless
he is able not only to show how this result can
be obtained, but that it is obtained in actual
practice. Although it is probable that the sons
of farmers form a minority of the students
of our agricultural colleges, they are generally
aware of the extent of the crops grown on
the farms occupied by their fathers, and they
are consequently in a position to judge. It is,
56 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

therefore, of the highest importance that farms
should be attached to each institution, that they
should be cultivated in the best possible manner,
and that students should be shown every phase
of the work as well as the results obtained. By
keeping in touch with the best farmers of the
district they may also be enabled to examine
exceptional crops, from time to time, and to
learn how they have been grown. What applies
to the student applies equally to the farmer
himself. It should be one of his objects to
observe the success of others, and to learn from
them how that success has been achieved,
whether in connection with crops or stock.
There are, however, many occupiers of land who
look over their neighbour’s hedge only to find
fault, who take no trouble to learn from the
practice of others, who have never visited an
experiment farm, and whose daily work exhibits
both carelessness and want of thought. The
object of the writer is not to find fault with his
neighbours, but to assist them by every means
in his power; nevertheless, the truth must be
told, and it would be odd if, during a period of
nearly thirty years upon the land, it were not
possible to point to numerous instances of ex-
ceptional success as well as of exceptional
failure. We propose to quote some such in-
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 57

stances of success in our own experience, from
the communications sent us by exceptionally
capable farmers with whom we have been closely
acquainted for years, and from the experimental
work conducted by the officials of some of the
agricultural colleges. It may be well, however,
to quote one or two instances showing how
farmers fail to succeed. It is true that some-
times the fault is not their own; bad seasons,
want of capital, or a combination of circum-
stances over which they have no control, fre-
quently compel them to present to the world a
slovenly holding, badly-fed stock, or crops so
small that they fail to pay the rent.

A farm of 200 acres occupied by a very timid
and incapable tenant, who possessed neither the
energy, the knowledge, nor the means to farm
his land successfully, was cropped to the extent
of one-half the arable annually, the other half,
including the arable land, being grazed by the
flock of a neighbour who paid a small sum for
the privilege, which chiefly consisted of keeping
down the weeds. The farmer’s excuse was that,
with prices so low, he could not afford to crop
the whole of his land, and in consequence he
ploughed and sowed one-half in alternate years.
The natural result was that it was always foul,
and that, in the absence of stock—with the ex-
58 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

ception of a dozen cows of the poorest type—
the manure produced was insufficient to cover a
tenth of the area. The crops were of necessity
small. In most cases like this landlords would
have distrained for the rent, but the owner of
the farm lived abroad and was content to obtain
what he could, until, the land being too foul to
place upon the market, the rent was reduced to
5s. per acre.

In another instance a good heavy-land farm
was let to a tenant with plenty of capital, but,
although a member of an old agricultural family,
he had never been trained for his work. Want
of knowledge was unfortunately supplemented
by want of interest, and the farmer was content
to leave the work to his men while he enjoyed
the pleasures of life—cards and drink, which
we have known as the foundations of the mis-
fortunes of so many tenants of the land in days
that are past. The end speedily arrived, and the
farm, foul and dilapidated, was cut up, one
portion of some 20 acres being rented by an
experienced labourer who had done good work
for ourselves. This man’s first object was to
clean the land, then to sow wheat, which, in
his first year, produced 55 bushels to the acre.
Cases of this character could be multiplied
almost ad infinitum, but the fact that they exist
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 59

reflects no more upon the agriculture than upon
any other vocation. The marvel is that among
farmers there are so few, for no business men
are compelled to contend against such a variety
of adverse circumstances, of which the weather
is the most depressing.

We quote next from a communication sent us
by a well-known and successful breeder of stock,
who is also an excellent farmer. He gives us
an instance of two fields of corn grown respec-
tively by himself and a neighbour on adjoining
land. In his own case the wheat stubble was
steam-cultivated in September 1911, subse-
quently dragged, ploughed up during the winter
into lands of ten yards in width, the furrows
being small and well formed; it was again
dragged in March, rolled and harrowed, and a
perfect seed-bed prepared. Oats were then
drilled, twenty-two horses having been over the
field, which was absolutely free from weeds.
In a bad season, oats being universally poor,
the crop only reached 48 bushels to the acre, but
considerably more than the average. The other
field was ploughed thin in the winter while in a
very couchy condition. The furrows were wide,
laid flat on their backs, and left in this imper-
fect condition until spring. The seed was broad-
casted in March and harrowed in, but, naturally,
60 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

it was badly covered. In this case only eight
horses went over the land, the general result
being that it was extremely foul, and the crop
estimated at only 16 bushels to the acre, a large
proportion of the grain being absolutely worth-
less, while the couch-grass was tied up with the
sheaves. The soil of each field was almost
identical; but, while one tenant farmed the land
well, the other left it chiefly to Nature; in one
case the land was manured, in the other it was
not. Our correspondent expresses the opinion
that the Agricultural Holdings Acts and Valua-
tions favour moderate farming, and this is the
reason he gives. “If a tenant just misses being
a sloven he gets off without dilapidations; if he
farms cleanly and well and puts money and
brains into his work and remains on his. farm,
its value is increased owing to the tenant’s im-
provements, and in consequence if he leaves he
is not adequately compensated.”

A Midland counties yeoman, with a world-
wide reputation and unusual experience, says:
“T well remember, fifty to sixty years ago, things
were agriculturally very different from what they
are to-day. In the villages there was happiness,
content and prosperity; at no time did landlords,
yeomen, tenants, or labourers grow rich, but
they lived in peace and unity. With the
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 61

labourers it was ‘our’ horse, ‘our’ beast, and
‘our’ crops, as though they were joint pro-
prietors. The masters mucked and ploughed a
plot of land to enable them to grow their
potatoes, drew coals to their cottage doors, sup-
plied them with malt or beer at harvest time,
assisted them in sickness, joining their clubs,
and in many ways provided for their happiness
and comfort. Then came disastrous times.
Arable land ceased to pay for cultivation, and
first one piece of land was laid down, or laid
itself down, to grass, until one labourer had to
go, and then a second. Thus, half the cottages
on the farm became empty, and the younger
men sought employment in the towns. In the
small parish in which I was born in 1834 the
change has been great. It covered an area of
1200 acres of very useful land, of which 710
acres were grass. In 1868 and 1870, I well
remember, the wheat on my farm averaged over
64 imperial bushels to the acre; I employed ten
or more labourers with regularity, and a neigh-
bour thirteen or fourteen; and so it was all
round. But now the arable land has been
reduced to 60 acres, while 340 acres formerly
growing good crops are practically doing
nothing, and there are not ten labourers in the
whole of the parish. In one field I grew g2
62 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

bushels of oats to the acre for many years; the
champion cheese of the kingdom was made in
this parish ; numbers of calves were reared; pigs
were bred and fed; and, with a large quantity
of straw grown upon the ploughed land, plenty
of manure was made, and thus good crops were
ensured. Now it is all milk-selling. There is
less labour, but little or nothing to go back to
the land, so that it is deteriorating, fences are
neglected, cottages pulled down, and the aspect
is deplorable. I have hunted with the Quorn
for fifty-four seasons, and shot for over sixty
years, and therefore I know almost every parish
in the county, and the picture of my old parish
is but an example of others. I am of opinion
that if all the land suitable for corn which is
now practically doing nothing were again under
thorough cultivation, a very large proportion of
the cereals required in this country could be
produced at home, and the money saved that is
now sent abroad.”

Such facts as these more than emphasise the
arguments which are adduced in this book.
The county referred to is, agriculturally, one of
the finest in England; and yet we are told on
unimpeachable authority—for no man knows
the county better—that land which is capable
of growing so much is not doing its work.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 63

We turn to a farm of a very different character
in a district famous for hops, which are well
known to pay the more skilful growers, although
they occasionally fail. This is an example of
intense cultivation worthy of remark. The
tenant, who is well known as a generous farmer,
spent over £30 per acre in manure for his hops
in the year to which he refers. The crop, how-
ever, owing to an unfavourable season, was a
poor one; but in the following year it reached
22 cwt. per acre, realising £6 10s. to £7 Ios.
per cwt. A friend who came to inspect the crop
cautioned the grower not to let his landlord
see it.

Another tenant, equally well known as an
agricultural authority, expresses his opinion
that, while it is essential.to farm well to obtain
heavy crops, a good season is essential. In one
year this gentleman, who was farming heavy
land, grew an average of 52 bushels of wheat,
while on an adjoining farm the crop reached
56 bushels over a large area. This gentleman
refers to the fact that he has known farmers who
’ have raised the cropping capacity of their farms
much above that of their neighbours. This is
one of the points which proved so effective in
the agitation for the amendment of the Agri-
cultural Holdings Act. It should be equally
64 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

effective, in these later days when larger sums
are spent in seed and manure, in supporting the
arguments of those who are anxious for a change
in our system of land tenure. The same corre-
spondent writes: “A neighbour of mine made
a start with a 10 acre holding which was very
highly rented, and, by his industry, skill, and
good judgment in breeding and feeding poultry
and selling milk by retail, he saved sufficient
money in a few years to enable him to acquire a
farm of 120 acres.”

Another grower well known to us purchased
a farm of medium size within easy reach of a
large population, whom he proposed to supply.
One of his most important crops was the potato,
which he cultivated with great liberality and
assiduity, in his first year obtaining a crop in
one field the return from which was sufficient
to pay for the freehold, and this in spite of the
fact that its cost was considerable.

Professor Sheldon, who farms an ancient pro-
perty which has been in his family for many
generations, says that he knows of no method
of grassland-farming that can surpass a good
“growthy” season. Good farming, however,
supplemented by a ‘“‘grassy” year, enables the
grower to reach the acme of success in growing
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 65

hay on permanent meadow land. He em-
phasises the importance of the combination.
The year 1911 will be remembered as that of the
great drought, which was followed by the excep-
tionally wet season of 1912. In the former year
Professor Sheldon laid himself out to grow a
record crop of hay, but, owing to the prolonged
drought and several antecedent frosts in the late
spring, he did not succeed in his effort. In 1912,
however, the crop, estimated by capable men,
reached, and in some cases exceeded, three tons
to the acre. Fortunately this crop was well
harvested during the heat-wave in the middle
of July. Never before in the experience of half-
a-century had there been so much difficulty
in mowing a crop of grass. It should be
observed that in the early months of 1910, in
which year the summer was wet, this land was
drained, for although not wet land, it was too
damp to please its owner and appeared to be
getting still damper, as though much rain in
recent years had done something to impede the
percolation of the water through the soil—which
is a strong loam from 12in. to 18in. in depth,
resting on a clay subsoil. The drains, made of
hard burnt 2$in. pipes, were placed parallel,

running up the gentle slope of the land at a
F
66 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

depth of 2ft. 6in. and 6 yds. apart, all conyey-
ing their water into a main drain which was
approximately 3in. or qin. deeper. At first
there was disappointment, for 1910 was but an
ordinary year for grass, while 1911 was a failure,
as we have seen. Good draining, however,
supplemented by good farming and a good
season for growth, produced the great crop of
1912, the land having been well dressed with a
liberal quantity of cake-made farm manure.
During another and earlier season Professor
Sheldon fed his wether sheep in winter with
decorticated cotton cake, peas and maize, in
approximately equal proportions, his object
being not to fatten them, but to bring them out
in the spring in lusty condition for fatting on
grass in May and June. The troughs were
moved every second or third day to fresh land,
until the whole area of the meadow had been
covered. Here again the yield of hay reached
or exceeded three tons to the acre. A third
example of a heavy crop of grass is that in which
the land was dressed with 8 cwt. of basic slag
supplemented by 3 cwt. of kainit and 1 cwt. of
nitrate of soda. Apart from the fact that good
seasons materially assisted the growth of these
crops, the truth remains that, but for the liberal
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 67

farming of the owner, such yields would have
been impossible. A man who relies solely upon
Nature will assuredly fail. She abhors a vacuum
of this type; but the farmer who helps himself
by doing his best with his land will find that
Nature assists him in five years out of six.

We turn next to a communication from a
representative farmer well known in public life.
We have had the advantage of seeing this
gentleman’s farm in the North of England, and
of admiring the system he pursued. Too modest
to speak of himself, he briefly describes a farm
which he recently inspected, and refers to the
crops which were grown during the last rotation.
The figures do not apply to the whole of the land ;
nevertheless, they, are of a remarkable character,
and are the result not only of good soil and good
seasons, but of first-class work. ‘The cultivation
was based upon a five-course system. The
potatoes averaged Io tons to the acre, the oats
80 bushels, the swedes 30 tons, barley 48 bushels,
and clover hay 2 tons. It will be observed that
the potatoes yielded 4 tons more than the
average of the country, the oats were double the
average, the swedes more than double, barley
16 bushels more, and clover hay to cwt., or one-
third more than the average yield in Great
68 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

Britain. We are anxious that there should be
no apprehension about facts of this character.
They are not obtained on all soils, and never
without the best of treatment; but even these >
crops may be exceeded by those who grow them.

We take next an instance from Norfolk, the
farm being one with which we are acquainted
and the tenant one of the best farmers in the
county, as well as a representative man. In
ordinary years the wheat and barley crops on
this farm have averaged 6 qrs. to the acre, but
the best which have been grown upon the farm
are 60 bushels of wheat, 68 bushels of barley,
30 tons of swedes, and 50 tons of mangels to
the acre. Our eorrespondent insists that the
great factor in the production of exceptional
crops is season, and he very properly adds: “I
do not care what skill is employed if it is
followed by an adverse season, in which case all
your skill and forethought are useless.” We
venture, however, to express the opinion—in
which we are sure our correspondent would join
—that such crops as these are only obtained by
the best type of farming, and that if the employ-
ment of skill and forethought were omitted
altogether the bad season would mean practical
ruin.

An excellent example of English farming is
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 69

found in the work of Mr. Henry Smith, son of
Mr. Henry Smith of Cropwell Butler, Notting-
ham, well known as a judge of stock and an old
member of the Council of the Royal Agricultural
Society. Mr. Smith breeds pedigree Lincoln
Longwooled sheep, pedigree Shorthorn cattle,
pedigree pigs of the Middle White variety,
Shire horses, and the two representative breeds
of British poultry, the dark Dorking and the
blackbreasted Red Game. Thus, every animal
on the farm is highly bred. Mr. Smith says:
“An old uncle of mine used to say, ‘ Drain your
land, and muck it, and keep it clean, and beat
that if you can!’ This system, carried out on
good land, gives me reason to expect a yield of
not less than 5 qrs. of wheat and 6 qrs. of barley,
with root crops in proportion. If I get more or
less I attribute the result to the weather.” It
will be remarked that this is farming on the old
style, the land being cleaned and dunged.

On the other hand, we have the splendid wheat
crops grown by Mr. Prout and his late father,
of Sawbridgeworth, every year in succession.
There are no cattle or sheep, and, consequently,
very little dung is produced, hence Mr. Prout’s
system involves the use of artificial manure.
His average yield of wheat is 36 bushels to the
acre; his rent and taxes amount to 25s., while
70 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

the cost of the manure is also 25s. per acre.
Mr. Prout is a keen supporter of scientific educa-
tion, and he has expressed his belief that a study
of science would be followed by increased pro-
duction and profit, and he points to his own
work in proof of the truth of his belief. Mr.
Prout’s father made a record as a wheat-grower,
commencing his annual cropping on the same
land under the advice of the late Dr. Augustus
Voelcker. Reference is made to Mr. Prout’s
results not because they are large, but because
they are a proof of what can be done by a
capable man by taking a course of his own.
There are various practices adopted by skilful
farmers, and adopted successfully, which are
regarded by agriculturists in general as indicat-
ing bad husbandry, and they include cropping
the same land with corn every year or in alter-
nate years; farming without the assistance of
stock ; selling the straw instead of consuming it,
and ignoring the rotation system, especially the
cultivation of roots. We are truly sensible of
the great value of rotation farming—which can-
not altogether be superseded, inasmuch as there
is no method which, scientifically or practically,
is its superior—and of the cultivation of roots,
which enable farmers to clean their land without
extra cost, to feed a larger head of stock, and,
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 71

finally, which act as a medium for increasing
fertility. Thus, a turnip crop grown by the aid
of artificial manure will feed a flock of sheep
which are folded upon it, and which, receiving
rich fattening food, manure the ground thoroughly
for a subsequent corn crop and seeds. Thus the
manure—usually phosphates—employed in the
growth of the swedes, which are consumed by
the sheep, is largely returned to the soil, together
with additional fertilising matter which is
derived from the cake and other dry food, and
in this way the soil is enriched, especially as in
the case of sheep the liquid as well as the solid
excrement is utilised.

We turn next to an instance of successful
wheat production’ in which seed played an im-
portant part. Mr. Hedworth Foulkes, the
Principal of the Harper Adams Agricultural
College at Newport, Salop, informs us that
owing to the success of a special variety of wheat
grown in the trials conducted on the college
farm a few years ago, that variety has now been
very freely selected, both in Shropshire and
Staffordshire, by farmers who have sown some
thousands of acres, with splendid results. This
wheat was grown side by side with fourteen
other varieties, and the following statements will
afford a better indication of its value than any
72 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

terms of praise which we can formulate. A
Warwickshire farmer says that his crop yielded
7 qrs. and 2 bushels, most of which was best
corn, while the straw reached two tons to the
acre. This wheat was all sold for seed at 38s.
to 40s. per qr.; while the straw, if valued at 3os.
per ton—which would be below the mark, for it
should be worth at least 40s.—would realise £3
—so that the return per acre would reach
416 16s. 8d. This wheat was estimated by the
grower to yield 1 qr. per acre more than any
variety which he had been in the habit of grow-
ing. He mentions the names of two neigh-
bouring farmers who had grown slightly better
crops than his own. This gentleman very pro-
perly remarked that if his visit to the college
farm had done nothing more, it had well repaid
him by bringing him into contact with this
excellent wheat. A Shropshire farmer writes
with similar effect, stating that the variety in
question will grow, in his experience, presum-
ably on his own land, at least 3 cwt. more grain
to the acre than any other. He placed its value
at 22s. 6d. per acre more than that of any other
variety, while he points out that his estimate of
the increased yield is an under rather than an
over estimate.

A variety of wheat has been raised in con-
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 73

nection with the experimental work conducted
by the officials of the School of Agriculture at
Cambridge, which has already produced excel-
lent results. This wheat, known as “Little
Joss,” is a cross between Square Head’s Master
and a Russian variety known as Ghirka. It is
a beardless red wheat with ears of medium size
and dark-coloured chaff. The straw is strong,
abundant, and of medium length, and in con-
sequence of the fact that the plants tiller with
unusual freedom 14 to 2 bushels of wheat are
regarded as amply sufficient to sow an acre of
land. “Little Joss” produces plump grain, it
is practically free from tail corn, and resists
attacks of the common yellow rust. It has been
tested by farmers in all parts of England, and
in the season of 1910-11 it produced an average
of 50 bushels to the acre, ranging from 44 bushels
in the North of England to 68 bushels in Hert-
fordshire and Cambridgeshire.

This is excellent work; but, as Professor
Biffen remarks in a letter on the subject,
although this wheat appears to be a very heavy-
cropping variety, it is not well to lay much
emphasis on this fact until it has been in com-
merce for a longer period of time. Mr. Biffen
stated that he had now obtained reports of some
fifty experiments in which Little Joss had been
74 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

compared with Square Head’s Master, the
figures showing an average yield for the latter
variety of 39 bushels per acre, and for the
former of 44°4 bushels, or slightly more than
4% qrs. to the acre. Presumably, therefore, the
total number of experiments show a smaller
average yield than the crops reported by growers
in the previous year. In any case, these results
are a great advance upon the average yield of
the country, and they once more show what is
possible by the employment of good seed.

I am reminded of the importance of good seed
as well as good cultivation by a crop which I
once inspected on the experimental farm of the
Canadian Government at Indian Head in As-
siniboia. Farmers in the Territory were very
apt to cultivate their land carelessly, to ignore
manure, and to leave the seed to take its chance
when once in the ground. The extent of the
failure which follows such practice was fully
exemplified upon the great Sunbeam Farm, to
which I paid a visit a few miles away. Here a
local weed—-perhaps the greatest pest in the
Canadian West—had got hold of the ground,
and, owing to careless cultivation, the crop was
a failure; not so the crop at Indian Head.
There the land was maintained in a perfect
state of cleanliness, carefully manured, and
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 75

sown with one of the best varieties of oat known
in the Dominion where the greatest attention
had been paid for years to the selection of seed
on all the Government farms. This crop was
estimated by the Director at 100 bushels per
acre, and on our return to England this estimate
was verified in a letter which informed us that
100 bushels was slightly exceeded. This yield
represents the considerable crop of 12} qrs. to
the acre, a figure which is rarely touched,
although we have known an English crop to
reach 14 qrs., the seed in this case being the
famous Tartar King. The vitality of seed, how-
ever, is as important as its breed. On one
occasion we purchased a quantity of this variety
from a distant farmer with the object of sowing
a field. On testing for germination, it was found
that only 50 per cent. were living, the remainder
having apparently been destroyed by heating in
the stack.

During a course of eight years meadow land
on the farm of the Harper Adams College: was
systematically cultivated under experiment with
the object of determining whether artificial
manures, farmyard manure, and the two manures
combined can be profitably employed for the
production of hay; what residue the dung
leaves behind; what are the chief requirements
76 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

of the herbage; whether the soil could supply
any two of the three constitutents of a complete
manure, and whether it is more economical to
increase the yield with a complete supply of
artificials or to use an incomplete manure at a
smaller cost. The teaching naturally follows
the results. During the eight years of the trials
a dressing of 10 tons of dung was applied every
fourth year with a complete fertiliser consisting
of nitrate of soda, superphosphate, and sulphate
of potash in the intervening years. The hay
reached 74 tons more than that grown without
manure, or nearly 1 ton per acre per year, the
total weight grown during the eight years
reaching 16 tons 8 cwt. Where the three arti-
ficial manures were applied to the land alone the
total weight of hay grown was 15% tons, but the
net profit was larger owing to the diminished
cost of the manure.

These are among the many results which have
been steadily accumulating since the establish-
ment of the experimental farms attached to the
agricultural colleges; but although there are
many farmers who make pilgrimages to these
farms to see the work in operation, it is to be
feared that the vast majority ignore them alto-
gether. There is a prevalent opinion that by
the expenditure of public money on experiment
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 77

farms it is possible to increase the weight of
crops, but that if the farmer attempted to follow
the example he would lose; in a word, it is com-
monly believed that unusually heavy crops are
grown upon experimental farms at a loss.
Although, in the natural course of the work,
some crops are grown at a loss—for it could not
possibly be otherwise—it is an almost invariable
rule which we have noted again and again that
the most successful crops are grown with definite
profit. Thus, of the nine crops of hay grown
with manure in various forms, only two were
grown at a loss.

We turn next to a subject which is, perhaps,
of greater importance to the country at large
than to agriculture itself. We have shown else-
where in this book that there are nearly 13
million acres of mountain and heath land which
is solely employed for rough grazing. In
Ireland there is a large area of similar land.
This land is practically in the same condition
to-day as it was in the time of the Romans;
indeed, it is probable that it is no better than
it was in prehistoric times. We have endeav-
oured to show on many occasions that a large
proportion of this land could be brought under
normal cultivation, and that the remainder can
be distinctly improved. Let us take as an ex-
78 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

ample the Downlands of the Southern Counties,
especially of Sussex, Hampshire, and Wiltshire,
some of which we have known from boyhood,
when the farmers who occupied them ploughed
their lowlands with oxen. A large proportion
of this land has a thin surface lying upon chalk;
it grows poor and scanty herbage, and feeds
sheep during a portion of the year. To attempt
to manure such land would be regarded by many
occupiers as ridiculous; to suggest that a 500
acre run occupied by a sheepbreeder should be
assisted with an artificial fertiliser would raise
the choler of the most experienced men of the
older school of farmers; but the work is being
done, and done successfully—-and we proceed to
deal with a few examples. Shortly before writ-
ing these lines we paid a visit to the Applesham
farm of Mr. W. J. Passmore, of Shoreham,
Sussex. This gentleman occupies nearly 2000
acres, the main portion of which is thin chalk
Downland. There are 3000 sheep, 420 head of
cattle, and over 70 horses on the farm, or
more than twice the number kept by the
previous tenant, so that a large quantity of food
is required. Mr. Passmore, before coming to
Applesham, had been accustomed to employ
basic slag upon heavy grass land, with excellent
results, and in spite of the prevalent opinion
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 79

that a phosphatic manure containing lime is
useless upon chalk, he made a trial, but without
any special result, although in the second year
the herbage showed where the manure had been
distributed. Nothing deterred, Mr. Passmore
continued his work; but, believing that potash
was possibly needed, he added this to the slag,
with the result that not only was there an
increase in the quantity and an improvement in
the quality of the herbage, but the change was
of an astonishing character, the manured land
producing rich herbage in which clovers were
abundant as compared with the land which had
not been manured. On one portion of the
manured land which had grown a quantity of
thistles and other prominent weeds the change
in the herbage was marked, the leading weeds
practically disappearing altogether. Mr. Pass-
more expected that by using 5 cwt. of slag to
the acre with # cwt. of sulphate of potash, he
would cover the whole area every five years, the
quantity of slag used reaching 100 tons per
annum. If there were many Passmores in Eng-
land our 12 to 13 million acres of rough grazing
land would be quickly reclaimed, and an enor-
mous sum of money added to the wealth of the
country, for it is next to impossible to deny that
by similarly skilful treatment a large proportion
80 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

of the grazing land covering this huge area
would increase its produce by 100 to 200 per
cent.

Since the establishment of experiment farms
in this country the attention of investigators has
been devoted more frequently to manuring
pasture and meadow land for the improvement
of the herbage. It is well known that there are
pastures in most counties which will fatten a
bullock without the employment of cake. Land
of this character is usually of the best, deep in
staple and containing abundance of humus; it
‘has probably been grazed for a century, and has
rather accumulated than lost fertility. Such
land is usually rich in perennial rye grass, fox-
tail, meadow fescue, smooth-stalked meadow-
grass, clover, and trefoil, while containing fair
proportions of cocksfoot, sweet vernal grass,
yarrow, tall fescue, and golden oat grass. It is
well to point out that the value of pasture grass
cannot be determined by chemical analysis or
by the weight of the hay crop; it is possible to
learn in the laboratory the proportions of feeding-
matter in a given weight of grass, but it is not
possible to determine how far it is palatable to
stock, nor how completely it is digested. Young
herbage, as grazed direct from the land, differs
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 81

materially both in its favour and feeding value
from the same herbage when matured and ready
for conversion into hay. However carefully
grass land may be manured, therefore, we can
only determine the money value of the crop when
it is allowed to mature—by its conversion into
hay, and subsequently by its weight and the
price per ton it realises; but where the land is
manured and grazed its value is determined by
the increased weight of the stock which consume
it. Where a pasture is divided into two or more
lots, and the portions manured are compared
with what is not manured, a marked change is
noticed in the character of the herbage; clovers
spring up as by magic, superior grasses are in-
creased at the expense of inferior species, and the
weeds diminish in number. In some instances
the improvement is continuous, owing to the fact
that the clover herbage improves the manure of
the stock consuming it, and this, enriched with
nitrogen, influences the growth of the grasses,
which are well known torespond toitsapplication.

It has been determined, time after time, that,
in order to enable cattle and sheep to fatten upon
poor pasture, the land should be supplied with a
liberal dressing of phosphate of lime, either in

the form of basic slag, or basic superphosphate.
G
82 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

The influence of a heavy dressing of either of
these materials is not only quick, but lasting.
Thus, in the Scottish experiments conducted on
dissimilar soils by the Highland Society at three
centres for a period of ten years, it was found
that a dressing of manure containing 200 Ibs. of
phosphoric acid, with a liberal quantity of lime,
not only gave excellent results during the whole
course of the test, but at the end of this period
the grass appeared to be as rich as it was in the
year after the application of the manure; it is,
in fact, believed by those in charge of the work
that most of the phosphoric acid is still in the
soil. Contrary to expectation, however, it was
found that cotton-cake feeding failed to pay.
The system of manuring with phosphates
resulted in an average increase in the live-weight
of the stock consuming the herbage of 178 lbs.
of mutton over and above that produced by the
land which was not manured.

At Sevington, near Winchester, upon a soil
partly clay and flints and partly a chalky loam
lying on chalk, an experiment was made by the
Bath and West of England Society. Here
various manures were employed for nine succes-
sive years, the actual increased profit gained by
feeding sheep upon pasture over and above the
sum produced on land which was not manured
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 83

being shown in each case. The employment of
10 cwt. of basic slag at the commencement of the
trials in 1901 produced an average gain upon
the outlay during each of the nine years of
57 per cent. On the chalky down-land of Mr.
Bragg, of Whitchurch, Hampshire, similar
results were obtained; and the remark equally
applies to land occupied by Mr. Moody, of
Fontmell, near Shrewsbury. In the above ex-
periment at Sevington, the land which was
unmanured produced an average of 106 Ibs. of
mutton (liveweight) per acre per annum; the
gain on eight manured plots varied from 31 to
51 lbs. or from 29 to 48 per cent. Basic slag,
superphosphate alone, superphosphate with the
addition of ground lime or potash, produced
results in the aggregate not very dissimilar, but
the financial result owing to the lesser cost of
the slag was greatly in favour of the later. The
least gain was made where sulphate of ammonia
was added to superphosphate. These results
largely corroborate earlier ones obtained at
Cockle Park on totally different land far less
adapted to sheep.

In the Midlothian sheep-feeding trials on
boulder clay at Carrington, sheep fed in three
successive years on land manured with super-
phosphate gained considerably in weight as
84 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

compared with the sheep fed on the unmanured
land which formed part of the same field of
four acres. The increased weight of 655 lbs.,
valued at 34d. per Ib., left a total profit made by
grazing on the manured land of £3 13s., and
this land continues to improve.

At the Midland Institute at Kingston, near
Derby, a field of eight acres was limed through-
out. One half, however, also received super-
phosphate and sulphate of potash. Milking
cows were grazed upon both plots during three
seasons, 1909-11. The cows which were grazed
upon the manured land produced during the
period they were upon it 9,221 Ibs. of milk as
against 5,586 lbs. produced on the unmanured
land. Deducting the cost of the manures, the
total profit realised reached £4 16s. 6d. per acre.
Estimating the profit realised in another way,
and taking the grazing value of the pasture for
each cow at 3s. per week, or £3 for the season,
the profit per acre would have been 45s., or an
average of 15s. per year, which would represent
the improvement in the pasture.

In the Northumberland experiments one ‘field
was grazed with sheep only, and another with
mixed stock—cattle and sheep. In 1911 the gain
made by the sheep alone was 55 lbs. per acre,
while that made by the cattle and sheep in the
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 85

other field was 160 lbs., the grazing season last-
ing fourteen weeks in one instance and sixteen
in the other. The general results to which we
have referred are confirmed by other experiments,
and there is no shadow of doubt that the employ-
ment of phosphatic manure exerts a remarkable
influence in the rapid and successful fatting of
stock upon the land which receives it.

The experiments which have been so long con-
ducted at Cockle Park are of a most instructive
and profitable character. Sheep were fed during
nine years upon grass land which had been
manured in different ways—with lime, with basic
slag in differing quantities, with superphosphate,
with this manure plus ground lime or plus sul-
phate of potash, with dissolved bones, and with
manure produced by sheep consuming decorti-
cated cotton cake. The sheep fed upon land
which had been unmanured produced an average
increase of 37 Ibs. per acre per annum, while the
hay averaged 82 cwt. only. The land which
received 10 cwt. of basic slag containing 200 lbs.
of phosphoric acid (P,O,) produced 117 lbs. of
gross increase of liveweight, and 25 cwt. of
hay per acre per annum, the cost of the manure
being 25s. In this case the net gain per
acre per annum was 17s. 2d. from the sheep
alone. A similar increase in the gross weight
86 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

of the sheep was obtained by the use of super-
phosphate, 7 cwt., distributed in two years, 1897
and 1900, plus 10 cwt. of ground lime given in
each of three years, 1897, 1899, and 1903; but
the weight of hay produced was slightly less—
186 cwt. In this case, however, the cost of the
treatment was £3 8s. 6d., so that the net gain
per acre per annum was reduced to 12s. 2d.
Here is another instance showing the importance
of employing artificial manure. The object of
manuring land is not to increase the weight of
herbage alone, but also to improve its quality.
Thus, the herbage of a grass field, whether
meadow or pasture, should consist of the best
grasses and the clovers in variety, although in
both cases the species of grass and clover are
largely controlled by the nature of the soil. At
Cockle Park, however, one of the inferior grasses
prevailed upon the unmanured land to the extent
of 66 per cent., whereas at Sevington, the farm
of Mr. Stratton, it only reached o’9 per cent.;
on the other hand, cocksfoot reached 24 per cent.,
or twice as much as was the case at Cockle Park;
perennial rye grass, too, reached 15 per cent.,
and trefoil—Medicago lupulina—33 per cent.,
neither of these plants being found in the herbage
at Cockle Park.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 87

The grass land at Cransley in Northampton-
shire, to which reference will next be made, con-
tained 39 per cent. of crested dogstail against:
9 per cent. at Sevington and none at Cockle
Park, 2 per cent. of cocksfoot, 10 per cent. of
perennial rye grass, and only 3 per cent. of tre-
foil, these being only a few of the species of
which the herbage was composed. These facts,
however, are sufficient to show the great diver-
gence which exists in different pastures. Analyses
of the soil showed that at Cockle Park and
Cransley the quantity of lime present was much
smaller than at Sevington, but the difference in
the quantities of potash, phosphoric acid, and
nitrogen was not marked in either case. There
are, therefore, other reasons, which Nature with-
holds for the present, for the variation in the
herbage.

The experiments of Cransley were conducted
upon poor boulder clay at an altitude of nearly
500 feet. The land was valued at 10s. per acre
to rent. During a period of eight years the
total live-weight increase in the sheep which fed
upon the unmanured acre of land was 352 Ibs.,
and the total weight of hay produced 51 cwt.
By the employment of 10 cwt. of basic slag in
1901 the gross increase in the live-weight of the
88 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

sheep fed upon a similar acre was 632 lbs., while
the gross yield of hay made during the eight
years was 117 cwt., this treatment producing the
highest net average profit, which was 5s. 7d. per
acre. A greater increase in the weight of the
sheep, as well as of the hay obtained during the
same series of years, was obtained by the use
of superphosphate combined with sulphate of
potash; but the cost, which was £3 4s. 6d.
against 25s. for the slag, reduced the annual
profit. We have included these figures in order
to show that maximum profits are not obtainable
in all instances, much depending on the soil;
but it is obvious that even upon a poor boulder
clay a small expenditure in manure will not only
secure an increased weight, but will so improve
the character of the herbage that its feeding
value is increased.

We have seen that the best results from the
manuring of grass land for feeding sheep have
been obtained by the use of basic slag at the
rate of 10 cwt. per acre. Figures showing the
net gain obtained upon fourteen farms upon
which experiments have been conducted, from
three to nine years in succession, as compiled
by Dr. Somerville, may now be referred to. The
increase in the live-weight of sheep produced
above that grown upon the unmanured land
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 389

varied from 53 Ibs. to 719 Ibs. per acre for the
whole period. On seven of the farms, however,
the increases exceeded 200 lbs., while in four
cases they reached 354, 412, 456, and 719 lbs.
respectively. In all cases there was a money
gain per acre, while in seven these gains were
substantial. It is just to remark that these
figures are based upon a valuation of the live-
weight at 3d. per lb.—a figure which some
experts regard as too low. No figure, however,
can be taken as absolute, and, as Dr. Somerville
remarks, it is best to err, if err we must, on
the safe side. It is contended by Mr. Ashcroft,
who conducts the experiments on behalf of the
Bath and West of England Society, that the
value should be raised to 32d., or even 4d. per
Ib., and we may regard the former figure as well
within the region of safety.

We have already referred to the possibility of
improving the rough grazing land chiefly on
mountain and heath. In support of the view
which we have expressed on this question we
may quote the remarks of Dr. Somerville, now
Sibthorpian Professor of Rural Economy at
Oxford, who was the originator of the sheep-
feeding experiments. Writing in the Journal of
the Board of Agriculture, he says, referring to
the large area of uncultivated grass land, that
90 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

much is probably incapable of profitable im-
provement, some because it is already near the
upper limit of productiveness, and some because
it is at such an altitude, or possesses such
physical characteristics as to preclude the hope
of economical amelioration; but, after making
all deductions, there remains a vast extent of
pasture of a kind that experiments and practice
alike have shown to be capable of easy and profit-
able improvement, and it is this class of pasture
which, both in the interests of the individual and
of the nation, should be speedily taken in hand.
Dr. Somerville, as becomes a man holding a
responsible position, is extremely cautious in
what he says. Were his freedom greater and
his responsibility less, he would probably speak
with still greater confidence.

We turn next to a series of experiments which
were initiated at the Yorkshire College Farm
at Garforth in 1899. In the first scheme crops
were also grown under various conditions upon
five other farms, so that the facts we are about
to discuss refer to six. Artificial manures in
varied proportions were applied upon six plots
on each farm, while 10 tons of dung were applied
to five plots, all in 1899. The unmanured land
gave an average of 25 cwt. of hay per acre, while
the land receiving the dung averaged 36 to 39
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 91

cwt. On the other hand, the land receiving the
artificial manures averaged from 32 to 41 cwt.
per acre, the most successful crop being grown
by the aid of 14 cwt. of nitrate of soda, 2 cwt.
of superphosphate, and 3 cwt. of kainit, this
reaching 41 cwt. On one farm, however, the
average was only 33 cwt., while on another it
reached 54 cwt., the soil in the one case being
a dry boulder clay lying upon millstone grit,
while the other was a strong soit lying on boulder
clay. The profit per acre where the best results
were obtained was 13s. 11d. beyond that realised
by the crops which had received no manure.
In the following year a similar series of experi-
ments was conducted upon four farms, of which
Garforth was one. Here the best results were
obtained by the use of 14 cwt. of nitrate of soda
and 2 cwt. of superphosphate. The average
upon the four farms was 40% cwt.; at Garforth,
however, the yield reached 50% cwt., showing an
increased profit of 18s. 2d.; but in each case the
value of the hay was placed at 2s. 6d. per cwt.,
which is singularly low. Farmers who sell hay
could therefore count upon a still better return,
inasmuch as they obtain a higher price. It
should be observed, however, that in every in-
stance the employment of manure was followed
by an increase in the profit. Under another
92 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

scheme of cultivation conducted on five other
farms, with the addition of Garforth, the highest
average yield was 39} cwt. In this case the
average was reduced in consequence of the ex-
tremely poor crop, which was grown upon a very
thin, dry soil at Ripon, where the yield varied
from 6 cwt., per acre, where no manure was used,
to 144 cwt. on the most successful land. Ona
second farm, however, the crop was also small,
averaging only 30 cwt. on the best plot and
falling to 11 cwt. on the unmanured land. On
a farm at Sherbourn the crops varied from 38
cwt. per acre where no manure was used, to 64
cwt. on the plot which had been manured with
superphosphate, kainit, and nitrate of soda.
Here, again, upon every farm, and on every plot
upon every farm, the employment of the manure
was followed by an increase in the crop; but in
three instances there was a money loss, the
increase failing to pay for the manure. Experi-
menters have now gained so much experience
that we seldom find the increase in the crop due
to the manure failing to pay for its production.
Of necessity, however, this loss must be risked
if facts are to be obtained. Results of similar
experiments made in Lancashire were much
superior to those obtained in Yorkshire. Thus,
while the unmanured land produced 283 cwt., the
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 93

manured land exceeded 40 cwt. in seven of the
nine remaining cases, reaching in one case 45}
cwt. as the average upon all the farms. In the
following year, under the same scheme, the best
results were again obtained with the same com-
bination of manure—superphosphate, kainit, and
nitrate of soda, the average yield upon each
farm reaching 36} cwt. per acre, Garforth pro-
ducing 474 cwt. In this case the poor land to
which we have referred produced only 82 cwt.
without manure, but, with the manure referred to,
the crop rose to 234 cwt. In the same year the
Lancashire experiments were followed by crops
which exceeded 40 cwt. in seven of the nine cases
where the land was manured with artificial fer-
tilisers, the average in one instance reaching
484 cwt. It may be again remarked in connec-
tion with these results that the average yield of
meadow hay in Great Britain, in accordance with
the Returns of the Board of Agriculture, for the
years 1901-10 was 23°8 cwt. per acre. Thus, the
farmer can practically count upon a distinct and
profitable increase in his crop by the judicious
use of manure.

In the 1911 experiments at Garforth, in which
fourteen varieties of wheat were grown side by
side, the yields, with one exception, varied from
542 to 61 bushels to the acre. On the same farm,
94 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

under twelve systems of manuring with arti-
ficials, the crops of hay between 1902-11 averaged
from 41 to 47 cwt.; while at Horton, where the
experiments were duplicated, the variation was
between 43 and 54 cwt. per acre, the latter yield
being obtained by manuring with potash, super-
phosphate, and nitrate of soda. On the same
farm where farm manure was tested side by side
with artificials, a dressing of 10 tons of farmyard
manure applied annually gave an average yield
for twelve years of 524 cwt. per acre, while upon
a group of farms which were tested in the same
way the average yield reached 413 cwt. Similar
crops were obtained by alternating the Io tons of
dung with a dressing of nitrate of soda, super-
phosphate, and kainit. It should be pointed out
that the herbage was also increased in value.
Thus, by alternating the dung with the artificial
manures, foxtail, cocksfoot, and the oat grasses
were encouraged to grow, while bent grass was
almost eliminated, but weeds were also en-
couraged. It is important to notice, in discussing
this economical question, that the application of
dung, whether annually, in alternate years, or
alternated with artificials, encouraged the weeds,
although, curiously, repressing bent grass;
whereas a complete mixture of artificials, such
as nitrate of soda, superphosphate, and kainit,
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 95

produced the highest percentage of good grasses
and the lowest percentage of weeds.

We turn next to the production of red clover
at Garforth, where a number of foreign varieties
of seed were tried side by side with English seed.
On the average of four years the greatest weight
of clover hay produced from imported seed
reached 3 tons 3} cwt. per acre, with 3 tons
12 cwt. of aftermath. The heaviest crop grown
was from English single-cut cow grass, which
averaged 3 tons 142 cwt., producing in one year
no less than 4 tons 7 cwt. Here, however, the
variety was true to its name, for the aftermath
reached only 30 cwt. In two instances much
smaller average crops of hay, 50 and 53 cwt.,
were followed by 4 tons 7 cwt. of aftermath.
Thus, the farmer in selecting seed must consider
not only the first crop, but the second. Demon-
strations and experiments of this kind are of
the greatest moment to agriculture. We have
noticed upon the Canadian experiment farms—
which are much more extensive than our own—
how careful the Directors are to obtain seed of all
varieties of plants adapted to Canadian agricul-
ture from the various parts of the world. This
plan should be adopted in this country much
more extensively. It was found in this particular
case that the size of the seed varied so much that
96 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

where it was small it could be sown effectively
at the rate of 14 lb. to the acre, or 18 lb. where
it was large, seed of medium size being sown
at the rate of 16 lb. to the acre.

Some excellent work has been done on the
farm attached to the Agricultural College at
Uckfield in Sussex, and here south country
farmers can repair with a certainty of gaining
such knowledge as will help them, if not always
to achieve equal success, at least to improve the
weight and quality of their crops. By the em-
ployment of 10 tons of dung, supplemented by
nitrate of soda and superphosphate, the average
yield of hay produced for a period of six years
was 52 cwt. per acre, or 17 cwt. more than was
grown without manure, thus showing an annual
increase in the value of the crop of 25s. 5d. At
the end of six years manuring ceased, with the
result that during the three following years there
was a steady falling-off in the weight of the
crop, not only where the manure had been sup-
plied, but where there had been no manure
employed. The reduction was smallest, how-
ever, where farmyard manure had been employed
every year. These results, which are of the
greatest value, point to the fact that, while farm-
yard manure encourages the growth of weeds as
well as of the best grasses, it is too costly to
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 97

use every year; whereas artificial’ manures can
be employed with regularity, not only with a
practical certainty of increasing the crop, but of
increasing the quality of the herbage. In
another set of experiments upon the same farm
the average yield of hay during three successive
years reached 47 cwt. per acre, varying from
30 cwt. in the poor year, 1911, to 49 cwt. in 1910
and 60 cwt. in 1909 by the application of nitrate
of soda, superphosphate, and kainit. In 1909
three of the crops manured with artificials ex-
ceeded 63 cwt. to the acre, while all but one crop
exceeded 50 cwt.; in the following year the
variation, with two exceptions, was from 41 cwt.
to 492 cwt.; while in 1911, the year of drought,
the variations were from 27 to 37 cwt. per acre.
Here, again, we see not only how considerable
a crop can be grown by the aid of artificial
manure, but how normal crops vary with the
season, once more showing that the combination
of manure intelligently applied and suitable
weather are irresistible.

On the same farm in the trial cropping of
four varieties of wheat, all of which reached
54 qrs. to the acre, the heaviest crop, grown
with nitrate of soda and superphosphate, yielded
7 qrs., the opinion being expressed by the
director that greater yields would possibly be

H
98 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

recorded, and some of the necessary opera-
tions carried out at a smaller cost. Here, as in
many other cases, the variety of seed exerted
great influence on the yield. This fact was fully
exemplified at the Garforth Farm already re-
ferred to in the tests of barley which were made
between the years 1901-7, although every season
told its tale—a fact which cannot be too strongly
emphasised. Thus in 1905 nine varieties were
grown, the results varying from 61 to 71 bushels
to the acre; whereas in the following year, as
in the preceding, no crop exceeded 474 bushels.
All good varieties thrive under good cultivation
in a good season, but, whether the season is
good or bad, both seed and cultivation tell.

A brief reference may now be made to the
cultivation of the oat by Mr. Ernest Parke
between the years 1902-11 under the direction of
Dr. Bernard Dyer. In this case oats have been
grown in the course of rotation, sometimes after
mangels, sometimes after wheat or beans, and
in one case after oats. One portion of the land
sown received no manure in either year, while
the other received (1) superphosphate, (2) super-
phosphate and nitrate of soda, and (3) superphos-
phate and double the quantity of nitrate of soda.
During the first three years, the results were not
remarkable, but in 1905 the crop grown by the
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 99

aid of the three fertilisers reached 72 bushels,
with 30 cwt. of straw; in the following year,
the same manure produced 74 bushels and 42
cwt. of straw; in 1907, after mangels, 96 bushels,
with 51 cwt. of straw, were obtained; in 1908,
after beans, the crop reached 86 bushels of grain
and 40 cwt. of straw; in 1910 69% bushels and
39% cwt. of straw; while in 1911 the quantity of
oats harvested reached 79% bushels and the straw
40 cwt. In 1909 the crop was spoiled by the
weather. Thus, during a course of nine years
the average increase of grain due to the manures
was 26} bushels to the acre, with 15 cwt. of
straw. If we omit the first three years, we get
an average of six years, during which the system
adopted had naturally told, of 80 bushels to the
acre, with a splendid yield of straw. Is not this
worth striving for? What has been accom-
plished by Mr. Parke can be accomplished by
any farmer if he chooses to take the same pains,
for the results cannot be attributed to either
superior soil or climate. The farm—which is a
heavy clay loam weak in available phosphoric
acid—when taken in hand by Mr. Parke, was
in poor condition owing to long-continued.
neglect. {[t may also be remarked that no fixed
orthodox rotation has been followed. The land
has been farmed, not by the ordinary rules which
100 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

so many slavishly follow, but with the brains of
the farmer. Dr. Dyer has remarked that “the
experiments appear to show that even land
which, as in this case, had become through bad
farming locally notorious for its poverty, may

. . yield abundant crops if treated with the
proper fertilisers, and at the same time a very
substantial profit on their use.” Some time ago
we visited a farm of a similar type in the same
county, Warwickshire, with its owner, the Rt.
Hon. James Tomkinson, M.P., which he had
purchased when in very poor condition. Mr.
Tomkinson selected one of his Cheshire tenants,
handed him the farm at a modest rent, and
assisted him in making a start. At the end of
three years, which was the time of our visit, a
very large portion of the land had been re-
claimed, cleaned and manured, and was growing
handsome crops. Land of this character, when
in bad condition, provides a heart-breaking task
even for a skilled farmer with money behind
him; but where, as in Essex twenty years ago,
heavy land is unskilfully treated—chiefly from
want of means—and allowed to remain untilled
for one season, it reverts to a condition from
which it can only be reclaimed by the expendi-
ture of a considerable sum of money and
abundant energy.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 101

On the same farm Mr. Parke has grown
mangels since 1902 under four separate systems
of manuring. In the first year the crops were
all small, the heaviest, which was produced by
the aid of superphosphate and nitrate of soda,
reaching only 15 tons to the acre, the British
average being 20 tons. The unmanured land,
on the other hand, produced g$ tons. In the
following year, however, there was a consider-
able increase in all the crops, the 15-ton crop
being raised to 48} tons, the heaviest yield
during the eight years being 56 tons; while the
average yield on the land manured as described
was 43% tons, showing an average gain due to
the manure of 26} tons to the acre. We have
known an instance of 100 tons of mangels being
grown on sewage land, but there is probably no
farmer in England who would not be perfectly
satisfied with an average of 4o tons to the acre,
and there is no doubt about the possibility of
obtaining this weight on land suitable to
mangels by an intelligent system of cultivation
and manuring. Weight, however, is not the
only indication of value in the mangel crop. As
with sugar beet, so with mangels—which are so
closely allied—the feeding value of the bulb
depends upon the percentage of sugar which it
contains. Some varieties of mangel contain
102 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

more sugar than others, and in a series of experi-
ments conducted some years ago on the farm of
the Cheshire Agricultural School at Holmes
Chapel, it was demonstrated that in some in-
stances the weight of digestible food produced
per acre by some of the heaviest-yielding
varieties was smaller than in others, which pro-
duced less gross weight per acre. The time will
probably come when mangels will produce much
larger yields of sugar per cent. than they do at
the present time, although one of the varieties
in the test referred to produced 752% cwt. of dry
matter per acre, of which some 50 cwt. was
sugar. The production of sugar beet in France
received an incentive at the hands of the great
Napoleon, the percentage of sugar contained in
the bulbs at that time being much less than half
that now produced. Some sixty years ago, how-
ever, German growers, by selecting seed, com-
menced to improve the sugar percentage, until
now it is practically double.

We have seen that the yield of mangels—
which play a great part in British agriculture—
depends, chiefly upon soil, seed and manure.
Except in very dry seasons like 1911 there is
seldom a failure, but in such years land which
has been consistently well farmed, and which
contains plenty of humus in consequence,
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 103

usually grows a paying crop. Mangels delight
in fairly heavy soil, such as a clay loam. Trials
in mangel growing were conducted upon ten
Midland County farms by the Derbyshire
College in 1908, on eight farms in 1909, and on
seven farms in 1910. The average yield for three
years on twelve farms was, on the most prolific
plot, 29 tons 184 cwt. per acre, the manure
employed consisting of sulphate of ammonia and
superphosphate, sulphate of potash, common
salt, with nitrate of soda—at singling. This
average was reduced owing to the comparatively
small crops grown upon some of the farms. The
land returned a profit in 1910 of 71s. 1d. per acre,
the increased weight of mangels grown, as com-
pared with the land receiving no artificial
manures, being 6 tons 11 cwt. On one farm the
crop reached 55 tons to the acre; under another
system of manuring, in which soot was com-
bined with nitrate of soda, superphosphate, and
sulphate of potash, the highest yield obtained
was 46 tons to the acre. In the latter case the
land was medium loam. As in the case of other
crops, mangels frequently illustrate the fact that
one system of manuring suits one or more farms
better than others, and that there is no royal
road to success, even through the medium of an
agricultural college, apart from the skill of the
104 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

farmer himself; in other words, every grower of
crops should himself be an experimenter, and
make every crop he grows an experiment by
using his knowledge and recording results.
Every man can improve his returns if he takes
the pains, but he must of necessity work upon
scientific lines. As we have already remarked,
the value of the mangel cropdepends not somuch
upon the weight of the bulbs produced as upon
the weight of the dry matter which they contain.
Thus, in these trials, one variety which averaged
27 tons 7 cwt. per acre contained 6,939 Ibs. of
dry matter, whereas another variety which pro-
duced an average crop of 32 tons 13 cwt. per acre
contained 6,845 lbs. of dry matter. On the basis
of a value of 6s. gd. per 112 Ibs., the former crop was
valued at £20 18s. 2d. and the latter £20 12s. 6d.

Grass land has also been manured during a
series of eleven years in two fields on the farm
of Mr. Parke under five systems of manuring.
In each case phosphates and nitrate of soda have
been used singly, in combination with each
other, and with potash. In one field the phos-
phate employed was superphosphate; in the
other basic slag. The average yield on the most
successful portion of the field, on which super-
phosphate was employed, was 40 cwt. per acre,
or 29 cwt. more than was obtained upon the
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 105

unmanured land. Apart from the increase in the
weight, the herbage was much superior. In the
field on which the phosphate used was basic slag,
the highest average yield reached 434 cwt. per
acre, or 304 cwt. more than on the unmanured
land. In ro11 each field, as might be expected
from the drought, produced only half a crop,
thus reducing the average. With the exception
of this year, of the first year, 1902, and of 1908,
which was a bad growing year for grass, the
yield of hay never fell below 45 cwt. in the one
field and 44 cwt. in the other. Thus, for a cost
of less than 30s. Mr. Parke obtained an increased
yield of 30 cwt. of hay. With the best will in
the world to make full allowance for the diffi-
culties under whith so many tenants farm, it is
impossible to ignore the fact that if an angel
were to assure the unbelievers among them that,
by adopting similar methods, they could obtain
similar results, they would not make the attempt.
We are speaking of those who regard experi-
ments as the fads of the rich or as part of the
routine of the agricultural college, of those who
read and decline to take the pains to understand,
or, lastly, of those who never read at all; and we
think we may regard these three sections of the
tenant-farming class as forming a large propor-
tion of the total number. Happily for England,
106 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

there are men who not only help themselves, but
who are constantly giving encouragement to
others. Mr. Parke’s farm at Kineton is a typical
example of an English holding of heavy land,
and the work he has accomplished is an object
lesson which not merely teaches, but proves, how
farm crops can be increased.

The liberal use of phosphatic manure has
enabled both landlords and tenants to reclaim
land which was so unproductive that it failed to
command arent. The introduction of basic slag,
which is practically composed of phosphoric acid
in combination with lime ground into an impal-
pable powder, has immensely increased the value
‘of heavy land, while its more recent success upon
land of a lighter character, and especially of
Downland, is calculated to further increase the
value of British farms. We are intimately
acquainted with a south country property com-
posed of heavy grass land which was purchased
some eighteen years ago at a cost of £8 per acre.
The purchaser, with faith in basic slag, gave it
an annual dressing for several successive years.
Prior to the sale of a portion of this land, upon
the death of the owner, we walked over one of
the fields which was intended for hay, and in
which the herbage—largely composed of clover
—was almost as high as the hips. This land
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 107

was worth £50 an acre, although when sold with
a much larger area of the poorest portion of the
property the average for the whole reached only
428, showing a profit of £20 an acre in the
course of twelve years, and still leaving the best
land behind. The owner of land adjoining this
property sought the advice of the writer with
regard to its treatment. It was of an equally
heavy character, and poor in the extreme, the
grass crops which it produced being insufficient
to mow. The employment of phosphatic
manure, however, was followed by luxuriant
crops, one field in particular—and this the worst
in the district—being covered with clover, the.
whole advancing in value to double the cost.

PoTATO CULTURE

The potato crop is now one of the most
important in connection with British agriculture.
Its value to the farmers of Ireland, and, indeed,
to all the small occupiers of land in that country,
is probably greater than that of any other crop
but grass. When acting as Commissioner to the
Manchester Guardian during the famine in the
congested districts of Donegal, Mayo, Galway
and Clare, we had many opportunities of proving
the fact that large numbers of the poorer classes
108 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

of the people could not only live, but thrive,
upon the potato.

In 1912 the area covered by the potato crop
was 463,000 acres, or 33,800 acres more than in
the previous year. The average yield of the
potato in England is 6 tons to the acre; it is
slightly higher in Scotland, but considerably
smaller in Wales—only 5 tons to the acre. The
value of potatoes varies from 50s. to £6 a ton
according to the season—which influences the
‘weight and character of the crop—the variety,
and the period of sale, very early potatoes realis-
ing much higher prices than the main crop.
Bearing these facts in mind, it is evident that
any course of cultivation which will increase the
yield of potatoes will not only benefit the grower,
but the country at large. We shall see that
while our average yield is easily exceeded,
specially cultivated crops have reached 18 tons;
but even here it is possible we have not yet
reached the limit. It is essential to bear in mind
the fact that the weight and quality of a crop of
potatoes are influenced by the climate, the soil,
the date of planting, the cultivation, the manure
employed, the width apart at which the seed is
planted, and the seed. The variety of seed is of
the greatest importance, for the vitality of the
potato is rapidly diminished unless steps are
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 109

taken to prevent it—by making constant selec-
tions from the best plants, and thus maintaining
its constitution. The size of the seed is also an
important factor, some growers planting small
tubers, others cutting large ones; some, too,
sprout the seed before planting, by which they
are enabled to grow an earlier crop, while change
of seed is constantly recommended by experienced
growers who stick to certain varieties, seed from
Scotland being preferred by Northern and
Midland County growers to seed from the south
of England. In some cases seed is imported
from Germany with good results. All these
factors must be considered in growing the potato,
which, after all, may be diseased unless the
greatest care is taken in the selection of healthy
seed, and in spraying the crop to prevent an
attack. We have pointed out that the value of
the potato crop depends not only upon its weight
and the date of marketing, but upon its quality.
This is tested by wholesale dealers by cooking
samples, on which they base their judgment and
their price.

One of the most valuable contributions to
potato culture was made by the Wiltshire County
Council some years ago when crops were grown
on three farms under varying conditions with
the object not only of testing the value of the
110 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

manure—a complete fertiliser being used consist-
ing of 12 cwt. of nitrate of soda, superphosphate,
and kainit in equal quantities, costing 70s. per
acre—-but of the influence of planting at different
widths in the rows and from seed to seed, also
of cutting the seed. At one farm, Honingham,
the crop obtained by close-planting reached 17

tons 4 cwt., the seed used being Reading Giant,
- while by wide planting the crop reached 18 tons
18 cwt. per acre. Possibly this was a record at
the time, but it is sufficient to show what can be
done under suitable conditions by skilful cultiva-
tion. The value of this crop has certainly been
exceeded, as we shall see by referring to the
system of culture common in the Channel
Islands and in the neighbourhood of Penzance,
both of which we have had the opportunity of
witnessing. If, by the adoption of the complete
manure used in Wiltshire, or by any equally
practical method of feeding the plant, our
average yield of 6 tons could be increased to
only 7 tons per acre, the value of the extra weight
would exceed 13 millions sterling; and yet this
is a very modest proposal, and one which could
easily be accomplished if all potato-growers were
acquainted with the principles of cultivation and
the facts of the case, always assuming that they
had the will to comply with essential conditions.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 111

We have found during a long experience among
agriculturists of all ranks that large numbers of
men display an indifference or form of unwilling-
ness to spend a shilling on artificial manure,
however convinced they may be of the fact that
they will receive half-a-crown in return.

We next refer to one of the simplest and most
practical trials in potato culture which have ever
been made in this country. There is an organisa-
tion in Derbyshire known as the Hallam Field
Garden Association, the fifty-four members of
which competed in 1911 for prizes for (1) the
greatest weight of potatoes grown from one
pound of seed, (2) the heaviest crop grown upon
one root, and (3) the heaviest potato. A committee
was formed; they supplied the seed and were
present when it was planted and when the crop
was lifted and weighed. In spite of the drought
of the summer of 1911 the results were remark-
able. The first-prize winner produced 181 lbs. of
potatoes from 110 pieces or sets into which he
had cut his pound of potatoes; the second-prize
winner grew 173 Ibs. from 67 sets; while the
third prize was awarded to a competitor who
grew 169% Ibs. from 116 sets, each of these
growers employing dung and artificial manure.
Thus we see that the winner obtained 14 Ibs. of
potatoes to each root, which was indeed small,
112 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

but large considering the size of the sets. On
the other hand, another competitor who grew
only 47 lbs. from 10 sets produced 44 lbs. per
root. If this grower occupied only the same
space of ground that was occupied by the first-
prize winner, it would apparently follow that the
weight of potatoes grown would be eleven times
47 |bs.; the probability is, however, that the 110
sets were placed closer together. The greatest
weight of potatoes grown upon a single plant
was 11} Ibs., the second-prize lot reaching to lbs.
5 ozs., while the heaviest potato was 1 Ib. 9 ozs.
These Derbyshire colliers have taught us a
lesson, and it may be remarked that they are an
example of the fact that successful potato culture
is not confined to the largest and most skilful
potato-growing farmers. Successful potato
culture, however, does not depend upon cutting
up tubers into minute sets, but upon the careful
preparation of suitable soil, good seed and liberal
manuring, other factors being considered from
their practical side.

We turn next to the potato-growing experi-
ments of the Sussex farm at Uckfield, where the
influence of various manures was tested in the
growth of the crop. In this case the yield was
much smaller than that obtained in Wiltshire,
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 113

one variety only being used upon soil which is
not adapted to the crop, consisting as it does of
fairly heavy clay resting upon a poor retentive
subsoil. Considering this fact, the results may
be regarded as almost equal to those obtained in
Wiltshire where the soil was of a superior char-
acter. By the employment of 1 cwt. of nitrate of
soda and 336 lbs. of superphosphate, the crop
reached 11 tons per acre, one ton of which was
small. In this case the variety used was
Dalhousie, while the quality of the crop after
cooking was excellent.

At the Northumberland County Farm the crop
of 1911 was planted upon a sandy loam. It con-
sisted of nine varieties, but it has been shown in
the course of these experiments that potatoes
from Scotland or the north of Ireland give better
results than when they are grown for more than
one year on the county farm. Thus, when the
well-known variety ‘“ Up-to-Date,” which had
been grown upon a light gravelly soil in Berk-
shire, was used, it produced only a quarter of a
crop. The heaviest yields were obtained from a
Scotch potato named “Factor ”—17% tons, of
which 142 tons were good; from “Cumberland
Ideal,” 17 tons, 13$ tons being good; 15 tons
from “White City,” 124 tons being good; and

I
114 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

13 tons from “ Dalhousie,” of which 10 tons were
good. On this farm efforts have been made for
some years past to ascertain the best time for
planting, whether sprouting before planting was
desirable, what varieties to plant successfully,
and what manure to use. These questions have
been practically answered. By previously
sprouting the seed the increases in the yield have
exceeded a ton of good potatoes per acre in the
main crop and late varieties, it being already
known that sprouting is advantageous for early
varieties. The best results were obtained by
manuring with 12 tons of farmyard dung, 1 cwt.
of sulphate of ammonia, 2 cwt. of basic slag,
14 cwt. of superphosphate, and 1 cwt. of sulphate
of potash.

The cultivation of the potato has been carefully
studied at the Yorkshire College, Leeds. Crops
have been grown upon various farms, the soil of
which was respectively sand, loam, clay and
warp. Between the years 1899 and 1903 the
average yield at all the centres, or test farms, was
Io tons 3 cwt., or 3 tons 182 cwt. above the
weight obtained without manure. At the York-
shire Farm the weight obtained was 11 tons.
The average crops at Garforth during the same
period, where 10 tons of farm manure was sup-
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 115

plemented by superphosphate and sulphate of
potash, reached 10 tons 19% cwt. In rgo1 the
average yield, where the dung was supplemented
by a complete fertiliser, reached 12 tons 1 cwt.,
and in 1902 12 tons 132 cwt. per acre; in the
third year there was a falling off, thus reducing
the average yield on the three years to slightly
more than 11 cwt. Nevertheless, the value of the
crops, after deducting the cost of the manures,
was £17 19s. 4d., while in another case in which
the same manures were employed, except that
nitrogen was provided in nitrate of soda instead
of sulphate of ammonia, the average of the three
years was higher, reaching 11 tons 163 cwt. per
year, and showing a value, after the deduction of
the cost of the manure, of £19 Ios. 5d.

We have already seen that in some demon-
strations much larger crops of potatoes have
been grown, but there are few, if any, cultivators
of the potato who would not be gratified with
results such as these. We have seen, too, that
the crop was grown upon various farms and on
various soils; nevertheless, the best returns
exceeded 10 tons to the acre, leaving a gain,
after paying for the manure, of nearly £16 to
the good. It is true that this average is the
result of much heavier yields upon one farm than
116 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

upon another; for example, one crop reached
12 tons 16 cwt. per acre, while on another it fell
to 7 tons 12 cwt., but the latter weight is not to
be despised upon soil which is usually regarded
as unsuitable to the potato plant. These demon-
strations not only show what can be accom-
plished upon suitable land—for the majority of
plants have some preference—but what can be
grown upon unsuitable land. Farmers, therefore,
who refrain from planting potatoes because they
regard their land as unsuitable may grow them
successfully and profitably by adopting the
method to which we have referred.

We are acquainted with no series of demon-
strations which more clearly show the influence
of soil than those conducted in Yorkshire. In
the year 1903, for example, when crops were
grown at four different centres, the yield at
Escrick, where the soil is specially suitable,
reached 17 tons 19 cwt. to the acre where dung
was supplemented with a complete fertiliser,
while in the following year 16 tons 1 cwt. was
reached. At a second centre the best-manured
crops reached only 7 tons 17 cwt., but when we
add that the unmanured land produced only
3 tons 19 cwt., we are able to show how remark-
able was the success of the manure. It may be
pointed out that the combination of farmyard
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 117

dung with artificial fertilisers has a very intelli-
gent basis. The potato requires abundant
moisture. In a dry season, therefore, it may fail
unless dung is employed, dung acting as a
mulch and assisting in the retention of the
moisture in the soil.

Although the yields of potatoes grown in the
Channel Islands are exceptional, it is impossible
to exclude a reference to a form of culture which
is so remarkable. In a paper read before the
British Dairy Conference by Mr. Collenette,
Consulting Agricultural Chemist in Guernsey,
the area devoted to potatoes was said to be 715
acres, while the production reached 10,725 tons,
or precisely 15 tons to the acre. The manure
employed by the growers consists largely of
seaweed, supplemented by heavy dressings of
artificial manures, which sometimes reach one
ton per acre. Upon one farm visited during the
middle of May early potatoes to the value of
4800 had already been sold, although the area
covered by the crop reached only seven acres.
Upon another farm the work of lifting the
potatoes had been half completed, the crop realis-
ing £90 per acre. Although the area devoted to
the various crops grown in the island is com-
paratively small, the average yield, as is the case
of most of the important crops, is much superior
118 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

to that in England. Thus, barley averages 50
bushels against 33 bushels in England; turnips
and swedes average 60 tons against 14 tons in
England; mangels 34 tons against 20 tons;
parsnips and carrots 25 tons against 14 tons;
again, the hay produced reaches 50 cwt. against
the British average of 232 cwt. per acre. There
are 4,500 glasshouses in the island, reaching a
total length of 153 miles and covering 632 acres
—and they are still increasing. There is only
one part of Great Britain in which the potato is
consistently grown with equal success, and there,
as in Guernsey and Jersey, we have had the
advantage of seeing the work for ourselves.
During one of numerous visits to Cornwall
we were enabled to inspect a typical potato farm
in the neighbourhood of Penzance at a time when
the tubers were being lifted for market in the
second week of May. The soil in which they
were grown was of an ideal character—light,
friable, and rich, 15 in. to 16 in. deep, and culti-
vated with the greatest ease. A small slice of
potato is removed with a knife from one end of
each tuber employed for seed. Upon this flat
surface it is placed in a tray and sprouted, being
planted in this condition towards the end of
January, the ground having been previously
manured with 160 small loads of a mixture of
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 119

dung, seaweed, and white sand which is found
upon the shore, per acre. The “acre,” however,
is peculiar to the district, and consists of 8 sq.
lease, the lease being an enlarged rod, pole or
perch of 36 sq. yds., so that each acre is about
17 Imperial. Thus each rod or lease receives
one load of manure. The crop which was being
lifted, however, had received in addition 14 tons
of nitrate of soda per acre, or fifteen times, as
much as a skilled potato grower employs in most
parts of England, where 2 cwt. is regarded as a
liberal dressing. The importance of the nitrate
was shown by the fact that in another field which
we were shown, and which had received no
nitrate, the crop was practically a failure. The
potatoes are grown very close together in the
rows, and are never moulded; the seed, too, is
placed much closer than is the case on average
farms. The price realised for the first lot sent
to market was 18s. 6d. per cwt. Prices, how-
ever, fall as the season advances, until the later
crops return very little. The crop is undoubtedly
crowded, while the potatoes are of necessity
small—chiefly Myatt’s Ashleaf and Snowdrop.
After the removal of the crop broccoli is planted
without either ploughing or manuring. The
expense of the potato crop is enormous, for in
addition to the cost of the manure and cultiva-
120 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

tion there is the harvesting, packing, carting to
the station, cost of carriage and commission, and,
lastly, the rent, which in this case was £9 per
acre, even this sum being exceeded in some
instances. In this case the farmer pays, not for
the soil, but for the climate, for we have seen
soils in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and even Corn-
wall itself which are equally as suitable and
possibly still richer in plant food than the land
near Penzance.
Potatoes have been grown with considerable
success on the farm attached to the Midland
Agricultural College at Kingston near Derby.
The experiments, which were simultaneously
conducted upon four other farms—one of which
was wold land, another fen or warp, and the
others medium and heavy loams—were not less
successful in relation to the weight of the crop
produced than the College Farm, in spite of the
fact that the soil consisted of clay loam. The
heaviest crop reached 11 tons 11} cwt. of ware,
or saleable potatoes, and 3 tons 1 cwt. of small
and diseased potatoes—in all, 14 tons 12$ cwt.
The manure employed in this case consisted of
sulphate of ammonia, superphosphate and sul-
phate of potash, the increased value of the ware
potatoes over and above that obtained from the
unmanured land, less the cost of the manures,
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH LAND 121

reaching 63s. 8d. per acre. Almost equally large
crops were grown with the same mineral
manures—-phosphates and potash—by using
nitrate of soda, nitrate of lime, calcium cyana-
mide, fish meal, and two special potato manures
the constituents of which are unknown. Here,
then, is another instance in which yields which
practically average 14 tons to the acre, including
small and diseased potatoes, were grown under
numerous systems and upon soil which was by
no means of an ideal character. It should be
added that in each case the artificial manures
were supplemented by an ordinary dressing of
dung.
CHAPTER IV
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH OUR STOCK

To state that the live-stock of the farm as
supplied to the world is practically the creation
of British farmers is to state the truth, and no
less than the truth. It is quite unnecessary to
describe in this book how the builders of Short-
horn cattle, Leicester sheep, White York pigs,’
and Shire horses accomplished their work; those
interested in this question, as in all that relates
to the production of all our British breeds—and
they are very numerous—will find full details in
the various histories which have been written in
the past. The live-stock of America and our
British Colonies has been built up by the em-
ployment of British blood, but, having reached —
a degree of approximate perfection, we are in at
least one direction allowing others to beat us
—we refer to the production of milk. Reference
will be made to the horse, and to the production
of meat; inasmuch, however, as the production
of milk, butter, and cheese now plays so promi-
nent a part in our agricultural system, and as

the dairy industry is calculated to do more for
122
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 123

British farming than the production of meat,
we propose to deal first and as briefly as possible
with the work which has been accomplished on
the highest lines, and to show what can be
accomplished by the skilful breeder and by the
adoption of the Recording System, which, after
all, is but the application of business principles
to the farm.

In 1883 we paid a first visit to Denmark,
which had just commenced her unexampled
career of prosperity in relation to the production
of butter, bacon, and eggs. Our excursion was
made at the suggestion of the late Mr. Henry
Michael Jenkins, Secretary of the Royal Agri-
cultural Society of England, who had acted in
the previous year as Assistant Royal Commis-
sioner. We visited the Royal Danish Show,
and witnessed the first public tests of the newly-
invented cream separators, suggesting to. the
manufacturers the importance of producing a
hand-machine for Great Britain, which we were
told in response could not be made—subsequently
interviewing that great national pioneer, Prof.
Segelcke, and inspecting some typical farms. In-
vited on our return to England to address agricul-
tural meetings in different parts of the country,
our statements of fact were often ignored, and
British Dairy Farming—which, as a definite
124 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

industry, scarcely existed—continued to move in
its ancient groove, while Denmark was systema-
tically increasing her export of butter tous. The
result is that while our own butter industry, like
our cheese industry, remains in statu quo—for
we have made no advance in the quantity of our
production of either—we are paying for imported
butter 244 millions a year, most of which goes
to Denmark, while our consumption is increasing
hand-over-hand, not only because of the increase
in our population, but because of the larger con-
sumption per head. Thus, in 1891 we consumed
10 Ibs. of imported butter per head of our popula-
tion, and in 1911 13 lbs. A better idea of the
present value of the dairy industry in this
country may be gained by the following state-
ment of facts..

The value of the milk, butter, cheese, and
cream produced and sold by farmers in Great
Britain in 1908 was estimated by the Board of
Agriculture at

429,893,000.
This total has probably increased in 1911. The
total value of the dairy imports in 1911 was
436,272,743,
showing the total value of the dairy produce
consumed to be
466,165,000.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 125

This is equivalent to more than £2 per acre of
our cultivated land—although it excludes every
shilling spent for milk consumed upon the farms
of those who produce it, both for their stock and
for themselves. Thus, the value of the im-
ported dairy produce exceeds £1 per acre, or
more than £100 per hundred-acre farm.

There are no facts which enable us to ascer-
tain the average yield of milk produced per cow
in this country. In the Census of Production
Report the average yield per cow is estimated at
550 galls., or 437 galls. per head of cows and
heifers enumerated. Farmers who have paid
close attention to the subject, and who have fol-
lowed the natural lines of breeding for quantity
and quality of milk are able to produce cows
which yield from 800 to 1,300 galls. per annum,
such milk containing from 3% to 5 per cent. of
fat, whereas the existing standard is 3 per cent.
About the year 1885 we read a paper before the
British Dairy Farmers’ Association suggesting
the importance of breeding for milk, and of
establishing an organisation which would enable
farmers to have their cattle tested, and to record
their yields in an official Herd Book that all who
desire to make substantial crosses for improve-
ment could obtain what they required ; the object,
indeed, was to do for milk production what has
126 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

been done for so long a period for beef, but
upon still more practical lines. A committee-
was subsequently formed, but no help was forth-
coming, and the matter fell flat. A few years
later, however, Denmark led the way, establish-
ing Recording Societies, which now exceed 500
in number, whereas, although there are several
similar Societies in Scotland of comparative
recent formation, we are aware of none as yet
existing in England. Unlike farmers who pro-
duce beef and mutton, dairy farmers have made
no intelligent effort to breed for milk; they have
been guided rather by the handsome appearance
of a beast than by its powers of production.
Hence the fact that at our Dairy Shows so many
of the prize cattle are beaten in the milking trials
and butter tests which follow, while the winners
in these competitions, which are precisely the
cattle required, frequently obtain no recognition
on inspection at the hands of the judges. Thus
at the National Dairy Show of 1912 the first
prize Shorthorn Cow obtained no prize for
milk or: butter, while the first prize Cow for
milk obtained no prize on inspection. Again
the champion milker was placed fifth only on
inspection. .

We now propose to refer to the great dairy test
which was held at the World’s Fair at St. Louis
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 127

in 1905 in order to show what good cattle are
able to do. This was an extension of the test
made at Chicago which the writer attended in
1894. Its importance and value may be gauged
by the fact that it cost £40,000 to conduct, one
half of which was contributed by the leading
Cattle Associations of the United States. That
this money was well spent, we are assured. The
conduct of the work was in the hands of officials,
some of whom belonged to the Department of
Agriculture at Washington, and all of whom
bore honoured names as scientific men. Our
desire in referring to this question is to show
what can be done by recording what has been
done.

Jersey cattle are among the most advanced
milkers in the world. They have been con-
tinuously improved. At Chicago the 25 cows
which were milked for 90 days produced an
average of 2,939 Ibs., or about 290’ galls. of
milk per head. During the same period the
same number of cows competing at St. Louis
produced 3,857 lbs. per head, an increase of
917 lbs., or go galls. in round figures. These
cows produced in three months as much milk as
is yielded per head. by a very large proportion
of the cows in this country per annum. Each
cow produced 42 lbs. of milk per day at St. Louis,
128 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

or 10 lbs.—equal to one gallon more than was
produced at Chicago. This was the result of
selection and skill in breeding. The butter pro-
duced at St. Louis reached 176 lbs. per cow, or
considerably more than the annual average yield
of the cows of Great Britain; but the average
yield at Chicago was only 140 lbs.; in other
words, the cows at St. Louis had increased the
yield of butter from 1°56 lbs. per day—which was
the Chicago yield—to 1°95 lbs. Of the 74 cows
which competed, and which were respectively
Jerseys, Shorthorns, Dutch, and Swiss, 33 pro-
duced sufficient fat to make an average of over
2 lbs. of butter daily during the whole period
of the test. The smallest total yield by a Jersey
cow was 193 lbs., the smallest yield by a Dutch
cow 180 lbs. Of the 29 Shorthorn cows, how-
ever, 25 failed to reach the lowest standard of
the other breeds—that given by the Swiss,
169 lbs.; and here we recognised at once the
failure of our countrymen. The builders and
breeders of the Shorthorn had ignored the milk
question altogether. Thousands of pounds were
paid for individual bulls and cows, many of the
latter of which were scarcely able to rear their
calves for want of milk. (In 1875 4,500 guineas
was paid for the bull, Duke of Connaught.)
The skill and short-sighted policy of British
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 129

breeders had placed the Shorthorn at the bottom
of the tree, whereas had the same efforts been
made in the production of milk that have been
made in the production of beef, the Shorthorn
would long since have been the dairy cow of the
world. One further fact must complete our
reference to the most important test which has
ever occurred in the history of agriculture. The
leading cow in the whole competition was of the
Dutch variety—a breed which a century ago was
employed in building the Shorthorn. She pro-
duced 330 lbs. of butter in 120 days, exceeding a
Jersey cow only by a fraction. This cow was
shown to have secreted 136 million fat globules
per second, while she manufactured her milk at
the rate of 3 Ibs. per hour, day and night. She
produced her butter at the cost for food of 5$d.
per lb., while the cost of her milk for food was
only nine-tenths of one halfpenny per quart.
The importance of blood in breeding is exem-
plified by one of many facts which were elicited
in this great contest. A cow weighing 1,512 lbs.
produced 172 lbs. of butter from 4,053 lbs. of
milk, gaining during the process 139 Ibs. in
weight. A much smaller cow weighing 809 lbs.
yielded 4,497 lbs. of milk, which produced 214 Ibs.

of butter, her gain in weight during the process
K
130 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

being 55 lbs. The small cow consumed a smaller
quantity of food. Thus we see that, while size
is no qualification, size combined with imperfect
milking properties diminishes the profit from
the milk. Thus, too, a cow may be well bred,
but may put fat upon her back instead of into
the pail. It is not only by careful selection,
but by a recognition of the value of pedigree
which involves a record for milk for generations,
that we can ensure great milking power.

In September 1912 there died at Cranford,
near Hounslow, a modest, unassuming man,
Mr. George Taylor, who had been unostentati-
ously breeding Dairy Shorthorns for milk for a
period of thirty-four years. In 1907 Mr. Taylor
obtained an average price of £63 per head for
71 of his cattle at his annual sale. In 1911, 75
animals realised an average of £75 a head, all
the available bull calves being sold privately at
excellent prices. The first 32 cows of those sold
produced an average of over 1000 galls. of milk
with their last calves, one of these cows subse-
quently obtaining the champion prize at the
Royal Show, while one of her sons realised 600
guineas. Mr. Taylor was one of the few who
recorded the yields of his cows, and consequently
on the dispersal of his herd soon after his death
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 131

it was possible for the auctioneers, Messrs.
Thornton & Co., to state in the catalogue pre-
cisely what quantities of milk had been pro-
duced by almost every animal. Of the first 82
cows which were born in, or prior to, 1907, 54
had in the previous year exceeded 800 galls.
of milk, a very large proportion of these exceed-
ing goo and several exceeding 1000 galls.
We have frequently shown elsewhere that the
material is in the country, but only here and
there have producers made any attempt to
utilise it. There is no Dairy Farmers’ Herd
Book, no milk-recording organisation ; there has
been nothing which has exerted the slightest
influence upon breeders, excepting the competi-
tions at the London Dairy Show and elsewhere.
But in these cases it is not blood that tells so
much as the fact that an individual cow, highly
bred or not, yields a given quantity of milk or
butter on a couple of given days. We have been
shown the way to success in this direction by
America, by Denmark, and by Sweden; and yet
we are unwilling to follow it. Our Board of
Agriculture is almost impotent in a matter of this
kind without the money at command, but it can
scarcely be denied that successive Ministers have
either failed to recognise the importance of the
182 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

question, or owing to lack of interest they have
ignored it altogether when placed before them.
Another famous Dairy Shorthorn herd is
owned by Mr. Samuel Sandy of Puddington
Hall, near Chester. Mr. Sandy inherited the
taste for breeding this variety of cattle from his
father, who was a well-known successful Short-
horn breeder fifty years ago, an average of £53
a head having been realised for the whole of his
herd in 1861. Mr. Sandy’s herd has been
largely built up by the aid of stock purchased
from Mr. George Taylor, and from two well-
known Gloucestershire breeders of milking
Shorthorns, Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Arkell, both of
whom, like their fathers before them, have been
careful breeders for a long period of time. One
cow in this herd gave 1,476 galls. of milk be-
tween April 1911 and March 1912; another cow
gave 1,323 galls. between October 1, 1910, and
September 30, 1911, her highest weekly yield
being 562 galls. and her highest daily yield
8% galls., or 86 lbs. On August 1, 1911, the
milk of this cow contained 4°9 per cent. of fat
in the morning and 4'5 per cent. in the evening,
practically the equivalent of that in the milk of
the cow previously referred to. The method of
breeding cattle of this type may be illustrated
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 138

by reference to one of the sires used by Mr.
Sandy. This bull, Beau Furbelow, was the son
of a bull whose dam was a great prize-taker and
a great milker. His dam gave 916 galls. of
milk in 1905, 1,080 galls. in 1906, and 1,052
galls. in 35 weeks during 1909. Thus, both dam
and grandam were great milkers, and both of
pedigree blood. _The dam, however, was bred
from a bull, Wild Prince [X, whose dam, Wild
Queen, gave 968 galls. of milk between August
10, 1902, and May 31, 1903, her dam, Wild
Queen II, winning first prize in the London
milking trials in 1898 and third prize in 1899
for Lord Rothschild. This cow gave an average
of 1,021 galls. of milk in the three years ending
September 29, 1900. The grandam of the bull
on the other side was a cow named “Double
Furbelow,” which gave an average yield of
867 galls. of milk during a period of five years.
Although numerous other members of this herd
possess similar pedigrees, this reference is suffi-
cient to show how the skilled breeder ensures
milking progeny from his stock. We venture,
however, to say that in spite of facts of this
character not 1 per cent. of the farmers of
Great Britain and Ireland will make similar
attempts to improve their herds. What has been
1384 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

accomplished by the breeders we have named
and by others, we foretold might be accom-
plished a quarter of a century ago, when few
men had made a commencement. The efforts
of Mr. Sandy have been rewarded by the pro-
duction of cattle which not only produce large
quantities of milk, but milk of wonderful quality,
which is systematically weighed and tested in
the ordinary course of recording.

The work of Mr. John Evens, of Burton
Farm near Lincoln, may next be referred to as
an example of what can be done by persistent
effort, patience, and skill in the production of
milk. So far as I am able to learn, Mr. Evens
commenced to breed with an object about 1885,
since which time he has selected and retained
the best members of his herd for milking and
breeding purposes. In 1891 his 35 cows
averaged 720 galls. of milk. In 1898 his herd
was increased to 38 cows and his average to
824 galls. From that time until now the number
of cows has been gradually increased, while the
average yield, although varying from time to
time, has been practically maintained. In r1g1o,
15 cows gave over 1000 galls. of milk; of these
7 exceeded 1,100 galls., 1 cow reaching the
prodigious quantity of 1,443 galls., or an average
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 135

of 39°6 lbs. per day. As an additional proof of
their milking properties, many of these cows
have competed at the London and other Dairy
Shows, and have obtained a large number of
prizes and challenge cups; their record, indeed,
is beyond question.

The bills used in this herd are invariably
the sons of dams which have been great milkers.
Thus the bull Burton Challenger was the son
of Burton Margaret, which produced 7% galls.
of milk in a day in the competition at Tring,
while after her fourth calf she yielded 1,534
galls., and after her fifth calf 1,258 galls. of
milk. The presence of such cows in public
competitions is doubly valuable; they are an
incentive to other breeders to attempt to follow
their owners’ example, and they confirm their
published records. The 51 cows in Mr. Evens’
herd in i910 produced 43,567 galls., showing an
average of 854°2 galls. per cow—and this in
spite of the fact that 29 per cent. were heifers
with their first calves, several of which were
considerably less than their full time in milk.
The breed to which we are referring is the
Lincoln Red Shorthorn, which, if not so beauti-
ful in form and colour as the more popular
roans and reds-and-whites, has proved itself to
136 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

be one of the best types of milking cattle in
the country. A herd which returns to its owner
an average of £20 per cow per year for milk is
usually regarded as eminently satisfactory, but
if we assume that Mr. Evens is able to obtain
an average of god. per gallon throughout the
year, his average return would be £32, and this
in addition to the increased price obtained for
the stock which he sells to other breeders.
Breeding on this line, therefore, pays from two
points of view, and when farmers in much
larger numbers adopt the same system, we may
take it that agriculture will be as prosperous as
Burton Farm, and we shall hear no more of
agricultural depression.

It is probable that there is no herd of dairy
cows in the British Islands with which so much
has been accomplished as the Jerseys of Dr.
Herbert Watney, at Buckhold, Pangbourne,
Berkshire. The object of Dr. Watney in breed-
ing Jerseys—which he commenced to do some
thirty years ago—has been to demonstrate in a
practical way the fact that the Jersey is essen-
tially a butter cow. With this object in view
he made a point of selecting cattle with good
constitutions, taking the greatest precaution to
ensure purity of blood and milking capacity.
We have had the advantage of examining the
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 187

herd at Buckhold on two occasions and of fre-
quently seeing individual cows, which have been
exhibited since 1890, at many of the leading
Agricultural and Dairy Shows, and which
during a short period won in the butter tests
alone 34 gold medals, 34 silver medals, and 26
bronze medals, besides a large number of
prizes.

Records of the yields of the cows forming the
herd have been kept since 1888. The milk of
each cow is weighed and tested for fat, and the
result thus obtained is checked by the weight
of butter made. While, as we have shown else-
where, the average yield of the cows of the
country is variously placed at from 460 to 500
galls. per annum, Dr. Watney’s average in 1910
was 701 galls., from which 415 Ibs. of butter was
produced. Every cow in the herd has been
tested with tuberculin, and both bulls and cows
have records or milk pedigrees which are quite
exceptional, and, from the butter standpoint,
unequalled by any. known herd in this country.
The following table, for which we are indebted
to the kindness of Dr. Watney, shows the
number of cows in the herd, in each year since
1898, the average quantity of milk in pounds—
10 lbs. may be regarded as equivalent to a
gallon—and the average yield of butter per cow.
138 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

MILK AND BUTTER RECORD

 

 

 

 

 

A
Years, No. of Cows. Ibs, of Milk Ibs. oiler
1898 37°88 6493°57 373°00
1899 32°66 6706°43 398 °48
1900 38°73 6261°18 376'04
1901 39°78 6598°89 394°32
1902 33°89 7221°10 451‘10
1903 36°23 7029'26 424°54
1904 30°04 7404°90 463°48
1905 29°92 7225°97 433°29
1906 30°41 7124°62 436°18
1907 31°97 6634°00 404°70
1908 28°17 6757°84 427°58
1909 28°78 6854°90 415°08
1910 25°16 JOLLY 415‘23
1QII 31°98 6078°50 357'29

 

It will be noticed that the herd has averaged
over 700 galls. in six out of the fourteen years
here recorded, while in nine years the butter
yield has exceeded 400 Ibs., exceeding 450 Ibs.
per cow in 1902 and 1904. In 1909 one cow
produced over 1000 galls. of milk, another over
goo galls., and four in all over 800 galls. In
the following year these cows all exceeded 800
galls., one again exceeding 1000 galls., while
five cows produced more than 500 lbs. of butter.
In 1911, owing to the severe drought which
practically affected all milking cattle in the
country, the yield was considerably smaller, the
figures falling lower than in any of the years
recorded above. The following records of in-
dividual cows will probably bear comparison
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 139

with those of any Jerseys in existence. So long
as such figures are possible we may fairly assume
that no efforts can be too great where they are
made to promote similar progress in the production
of milking cows. The best Jerseys in Dr. Wat-
ney’s herd have made the following averages—

Red Maple gave for 12 years an average of 471 lbs. of butter.

Sabean IT ” II ” ” » 430 ” 2
Guenons Lady ,, To ”» Pr » 497 ” ”
Guenons Lady Teasel 9 5 i » «448 3 a
Lady Siphon 9 5 ae 446s
Sharab 6 4 ns 5420
Red Maple II (first three years in milk) 530 ¥9 33

With such cattle as these as a foundation for
British Jerseys, what may not be accomplished ?
Dr. Watney tells us that what success he has
achieved is due to the fact that there are, in his
opinion, only three requirements for a good milk
or butter cow, all of which he has endeavoured
to ensure: the first, that she should be free from
all disease and deformity; the second, that she
should have a calf every year; and if these are
fulfilled, the only other requirement necessary
is that she should give a good yearly yield of
milk. To attain these qualifications it is neces-
sary, adds Dr. Watney, to own stock of a breed
which goes back a long way, and which possess
good records on both sides. Even then, he
continues, care and thought are essential in
connection with housing, feeding, and the water
140 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

supply. Dr. Watney believes that the more
good books that are read and the more good
farms that are seen, the greater will be the know-
ledge of the breeder. He regards the form and
size of the Jersey, so far as it relates to exhibition
stock, as qualifications which are fitted only for
toy breeders.

We have referred with some detail to the
results which have been obtained by individual
breeders, and it is unnecessary to deal with all
classes of stock at the same length. We there-
fore propose to show as precisely as possible
what pecuniary results are obtained by breeders
of horses of a few varieties, of cattle, sheep, and
pigs. We may take it for granted that the
methods adopted in each case are consistent
with those to which we have already referred.
Specialist breeders, and in particular those who
hold annual sales, adhere strictly to line or
pedigree breeding, but they invariably associate
all the points required in the offspring with that
pedigree. The points deficient in one parent,
however well-bred, are of necessity provided in
the other, and it is only by rejecting the stock
which fail in essential points, however perfect
elsewhere, and consistently employing males
which are as perfect as possible, that a given
standard of excellence can be reached,
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 141

In 1912, at the close of which we write, Mr.
W. Rhodes realised an average of £47 gs. 8d.
for 58 head of Shorthorns. At the sale of the
Shorthorns of Mr. Cornelius and the Hon.
H. C. Lewis, 37 head averaged £69 12s. 3d.
The herd of the Rev. C. H. Brocklebank, num-
bering 41, averaged £64 2s. 7d. Forty-one
head, owned by Mr. Thompson, averaged
461 19s., while at the Kingham sale 123
averaged £34 19s. 4d. At the sale of surplus
Shorthorns owned by H.M. the King, 36 head
averaged £120 16s. 9d. At the Darlington sale
Messrs. Macdonald & Frazer in selling a large
number of Shorthorns realised prices which
ranged from 35 gs. to 520 gs. each, 7 animals
exceeding 115 gs. At Mr. J. L. Shirley’s sale
of Dairy Shorthorns, 48 head averaged £39
each, two bulls and a cow exceeding £100 each.
At the sale of Mr. Duthie’s Shorthorns 24 bull
calves averaged £377 8s. 7d. each, some of the
cattle reaching from. 1000 gs. to 2000 gs. At
the sale of 90 head owned by Messrs. Hey &
Stokes, the prices varied from 21 gs. to IIo gs.
each. At the sale of stock exported by Mr.
McLennan to Buenos Ayres, 32 bulls averaged
4888 each. At the Kelmscott Sale of Short-
horns, 53 head averaged £63 I1s. 8d.

At the sale of the Devon Cattle Breeders’
142 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

Association, 24 bulls averaged £30 Ios., while
32, many of which were calves, averaged
424 178s. each.

At the sale of Mr. Turner’s Herefords, 164
sold realised £10,000, averaging £62 16s. 6d.
Cows and calves averaged, 112 gs. each, two-
year-old heifers 644 gs., and yearlings 57 gs.
each; 19 of the animals sold exceeded 100 gs.
each, two selling for 300 and 360 gs. respectively.

‘At the sale of the Woodlands Jerseys, 33 head
averaged £28 18s. tod.

At Mr. J. Bucknell’s sale of Guernseys, 16
head averaged £35; while at Lady Fielding’s
sale 10 averaged £29 135. 3d.

At the sale of Sir Walter Corbett’s Red Polls,
47 head averaged £54 Ios. 11d.

At Mr. Ford’s sale of Dutch cattle, 44 head
averaged £41 7s. 11d.; while at Messrs. King’s
sale 40 head averaged £31 7s. 1d.; and 111
head, the property of Mr. Westropp, averaged
426 17S. 3d., one cow reaching 70 gs. Although
these cattle have been bred in England by a
limited number of breeders for several years,
they have but lately gained ground, partly owing
to the paucity of their numbers; but, like other
dairy breeds, they will pay if bred on most
careful lines.

At the Scottish sale of Messrs. Macdonald &
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 143

Frazer, 172 head of Aberdeen Angus cattle
averaged £44 145. 8d., 14 of these reaching from
100 to 290 gs. each.

SALES OF SHEEP

At the Chichester sale of Southdown sheep,
to which consignments were sent by various
breeders, the average price per head varied from
49 15S. 8d., to £19 15s. 6d., the best rams vary-
ing from 35 gs. to 55 gs. During the last four
years 24,000 rams of this variety have been sold
for £58,000.

At the Berwick sale of Border Leicesters, 294
rams averaged £8 gs. 6d., one reaching £50.
The consignment of one breeder averaged
423 5S., and that of another £10 4s. 5d.

At Mr. Dudding’s sale of Lincoln sheep, 43
averaged £46 14S. 3d., while 49 rams averaged
422 9s. 7d., one animal reaching 165 gs. At
the sale of the Lincoln Sheep Breeders’ Asso-
ciation, 115 rams averaged £9 tos. 3d. In the
previous year the average was £10 3S. od., one
breeder averaging £15 tos. 8d.

SALES OF Pics

At the sale of Large White pigs owned by
Mr. Daybell, 61 animals averaged £15 115. 4d.,
one boar reaching 140 gs. At a similar sale of
144 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

pigs owned by Mr. Wallace in 1910, 64 pigs
averaged £15 7s. 7d. At the sale of the same
variety owned by Mr. J. L. Major, 90 pigs
averaged £9 6s. od. At Mr. Measure’s sale
75 pigs averaged £7 18s. At the sale of Messrs.
Purvis at St. Neots, 80 head sold in 1910
averaged £11 2s. 6d.; in 1911, 74 head averaged
49 158.3; and in 1912, 78 averaged £6 4s. 5d.
The 7o head sold by the G.N. Railway Co.
averaged £09 6s.

At the Boston sale of Lincoln pigs, 12 boars
averaged £12 4s. 7d.

At Mr. Judd’s sale of Berkshires, 118 pigs
averaged £6 5s. 4d.; and at Mr. Denyer’s sale
31 head averaged £8 per head.

At Mr. Howard Taylor’s sale of Tamworths,
the average price reached was 15 gs. each.

SALES OF HORSES.

At the sale of Shire horses owned by Sir H.
Regnart, 25 head averaged £91 Ios. each. At
Mr. Oakley’s sale 20 horses averaged £80 each,
the highest prices varying from 135 gs. to
400 gs. At the Derbyshire Foal Show and Sale,
which covered two days, the foals sold realised
49,412, prices varying from 35 gs. to 78 gs.
At the Peterborough sale, which also covered
two days, 164 foals averaged £28 §s., the total
WHAT. HAS BEEN DONE WITH STOCK 145

sale producing £12,500. At the sale of Messrs.
Sauber, 21 foals averaged £135 each, a number
selling at from 110 to 360 gs.

At a sale of hunters at Tattersall’s, which we
take as an example of many sales of a similar
kind, a large number of horses were sold at prices
varying from 61 gs. to 175 gs. In October Mr.
Frank Lloyd sold 1000 horses at Wrexham, large
numbers of which varied from 50 gs. to 178 gs.
each, the Silver Cup awarded to the owner of
the best horse in the sale going to a tenant
farmer, who had risen from the ranks of smail-
holders.

At the sale of Clydesdales owned by Mr.
McRobbie, the average price realised was
4122 8s. 3d. Mr. William Taylor’s 54 Clydes-
dales averaged £132 8s. 2d., the highest price
obtained being £1,680. At Messrs. Wright’s
sale of the same variety, 18 mares and fillies
averaged 64 gs. each.

At the Doncaster September sale of Thorough-
breds, 75 yearlings averaged 479 gs. each.
During four days 304 yearlings realised
150,000 gs., or an average of 493% gs. each.
At a similar sale in 1911, 298 horses averaged
381 gs., in 1910 271 averaged 344% gs., while
in the three previous years the average prices
realised were 430} gs., 3814 gs., and 373% gs.

L
146 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

At Mr. Whitworth’s sale of Hackneys, 39
head averaged £52 5s. 6d. At Mr. Burdett
Coutt’s sale of the same variety, 17 mares
averaged £74 apiece, while 48 head owned by
Mr. Enoch Glen averaged £46 each, six of these
realising over 100 gs. each.

The prices realised in the above sales cover
livestock of various kinds. They could be
multiplied in connection with each variety, while
many additions could be made to those which
have been included; but this is quite unneces-
sary. The lowest prices realised in any case are
considerably higher than are obtained by the
average breeder, and, taken as a whole, the
figures show not only how large is the number
of purchasers and how willing they are to pay
generous prices for the best stock which money
can command, but that specialising in stock of
any variety—and there is no man so able as the
farmer to specialise successfully—is followed by
handsome results where the work is thoroughly
done.
CHAPTER V
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS

WE have already seen that success in the pro-
duction of crops depends upon the character and
condition of the soil, the climate, the rainfall,
and the skill with which the soil is cultivated.
Given suitable soil and seed, the weight of a
crop is influenced by the food which the farmer
supplies through the medium of manure, most
of which has been produced from preceding
crops which have been consumed by stock.
Briefly, then, the larger the crop, the greater
number of stock it will feed and the greater the
quantity of manure produced. Thus, while the
manure influences the crop, and through it the
stock, it is only produced by the liberal provision
of both. Where a farmer commences operations
upon land without dung he is of necessity com-
pelled to purchase artificial manures, and to use
them in accordance with the requirements of each
variety of plant. Thus, grass, the cereals,
mangels, cabbage, and all plants with abundant
foliage, respond to nitrogen, to which in most

instances phosphoric acid must be added in the
147
148 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

form of phosphates. Having by this means pro-
duced good crops, he is in a position to feed
stock more or less extensively—for he must be
guided by the weight as well as the quality of
his produce—and to produce dung for a succeed-
ing year. Those portions of the crops of the
farm, however, which are richest in fertilising
matter are usually sold; while those which are
retained—straw, hay, and roots in particular—
although providing the bulky portion of the
ration, are, manurially, of much less value than
grain; hence their deficiency in the materials
which plants require most urgently is made up
by the employment of cakes, corn, and other
foods of an equally concentrated character.
Thus, by combining stock-feeding with crop
production, farming becomes a process which
demands considerable skill in sowing seed, reap-
ing the crop, converting the bulky portion into
dung, and completing the cycle by returning it
to the soil, and thus restoring the fertility which
has been removed. We have seen that, however
perfectly land may be tilled, failure may follow
owing to unsuitable weather; but the man who
refrains from spending money in the purchase of
the best seed obtainable and of manure, and who
cultivates his land in a half-hearted manner for
this reason, will invariably fail. Nature is kind
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 149

to those who do their best, and, in spite of bad
seasons, good farming will pay six years out of
seven. Nature, even in her kindest years, never
provides the careless or improvident farmer with
a good crop. He cannot take from the soil what
he has not put into it; and “what he sows, that
will he reap.”

Modern teaching has shown the enormous
importance of thoroughness in every phase of
the culture of the land. The weight of a crop—if
not its quality—altogether apart from conditions
of climate and rainfall, depends upon the seed,
the soil, and the perfection of the work of cultiva-
tion. Two varieties of seed sown side by side
upon the same soil and treated in precisely the
same way produce results of a remarkably differ-
ent character; and this fact applies to the seed
of grain, roots, potatoes, and other plants of
various species. Where the seed of one variety
of plant is sown upon the same soil which is
manured under different systems there will also
be a variation, and that variation will be more
marked in the case of soil which was poor before
the manures were applied. Artificial manures
are practically confined to fertilisers which are
respectively rich in nitrogen, in phosphoric acid,
‘and in potash. Some soils are poor in all these
materials, others are deficient in one; but where
150 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

either are absent, or practically so, the soil may
be regarded as impoverished or barren, except in
the case of a soil containing sufficient potash and
phosphoric acid, and used for the production of
leguminous plants, which, in the presence of
these minerals, are able to assimilate atmospheric
nitrogen, which they absorb through the medium
of bacteria present in the nodules on their roots.
Again, there are soils which are practically sterile
owing to the absence of such bacteria. No
matter how good the seed or how liberal the
quantity of manure employed, successful crop-
ping is impossible without thorough cultivation.
Continuous cropping without manure is usually
followed by the impoverishment of soils in one,
or it may be in two, of the materials we have
mentioned; but in most soils the mineral fer-
tilisers are present in large quantities, if in a
latent condition, in the subsoil, and they are not
appropriated owing to the fact that they are out
of the reach of the roots of plants of most
varieties, or that, owing to imperfect cultivation,
the roots cannot reach them. It is for this reason
that subsoiling, or stirring the subsoil, proves so
valuable, for by this means the roots of plants
are encouraged to find their way to a greater
depth than before, and to utilise latent food as it
becomes soluble and fit for use. Where, how-
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 151

ever, a farmer combines the cultivation of deep-
rooted plants with subsoiling, a large quantity
of mineral food is brought to the surface from
below and lodged, as it were, in the roots in the
surface soil ready for decomposition and future
use. Thus, where clovers or lucerne are grown,
and are able to penetrate to considerable depths,
they store a large quantity of feeding matter in
their roots which is utilised by a succeeding grain
crop. This method of enriching the soil has
been largely practised in Germany, and land
which has been practically valueless has been
reclaimed and brought to a high state of cultiva-
tion, the lupin having been largely employed
owing to the length of its tap-root and its power
of penetration.

Failure on the farm is frequently owing to want
-of knowledge of the principles of cultivation.
The power of plants to utilise the food which
has been supplied to the soil to induce them to
grow is limited by the size of its particles and the
provision of moisture. An ideal soil has been
shown by a very able Frenchman to consist of
equal parts by volume of soils of a clayey, sandy,
peaty, and chalky character. Thus, we get sub-
stance in the clay, with tenacity; organic matter
in the peat, with moisture-retentive power; lime
in the chalk, which also assists in the retention
152 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

of moisture and the maintenance of sweetness in
the soil; while the sand improves the texture and
prevents excessive tenacity. Such a soil, there-
fore, contains not only abundant food, but power
to retain moisture, and, at the same time, it is
porous, enabling excessive quantities of water to
pass through into the subsoil.

It is, however, important to realise the ideal
condition of soil, the particles of which should be
fine, non-adhesive, yet packed close together,
closer than grains upon the sea shore, and yet
distinct from each other. This condition cannot
be obtained by the aid of implements or
machines. The soil can be prepared by tillage
for pulverisation, but this condition is the result
of frost in winter or of rain followed by sun and
tillage in summer. When a seed deposited in
such soil germinates the tiny rootlets and root
hairs commence to travel in search of water.
They can find their way among the particles
around them, extracting the nourishment from
each ; but limit the fineness of these particles, and
the voyage of discovery is checked, or ceases
altogether. Roots cannot pass through a hard
block of clay, nor extract from a baked clod the
food locked up within. Similarly, where the
plough is passed along the bottom of the surface
soil, leaving a hard pan below, these tiny rootlets
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 158

are denied admittance. They need moisture:
they cannot find it in the surface soil during hot
weather. They need food: it may be in abun-
dance below them, but unless the roots can reach
both food and water they will fail, and the riches
lying some inches below them are not utilised
owing to imperfect cultivation. Inasmuch as the
food absorbed by plants enters their system in
solution, water is all-important; but in the pro-
duction of a large crop of any kind the quantity
which passes through the plants and into the
atmosphere by transpiration is stupendously
large. It may also be pointed out that inasmuch
as the growth of a crop depends so much upon
the abundance of moisture which the soil con-
tains, it is most essential that steps should be
taken to prevent the evaporation of that moisture
from the surface soil by the conduct of a very
simple operation—that which was practised by
our predecessors more freely than with us, espe-
cially in the hoeing of corn. Soil which is hoed
to a depth of two to three inches acts as a mulch
and prevents the evaporation of moisture to so
large an extent as occurs on land which is not
hoed. For example, a soil in an ideal condition
such as we have described obtains its moisture
from below in the absence of rain; water rises by
capillary action until it reaches the surface, when
154 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

it evaporates, but if the soil is hoed capillarity
ceases when the water reaches that portion of the
surface which lies precisely below the soil which
has been moved by the hoe. The particles being
no longer in close contact, the water ceases to
rise.

We see, therefore, that for successful cropping
the fineness of the texture of the soil is important.
On many farms the depth of the cultivated soil
is frequently limited to six inches or thereabouts.
The soil is turned over year after year, and the
pan or hard surface of the subsoil remains un-
touched ; consequently, it is neither submitted to
the air nor the sunlight, both of which so mate~
rially assist in its decomposition, and in prepar-
ing it for the roots of plants. There are few
soils which are not benefited by breaking the
pan, and stirring; in a word, deep cultivation—
care being taken not to bring up the subsoil to
the surface—is one of the great secrets of suc-
cess. Plants with deep roots penetrate to great
depths in search of food and water; they bring
up minerals to the surface soil, where, as in a
pasture field, they subsequently form a portion
of the humus and decaying organic matter with
which it is enriched. Thus, the roots of chicory
plants growing in a pasture field will reach
64 ft. or more in length, while the roots of
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 155

burnet travel to a depth of over 4 ft. Kidney
vetch reaches 11 in. or more, trefoil 15 in., alsike
16 in., red clover 30 in., and tall oat grass Io in.
It is not surprising, therefore, that in such cases
a pasture field should withstand drought and
produce a good crop in a hot season.

During the months of July and August, 1911,
when agricultural land was suffering from the
extreme heat in all parts of England, we paid
some visits to the French garden of Major
Frazer at Patcham, near Brighton. Green
vegetables of all kinds were extremely scarce,
garden land cultivated in the ordinary way suf-
fering almost as severely as the farm; but here
we found an oasis, crops in large variety grow-
ing with great luxuriance. The heat was pre-
cisely what they wanted, but only because the
system of cultivation adopted was the right one.
It is quite probable that the value of the crops
grown upon this small area was quite equal to
that of the crops grown upon an average farm
of 200 acres during the same season. This fact
alone leads us to believe that the great majority
of our farms are too large, and that there is no
greater fallacy than “too many acres.” Obvi-
ously, where soil is perfectly tilled and manured
the sun is precisely what is required, and in this
country at least it can scarcely be too powerful—
156 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

conditionally, of course, upon a frequent and
liberal supply of water.

It is the principle at the base of these facts
which is also the base of what is known as
French Gardening. Suitable soil perfectly tilled,
good seed, and moist heat are the essentials of
early as well as abundant cropping. Thus,
walking through a crop of maize—which we
have grown many years in succession—on a hot
and moist August evening, we have heard the
plants “growing”—if the expression may be
employed in connection with the fact that,
during rapid growth, the leaves and tassel of the
maize plant pop loudly as they pass through a
joint. It is moist heat combined-with soil en-
riched by manure which induces maize to grow
so high and to such great weights per acre;
and the remark applies equally to many crops
of the garden and the farm.

There is practically no class of land in this
country which we may regard as unimprovable.
To the occupier of hill and down land, of heath
and peat, improvement seems impossible; but it
is not so. We have referred already in another
chapter to the systems adopted by Mr. Elliot
in Scotland and Mr. Passmore in Sussex.
Walking over Mr. Passmore’s farm upon the
South Downs, we were enabled to see to a foot
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS = 157

where basic slag had been sown by the drill,
and to differentiate between the plants growing
upon the improved and the unimproved land.
Here, right and left of a coombe or valley, are
large rabbit-burrows on each side of the slope,
with the customary wilderness around them.
In the ordinary way it would be regarded as
ridiculous to suggest that this land would not
suffer from drought, and, in consequence, cause
the herbage to fail in a dry season. Here were
plants with shallow roots growing upon a thin
surface with chalk close beneath, which we might
suppose no form of manure could improve; but
what are the facts? On a patch of fifty-odd
acres, which is now enclosed by a fence, and
which we valued at half-a-crown an acre where
unimproved, no more than seven yearling cattle
could be fed at the commencement of the
tenancy, whereas now that slag has been used
on all but a few strips left for comparison, it
carries fifty head satisfactorily.

We are anxious to impress the reader with the
fact that basic slag and cognate manures do not,
and cannot, act simply by stimulating the
general herbage to grow, for, owing to the shal-
lowness of the roots of most of the plants, it
would be impossible for them to absorb it in a
dry season. Of that fact we have assured our-
158 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

selves by a series of simple experiments upon
plots measured and fenced off in a number of
fields. What, then, is the cause of the change?
Various authorities have expressed their opinion,
but our belief is that there is but one interpreta-
tion, and with that Mr. Passmore agrees. The
herbage on the unimproved downland consists
chiefly of inferior grasses and weeds, clover just
showing here and there but unable to grow for
want of suitable nourishment, white clover being
indigenous to the soil, like some of the grasses.
The slag manure is utilised by the clovers and
other deep-rooted plants, and they at once com-
mence to spread. With the growth of foliage
there is a corresponding growth of roots, which
consequently penetrate more deeply into the sub-
soil, where they find both moisture and food.
There is in consequence no languishing in their
growth during hot weather, and with each year
their root system expands until they not only
reach a greater depth, but almost cover as by a
network the whole of the surface soil. During
this process of growth mineral plant food ob-
tained from below is brought near the surface
and stored. Nitrogen is simultaneously ab-
sorbed from the atmosphere, and with the result-
ing growth of the clovers there is an equally
liberal growth of the grasses, which are grad-
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 159

ually enabled to utilise the food which is being
gradually stored beneath them.

We are persuaded that by the adoption of
this system our downland can be converted from
half-barren sheep-runs to more or less luxuriant
pastures, for it is no exaggeration to say that on
the downland over which we have walked for
nearly a couple of miles the improved herbage
is almost as fine as a tennis lawn, and, from the
point of view of feeding matter, much superior.

There are some close observers who believe
in the possibility of improving a large propor-
tion of the rough grazing land on mountain,
moor, and heath, which is not, and probably
never has been, under cultivation. Those who
have expressed this belief have sometimes been
regarded as non-practical men, but successful
‘demonstrations have been sufficiently numerous
to warrant the statement that, by the develop-
ment of this land, its value would be immensely
increased. It would enable farmers to feed a
larger head of stock and provide for the main-
tenance of a much larger agricultural popula-
tion. Milking cows are already feeding on
downs which have been sufficiently improved by
the aid of basic slag to provide the requisite
grass.

We have no desire to use extravagant lan-
160 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

guage in reference to these questions, but it is
perfectly true that mere statements of fact of
what has already been accomplished are quite
insufficient to induce large numbers of farmers
and others concerned in the cultivation of the soil
to believe. We have not only advised occupiers
of land and shown how, by the expenditure of
a small sum of money, they can double their
crops, but we have shown them crops growing
on similar land to their own which, by the aid
of artificial manure, has trebled its value; but
sometimes without avail. There is as rooted an
objection to the expenditure of money in artificial
manure as there is an unwillingness to increase
the cost of ploughing by subsoiling, or of
digging by trenching the land; nor is this all.
In buying seed large numbers of men select the
cheapest sample. Improved varieties, purity,
and germinating power are sacrificed to price in
spite of the fact that demonstration shows that
not only do the best varieties produce much
larger crops, and crops of higher quality, but
that the loss from the presence of impurities and
from failure to germinate is much more than
sufficient to cover the increased cost of the best
seed.

Weare told that it is unwise to publish details
of exceptional yields. An old agricultural friend
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 161

is quite satisfied with forty bushels of wheat to
the acre; a better average, he thinks, we can
scarcely expect, and he deprecates any public
suggestion that more can be grown; but more
is grown by many progressive farmers, and more
could be grown by still more. It is not in the
province of all men to succeed, whatever their
vocation. Tenants like Mr. Passmore, and
many others whom we could name were it per-
missible to do so, are able to grow much larger
crops than those whom they have succeeded.
It is not so much the land that is at fault as those
who decline to make the most of it. The
minority will succeed, whatever the soil they
occupy, for it is brains that tell, What Mr.
Elliott has accomplished at Clifton Park, Mr.
Passmore at Shoreham, Mr. John Evens at
Burton, Mr. Ellis at Great Barsham, Mr.
Hutchinson at Catterick, Mr. Vosper at Plymp-
ton, and hundreds of others whom we have
known and whose farms we have seen, either in
crop or stock production, can be accomplished
by other farmers if they have the means at their
disposal—and the brains. We have heard it
frequently urged that it is impossible to do more
for want of capital. That statement suggests
one of the problems to be solved. It expresses

the opinion of those who are over-acred—who,
M
162 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

in a word, while possessing capital to farm
fifty acres, are occupying a hundred, or still
more.

There is a universal desire for more land, and
that desire is constantly gratified at the expense
of success. A small farm thoroughly cultivated
returns a much larger profit than a large farm
which is half-cultivated, and which is starved in
consequence. There are few cases in which it
is possible to devote the same attention to a large
area of land as is possible on a small area.
Farms which are specially adapted to sheep
owing to their extensive character—we refer espe-
cially to hill and mountain land—can, as we
have seen, be immensely improved, but they do
not afford the same opportunity for intensive
development as lowlands under plough. By the
aid, however, of modern cultivation these lands
will in their turn be fully developed, and in
course of time we shall see crops of golden grain,
mangels, and potatoes, growing on some soils
which to-day are worth no more than half-a-
crown an acre as sheep-runs.

A portion of the hill and downland already
under cultivation owes its improvement chiefly
to the introduction of the turnip into the rotation
of crops. Land which it would be impossible
to adequately manure with dung from the fold-
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 168

yard is drilled with turnip seed, manured with
artificial fertilisers, cleaned as a fallow crop
usually is, and subsequently folded with sheep
which are fed upon linseed and cotton cake, with
grain and some hay. Thus, as the turnips are
consumed upon the land in conjunction with
these foods, a large proportion of the crop is
returned to the soil by the sheep in solid and
liquid excrement. Thus, too, the phosphates
employed in the growth of the turnips are re-
turned with the manure, with the exception of
the comparatively small proportion which is
retained in the body of the sheep—a remark
which equally applies to the fertilising matter
in the dry foods.

This form of manuring, which is especially
adapted to the lighter soils and chalks, enables
the farmer to grow a successful oat or barley
crop in which he sows clover seeds or mixtures
of clovers and grasses for cutting in the second
year, possibly in the third, or even in the fourth
if he finds it advantageous to keep it down so
long. When this clover or grass mixture is
ploughed up the land is again sown with corn,
which completes the rotation, turnips com-
mencing again. As much hill and down land
as farmers dare plough up is farmed on this
system. The fear to plough more lies in the
164 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

fact that the extremely thin turf and the dry sub-
soil would be insufficient to feed a crop of roots
or grain either with food or water. To take a
turnip crop in such a case would probably be
followed by failure unless the season were suf-
ficiently wet; but where the turf is thick
enough—as it is where it is composed of deep-
rooted plants, whether grown from seed or
encouraged by manure like basic slag—it may
contain sufficient food which is available after
decomposition to feed a turnip plant, and,
subsequently, a crop of corn.

When we reflect upon the fact that we regard
ourselves as the best farmers in the world, we are
ashamed that we use a smaller quantity of arti-
ficial manure per acre, whatever its character,
than any other progressive European country.
It is shown in the Report on the Agricultural
Output of Great Britain that in 1907 the total
quantity of artificial manures produced in this
country was 1,558,000 tons, of a value of
46,671,000. It appears, however, that under
the heading of “Other manures,” which includes
those of a combined character, superphosphates
and other materials were included which had
already been returned under separate headings.
The net value of home-produced artificial fer-
tilisers, therefore, probably reaches £6,000,000
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 165

sterling. The net imports of manures, exclud-
ing phosphate of lime, rock phosphate, and
bones reached 201,000 tons of a value of
41,185,000. It is thus estimated that, deducting
the net exports from the home production, the
total value of the artificial manures available
for use upon British land was between
42,900,000 and £3,900,000. It is remarked in
the Report that the bulk of the basic slag and
sulphate of ammonia, together with a portion of
the superphosphate, produced at home appears
to be exported. Thus, while a much larger
quantity of these manures is required by the
land than is used by farmers, manufacturers are
allowed to export for the use of the farmers of
other countries who value these manures more
highly than ourselves, instead of being induced
to keep them at home.

The export of basic slag is a serious loss to the
country. We have already described the results
which have been achieved by the aid of basic
slag on various farms. We have seen that it is
followed by an improvement of grassland and
of crops of other kinds, that sheep can be fed
more extensively and economically, and that the
improvement of pasture land is followed by a
larger yield of milk upon a given area where
cows are grazed upon it. Slag, however,
166 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

appears to improve the character of the herbage
in another way.

Let us again refer to Mr. Passmore’s experi-
ence. He says: “I took Cissbury Hill, and in
my first year lost 75 out of 400 Welsh ewes. In
the autumn, therefore, I slagged a portion of the
land, to which I also added potash. During the
next season I lost 30 out of the same number of
ewes. The whole of the land was then slagged,
and in the third season I only lost 10 out of 500
ewes and some tegs. In the fourth season |
kept a still larger number of sheep, and only
lost o°5 per cent. Of the total number of
Cheviot ewes grazing on that land from Septem-
ber 29 to March 20 of the fifth year, I lost only
one ewe. The improvement in the general ap-
pearance of the stock, their wool, their faces, and
eyes so bright and healthy, teach me that slag
must be a great health-giving plant food.”

We find no instance in which basic slag has
been used with judgment as a manure for pasture
land in which it has failed to improve the con-
dition and profitable character of the stock which
fed upon the grass. We are aware of no case
in which the composition of the herbage before
and after slagging has been carefully compared,
but it is more than probable that the effect of the
lime and the phosphoric acid is to improve its
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 167

feeding and health-giving character, and thus to
confer greater vitality on the stock. It is well
known that vegetable foods which are rich in
phosphoric acid, and particularly fruits eaten
raw, are rich in this valuable mineral, and that
phosphates are frequently employed for building
up the system of the weak and convalescent.
From these facts, therefore, there is every reason
to suppose that the liberal employment of phos-
phoric acid in combination with lime will be
found of the highest value, not only in the
improvement of crops, and especially of pastures
and meadows, but of the stock consuming them.

DuNG.

Reference may now be made to the produc-
tion, management, and employment of the dung
made upon the farm. This form of manure
possesses three characteristics: it supplies food
to plant life, it imparts warmth to the soil, and
it improves its texture. The manurial value of
dung depends upon the foods consumed by the
stock producing it. Where cattle are kept in a
stock yard and fed upon roots and straw, or a
ration which is equally poor, the value of the
dung is small owing to the low manurial value
of the foods. The nitrogen, phosphoric acid,
potash, and lime in straw is small in quantity, and
168 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

smaller still in mangels, for while the bulbs con-
tain only 171 per cent. of albuminoids, which
contain only 15 per cent. of nitrogen, they con-
tain but 0°8 per cent. of ash, which of necessity
includes all the mineral fertilisers. Mangels,
too, like swedes, contain 88 per cent. of water.
The organic matter of these foods is therefore
extremely small in quantity. On the other hand,
straw contains only 14 per cent. of water, while
of the organic matter 40 per cent. consists of
indigestible fibre. Straw is much richer in
mineral matter, but equally poor in nitrogen ; yet
it adds materially to the organic matter of the
soil, and in this way accomplishes what is impos-
sible with artificial manures.

We have already remarked that dung warms
the soil, and this is especially the case with
horse dung. The larger the quantity used, the
greater its heating power. Where dung con-
tains a liberal quantity of straw as litter it
reduces the tenacity and plastic character of clays
and soils of similar type, making them more easy
to work; indeed, by the constant use of dung
clay can be converted into loam. Long dung—
that containing plenty of straw—is preferred for
heavy land to short dung like that produced by
cows; it adds water-retaining power to soil, and,
at the same time, renders it more porous, so that
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 169

an excessive quantity of water may pass through
it into the subsoil and prevent damage to the
growing plants. By the liberal use of long
dung, and especially of good horse dung, the
market gardener and the garden farmer increases
the temperature of his soil by some degrees in
early spring, and is enabled in consequence to
produce earlier crops for market. This fact is
especially demonstrated not only in the French
garden system, but in English market gardens.
With the increasing quantity of manure there
is an increase in the depth of the surface soil,
and in its productive character if it is simultane-
ously ploughed or stirred to a greater depth.
Thus, the poorest soil with a sufficient depth of
surface soil can, by the employment of dung,
be improved in all directions. A cold, dead
clay can be made a warm soil. Clay that cracks
in dry weather and retains water upon its surface
in winter may be so improved that it will remain
agreeably moist in summer and perfectly porous
in winter.

We have seen that where stock are fed upon
poor food they produce poor manure. Con-
versely, where stock are fed—especially in boxes
or under sheds or covered yards—upon rich
foods, and particularly cake and corn, the fer-
tilising value of the manure is materially im-
170 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

proved. Thus, while 1000 lbs. of cotton cake
contain 72 lbs. of nitrogen, 32 lbs. of phosphoric
acid, and 15% lbs. of potash, the same weight of
mangels contains only 2 lbs. of nitrogen, 0°8 Ibs.
of phosphoric acid, and 4°8 lbs. of potash. Thus,
too, the manurial value of the mangels is as
44 is to 1000, taking this as representing the
manurial value of the cake.

It was pointed out by Lawes and Gilbert that
the manure produced by stock possesses no more
than one-half the money value of the fertilising
matter which it contains when voided, basing
this value upon the prices paid in the market
for nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and _ potash.
Thus, the nitrogen in the urine—which is,
weight for weight, of greater value than the
solid dung—is quickly converted into carbonate
of ammonium, an extremely volatile substance—
so much so, indeed, that unless this liquid is
speedily distributed on the land the greater por-
tion of the nitrogen is lost. The changes which
occur in farmyard manure before it is available
for plant life are, however, extremely slow, and
where it is allowed to ferment before it is
ploughed under the soil a quantity of nitrogen
is lost; indeed, in some instances where a manure
heap is undergoing decomposition for some
months it may lose one-half its fertilising value,
THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 171

while, in addition, its mechanical value will be
seriously diminished. The loss of the nitrogen
of dung alone has been estimated to reach two
and a half to three million sterling per annum.
Although losses are unavoidable as between the
deposit of dung by stock and its conveyance to
the soil, chiefly owing to manipulation, a very
large proportion of the actual loss which takes
place could be avoided if greater care were exer-
cised in its management. Thus, it is by far the
most important method of procedure to convey
both liquid and solid excrement to the land as
quickly as possible—indeed, immediately it is
removed from the stock. Where manure is
heaped, however, it should be built under cover
to prevent washing by rain. A dung heap
should be built with perpendicular sides, round
a pump which should rise from a tank beneath
constructed for the retention of the liquid.
Upon this heap the dung from the stables, the
piggeries, and the cattle sheds should be mixed
and spread, while from time to time the liquid
from beneath should be pumped over it, with
two objects: first, to keep it cool and thus pre-
vent fermentation; and, next, that the. liquid
may be more easily conveyed to the land. Dry
dung heaps, however, should be covered from
time to time with dry soil with the object of
172 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

absorbing the ammonia which is evolved, while
in no case should the drainings of dung heaps
be allowed to flow away, inasmuch as they
contain valuable mineral matter.

Some farmers frequently adopt the plan of
green-manuring with marked success. This
practice has been very freely followed in Ger-
many, especially upon the poor sandy soils of
the North; but, contrary to English practice, the
lupin is the plant usually employed, chiefly
owing to its long root and the fact that, as one
of the leguminose, it is a nitrogen-collector.
Among the plants grown in the British Islands
which are adapted for green-manuring are
mustard, rape, vetches, and trifolium incar-
natum, or crimson clover. The two latter, like
the lupin, are nitrogen-collectors, and when
grown upon land which has been manured with
phosphates and potash, they produce a consider-
able weight of forage, and consequently of
organic matter. Rape contains a fair proportion
of nitrogen, but less fibrous matter than vetches.
All these plants, however, when decomposed in
the soil exert considerable influence in the im-
provement of its texture and feeding value for
plants, for, as we have shown elsewhere, in a
soil of good texture the roots of plants are
enabled to travel freely in search of food.
CHAPTER VI
MAKING THE MOST OF OUR STOCK

IN an attempt to make the most of the land it
is essential to make the most of our stock. Just
as the seed should be good, however good the
land, so should the stock be good. Success in
breeding and feeding depends mainly upon the
skill of the farmer; he should be a good judge
of stock, for judgment in buying and selling
iS aS important as judgment in the selection
of the breeding stock. The cattle and sheep
dealer, like the horse dealer, is an expert in his
way, and unless a farmer is equally expert he
may be over-reached, whether in selling or buy-
ing, by this member of the craft. Some farmers
conduct a large proportion of their business in
the purchase and sale of stock through the
medium of the dealer, but unless they are past-
masters of their business they may lose by each
transaction. In selling to the butcher, too, the
farmer is dealing with a capable buyer, and one
who is not disposed to accept any principle but
his own. In some cases there is sufficient con-

173
174 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

fidence between buyer and seller to induce both,
having fixed a price by the stone or the score,
to resort to the scales. The sale of fat and store
stock in the fair and the market resolves itself
into a matter of barter, and here, too, the strong-
est personality is usually victorious. The sale
of stock in the auction ring is sometimes a
lottery. In those few cases where farmers of
themselves form an auction mart by co-opera-
tion they are gainers, but otherwise the butcher
or the dealer usually stands a better chance than
the breeder and feeder. Breeders of pedigree
stock, however, hold sales of their own and
obtain prices of a character which accords with
their reputation, and which in the main is built
upon the quality of their stock.

Thus we see that business qualification is an
important factor in stock-keeping, and it is when
this is added to skill as a breeder that the farmer
scores. Some men have no knowledge of the
first principles of breeding, and it is to this fact
that we owe the very small average yield of our
milk and butter. Our leading breeds of cattle
and sheep, like our horses and pigs, have been
produced by extremely capable men and main-
tained by others almost equally capable; but on
the average farm, although we may find an
attempt to improve the quality of the stock by
MAKING THE MOST OF OUR STOCK 175

the annual purchase of sires, there is very little
advance. This is chiefly owing to the retention
of inferior females which should have been fatted
and sold; but it is partially due to want of
judgment in the selection of sires. Attendance
at our markets and fairs will reveal the large
numbers of third-class stock of all kinds that are
kept on English farms, while a casual inspection
of the store cattle sent into country markets for
sale will show in what poor condition a large
number of our cattle are kept—a condition which
costs much in the end.

Successful stock breeding also demands suit-
able climate, in which altitude plays an import-
ant part, and soil which is both dry and rich
in lime and which produces more or less
luxuriant crops. The employment of phosphatic
manures, especially those containing lime, is also
an important factor. Although size is not the
all-important feature in the live-stock of the
farm, it cannot be ignored. Breeders of cart
horses of the Shire, Clydesdale, and Suffolk type
make size one of their first considerations; a
horse which is required to draw two tons or
more must be large, and the most successful
breeders are those who occupy limestone soils,
or soils which are rich in lime, or who, on the
other hand, make up for the deficiency of the
176 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

soil by the provision of specially suitable food.
Where horses, cattle, or sheep of large breeds
are kept by farmers who occupy poor soils, or
soils deficient in phosphate of lime, size dimin-
ishes, until, in two or three generations, it is
altogether lost unless there is special provision
of food. The size of the Kerry cow, the moun-
tain sheep of Scotland and Wales, and the
ponies of Exmoor, is practically determined by
the soil upon which they graze. Where the
Kerry is transported to rich lowlands size imme-
diately increases—and the remark applies equally
to stock of other breeds.

There is not the slightest doubt about the fact
that by manuring land deficient in phosphate
of lime, including hill and down land as we
have shown elsewhere, with fertilisers rich in
that material the stock fed upon it can be im-
proved in size, character, and_ constitution
through the medium of the improved herbage.
It has been demonstrated over and over again
that not only will land so improved carry more’
stock, but its produce will increase their vitality
and sometimes fatten them for market without
the aid of concentrated food.

The fact that so large a quantity of meat is
imported into this country does not, and cannot,
militate against the profitable production of
MAKING THE MOST OF OUR STOCK 177

home-grown stock. Where inferior meat is pro-
duced, such as that from bulls, aged cows and
sheep, the price obtainable will at all times be
ruled by imported beef and mutton, but the réle
of the British farmer is to produce as much
young and tender meat as he can, and this from
stock of the very best type. In this branch of
his work he has no competitor. “Baby” beef
slaughtered at about two years old, lambs, and
tegs fattened for the butcher during their first
winter, are most desirable; they produce the
most tender meat, and the better they are bred,
the better the price they realise—but they must
be good.

The successful production of meat upon the
farm is not a mere question of feeding, however,
for it depends very largely, esnecially where
early maturity is concerned—afrid this is all-
important—upon the type and precocity of the
breed. Where a farmer is able to prepare a fat
bullock for sale at two years instead of three, or,
as in former days, at four years, he saves both
in food and labour, while he turns over his
capital more quickly. The wealthy and the large
and increasing upper middle class prefer, and
are able to pay for, first-class English joints,
and the better the quality of the herd and the

flock the better the price obtainable by the
N
178 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

farmer, and the better able the butcher will be
to supply this great constituency which is so
largely compelled to resort—and often unwill-
ingly—to imported meat. No better example of
the taste of the public can be referred to than
that which bacon supplies. At the instigation
of the best class of consumers the excessively
fat bacon of former days was gradually replaced
' by leaner meat, for which considerable prices are
paid. In spite of this fact, however, and the
known profitable nature of pig breeding and
feeding, as we have seen in another chapter, we
breed an extremely small number of pigs, pre-
ferring to buy Danish and American bacon,
which we import in prodigious quantities for our
breakfast tables.

To whatever part of England we choose to
refer, we shall find that there are numbers of
farmers who make a special feature of breeding
exceptionally fine specimens of the local varieties
of stock. In East Anglia the Red Polls are the
favoured breed; in Sussex and parts of Kent
and Surrey it is the Sussex breed; in Devonshire
and Somerset the Devons hold the field; in Here-
ford and adjacent parts of adjoining counties
Hereford cattle are the most popular; while the
Aberdeen Angus, the Galloway, and the Ayr-
shire are almost confined to Scotland. Although,
MAKING THE MOST OF OUR STOCK 179

most important of all, the Shorthorn is bred
more or less extensively in all parts of Great
Britain. These remarks apply equally to our
breeds of sheep. The hill and mountain breeds,
the South Down, the Hampshire Down, the
Oxford, the Cotswold, the Devon, the Lonks of
Lancashire, the Herdwicks of the Lake District,
and the mountain sheep of Scotland and Wales
—all have their special localities; and this is
precisely the case with the lowland breeds, which
include the Lincoln, the Leicester, the Kent, the
Suffolk, and the Shropshire.

The visitor to the Royal Agricultural Show or
to either of the great county meetings cannot
fail to remark upon the standard of perfection
which these various classes of stock have
reached ; but when he examines a herd of cattle
or a flock of sheep upon an average farm he is
surprised at their general inferiority—and this
inferiority marks every variety from the stable
to the piggery and the poultry yard. There is,
therefore, much to be done, and not without
reason have the Government of the day provided
means for the improvement and general develop-
ment of some important breeds of stock. The
misfortune is that they have not provided for
all. The small farmer, like the small-holder, is
to a large extent dependent upon this national
180 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

movement; he can pay the requisite fees for stud
purposes conditionally upon their being reason-
able in amount; but, in a general way, he is
entirely unable to obtain the services of bulls for
the improvement of the milking properties of his
stock, of rams for his sheep, or of a boar for the
service of his swine. The character of our live-
stock is largely controlled by the small farmers
of the country—those who have neither the
facilities nor the means of obtaining the best
available males; and until their wants are sup-
plied we shall find our markets still filled with
poor specimens of all varieties of live-stock, and
our milking herds composed of cows which fail
to yield 500 galls. of milk in a year.

We have shown in another chapter what has
been done with live-stock by British farmers.
There are no sceptics in the ranks of rent-paying
tenants upon the question of the improvement
of stock intended for the butcher; all are agreed
upon the desirability and importance of blood,
although most men have their own ideas as to
which is the most suitable variety ; that question
no man can settle but themselves. When we
come, however, to milk production we find
abundance of apathy, often of unbelief, although
it is impossible to longer ignore the existence
of facts. The system of recording milk yields
MAKING THE MOST OF OUR STOCK 181

has been already tested in a few English
counties, which have followed the example of
the farmers of the south-west of Scotland, who
have formed numerous cow-testing societies
which have conducted the testing and recording
system for a number of years with considerable
success. There is no department of the farm in
which improvement is so possible, and which
can be made so extensive, as the dairy. As we
have shown in another chapter, the milk yield
may be easily increased from our estimated
average of 460 galls. to that of 600 galls., and
indeed by exceptional men—for it has been done
—up to 850 galls.; but this work cannot be
‘accomplished unless supreme efforts are made.

There are two primary factors without which
no marked advance is possible. The first is the
adoption of the system of weighing the milk
produced by every cow in the herd and record-
ing it day by day, and of occasionally testing it
to ascertain the percentage of fat, which, com-
bined, form the Recording System; and the
next, the supply of suitable bulls. There is an
adage that the bull is half the herd; hence the
importance of securing not merely appearance
and vitality, but milk pedigree. The man who,
by the aid of his records, removes his inferior
milkers and replaces them with carefully selected
182 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

cows which are good milkers, and who subse-
quently mates them with a bull of whose milking
pedigree he knows nothing whatever might as
well have remained as he was. Curiously, how-
ever, owners of dairy herds are constantly using
bulls with nothing to recommend them but their
looks, and in consequence they fail with supreme
regularity to improve their milk yield by a
single gallon. It is by retaining the best cows
in the herd and breeding from them alone, mated
with bulls of milking pedigree, that progress
will be made—and in no other way. Had this
practice been adopted years ago not only would
the production of our cows have been increased
by hundreds of millions of gallons, and the im-
ports of butter and cheese diminished accord-
ingly, but the impetus which would have been
given to the dairy industry would have caused
much larger numbers of cattle to be bred—thus
bringing up the size of the national herd to an
approximately normal position, while the de-
mand in other countries for first-class milking
stock, especially of the Shorthorn breed, would
have created a new industry, which under
present conditions does not exist.

We have in the Shorthorn—and under this
term we include the unpedigreed cow or Dairy
Shorthorn, the Devon, the Jersey, the Guernsey,
MAKING THE MOST OF OUR STOCK 183

the Ayrshire, five milking breeds which, when
perfected by the means suggested, may be sent
to the ends of the earth, if by combination
breeders made up their minds to reach a stand-
ard. Thus, cattle which have already accom-
plished great things are capable of doing
infinitely more, and where there are now tens
of cows which produce a thousand gallons in a
year, or 450 lbs. of butter, there should in the
near future be thousands. If, when that time
arrives, those who own them do not make the
most of their opportunity, no incentive, whether
it be the Development Fund or the pride of
success, will save the British farmer from taking
second place to the American and the German.
CHAPTER VII

INCREASING THE RETURNS FROM A SMALL HERD
OF COWS

ALTHOUGH the proportion of farmers who keep
from five to twenty cows is much smaller in this
country than is the case on the Continent, the
number is increasing, and greater efforts are
being made not only to improve the quality but
the yield by the adoption of, modern methods of
manufacture, and by keeping better stock. We
have frequently pointed out that good milkers
return much larger profits than milkers of
average quality, but it is not so generally under-
stood that the profits made by deep milkers are
out of all proportion greater than the profits
made by average cows, to say nothing of those
which are inferior. If the average yield of the
cows of the country is, as estimated, 460 galls.
per cow—and this figure is certainly close to the
mark—it follows that large numbers of farmers
must keep cows which yield less than 460 galls.,
inasmuch as there are many herds in which the

average yield varies from 600 to 800 galls.
184
INCREASING RETURNS FROM COWS 185

Let us first estimate the net profit earned by
five good cows and five average cows, and, in
order to be on the safe side in our argument, we
will assume that the average cows yield 500
galls. per annum. We shall compare them
with cows yielding 700 galls.—which are now
easily obtained. The suggestion that it is the
height of economy to pay an extra five-pound
note for a deep milker of good type is frequently
believed to be extravagant; let us see. We shall
assume that the average price obtained for the
milk is 8d. per gallon, and that the cost of food
for a large cow during the seven winter months
is Is. 3d. per day—and this is the estimated
value of the ration supplied by many of our
best farmers, although at present prices a first-
class ration can be provided for 1s. 2d. We
place the value of the summer food at 6d. per
day, this including a small allowance of cotton
cake.

The adoption of the above figures will not
afford a reason for those concerned accusing us
of exaggeration, as they are applied to the
average and the good cows alike. A small herd
of five cows would thus cost £67 Ios. to feed,
the cost of each cow’s food reaching £13 10s.
Sold at 8d. per gallon, 500 galls. of milk per
cow would return £83 15s., so that after deduct-
186 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

ing the cost of the food the balance remaining
would be only £16 5s., or £3 5S. per cow, upon
which sum the owner would be speedily com-
pelled to sell off. By expending a slightly larger
sum of money in the purchase of good cows—
and the buyer must take care that he gets them
—the net profit upon the same basis would be
three times as large—£49—which would make
all the difference as between profit and loss. It
is not suggested, in spite of this fact, that 8d.
per gallon is sufficient, for the majority of farmers
obtain a slightly higher average price, which is
all to the good.

If we apply the same principle to a ten-cow
dairy we shall find that the average milkers
would return a profit of £32 10s., or considerably
less than would be earned by five good cows.
Ten deep milkers, however, would return £98
per annum, or nearly £2 per week, and as this
number could be well managed by a capable
man in addition to other work there is absolutely
no reason, if he understands how to make his
selection and can pay the price, why he should
not realise still more money than this. Twenty
second-rate cows yielding 500 galls. of milk
per head would return £65 per annum, from
which sum it would be necessary to deduct the
cost of extra labour which their number would
INCREASING RETURNS FROM COWS 187

involve. Thus we see that five good cows would
return a larger net profit than twenty inferior
cows, for the reasons which have been given; on
the other hand, twenty milkers averaging 700
galls. would return £196, from which sum the
cost of extra labour would have to be deducted
as before. Where a small farmer is able to retail
his milk it is obvious that—the price being in-
creased to Is. or is. 4d. per gallon—ten cows will
return him an excellent income. The principle
involved in our argument applies with equal
force to the maker of butter or cheese—but in
connection with these industries, as we have else-
where remarked, the quality of the milk is as
important as the quantity. Again, as the
income derived from the cow by the sale of her
milk—whether in its natural or manufactured
condition—is augmented by the sale of her calves
or by the fact that they are reared for the herd,
that increase depends in a definite sense upon
her power of production. In a word, the value
of stock depends entirely upon the value of the
parents.

Successful dairying depends not only upon
knowledge of the work, but upon good stock and
.good feeding. Good stock cannot be obtained
without the expenditure of money, and we think
we have shown that liberal expenditure in this
188 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

way is true economy; five cows costing £25
each, assuming them to be well selected, return-
ing, as we have shown, a larger profit than
twenty average cows which would probably cost
£400.
CHAPTER VIII
WHAT A SMALL OCCUPIER CAN DO WITH LAND

THE reading and thinking workman cannot
fail to recognise that of late years a great deal
more attention has been paid to his comfort and
prosperity than in the previous history of British
agriculture. It is impossible to read of the past
without lamenting the action of some of our
ancestors, and without feeling some desire to at
least attempt to atone for their shortcomings in
our treatment of the labouring man; happily,
however, the whole country is alive to the
brighter side of this question. There are in the
United Kingdom about 1,125,000 agricultural
labourers, representing from four to five million
persons. If these men were enabled to grow
wheat for the production of their daily bread, we
should import about 27 million bushels less than
we do at the present time. It is lamentable that
men engaged upon the land in the production of
the raw material—by means of which their lives
are sustained—should be compelled to purchase it

in manufactured form at a largely enhanced
189
1909 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

price. As a matter of fact, the earnings of a
labourer are diminished in proportion to the
price which he pays for his bread.

The average quantity of wheat consumed in
this country, through the medium of bread and
flour, is six bushels per individual per annum, so
that a family of six persons consumes 36 bushels.
Let us suppose that an acre of land in the hands
of a competent working man produces 36
bushels, or, in round numbers, a ton of wheat,
which, at a market price of 28s. per quarter, is
worth £6 6s., or, with the straw, £8 12s. 6d.
We have made a calculation based upon the
actual grinding of wheat, and the production of
bread from the flour it produced, upon which it
is possible to maintain a substantial case; but it
may be preferable to accept the results of an
inquiry undertaken by the Highland and Agri-
cultural Society of Scotland in 1886, in which it
was shown that the average yield of fine flour
from a quarter of wheat weighing 63 lbs. per
bushel was 359 |bs.—sufficient to make 119 four-
pound loaves. In this, as in similar cases, the
bran and other offal obtained in the process of
milling were sufficient to pay the expense. Where
foreign flour is used—and it is used, generally,
by bakers in considerable proportion—a larger
number of loaves are produced, this flour absorb-
WHAT A SMALL OCCUPIER CAN DO 191

ing more water, and enabling the baker to
turn out sometimes as many as twenty extra
loaves per sack. English flour will produce from
go to 95 four-pound loaves to the sack, and from
100 to 105 loaves where it is mixed with imported
flour. If we refer to figures which are acceptable
to the trade, we find, upon the basis of the prize-
paper written by Mr. Wilding for the annual
examination of the National Bakers’ Association
in 1894, that, under one system in which one-
fourth of English flour is mixed with American
and Hungarian, the cost of a sack made into
bread, including labour, yeast, fuel and other
materials, was 27s. 10d.; under another system,
28s. 8d.; and under a third system, with two-
fourths English flour, 28s. 6d.

Now let us follow the wheat produced upon an
acre of land in its conversion into flour and
bread. Thirty-six bushels, or one ton, according
to the average quoted, produced 1,595 lbs. of
flour, which, assuming the wheat to have been
worth 28s. per quarter, costs ‘94d. per lb. This
quantity of flour produced 541 loaves, or 2,164
Ibs. of bread, costing about 23d. per loaf, whereas,
when wheat was 25s., the baker’s price! was 5d.—
occasionally a halfpenny less, frequently a half-
penny to a penny more. This weight of bread
is almost equivalent to 6 lbs. per day, and is prac-
192 MAKING THE. MOST OF THE LAND

tically sufficient to provide for an average family
consisting of a man, his wife, and four children ;
so that 36 bushels of wheat, which is the annual
average quantity consumed by six persons, and
which can be grown upon an acre of average
land, should be sufficient for the agricultural
labourer, making every allowance for the use of
flour in other directions. Many working men,
however, have produced as much as 48 to 50
bushels.

It is unnecessary to go into figures in order
to arrive at the cost of the cultivation of an acre
of land in the hands of a labouring man; apart
from rent, seed and manure there is little to
charge, for the very essence of the question is
in the fact that the labour employed is his own.
In order to grow wheat with success, the land
must be deep in staple and somewhat strong;
the heavier loams, which are all good for wheat,
are equally valuable for almost every necessary
crop, but although we have seen many successful
crops grown by labourers on lighter and poorer
soils, they are more seriously handicapped, for
their hours of toil are prolonged, and the cost
of production is increased. On acquiring an
acre of suitable soil, it should be harrowed or
scarified immediately the last crop has been
removed if this is possible, in order that weed
WHAT A SMALL OCCUPIER CAN DO 193

seeds may germinate. It should be subsequently
ploughed and subsoiled, the pan or subsoil being
broken up to permit of the penetration of the
roots of the wheat plant. It is important to sow
early, and, if time permits, it is equally im-
portant to cart on to the land before ploughing
any manurial refuse, road scrapings or dung
which has been accumulated, before ploughing
commences. After ploughing, and in suitable
weather, the grain may be broad-casted at the
rate of 24 bushels to the acre, care being taken
that the seed is clean and healthy, the harrow
and the roller following when the work is so far
completed. Should perennial weeds, such as
thistles and docks, appear, they should be bodily
removed, and every square yard kept clean
throughout the season. In the spring the land
may again require attention, but, apart from
weeding, it is probable that it will need no more
labour until harvest. Where farm manure is not
used 3 cwt. of superphosphate should be broad-
casted after the plough. This will cost 8s. 6d.
to 10s. if it is obtainable from a farmer who buys
in a large way; and in spring, about the first of
April, 1 cwt. of nitrate of soda costing 11s.
should be distributed by hand in the same way.
With this help the crop may considerably exceed

40 bushels. A workman of our own, who was
o
194 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

enabled to take about a dozen acres of stiff wheat
land—part of a vacant farm—produced in his
first year nearly 7 qrs. per acre, and in the next
year a crop of turnips so heavy that he was never
able to cart them all away. The straw produced
should not only cover the rent and the cost of
seed and manure, but, where very saleable, it
might leave a surplus for the use of a cow or a
sow and pigs. It is possible that in an unsatis-
factory season the yield may fall short of our
figures; but the man who gardens his acre, as a
labourer ought to, should average 40 bushels, and
thus be enabled to pay the charges for plough-
ing, rolling, and harrowing from the surplus
obtained beyond his requirements.

Under ordinary favourable conditions three
acres of land which is well managed should not
only enable a working man to produce his own
bread and flour, but to keep a cow for the pro-
duction of milk and butter, a sow to provide him
with pork and bacon, some poultry and bees, and
an ample supply of vegetables and fruit for his
table. In these days it is possible to obtain a
small cow of the Ayrshire, Jersey or Kerry breed
which will live and thrive well upon an acre of
good grass. It is, however, possible to grow
twenty, or even thirty, tons of mangolds upon
half an acre of arable land which is gardened, or
WHAT A SMALL OCCUPIER CAN DO 195

a smaller but still ample quantity of swedes or
cabbage, while fifteen tons of potatoes have been
repeatedly produced upon an acre. By the aid,
then, of grass in summer, and of straw, roots,
cabbage and potatoes in winter, with the all-
important addition of bran, meal, or cake, a cow,
a pig for breeding purposes, and some poultry
may be maintained upon three acres! Prac-
tically speaking, it should be possible, and it is
possible, for three acres to produce all the food
required by a small labouring family, with the
exception of those materials which are of foreign
origin, and of others, such as beef and mutton,
which might be purchased with the proceeds of
the sale of potatoes, eggs, chickens, fruit or pork.

Three acres of land is a small area, but it is
capable under varied conditions of producing
very heavy returns. The greater the amount of
knowledge—and knowledge in this matter can
be acquired both by reading and by practice, the
one supplementing the other—the greater the
possibility of achieving success ; and if the work-
man, like his master, learns the principles upon
which plants are grown and animals are fed, he
will be better prepared to cultivate a crop with
success and to feed both with profit. In growing
heavy crops thorough cultivation is essential in
the first place, and abundance of manure in the
196 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

second, vegetable refuse of all kinds supplement-
ing dung and artificial fertilisers, which the
working man should learn how to value. Even
a three-acre farm, therefore, requires something
in addition to intelligence; but the man who is
wise will not commence with three acres; if he
can first of all succeed thoroughly with 20 rods
and by degrees increase his area as he increases
his means, he will find that a very short time will
elapse before he is on the road to prosperity, and
then all becomes easier. The difficulty is to get
into the groove, and all men are not fortun-
ately circumstanced as regards either land or
employers; but matters are improving in this
direction, and as men show by their industry
and honourable conduct that they are worthy of
assistance, they will find that there are few who
can really refuse to help them. The land, at
least, is at their disposal.
CHAPTER IX
THE RECLAMATION OF OUR WASTE LAND

WE have already referred to the fact that there
is a very large area of land in this country on
mountain, heath, and moor which is waiting re-
clamation or improvement. It is probable that
of the 122 million acres which are described as
rough grazing land, 90 per cent. has received
no attention at the hands of man. The fact that
this large area is grazed by stock of some kind
is sufficient to show that it is amenable to im-
provement, and that by the adoption of certain
methods of cultivation which have already
proved successful its value would be immensely
increased. The inferiority of upland pastures,
many of which have probably remained in their
present condition for centuries, is owing to three
causes: the unsuitability of the plants of which
they are composed, the want of food, and the
insufficiency of water during the growing season.
In those districts in which the rainfall is suffi-
ciently high to maintain a steady growth of

herbage during spring and early summer the
197
198 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

application of artificial manures such as basic
slag and superphosphate, with or without potash,
may, as we shall see, be all that is required to
increase its weight and to improve its composi-
tion, phosphates exerting a marked influence in
the growth of the clovers and the diminution of
weeds. On most uplands, however, the rainfall
is insufficient to produce such steady growth
during the warmer portion of the year, with the
result that, especially where the soil is thin, a
hay crop is impossible, while the pasturage is so
small and inferior that a large area is required
to supply sufficient food for a flock of sheep.
Apparently the employment of artificial manure
on land which suffers from drought may some-
times be a wasteful proceeding, inasmuch as the
food of plants, when prepared for their reception,
is absorbed only through the medium of water,
of which a stupendous quantity is required.
When, however, we reflect that a deep-rooted
plant such as lucerne is able to penetrate into
the earth to a depth of over twenty feet in search
of food and water, and to produce four crops in
the hottest summer without manure, we are led
to express surprise that those officially engaged
in experimental work have so long neglected to
demonstrate the suitability of deep-rooted plants
of other species for thin, dry, poor pastures, and
RECLAMATION OF WASTE LAND 199

for hill and down land. So far as we are aware
nothing of this kind has been attempted in
connection with our experimental farms and
educational institutes.

The success of the system to which we are
about to refer—and which is now subsidised by
the Board of Agriculture—is the result of the
work of a Scottish landowner, Mr. Robert H.
Elliot, D.L., of Clifton Park, Roxburghshire,
and is known as the Clifton Park system.
Briefly, Mr. Elliot, who had been for many years
a coffee-planter in Mysore, had a farm of 1,250
acres at the foot of the Cheviots thrown upon
his hands in extremely poor and exhausted con-
dition, and determined to attempt to restore its
fertility and to convert it once more into an
arable farm. The farm, the soil of which chiefly
consists of poor, stony, hill land, forms part of
a district which is subject to drought about
every third season, with the result that the grass
is burnt up, hay is a failure, and food for the
stock is so largely diminished that it becomes
necessary to buy. The farm lies at an altitude
of from 400 to 750 feet. The fields which form
the basis of the experiments are not mere plots,
but average 20 acres apiece. Mr. Elliot’s first
object was to determine by what means he could
produce a good turf, having arrived at the con-
200 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

clusion that the cheapest food for stock was
grass, and that the cheapest form of manure was
turf composed chiefly of deep-rooting plants.
In the process of his argument Mr. Elliot was
guided by the fact that roots—which in Scot-
land are chiefly confined to swedes and turnips
—are not only the cheapest, but the deepest and
best tillers and drainers of the soil. His first
object, therefore, was to test the truth of his
theory by laying down some land with seeds
composed of grasses, clovers, and other plants,
which, while useful as food, possess deep roots
by which they are enabled to obtain water and
mineral food, and thus to become independent
of drought.

The first experiment was made with two fields,
known as Outer and Inner Kaimrig, of 22 and
25 acres respectively, and lying at an elevation
varying from 600 to 650 feet. The soil of these
fields is described by Mr. Jas. Hunter of Chester
—one of the ablest of British seedsmen, who was
associated with Mr. Elliot in this work for a
number of years—as poor, thin and moory, the
inner field being the poorer of the two. These
fields had received no manure in the memory of
man, but they were supplied with just sufficient
fertiliser to produce a turnip crop. Both fields
were then sown down with a grass mixture upon
RECLAMATION OF WASTE LAND 201

a thin seeding of oats; rye grass was rigidly
excluded, in spite of its popular character and
its well-known high feeding value, owing to the
fact that it is a shallow-rooted plant. To the
mixture of the Outer Kaimrig field, however, was
added burnet, chicory, and kidney vetch, these
species of forage plant assisting in the provision
of herbage which was greatly superior to that of
the inner field; indeed, so wide was the differ-
ence that at the end of three years the latter field
was ploughed up and again laid down with a
similar mixture to that used in the outer field,
but with this difference—that the quantity of
chicory, burnet, and kidney vetch seed was more
than doubled. The result was that this poor
land, to which farmyard manure was known to
have been a stranger for seventy years, produced
2 tons of first-class hay and an excellent crop
of aftermath. Thus, in two fields of consider-
able size it was proved that heavy crops of grass
could be obtained upon poor land which had been
exhausted, which had received no farm manure,
and which lay at a considerable elevation, solely
by the aid of deep-rooted plants. It is important
to add that the grasses comprised in the mixture
included only one of the most popular species—
cocksfoot. ‘There was no foxtail, timothy, sweet
vernal, crested dogstail, meadow fescue, smooth-
202 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

stalked meadow grass, rye grass, or trefoil; and
thus we are led to believe that the modern
practice of employing the more popular grasses
to so large an extent to the entire exclusion of
forage plants such as kidney vetch, chicory,
burnet, and yarrow, is the greatest mistake
except in particular soils. The tendency for
many years has been to exclude all plants, with
the exception of the grasses (Gramin@) and the
clovers (Leguminose) and to regard all other
plants as weeds; but, obviously, if the plants to
which we have referred, and which—kidney
vetch excepted—belong to neither order, possess,
as they have been proved to possess, consider-
able feeding value, and if in addition they enable
the farmer of particular soils to produce double
or treble the crop, and, still more, to farm his
land without manure—remarkable as such a fact
may appear—no man is warranted in laying
down a poor field to grass without first consider-
ing whether they are not essential to the soil.
The production of a pasture or meadow depends
upon no cut-and-dried system, but upon the
exercise of common sense, and if it is found that
such plants as rib grass, yarrow, dandelion, or
burnet meet the requirements of the case the
farmer will be wise to use them. As Mr. Hunter
remarked in reviewing the work at Clifton Park,
RECLAMATION OF WASTE LAND 203

“it was wholly proven that, given the right species
of grasses and other plants of strong-growing
and deep-rooting character, a greatly increased
production of hay and grass could be obtained
from this poor hill land even in seasons of
drought, and without the use of either farmyard
or artificial manures.” Not only, then, did this
poor hill field, which we have known as Inner
Kaimrig, and which was regarded as the worst
on the farm, produce an excellent crop of hay
and plenty of herbage, but it maintained as many
sheep as the whole of the pasture land, 87 acres
in extent, on the adjoining farm, in spite of the
fact that it was of much inferior quality and that
the land referred to was farmed on the five-
course system, and had been sown with rye
grass and clover mixtures.

By the system of cultivation which had been
adopted the rental value of this land was in-
creased from 5s. to 15s. per acre in the course of
some four or five years. Another field of 27
acres lying at an altitude of 600 feet, and most
of which was poor, stony, and exposed, was next
taken in hand and sown with a mixture which
chiefly consisted of cocksfoot, tall oat grass, tall
fescue, burnet, kidney vetch, chicory, a little
yarrow and the clovers. After the barley, which
had been used as a nursing crop, had been
204 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

harvested the field was stocked with sheep and
calves right up to the 2oth of May; yet the hay
crop reached 2 tons to the acre—a weight which
would have been exceeded but for a drought of
exceptional severity. Thus, in spite of the
weather, the poverty of the soil, and the entire
absence of manure, this field produced a full
crop of barley, over twelve weeks’ grazing in
autumn and spring, and 2 tons of hay to the
acre. From this period for seven succeeding
years the field carried 50 per cent. more grazing
stock than any similar land in the district outside
the Clifton Park estate. The grass was kept
down during this length of time for the reason
that it grazed so well throughout, and that many
persons desired to see it.

In another successful experiment upon land at
an altitude of 700 feet, and which had been laid
down twenty-six years before, the herbage
chiefly consisted of Agrostis vulgaris, or bent
grass. Here crested dogstail and rib grass were
introduced into the mixture. Referring to this
field Mr. Hunter remarks that there are hundreds
of thousands of acres of poor hill pasture and
_ down land, which, for an outlay of £3 an acre
on cultivation and suitable seeds, might be con-
verted within the space of a single year into
RECLAMATION OF WASTE LAND 205

profitable pastures of treble their former value.
With evidence of the foregoing character before
us, who can doubt the truth of this statement?
But although these facts have been known for
so many years no attempt has been made until
now to popularise a system which might already
have placed hundreds of thousands of pounds
into the pockets of those owning and farming
land. If farmers of the type under consideration
complain, in seasons of drought like that of 1911,
of failing crops upon lowland farms, what can
be expected of those who occupy uplands and
who pay rent for down and other sheep-runs
which are practically worthless for a considerable
part of the year? Not only are losses sustained
where profits might be made by the adoption of
this and other practical systems, but the whole
country is affected in seasons of drought by the
failure of crops and consequently by a serious
diminution in the milk supply.

We have seen that the composition of a
mixture of seeds is all-important; but it is
equally important that the soil should be brought
into such a condition that they may germinate
early, and get a good hold. While each species
of seed used in the mixture is essential, it may
be well to add that kidney vetch and the clovers
206 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

are the most important of all. These species not
only improve the character and quality of the
herbage, but they exert a marked influence upon
the other species through the medium of the
atmospheric nitrogen which they absorb and
store up in their roots. Where seeds of other
plants are sown without the clovers and the
kidney vetch the difference in the pasturage is
most striking, and this fact has been recognised
by farmers in all parts of the country. A large
proportion of leguminous herbage influences the
colour of a pasture almost as much as nitrate of
soda, and this is undoubtedly owing to the
action of the nitrogen which the clovers assimi-
late. Although the seeds sown are those of deep-
rooting plants, it is important to remark that
deep-rooting is immensely assisted by deep
cultivation. This fact was shown some years
ago in Germany where land was reclaimed by
the aid of the lupin, which, being a deep-feeder,
sent its roots down into the earth in search of
food and moisture, making channels which were
utilised by the roots of succeeding crops possess-
ing less power of penetration. It is this char-
acteristic of the clovers and other plants in Mr.
Elliot’s mixture which enables them to produce
the thick turf, so essential in this system of culti-
RECLAMATION OF WASTE LAND 207

vation, and which adds so materially to the
fertility and depth of the soil.

When we are shown—as we have been by the
work at Clifton Park—that crops can be grown
throughout the rotation without the aid of
manure, we naturally look for the proof. Here
is an instance. A field which was broken up was
planted with turnip seed, with the result that “a
splendid crop was produced; nothing better
could be desired.” No weight is given in this
case, but we quote the words of Mr. Hunter.
In other years potatoes were grown after break-
ing up some of the grass land, with the result
that in one case the crop reached 13 tons 14 cwt.,
and in the other, the season being unfavourable,
12 tons 7 cwt. per acre, both being more than
double the average yield of Great Britain. In
neither case was manure used, the decomposed
turf being the only source of food other than the
soil and the atmosphere.

The system of cropping at Clifton Park is
generally confined to an eight-year rotation,
grass seed being sown after turnips in a thin
oat or barley plant. It is allowed to remain
down four years, after which it is ploughed up
and turnips taken again, this fallow crop being
succeeded by oats, followed by turnips and grass.
208 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

It is found that by the adoption of this system
the turf which is formed by the aid of the long-
rooted plants in the course of the four years pro-
vides sufficient food for the whole of the rotation.
Obviously, the grass may be ploughed up earlier
or allowed to remain later, decision on this point
remaining with the grower, who will naturally
act in accordance with its condition. It is worthy
of remark that, contrary to the general practice,
the newly-laid grass may be grazed after harvest
and again in the following spring before the
field is shut up for hay. Upon this point, how-
ever, some latitude must be allowed, for in those
parts of Great Britain where the hay crop is
taken much earlier it is certain that spring
grazing would not be advisable, the fields being
closed by the beginning of February. Again, it
may be found advisable to graze the land the first
year, and to mow it the second. These are all
points upon which farmers must decide for
themselves. It is pointed out, however, that
where lowland is laid down to grass upon this
system foxtail and timothy grass should be
included in the mixture of seeds.

The following mixture of seeds was recom-
mended in a lecture delivered by Mr. Hunter at
the University College of Aberystwyth in 1911—
RECLAMATION OF WASTE LAND 209

 

 

Mixture for Mixture for
good land at poor hill or
low elevation. down lands.
Ibs. Ibs.
Meadow Foxtail Grass . 3 —
Tall Oat Grass 5 4 Sad
Crested Dogstail Grass . _— 2
Cocksfoot Grass 10 10
Tall Fescue Grass 6 _
Italian Rye-Grass . 3 2
Rough-stalk Meadow- Grass I I
Chicory . i: 3 4
Burnet 6 8
Yarrow. . 4 4
Kidney Vetch . 2 4
Ribgrass _ 2
Timothy Grass 3 —_—
Alsike Clover. . I 4
Late-flowering Red Clover . 2 2
White Dutch Clover . 13 2
Quantity per statute acre 5 46 38
Prices of seeds of finest ancl
intgiz .. e 585. 8d. 435. Id.

 

 

 

It may be noticed that small quantities of
Italian rye grass are included, but it was men-
tioned that although perennial rye grass was
never used in Mr. Elliot’s experiments—his
belief being that its excessive use was a fertile
cause of the failure of clovers—so long as the
quantity used was strictly limited no harmful
results would ensue.

Our reference to the above subject is no
academic discussion; it is a plain statement of
hard facts which are the result of the thought
and labour of more than twenty years. The

Clifton Park system has accomplished more for
P
210 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

the improvement of grass than any other system
known to agriculture; it is not only calculated to
assist the farmer in producing a large increase
in his crop of hay, but to do so at considerable
saving in the cost of manure. It does much
more than this: it provides for a whole rotation,
and if the many demonstrations which have been
made by Mr. Elliot and his disciples are of any
value at all, they have proved that poor land
upon which a hay crop is grown by the aid
of deep-rooted plants can be farmed without
manure for the production of spring corn,
turnips, potatoes, and grass, that hill land which
has been so generally regarded as almost irre-
claimable at an economical expenditure of money
may be brought into high cultivation, and, con-
sequently, that an immense area of this land can
be added to the cultivated acres of the British
Islands. We cannot, however, ignore the value
of artificial manure without which ordinary
farming would be next to impossible.
CHAPTER X
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND

THE change in the character of British farming
has caused the occupier of the land to examine
every source from which it is possible that he
may be able to obtain assistance, while the land-
owning class has neither escaped his criticism
nor his importunity. Theories have been ex-
pounded with the object of showing that he will
not recover his position so long as he is required
to pay rent for his land. On the other hand,
there is evidence that landowners have spent
immense sums upon their properties and behaved
generously to their tenantry, and many believe
that the State would prove a more exacting land-
lord than the average landowner of the larger
class.

Whether British farming would be more suc-
cessful if the farms in this country were smaller
in area and larger in number, as in all the lead-
ing agricultural countries in Europe, is a matter
which is worthy of some consideration. We

cannot forget that the stupendous ransom
2i1
212 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

demanded by the conqueror at the end of the
Franco-German War was largely paid from the
resources of an agricultural population, so many
members of which, male and female alike,
possess a stake in the soil of their country. It
is a recognised fact that stability is given to a
family by the possession of land, that such a
position is politically educational, and that there
is no better citizen than the toiler who occupies
a small holding of his own; but as compared
with the millions of individual ownerships in
France and Germany, what have we in Eng-
land? Of 33,000,000 acres which were accounted
for in England and Wales in the return of land-
owners made in 1870, one-half were owned by
2,250 persons, thus—

2,250 persons owned an average of 7,300 acres each.

1,750 persons owned from 1,000 to 2,000 acres each.

34,000 persons owned from 100 to 1,000 acres each.

217,000 persons owned from 1 acre to 100 acres each.
Thus, too, 4,000 persons owned 19,000,000 acres.

The 2,250 persons referred to practically owned
2$ parishes each, taking the average area of the
12,000 rural parishes as 2,500 acres. Mr. Shaw
Lefevre remarks in his Agrarian Tenures that of
g2 parishes in Dorset, comprising 166,000 acres
rated at £319,000, 62 belonged substantially to
single owners, or were divided between two
adjoining owners. In 23 other parishes great
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 213

landlords owned over three-fourths of the land,
while of the remaining seven, two landlords
owned the greater portion of the area. In the
particular district referred to, one landlord owned
nine parishes and half of six others, another
owned three parishes and half of two others,
while four-fifths of the land in the division was
owned by 30 persons. Although there has
been some change since the Domesday Book
appeared, England is still a land of large estates,
but we are far from suggesting that economic-
ally they are an unmixed evil. Of the two, a
farmer is more certain of generous treatment as
tenant of a larger owner than of a small owner,
especially of one who has but recently joined the
ranks of the landed class. It is true, however,
that his business relations are usually conducted
with a third party, an agent, and not always to
the best advantage. A tenant likes to see and
to know the landlord whose property he rents,
believing that the closer the personal relation-
ship, the more amicable and successful it will
prove. Large owners do not usually depend
upon their rents for the maintenance of their
establishments. The very fact of their willing-
ness to accept from 2 to 3 per cent. upon
their capital, instead of 4 per cent. from in-
vestments which might be made by the sale of
214 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

their estates, is sufficient to show that it is the
position and influence which ownership gives
them, rather than the income, which induces
them to cling to the land. It has seldom hap-
pened during recent decades that those who,
having achieved success in mercantile or profes-
sional life, have been able, on becoming land-
owners, to obtain much land of the best class,
while it is certain that thousands of others, on
retiring from a busy life, have taken small
properties and paid higher rents than were
economically justifiable, thus competing with
farmers and, perhaps unwittingly, maintaining
land at an artificial value. If, however, reduc-
tions of rent have been made upon many large
estates, there are instances in which the land-
owner is practically unknown to his tenantry,
living elsewhere, ignoring those duties which
are as clear as his rights, and leaving his cottage
and other dependents to the mercy and control of
employees who may or may not be adapted to
the position, but who can never exert the same
beneficent influence that is exercised by a con-
scientious landlord living amongst those whom
Nature seems to have destined him to assist and
advise.

The great question which is at issue, however,
cannot be solved by discussing the merits of
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 215

landlords, who represent a system which has
been much modified by the amendment to the
Agricultural Holdings Act of 1906, but which, if
almost moribund, still exists. It has been the
privilege of the writer to know many of our
largest landowners, some of whom would rather
cut off their right hand than be unjust to a
tenant; but their ideas, based on the fact that
the ancestral line from which they spring has
enjoyed centuries of undisputed sway, have
caused them to insist on the retention of those
privileges which they and those before them have
so long possessed, and to regard caste as a
divine institution. The time has arrived, how-
ever, when it becomes necessary to dispel this
illusion, and to point out that caste no longer
rules. The owner of a hundred thousand acres
stands morally upon the same footing as the
owner of a hundred, except in so far as his
responsibilities to the State are proportionately
greater. We are persuaded that those who are
responsible for the new proposals to tax the land
are opponents not of the landowner as an indi-
vidual or as a class, but of the system which he
represents, and until that system has made way
for something better the battle will continue
to be fought.

Land is awaiting reclamation and develop-
216 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

ment, but is largely withheld by the few while
the many are waiting for work. That we should
import food to the value of nearly 200 millions
when we have land awaiting occupation and men
to till it, is one of those stupendous facts which
are being gradually realised by the people.
Great questions are quickly ripened in these later
days, and become the topic of the hour. In
giving evidence before the Royal Commission
of 1890 we urged the importance of freedom of
cultivation, freedom of sale of produce, and fixity
of tenure to tenant farmers. Proposals like these
were ridiculed by some of the Commissioners,
excluding the Chairman—Mr. Shaw Lefevre—
and Mr. (now Lord) Channing; indeed, two
ex-Ministers of Agriculture, Mr. Chaplin and
Mr. Walter Long, opposed every proposal that
we regard as progressive, although both gentle-
men posed as friends of the farmer. Mr.
Chaplin was a popular man; his good humour,
his affability, and his sportsmanlike character
redeemed, in the eyes of the agriculturist, his
feudal disposition and the tendency which he
invariably exhibited to oppose anything and
everything which he believed would interfere
with the regnant position of the class to which
he belonged. Mr. Chaplin might not have had
the power, but he certainly had not the will, to
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 217

introduce into the House of Commons Bills of
first importance to agricultural progress, and in
consequence he has lived to see measures passed
by a Liberal Government which include most of
the proposals for which, both as a member of
Council and of the Business Committee, of the
Central Chamber of Agriculture, we fought with
many others during a long series of years. Con-
servative Governments persuaded farmers for
half a century that they were their only friends,
but there is no record on the Statute Book of any
form of Progressive legislation by which they
gave more liberal conditions to tenants, or con-
ferred upon them greater freedom than they had
hitherto enjoyed.

We have shown in another chapter that, with
the exception of sheep, the small farmer keeps
a much larger number of live-stock, produces
more milk, butter, poultry, and eggs, and employs
more labour, acre for acre, than the larger
farmer. This fact does not induce us to advo-
cate either the extinction, or a reduction in the
number, of large farmers. They have grown
with our growth; they are the most typical men
of our race; they have contributed more than
any other class of the community to the in-
creased value of the land; and they are as essen-
tial to our system of agriculture as they are to
218 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

the nation. There is, however, ample room for
both classes, and our successors of a century
hence will be in a position to assess the increased
value of the land, and its produce, which is
attributable to its occupation by hundreds of
thousands of small farmers who, by the adop-
tion of the intensive system of cropping and
an improved system of breeding and feeding
stock, will by that time have grown four blades
of grass where one has been grown in the years
behind us.

The fact that smail-holders have occasionally
failed affords no reason for opposing the system.
When we remember the conditions under which
they conduct their occupations, we wonder that
so many succeed. Frequently without ready
money—an all-important item in farming—with
insufficient stock and manure, working long and
laborious days, men are yet able to conquer, to
increase the size of their holdings, and to develop
into large farmers. The cultivation of the land
and the management of stock demand certain
qualifications, and there is no profession or
vocation in life which does not; but the value
to the community of the small-holdings system
lies chiefly in the following facts—

(1) It affords a means of employing men, both
skilled and unskilled, who need work.
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 219

(2) This employment involves the. production
of food.

(3) It contributes to the health and improves
the physique of the people.

(4) It increases the wealth of the country.

(5) It reduces the rates per capita.

(6) It is calculated to reduce the death-rate
and the number of paupers, lunatics, and
criminals, while increasing the rural population,
which may be described as the pulse of the
nation.

The owners of large estates cannot cultivate
the land themselves. Prosperous farming
depends upon supervision, and experienced lieu-
tenants are of the greatest value when they are
guided and controlled by a master hand. There
are, however, few captains of agricultural
industry among landowners, for there are com-
paratively few who manage their own estates.
Their duties are commonly relegated to agents,
who have sometimes proved more autocratic than
their employers. The result is that their land is
occupied by tenant farmers—as it has been for
centuries—who pay substantial rents. It is
important, however, to notice that it is entirely
owing to the skill and patient labour of farmers
in the past that a large proportion of the land
is able to sustain a rent-charge. Sheep, roots,
220 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

clover, forage crops, cake-feeding and artificial
manures have, in their hands, contributed to the
improvement of land which originally possessed
but little value, but which, like potential build-
ing land, has largely increased the incomes of
landowners and the consequent value of their
estates.

Theoretically, men labour for bread as a means
of subsistence; practically, they labour for gain,
and it is the desire for acquisition which almost
alone provides humanity with those comforts
and possessions for which it hankers, and which
induces the majority of our fellow creatures to
strive for what is termed “success” in life,
although we are prepared to admit that real
success is not measured by the increase of money,
but by the contribution of the individual to the
general weal, by leaving the world better than
we found it.

If, as we believe, more food can be profitably
produced in these islands by an increase in the
number, of small farmers, and if it is true that
such an increase would involve the employment
of tens of thousands of men and the maintenance
of their families, it follows that means must be
devised for providing the land. Power to hire
or purchase land compulsorily has been con-
ferred upon County Councils where they are
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 221

satisfied that it is required for small-holdings,
and where it cannot be obtained in an easier
way. This process, however, fails to touch the
root of the evil, which lies in the system under
which landowners deal with their land; and here
we are brought face to face ‘with the agrarian
problem. Man is a natural lover of land. In
all countries and in all ages he has striven to
obtain sufficient for his own occupation and to
provide him with food. The demand of the
million is denied in a country in which land is
limited by the sea which washes our shores, and
they are told that it can be satisfied in Canada,
Australasia or South Africa. In a word, the
many must leave their native land to satisfy their
desire for work in order that the few may enjoy
well-timbered parks, and breed deer and grouse
on broad acres which should be employed in the
production of food. The accident of birth is no
justification for the retention of land for sport,
or as a monument of family pride, when it is
needed to grow food for the community. If
landowners are unwilling to bend to the needs
of the age, without harm to themselves, a way
must be found to make them by adequate
taxation. This question, however, forms the
subject of another discussion.

We have suggested that work on the land con-
222 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

tributes to the health of the worker. If Great
Britain is to retain her position in the world as
a vigorous power for good, she must produce
vigorous sons—men and women with healthy
minds directing healthy bodies. What play-
ground can equal the countryside; where so
much sunlight, such pure air, as in the fields of
the farm? Where can such pure and excellent
food be obtained as that produced at home? It
is a duty of statesmen to provide for the future,
to leave to those who come after us an inheritance
which will be untrammelled by slums, and which
will make for the good of the race. Statesmen,
however, are not the only responsible persons.
Every man of position and education, every rate-
payer, bears a share in the government of the
country, but the extent of that share is in pro-
portion to his influence. If this is true, the
responsibility of the landowner is considerable
indeed, but it is the community which, by con-
ferring value on his property, confers the
influence.

By the exercise of exceptional skill farmers
have increased the potential value of land to its
present market value, but they received their
incentive at the hands of the community. This
fact is as true of agricultural land as of building
land. The community requires food; the pro-
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 223

duction of this food is an industry by means of
which farmers are enabled to earn a livelihood,
but it can only be exercised by the occupation of
land. Owing to the limitation of the quantity of
land which is to let, and the increasing popula-
tion, competition arises for farms, and rents rise
to a higher rate per acre than before competition
commenced. Were there no community, there-
fore, the land would be as valueless as Robinson
Crusoe’s Island. It is, however, perfectly clear
that, with an increasing rural population and the
growing desire for land, rents will be raised and
values increased unless the whole question is
settled upon a new basis. Without such an
imperative change the wealth of the landowner
will increase with the increasing population, and
with the increasing demand for land. In spite
of statements to the contrary, the value of land
is rapidly increasing. In 1901-2 we inspected
many farms in various counties which were
upon the market at prices varying from £7 to
#20 an acre. We also travelled in one county a
distance of nearly twenty miles upon a single
road on either side of which were vacant and
derelict farms, all of which have long since been
sold and occupied. While at that date it was at
almost all times possible to place the finger upon
useful farms which were for sale at an average
224 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

price of about £12 an acre, it is now almost
impossible to find one at £25. Neither the low
price of corn nor the increased cost of labour
prevents those who have embarked upon an
agricultural career from taking a farm. The fact
that our market is the best in the world is a
sufficient guarantee to the farmer that he will
be able to sell what he grows at a remunerative
price. Competition for land will therefore
increase as the conditions of farming improve,
and with the impetus which will be communi-
cated by the Development Fund, improvement
is but a matter of time.

It has been claimed that the taxation of land
will reduce its value. The cost of a licence does
not prevent the extension of the motor-car, the
shooting of game, the exercise of the right to
carry a gun, or to keep a manservant or a dog.
Men who have the power to pay are willing to
pay so long as they can gratify their inclination.
Those who have not the ability neither keep a
motor nor shoot game, nor can they keep their
land when it is taxed. Land will, therefore, find
its way into the market where, owing to the grow-
ing demand, it will realise almost as good a price
as could have been obtained before the tax was
imposed—for reasons advanced in another
chapter—and in this way a double service will
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 225

be conferred upon the community. The seller
will invest his money to better advantage, pos-
sibly becoming a producer himself; or should
he choose not to put his land to the best use it
will become more productive in other hands.
The buyer, however, owing to the fact that he
puts it to better use than its previous owner,
would have no such reason to complain of the
tax.

The taxation of land will involve in the end
the return of the landowner to the ranks of
workers. The artificial grouping of those con-
nected with the land into three classes—land-
owner, farmer and labourer—is a relic of the
feudal system, and involves the retention of
caste. This inequality between man and man
has been maintained and justified by legislation.
Ricardo tells us that rent is “that portion of the
produce of the earth which is paid to the land-
lord for the use of the original and indestructive
powers of the soil.” We are, however, induced
to ask why as a general principle one citizen
should pay another citizen for the use of a com-
modity which alone provides for all, and which
should be common to all. The answer is sup-
plied in the history of man. Ricardo, however,
had not learned the fact that no landlord is able
to let what he does not possess, the “original

Q
226 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

powers of the soil.” The cultivated soils of
which our farms are composed have long since
parted with their original fertility, and have
practically become a medium for the production
of crops by the aid of manure. The settler in
Western Canada is still utilising the “original
- + . powers of the soil,” but he is gradually
removing the virgin fertility. In course of time,
therefore, he, too, will be compelled to adopt the
system of the Old World. It is true that the
subsoil gradually yields to the importunity of
man and provides him with lime, potash, phos-
phoric acid and other materials, which exist in a
latent condition; but constant cropping gradu-
ally reduces all cultivated soils to a state of
infertility unless the farmer steps in and
prevents it.

Supporters of the existing system of land
tenure have frequently claimed that agricultural
Soils possess what has been most inaptly
described as “inherent fertility.” It is time that
this unknown quantity was disposed of for good.
There is plenty of agricultural land in this
country which is practically barren. Farmers
have been accused, and sometimes very properly
accused, of “cropping to leave.” They have
whipped their land with scorpions, in the shape
of nitrate of soda, removed the minerals with
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 227

the crop, and left it in the poorest condition for
a successor to restore the fertility. Such land,
however, with proper treatment, will grow excel-
lent crops. Land which contains no organic
matter and consequently no nitrogen, or no phos-
phoric acid in the upper twelve inches, may be
described as infertile, inasmuch as, without both
these essential constituents of plants, crops can-
not grow. We have frequently examined land
which has been pared by nurserymen, who buy
it for the turf, which enables them to make rich
soil for the production of crops under glass.
After paring, the soil is valueless for further
cropping until the fertility has been restored. It
is true that it contains latent mineral food which
in time to come will be rendered available by
tillage, but this is only potential, while the
nitrogen has been removed with the turf. Where
is the inherent fertility? There is none, for the
land is infertile in the absence of nitrogen.
There is no inherent fertility in sand, yet men
like the German pioneer, Schultz, of Lupitz,
have grown handsome crops on sandy land with
the help of artificial manures, and by ploughing-
in green forage plants such as the lupin, which
has provided the requisite organic matter. If
sand could be kept moist and compact it could
be employed successfully for the production of .
228 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

suitable plants, conditionally upon its being
adequately supplied with manure. Excellent
crops of tomatoes, for example, have been grown
in ashes. Soil which provides the necessary
mechanical texture, however infertile, is capable
of growing a crop, but only when the necessary
soil bacteria and the requisite foods are supplied;
such soils, however, possess no inherent fertility.
There are large areas of moorland in the United
Kingdom which are useless in their existing
condition. The organic matter of which they are
largely composed necessarily contains nitrogen
and the mineral foods which suitable tillage can
alone render available, but as they are infertile
in their present condition it is idle to claim that
they possess inherent fertility. Just as the
absence of plant food renders an otherwise suit-
able soil infertile, so does the absence of texture
mean infertility in moor or peat land, in spite of
the presence of latent plant foods.

Under existing conditions farmers will con-
tinue to pay rents, however skilfully a plan may
be devised for enabling them to buy their farms.
It is undoubtedly true that, in some instances,
they and their ancestors have occupied the same
land upon a great estate for centuries, and that
they have become attached to the house of the
owner. They accept the position implied by
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 229

their tenancy, and are as proud of it as were
the retainers of the barons of old. Education,
progress, and competition, however, will alter the
views of their successors, as they have changed
the attitude of the great majority of existing
farmers, who care no longer for landed tradi-
tions. The labourer is in the same position,
but he no longer finds it dangerous to stand
covered in the presence of his master’s landlord.
Staying some years ago at Azay le Rideau in
Touraine with Baron Cottu, we were invited to
the great chateau to make the acquaintance of
the once famous Marquis de Biancourt—head of
the Montmorencys—who challenged the Red
Prince after the Franco-German War, the Prince
having abused the Marquis’ hospitality. When
this model of breeding and nobility met a
labouring man, the two removed their hats as
only Frenchmen can, and simultaneously and
graciously wished each other “Bon jour, Mon-
sieur,”’ without humility or affectation. The act
was perfectly natural. Similarly, Baron Cottu,
who farmed his own land and whose workpeople
owned their own cottages and a hectare (2% acres)
of land, treated each one with the same kindness
that he would bestow upon a near relation. They
never asked for time to till their holdings if they
knew he could not spare them, while he never
230 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

refused them when he could. There is no such
monopoly in France, or in any other country,
as that existing in England. In this country
territorial magnates have sometimes referred to
their tenants as they refer to their horses, or their
tenants’ labourers as they refer to their cattle—
which are sometimes better housed. It is not
surprising that the avenues of advancement have
been often blocked by the entourage of such
powerful subjects as the landed gentry who for
generations have monopolised almost all posi-
tions in public life between the desk and the
crown which are not open to public competition.
It is, however, the principle which is criticised,
not the men who represent it.

That an increase in the number of small farms
will be followed by an increase in the wealth of
the country it is impossible to doubt. We have
shown in another: chapter that while the small
farmer employs more labour per hundred acres
than the large farmer, he also produces more
food of certain kinds. Let us assume that an
estate of 4,000 acres is divided into 20 farms
with an average of 200 acres each. The number
of persons permanently employed would reach,
according to the estimate in the Report on the

Census of Production Act, 132 in addition
to the tenants. If, however, the estate were
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 231

divided into 100 farms averaging 40 acres
each the number of persons permanently
employed would reach 200, while the number
temporarily employed would be twice as
numerous as those on the larger farms. There
would also be a marked increase in the number
of horses, cows, pigs and poultry. An increase
in the number of producers means an increase in
the wealth of the country. The existing system
of land tenure is not conducive to an increase in
the production of wealth. Assuming that the
4,000 acres of land were let at an average rental
of £1 an acre, the gross income to the owner
would be £4,000—amply sufficient to enable
him to educate his sons for the Church, the
Army, the Bar, or the profession of landowner,
and his daughters for the positions of wives
of landowners or of professional men. These
vocations, however, necessary though they may
be, are not productive, nor do they add to the
wealth of the country; on the contrary, they
tend to diminish it. If we estimate the average
income of the tenants on the estate at £1 an acre
or £200 a year—although the income of the
landlord would be as large as that of the whole
of them combined—the result which they would
produce would be more satisfactory, for the total
sum would provide for a much larger number
232 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

of people, and, what is quite as much to the
point, it would be spent in the nurture and
education of future producers. Lawyers, soldiers,
and sailors may be necessary evils, but they are
not necessary to life; the producer is the vital
unit of the population.

The increase of wealth, however, is not con-'
fined to production. A small farm is of greater,
value per acre than a large farm, and as time
goes on that value will relatively increase. The
soil on a large farm is not intensively cultivated ;
that is next to impossible under existing con-
ditions. The small occupier is compelled to till
every square yard of land in his possession; if
he does not he goes to the wall. We have
noticed that upon an average large farm the area
only partially tilled, or untitled altogether, is
often sufficient to provide for a family. Yards,
hedges, ditches and roads monopolise acres,
while in all arable fields the corners and the
headlands are seldom properly cultivated, while
in all cases they are less productive than they
would be under the spade.

The taxation of land and an increase in the
number of occupiers will relieve the ratepayer of
a heavy burden. To tax food and buildings is
to tax labour and to impose upon the poorer
classes of the community. The larger the
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 233

number of contributions to the rates, the smaller
should be the sum paid by each ratepayer. An
increase in the number of agricultural holdings,
too, by employing more labour, reduces the
number of paupers, and, in consequence, the
poor rate. There is a constant tendency on
the part of overseers and others concerned in the
assessment of rates to value small farms acre per
acre higher than large farms. This, however, is
one of those forms of injustice which will be
abolished by a change in the law.

To rate land, the raw material, is one thing;
to rate the buildings, fences, drains, and other
improvements upon it is another. In a word, it
is perfectly just to tax that form of property
which is not created by man. That property is
land, which is essential to existence, inasmuch
as it provides us with all we possess and all we
require.

The owner who makes no use of his land, or
fails to put it to its best use, makes no tangible
contribution to the rates, but under an intelligent
system of taxation he would be required to con-
tribute in proportion to its value, and thus assist
in relieving his neighbours. We have known
instances of parks and pleasure grounds—the
choicest of land—which were assessed at a
nominal sum, while less valuable land on the
234 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

same estates was assessed on the basis of rent.
An owner of land is morally bound to make the
best use of it, or to allow others to do so. If
he fails, and puts it to inferior use, he should be
charged upon its value as indicated by similar
land put to superior use. Thus, if land is rated
on value minus improvements, and not on the
basis of rent, owners will take care to put it to
its best use. If a park, a pleasure ground, or
a covert is of greater value than the sum at which
it is assessed, the assessment should be increased,
although it is not put to its best use and pays no
rent. A landowner who chooses to retain such
land and to continue to use it as he has been
accustomed to do cannot complain if his rates
are based upon the value it would possess if put
to its best use. Were all lands charged on this
basis the rents levied upon occupiers of agri-
cultural land would be reduced.

The increased occupation of land, which in-
volves interference with landowners, as contem-
plated and provided for by the Small Holdings
Act, 1906, will reduce the death-rate and
increase the rural population to the great advan-
tage of the country. A large proportion of
those who take small-holdings are townsmen.
Example: On the Cudworth small-holding
colony the whole of the holders, with possibly
LANDLORDS AND THE LAND 235

one exception, were town dwellers. People who
exchange city for country life are transferred
from an unhealthy to a healthy occupation and
environment; from a district in which the death-
rate is high to a village in which it is low; from
a town in which drink-shops abound, in which
crime is common, and the unwholesome
pleasures of life are seductive, to a countryside
in which there is no such predominant vice.
CHAPTER XI
SMALL OWNERSHIPS

ALTHOUGH it is generally recognised that
labouring men as a body are more likely to
succeed upon holdings of land which are under
a system of perpetual tenancy than when en-
cumbered with an agreement to buy under exist-
ing conditions, there are many instances in
which ownership is most desirable. Proposals
to establish small ownerships have been sub-
jected to considerable ridicule. It is said that
where it is impossible for yeomen or large tenant
occupiers to succeed, it would be futile to en-
courage a system of small ownerships. We have
been told that small proprietors are usually short
of capital, that they have not the means to stock
their farms, that their land is frequently mort-
gaged, and that where they are enabled to live
at all it is only by the exercise of great self-
denial and never-ceasing labour. In answer to
this it may be stated that want of capital is not
alone applicable to the small owner, that mort-

gages are not confined to small properties, and
236
SMALL OWNERSHIPS 237

that, as a rule, those men who have been trained
in a severe school of labour are better able to
contend with difficulties than their neighbours.
It is fortunate for those who own land that in
times of depression they are able to raise money
upon it rather than upon their stock, for in prac-
tice those who feed the flocks and herds of other
people are generally in a very bad way.

Are peasant farmers successful? We need
only refer to the small owners of France, Hol-
land and Denmark, who outnumber every other
class, who are the most contented and thrifty
among the people of these countries, and who
probably possess a larger unit share of the
national wealth than any section of the inhabi-
tants of any other country in the world.

Do not our own people emigrate and colonise
because of the inherent desire which exists in our
race to possess, as well as to cultivate, land?
There are four millions of British people in the
United States, in addition to which there are
some fourteen millions who are of British parent-
age, and a large proportion of these are practi-
cally connected with agriculture. Similarly, we
have contributed colonists to Australia and New
Zealand, Canada and South Africa, and in each
and every country the ownership and occupation
of land is the primary desire of the majority.
288 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

Doubtless there are many who emigrate for busi-
ness purposes, and others to try their fortunes in
the mines; but the desire of the majority is to
acquire what they cannot acquire at home. If we
go to Germany or Belgium, Austria or Switzer-
land, what do we find? In each country small
owners on every hand, industrious and thrifty, if
not brilliant and energetic; and if they are not
individually wealthy, they are, as a class, chiefly
responsible for the production of the wealth of
each country. In some countries, what small
farmers fail to achieve for want of means they
succeed in achieving by combination, and by the
institution of co-operative factories and other
organisations.

Is small ownership desirable? In replying to
this question we would ask whether it is desirable
to rehabilitate our extensive area of derelict
land, and to clothe it with rich verdure or a
golden garb; to bring back waste into profitable
cultivation, to cover semi-inhabited districts
with thriving homesteads, and by increasing those
busy hives of agricultural industry, to ensure
more extended national prosperity? Are we all
to be converted into artisans or shopkeepers,
importing all our food, while hundreds of thou-
sands of acres are lying idle for want of occu-
pants, and not only from this cause, but for want
SMALL OWNERSHIPS 239

of the means of placing those multitudes of trust-
worthy and skilful men upon the land, to whom
a few acres would mean almost as much happi-
ness as a monarch could bestow? Our strength
should lie in our rural life; it is there that the
sinew of our manhood is produced; it is on the
land, with the fresh air, the early hours, and the
plain, wholesome food which attend its occupa-
tion, that the foundation of the health of our
people is based. The small owner in other
countries, and, so far as we know him, in Eng-
land, has few requirements; he works during
long hours, his constant eye makes his stock
fat, and he it is who can and will reclaim every
rood of what to-day is worthless soil, if any soil
may be described as worthless.

To rent land is the next most agreeable thing
to owning it, even in bad times. We have seen
what small tenant occupiers are doing in Lincoin
and Surrey, in Yorkshire and Lancashire, in
Hampshire and Hertfordshire, in Devon and in
Cheshire, as well as in other counties. In num-
bers of cases where men are succeeding they at
least pay their way, and rear their families much
more creditably to themselves and their country,
even though they do not save money; but there
are others who are able to increase their stock or
the size of their holdings, to educate their families,
240 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

and to acquire such comforts as most men desire
to obtain as they approach the meridian of life.
Yet there is a wondrous incentive to toil and to
thrift in ownership, and in the knowledge that
every shilling spent is spent on one’s own pro-
perty ; that there will be something toleave behind,
or to assist in equipping the sons and daughters
for their life-work, and to help to keep the wolf
from the door should sickness, misfortune or
old age press too heavily. Every farmer is aware
that his stock thrives better when it receives his
personal attention; it is his own that he spares
no pains to improve, and it is the same with
the land. Money cannot command the labour,
the thought and the pains which men will devote
to their own. An owner is absolute master of
his little kingdom; he has elbow room; he may
be the architect of his own fortune, for he is
like the makers of England, whose hands were
free to construct. Some men undoubtedly fail
on small farms; but the many succeed, and it
is impossible to blame a system for occasional
failures, for men fail in all walks of life.

Let us refer to a type of smallholder whose
opportunities are much smaller than ours. A
Swiss farmer, occupying less than 30 acres,
owns 10 cows, and produces the very modest
return of 5,000 galls. of milk per annum, which,
SMALL OWNERSHIPS 241

on an average of qdd. per gallon, returns
him £93 15s. He rears some calves for sale, a
few pigs and some poultry, and he is withal a
bee-keeper, and a producer of vegetables and
fruit, a portion of which is sold. The taxes
he pays are not serious; his family requirements
are small, although the table is furnished with
plenty of substantial, if plain, fare. His food,
indeed, if we except bread and a few such
adjuncts as coffee and occasionally fresh meat,
is home produced. His luxuries are almost con-
fined to tobacco, which is exceptionally cheap.
The clothing of the family is coarse, strong and
substantial, and forms but a small item in his
expenditure, the one holiday costume which each
owns being worn with great care, and lasting for
many years. This man is able to pay his way,
to rear his family most creditably, to educate
them well with the assistance of the State, and
to save money. Is there not economy and
national thrift in examples of this character?
Apart from the question of expediency, is it
not more satisfactory to the country at large,
more economical, and better for our race that a
thousand acres of land should carry forty
families with the world before them, and with
their own stake in the soil, instead of two or

three families and their necessary work-people ?
R
,

242 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

There are, unquestionably, many cases in which
large occupations are beneficial, but we are not
discussing the question of large versus small
holdings; our object is to show that, under suit-
able conditions, small owners of land may not
only succeed, but materially aid in increasing
the prosperity of the country. Is it not better,
too, that some of the thousands of the capable
unemployed, or those who are driven to emigrate,
should be enabled to acquire, to occupy, and to
cultivate land in England? An advertisement
was inserted in a popular weekly paper for a
practical farm bailiff; nearly 500 replies were
received, and in many instances the applicants
were men who had farmed considerable acres of
land, or the sons of farmers. Where will these
men drift, and where should they drift, except
to the soil, which is their natural home, and the
only raw material they understand? We have
hundreds of thousands of acres of land awaiting
development while men are either hungering
after labour, or being supported by the philan-
thropic and the State; and yet an immense pro-
portion of the bread, the meat, the butter, and
the cheese, the poultry and the eggs, the vege-
tables and fruit, which they consume are im-
ported from abroad. We refuse to willing
workers the privilege of producing at home,
SMALL OWNERSHIPS 243

while we drive them or send them gratuitously
to the colonies to assist in producing more food
for our own markets, or, as happens in many
cases, to foment discontent against the country
of their birth, the country which is driving them
forth. The problem is one of enormous moment,
and it will have to be faced.

The soil is the mother of all we possess; it
produces all we require. With the assistance
of technical knowledge, and of skill in some
craft, small owners and occupiers may in the
future become the producers of something more
than the crops of the farm. If, like the Swiss
and the Danes, they produce a large proportion
of their own food, and a sufficient surplus with
which to exchange for clothes and other neces-
saries of life, they become an invaluable section
of the population, diminishing the number of
those who inhabit our workhouses, our asylums,
and our prisons, and contributing generally to
the welfare and prosperity of the country.
CHAPTER XII
BUYING OR RENTING LAND

(Reprinted by permission of the Editor of
the “ Daily News ”)

“THE land is a great national asset,” said my
agricultural friend, Mr. Bevill Stanier, in the
House of Commons in introducing an amend-
‘ment to the Address in which he expressed
his desire for the development of a system of
small ownership with the opportunity for tenants
to acquire their holdings on the basis of volun-
tary sale and purchase. I have paid some atten-
tion to the peasant farming system adopted in
those European countries in which small owners
so largely predominate, and I have found that
in France, Switzerland, and Holland, in Bel-
gium, Denmark, and parts of Germany, there is
something in “the magic of property,” although
the phrase is a typical exaggeration. Let us
examine the two sides of the question which was
discussed in the debate on this amendment in

view of a possible introduction of a Bill by
244
BUYING OR RENTING LAND 245

Mr. Runciman, who indicated that there were
three points in the Report of the Departmental
Committee which might go far to allay the fears
of tenant farmers, whose case is more in evidence
than that of the small-holder.

The question to decide in the drafting of a
Bill is whether the tenant farmer is desirous of
acquiring the fee-simple of his farm, or whether
he prefers to remain precisely as he is, with the
addition of fixity of tenure. If a farm can be
acquired on the instalment system at no greater
cost than is involved in the payment of a rent,
the tenant will gladly avail himself of the oppor-
tunity. There would be no increase in the
amount of his payments, his tenure would be
secure, and he would not be subject to the limita-
tions of either lease or agreement. On the other
hand, he would obtain no abatement in a bad
season, nor a reduction of his rent, although
neither of these forms of spoon-feeding appeal
to the majority of English tenants, to whom they
are practically unknown. If times were bad he
would be compelled to do his best, as he does
to-day, until better times return. No one blames
the tenant farmer for his willingness to employ
his rent in the purchase of his farm. There are,
however, no means of helping him to effect this
feat of legerdemain, and, recognising the fact, he
246 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

prefers the principle of fair rent and fixity of
tenure. It has been indicated that land is declin-
ing in value, but we claim that its value is
increasing every year, and that in consequence
rents will rise at no distant date. This is a
factor in the situation, and one for which the
Minister of Agriculture should be prepared.

In the present transition stage of Agriculture
farmers need all the capital at their command.
Old methods are gradually being supplanted by
something more progressive. The ablest men
are increasing their crops hand-over-hand, and
a purchase system which would involve the
expenditure of an annual substantial sum beyond
the rent would find extremely few adherents. It
has been recently remarked by Professor Wagner,
one of the highest authorities in Europe, that
the ‘increased yields which have been obtained
on German farms during the past forty years,
and which are improving year by year, are not
those which may yet be secured by intense culti-
vation. The French Minister of Agriculture
claims that the increased crops obtained by
farmers who intensely cultivate their land, espe-
cially those who grow beet, are owing to the
increased number of cattle which are kept, the
increased quantity of manure which is provided
in consequence, the more extensive use of artifi-
BUYING OR RENTING LAND 247

cial fertilisers, better tillage, and improved seed.
In the course of the past fifty years the yields
of wheat and oats have been increased in Holland
by one-third, rye and barley by one-fourth, and
potatoes by three-fourths, and all by the aid of
artificial fertilisers, better seed, and improved
cultivation. We in England are simply on the
fringe of greater possibilities. Many of our best
farmers by intense farming reaped double our
average yields in r91t in spite of the exceptional
drought; and if by the aid of legislation the
conditions which relate to rent and tenure are
made just conditions, the Government will have
added to their roll of great achievements one
which will place British farming on the high
road to wealth.

Under existing conditions a farmer is subject,
at the will of his landlord, to an increase in his
rent or notice to quit. Under all circumstances
persons in business are liable to serious loss
where the location of their premises can be deter-
mined by another man. This fact is of great
moment to the farmer, who is usually compelled
to go elsewhere and to conduct his work under
conditions which for some time to come are an
unknown quantity. He is not only a seller of
crops and stock, but a manufacturer, and on
removal he is compelled to produce his goods
248 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

from a raw material which is new to him, and
the value of which he has to learn. It is more
than probable that he may be compelled to
exchange his flock for a breed more suitable to
the district, and to crop his land under a different
system of rotation. The removal of a tenant
from one farm to another is at all times a
wrench. He loses his customers; the merchants
from whom he has been accustomed to purchase
his manures and feeding stuffs, and upon whom
he can implicitly rely, are exchanged for others
of whom he knows nothing; while he parts with
a home which may be dear to his family, and
with friends whom. he can never replace. It is
not surprising, therefore, that in the Act of 1906
the Government provided compensation for dis-
turbance, or that Mr. Runciman should be led to
believe in the efficacy of fixity of tenure.

It has been proposed that, in the absence of
an agreement, two years’ notice should be
required to determine the tenancy of an agricul-
tural holding, and that in the case of the sale
of the property the tenant should-be empowered
to demand extended notice. With increasing
care in cultivation, and expenditure in manure,
progressive tenant farmers are aiming higher
every year, but unless they are inspired with that
confidence which the concession of this point
BUYING OR RENTING LAND 249

would give them, the incentive to continue in this
direction will be checked. It is well known that
as the expiration of a tenancy approaches,
tenants “farm to leave,” spending as little on
tillage and cropping as extensively as they can,
without laying themselves open to the charge of
exhausting the fertility of the land. The posi-
tion which has been taken up by the Government
is based on the experience of the past, and is
undeniably correct—and the fact applies to the
small-holder as clearly as to the farmer on a
larger scale. Of this we have abundant
evidence. Of more than a thousand applications
made to purchase holdings on one estate, those
in a position to purchase reached some 34 per
cent. Had the land been provided with houses
and offered at a fair rent, with fixity of tenure,
we believe it could have been let ten times over.

The future prosperity of British farming de-
pends largely upon legislation. The Develop-
ment Grant—which never characterised the
policy of the Governments of whom Mr. Chaplin
and Mr. Walter Long were conspicuous mem-
bers as Ministers of Agriculture, will go far; but
security of tenure will ensure satisfaction, place
the tenant on a sure foundation, and enable him
to command success.
CHAPTER XIIl

THE HOUSING OF SMALL FARMERS AND LABOURERS
Tue IrR1sH EXAMPLE

(By permission of the Editor of the
“Morning Leader’)

THE ultimate success of the small-holding
movement depends Jess upon the land than upon
the buildings. Land under the new conditions
will be available, but without an equally far-
reaching scheme which will ensure homes upon
it there can be no material increase in our rural
population. The provision of houses for small-
holders, however, must be supplemented by
homes for the farm labourer where such are
required ; and there are few parts of England in
which a large proportion of the cottage popula-
tion are not housed in buildings which are unfit
for habitation, and which in consequence come
within the range of those Acts of Parliament—
the Irish Labourers’ Acts—which have done, and
are still doing, so much for Ireland.

The importance of the subject in relation to
250
HOUSING OF SMALL FARMERS ~— 251

small-holdings cannot be too strongly empha-
sised. We quote one case in illustration. An
estate was purchased a few years ago by a society
with the object of promoting the small-holding
movement. It was divided into some forty hold-
ings. As there was only one cottage and the
farmhouse, it was necessary to build. The result
was that, owing to the cost, to the want of plans
and specifications, and to the great difficulty
experienced in obtaining fair estimates and good
workmanship, the erection of the buildings be-
came the most depressing portion of the scheme.
Had there been machinery in existence, such as
that which has been established in Ireland,
money, time, and labour would have been saved,
while the occupiers would have been provided
with more substantial houses, to their greater
satisfaction. ;

Where large areas of land are purchased for
division into plots of varying size, buildings
must be provided before the soil is occupied, but
in the absence of a definite plan, which it is
recognised must be formulated, the prospect of
economical construction and the satisfaction of
the tenants, if not entirely hopeless, is an un-
known quantity. We are able to compare the
cottages which have been built for Irish labourers
at an average cost of £173, including a garden
252 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

allotment, which must not exceed one acre in
extent, and which are let at an average of Is. 1d.
per week, with the houses on the estate to which
we have referred, and with the details of which
we are intimately acquainted. The cottages in
Ireland are built with money borrowed from the
Government by the Local Authorities, but there
is no comparison in the cost—bearing in mind
their substantial character—in the workmanship,
and in the progress which has been achieved
between them and the cottages built in England.

The time is ripe for a lift for the agricultural
labourer. Denmark has not only provided for
her small farmers, but for her rural labourers,
of whom nearly 200,000 own their own houses,
150,000 of these owning plots of land as well.
Ireland is on the way to the same position, but
in her case the occupiers are distinct from the
small farmers, who are gradually acquiring the
fee-simple of their land. Let us see how far
Ireland has advanced in this direction, for we
doubt if there are many who read these lines
.to whom the figures will not prove a surprise.
In the four countries which form the United
Kingdom there are tens of thousands of dilapi-
dated cottages occupied by the rural labouring
class. Some are covered with rotten thatch, their
living-rooms paved with cold, damp, porous
HOUSING OF SMALL FARMERS 253

bricks or stone; the ceilings are low, the windows
cramped and rickety—providing gratuitous ven-
tilation—the doors imperfect, the stairs narrow
and crooked—causing many accidents to old
people and little children ; the bedrooms without
stove or chimney, and the drainage bad. Ina
word, against a large proportion of these houses
we might apply the legend: “Hygiene and
sanitation unknown in this locality.” This is no
word-picture, but a fact, and as we have visited
hundreds of cabins in Connemara and the West
of Ireland from Donegal to Kerry, we are per-
suaded that the mud walls and earthen floor of
the cottier’s home are preferable to the type of
English cottage which we have attempted to
describe.

According to the last returns of the Local
Government Board, the number of cottages built
in Ireland under the Labourers Act was 35,4009,
while 5,057 were in course of construction. In
addition to this large number, 13,480 more have
been applied for, with 4,578 additional half-acres
of land, of which 7,253 houses and 2,540 plots
have already been sanctioned. The amount of
money required to complete the payment of the
first batch of houses was £7,801,000, of which
46,566,000 have been paid. The amount re-
quired to meet the annual payment is £197,000,
254 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

which sum is covered by the rents, the Exchequer
contribution of £30,811, and a rate which may
not exceed a shilling, but which has averaged
419d. in the £. It is important to remark
that the rate is highest where the houses built
are most numerous, as in Munster and Leinster.
Here the average rate is 611d. and 5'27d.,
while in Ulster it is 2°3d., and in Connaught
1'94d. The district councils, as trustees of the
ratepayers, are bound to obtain fair and reason-
able rents, which vary from gd. in Roscommon
to 3s. in part of Co. Dublin, but which are
generally Is. to 1s. 6d. per week, and average,
as we have shown, Is. 1d.

The object of the Irish Acts is to “better the
condition of the agricultural labourer.” The
method of procedure is precisely what is needed
in this country. Any twelve persons, who—
unless rated to the poor—must be agricultural
labourers, can make a representation to the rurai
district council. This representation must be
considered, and if the council is satisfied as to
its truth and the sufficiency of the resources of
the applicants, they must prepare a scheme and
petition the Local Government Board for its con-
firmation. The Board follows with an inquiry
on the spot, and if the report of their inspector
is satisfactory they may make a provisional
HOUSING OF SMALL FARMERS — 255

order, which becomes absolute in the absence of
Opposition on the part of owners of land which
it is intended to obtain compulsorily. Where
land is taken in this way the amount of
compensation is determined by an arbitrator
appointed by the Board or the Irish Land Com-
mission. Those who make the representation
must show that (1) house accommodation is in-
sufficient; (2) that existing houses are unfit for
human habitation; (3) that houses are in bad
repair, or are in need of additions or improve-
ments; (4) that existing houses are not provided
with sufficient garden allotments; or (5) that
there is the necessity for the acquisition of tracts
of suitable land to be parcelled out in allotments.
Stich are thé broad principles of the scheme,
shorn of those details which of necessity accom-
pany Acts of Parliament and the regulations of
Government departments.

When a scheme has been approved by an
absolute order, the first portion of the loan—
which is paid in four instalments—is advanced
to the District Council by the Commissioners of
Public Works. This instalment is intended to
cover the cost of the land and the preliminary
expenses, the balance remaining being applied
to the cost of the buildings.
CHAPTER XIV
THE UNSUCCESSFUL FARMER

THERE are frequent agricultural gatherings
through the summer at which speeches are
delivered by landowners and others, which are
calculated to impress the outsider with the belief
that British farming is a failing business, and
that the vocation of agriculturist is one to be
avoided by the young. In these cases pessimism
is confined entirely to the tongue, for the whole
environment smacks of prosperity. A luncheon
of many dishes opens the proceedings, wine is
an indispensable adjunct, followed by cigars, and
our well-satisfied friends leave the tent as much
delighted with the tales of woe and depression
of the speakers as with the good things which
Nature’s bounty has enabled them to enjoy.
Outside prosperity is regnant. Look at the
splendid horses, often ridden or driven by
farmers’ sons; the cattle, sleek and handsome,
the result of much expenditure of money and of
time, and the sheep and swine, the most perfect

of their kind—all these bring grist to the farmer’s
256
THE UNSUCCESSFUL FARMER ~~ 257

mill. As, however, there are successful, so there
are unsuccessful, tenants of the land. We have
met, among the hundreds of farmers whom we
have been privileged to know, many of both
classes; we believe, therefore, that we are able
to estimate at their true value those qualities
which enable some farmers to achieve success,
and to note the absence of those qualifications
which account for the failure of others. What
are they ?

The unsuccessful farmer fails in one or more
of the following directions: (1) He does not give
the requisite personal supervision to his work.
He hunts and attends markets more often than
his business warrants, and leaves his farm in
the charge of his men. (2) He lacks business
qualifications. (3) His knowledge is insufficient
for his purpose. (4) His capital is insufficient
to enable him to stock his farm with advantage.
There are necessarily minor causes which influ-
ence the success or failure of every man. One
individual is afflicted and unable for reasons of a
physical character to attend to his business as
he could wish ; another is handicapped by a large
and expensive family; a third suffers from a
series of heavy losses among his stock; and a
fourth from the position of his farm, from flood,

or a destructive hay or harvest time. In the
8
258 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

main, however, failure in farming is owing to
one of the causes which have been already sug-
gested. Let us carefully examine them.

(1) There are farmers who do not realise the
importance of personal attention. They would
be surprised to learn that their butcher, or any
mastet tradesman with whom they deal, was in
the habit of instructing his employees from morn-
ing to morning as to the work of the day and
leaving them to carry it out. In our experience
nothing is more essential than to assure by
personal supervision the complete preparation of
the soil for the reception and the perfect sowing
of the seed and the subsequent covering with
the harrows. There is but a simple illustration.
“The master’s eye makes the calf fat.” There
are few operations on the farm in which the
master’s eye is not essential. Labourers are but
mortals, and we cannot be surprised if they
decide that if it is not worth their employer’s
while to stay at home to attend to his business,
it is not for them to interfere. Nor, indeed, can
we ignore the fact that, fine fellows as many farm
labourers are, the majority act on the principle
that their duty to themselves is to get as much
as they can and to do as little. There are many
hunting farmers; some breed hunters and attend
the meets for the more or less express purpose
THE UNSUCCESSFUL FARMER = 259

of training or selling them. There are others
who are men of means, whose income does not
depend upon the land, and who are as much
justified in amusing themselves in this way as
the lawyer or the merchant in the adjoining
town. There are, however, many farmers who
cannot afford the luxury—for a luxury it is—
and who never count the cost which is involved
in their absence from home. Every man who
earns his bread is entitled to both leisure and
pastime, but as we are told, “if a man will not
work, neither shall he eat,” so he is not worthy of
a holiday, take it though he may. We are
bound to say, again taking experience as the
safest guide, that while farmers as a class take
fewer holidays, in the ordinary sense of the word,
than any other members of the community on the
same social plane, they take far more than other
people in the true sense of the word. In most
cases one, in some two, or even three markets
are attended weekly, and these are days of leisure
and pleasure, sometimes—and only sometimes—
combined with a smack of business. No man
can go to market without spending money, and
this is especially the case with the free-handed
farmer, who is usually as ready to treat his
friends and acquaintances as himself.

(2) Absence of business capacity is a serious
260 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

defect. Few men realise the necessity of busi-
ness tact in the case of a class who are frequently
dealing with all sorts and conditions of men.
In selling his corn to the merchant or the miller,
or his cattle and sheep to the butcher or the
dealer, this type of farmer meets his master; he
cannot compete with either in astuteness or com-
mercial acumen. He neglects altogether the
practice of retailing his hay and straw to owners
of horses, job-masters, hotel-keepers, and horse-
keepers in general, numerous as they are. He
prefers to sell in bulk to a dealer, or trust him-

self to the tender mercies of a salesman. In ~~

spite of the weigh-bridge and its regulations, he
allows the butcher to buy his cattle in the auction
ring without first ascertaining their weight, while
he delivers his butter and eggs to the grocer
and loses twopence to threepence a pound in the
one case and a penny to twopence a dozen in the
other. If he buys manure or cake he accepts
the dictum of the seller, entirely neglecting to
protect himself against a species of fraud which
is especially easy and all too common, although
the law places ample opportunity and power in
his hands, while his County Council probably
pays half the expense. If it becomes necessary
to ascertain the position of such a man as a
typical unsuccessful farmer the thing is almost
THE UNSUCCESSFUL FARMER 261

impossible, for he keeps no books, never takes
stock, and consequently never prepares a
balance-sheet. Such a man never realises his
position, and no one more certainly needs the
advice of an agricultural “physician” than he,
and it is a pity that such a man is not in
existence.

(3) The unsuccessful farmer is not a reading
farmer. He knows little or nothing of prin-
ciples, and not a great deal of practice. He has
been badly trained, if trained at all, and in many
instances he has chosen his vocation in the belief
that he will have nothing to do but enjoy the
advantages which farming confers. A bad
judge of live-stock, he is an equally bad judge of
food, its value and how to use it with economy.
He is not an observer, and never looks over his
hedge at his successful neighbour. His repeated
failures drive him to complain of the law, the
rates, the season, and his rent—anything rather
than to seek advice or to examine himself and
to strive to learn the secret of his misfortunes.
He attends no lectures, but is ready to ridicule
the lecturer and the whole system of education
and experiment.

(4) Sufficient capital to farm with success is
essential. None but a man who is highly skilled
can farm successfully without live-stock of the
262 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

best, or, indeed, without a good all-round equip-
ment. Without stock there is no manure, and
without manure no crops. Yet it is better to
be over-rented than over-stocked. Farmers are
too prone to delight in large farms, which so
many run with small capital and bad results.
It should be the reverse—smaller farms and
larger capital. Such a practice is certain to lead
to success.
CHAPTER XV

THE RATING OF LAND AND ITS INFLUENCE ON
ITS CULTIVATION

IT is remarked in the evidence of the Central
Land Association, which is published in the
Report of the Departmental Committee on Local
Taxation, that, inasmuch as occupiers of agri-
cultural land require for their business an amount
of rateable property which is large in proportion
to their ability to pay rates, an undue share of
local burdens is imposed upon them as compared
with other ratepayers, and especially those who
neither own nor occupy any rateable property
except the home in which they live. Thus, a
farmer rated at £500 a year and earning an
income of half this amount pays considerably
more than the owner of a private income five
times as large, and living in a private house
upon which he is alone rated at £100 a year.
It is, and has long been, claimed that the
agriculturist pays much more than his share of

local taxation as compared with other ratepayers,
263 S
264 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

if net income or ability to pay is accepted as the
basis upon which rates should be levied.

Lord St. Aldwyn, in giving evidence before
the same Committee, expressed the opinion that
the rates were a heavier burden upon the poor
than upon the wealthier class, and this especially
applies to the many small occupiers of land.
The equalisation of the assessment of rates under
the existing system, which is gradually breaking
down, is practically impossible. There is no
uniformity in the method of valuation, while the
rateable value alone is quite insufficient. The
rateable value of a given parish is not a fair
measure of the ability of that parish to pay to-
wards the general fund, unless, says Lord St.
Aldwyn, you supplement the existing system of
rating with something else. You may have one
parish with a considerable number of wealthy
residents, while in another there may be only a
few farmers and agricultural labourers. In such
cases as these neither ability to pay, the system
of assessment, nor the rateable value are fair
measures of the ability of the parish to pay.

While, as we have shown, successful farming
depends largely on the man, there can be no
satisfaction in the conduct of a business which
is constantly hampered by unfair or excessive
taxation. As we shall endeavour to show, how-
THE RATING OF LAND 265

ever, the substitution of the existing system of,
rating by a charge on the value of land will not
only remove the burden to which farmers so
strongly object, but will exert a marked influence
in the development of land, with the result that
tenant farmers and labourers will be materially
benefited.

We propose to discuss this question in a
practical way in the sole interest of agriculture,
and we shall show that by the adoption of a new
system of rating not only will agriculture be
more fully developed, but the area of cultivated
land very largely increased ; that in consequence
farmers will be able to invest their capital in
their occupations, which they are at present
unwilling to do for want of security, and that
employment will be found for a much larger
number of agricultural labourers at an increased
rate of wages.

We have elsewhere referred to Ricardo’s de-
finition of rent. Rent is practically the key of
the question in the mind of the farmer. He
fears on the one hand that if, by the adoption
of a new system of assessment, his rates are
reduced, his rent will be raised; while on the
other he is equally prone to believe that by
investing his capital in the land he occupies he
will increase its value and be rented accordingly.
266 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

If there were no other solution to this question,
there is one to be found in the provision of fixity
of tenure—almost the last of the concessions
which the Government is asked to make.

Rent, to define it concisely, is the difference
between the value of the produce grown upon
cultivated land which is least productive and
that grown upon more productive land.
Obviously, the least productive land would not
be cultivated unless the produce grown upon it
covered the labour and the interest on the capital
employed. Where the value of the produce ex-
ceeds the value of the labour and the interest
on the capital invested by the grower, rent com-
mences; in other words, the landlord steps in
and claims his share of the produce, although he
has taken no share in the work. That, however,
is the prerogative of the man at the wheel—for
the owners of land have practically steered the
agricultural ship for generations.

The farmer has a right to complain that he is
required to pay rates for the maintenance of roads,
the cost of the repair of which is far beyond his
requirements; for education, in spite of the fact
that there is not a single school—the fees of
which are within his means—to which he can
send his sons; that he pays a police rate which
is chiefly required for the benefit of the towns;
THE RATING OF LAND 267

and that he contributes to the maintenance of the
poor and the lunatic out of all proportion to his
means. He very properly argues that these are
national and not local charges which should be
paid out of national funds. What, therefore,
can be more appropriate than a charge upon
land value, and the entire abolition of those local
rates which are levied for national purposes ?
The proposal to tax land value involves a
charge, not upon the existing assessment or
upon rent, but upon what is termed site or
unimproved value. We have inspected land in
Western Canada which, valued as _ natural
opportunity for the production of the fruits
of the earth, is worth considerably more than
any land with which we are acquainted in
this country; but at the time of our inspec-
tion this land was practically worthless; it
could have been obtained for a few shillings
per acre at the outside, but there was no
demand. The time came, however, when one
settler took up a section; he was followed by
others, and a community was gradually formed,
with the result that this land acquired value
which has been constantly growing. Where,
as at Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, a township is
formed, land which had possessed no value
whatever acquired a value of thousands of dollars
268 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

per acre in the course of a few years. The value
of such land was conferred by the community,
and it affords the best means of providing the
requisite rates. On the same principle, the con-
tribution required from a poor parish which
tenants are now compelled to pay would in large
part be obtained from a rich parish in which the
occupiers possess greater ability to pay.

The rating of site value would exonerate the
tenant of a farm from payment for his buildings
and improvements; in a word, the tax would be
a charge upon the natural opportunity exclusive
of improvements made by labour and capital. A
poor farm equipped with buildings worth three-
quarters of the whole would obtain relief to the
extent of three-quarters of the original assess-
ment; whereas a good farm equipped with build-
ings to the value of one-half of the whole pro-
perty would be assessed at one-half the original
assessment. :

One of the greatest blots on our national life
is the fact that so much land remains idle while
men who are anxious to till it, either for wages
or the production of food for themselves, are
compelled to emigrate to countries where land is
free, or to join the ranks of the unemployed. A
tax on site value would fall equally upon land
that is idle and land that is used for the best;
THE RATING OF LAND 269

but, as already remarked, the charge upon
agricultural land would be diminished, while on
land possessing a considerable site value in the
neighbourhood of large centres of population it
would be increased.

The influence of the existing law may be
gauged by reference to an example case. A
farm estate well known to ourselves was divided
into a number of small holdings, upon the great
majority of which houses were built. The
assessment on the holdings collectively was in-
creased to a sum which was out of all proportion
to the assessment on the original farm. The
investment of capital by the occupiers was made
a ground of increased taxation. Collectively,
these small owners, striving to earn a livelihood,
were far less able to pay the rates than the vendor
of the estate, who was charged a much smaller
sum. On their behalf an appeal to the assess-
ment committee was made by the writer and a
reduction obtained, but the assessments made
by the practically irresponsible overseers are still
out of all proportion to the benefits received from
the rates.

In the centre of an adjoining town is a park
of 20 acres of land attached to a mansion
house, recently let by an absentee-owner at 30s.
per acre. The town referred to is residential
270 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

and growing rapidly, with the result that land
is practically unobtainable, every owner holding
for high prices. The estate was recently sold to
the local authorities, realising the large sum of
414,500, although, valued as agricultural land,
it would be passing dear at £50 an acre. The
difference between this value and the money
actually paid for the land is the work of the
community, for were it situated a mile or two
outside the boundaries of the borough it would
be worth no more than other land situated at
this distance away. Land, however, is in con-
stant demand, and enormous prices are realised.
It is such land that should contribute to the
rates on the basis of value, and which will con-
tribute when a tax is imposed. It is the owners
of such land, which exists near every centre of
population, who have escaped their fair share of
the rates.

Would the rating of the value of land be de-
trimental to the interest of the landowner? It
has been frequently urged that such a tax
would cause a diminution in the value of land.
There is some ground for this belief. It is un-
doubtedly true that the owner of land which is
not put to economical use would have to pay a
larger sum under the new than under the exist-
ing system of taxation which he largely escapes.
THE RATING OF LAND 271

The owner of land, however, especially the
occupying-owner, who made the most of it by
the employment of labour and capital, would pay
less than he paid before, the tax being restricted
to the site value of the land—in other words,
the value minus the buildings and other improve-
ments effected by man. It will be observed,
therefore, that the benefit of a tax which replaces
the rates would be greater in the case of the
owner who uses his land than in the case of the
owner who does not. Thus, an owner of land
which is not used for economical purposes would
be as fully taxed as the owner who uses his land;
or, to put the matter in another form, the owner
of well-cultivated land would pay no more than
the owner of uncultivated land of similar
character. It follows, therefore, that by taxing
the value, the owners of unused land would be
stimulated either to till it or to place it on the
market for sale. The owner of unused land
which possesses an economical value would
therefore be placed in this position: If he pre-
ferred to retain it in its existing condition he
would have to pay on its full value as though
it were put to its best use; if his objection to the
tax were sufficiently strong he would either bring
it into cultivation or sell it to others for that
purpose.
272 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

It is but natural to suppose that the conse-
quence of the imposition of a tax on land values
would be followed by the sale of land which was
not in agricultural use. Inasmuch as those who
are in want of land are much more numerous
than those who own it, and still more numerous
than those who would determine to sell, there
would be wholesome competition, with the result
that fair prices would be realised, for buyers
would not have the same grounds for fearing
the tax as the sellers, inasmuch as by putting
the land to its best use they would pay no more
than their due.

There is another and equally wholesome side
to this question. Some landowners would decide
to cultivate their land themselves rather than
sell it. We have already suggested that a tax
on the value of land would increase the agricul-
tural area. We have seen, too, in another
chapter, that there are nearly thirteen million
acres of grazing land which is unimproved, but
most of which is capable of considerable im-
provement. This land is not put to its best use.
Both owners and occupiers would be stimulated,
however, to do their best with it, and to bring it
under cultivation. ‘Those who declined would
still be required to pay the tax to the full; in
THE RATING OF LAND 273

other words, to pay as much per acre as their
neighbours would pay for similar land in a high
state of cultivation.

Would a tax reduce the value of the produce
of the land? There are some who suppose that
by increasing our cultivated area, and the conse-
quent production of larger quantities of food, its
value would be reduced. The prices of all
agricultural produce, with the exception of milk,
are regulated by our imports. The success or
failure of British crops exerts but little influence
on price, and that of only a local or temporary
character. An increase in the home production
of grain, meat, and other articles of food would
simply be followed by a reduction in the
quantity of such foods imported. As, however,
by no possible chance are we likely to make any
serious impression upon the imports, they will
continue to rule prices.

If, then, a tax on the value of land were
followed by a reduction in the rates as at pre-
sent imposed; if there were no diminution in
the prices of produce from the same cause; and
if, by the provision of security of tenure, farmers
were enabled to invest their money in the land
with perfect confidence, it is apparent that there

is not a vestige of truth in any statement which
T
274 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

is made to the effect that farmers would stand
to lose. There is, however, a belief in agricul-
tural circles that the tax would be shifted by the
landowner on to the shoulders of the tenant.

Let us see if there is any warrant for this
assumption. In taking a farm a tenant adds the
rates to the rent in estimating the cost. If. he
were asked to pay rent, plus rates, plus.a tax on
jJand values, he would demand a reduction of
rent. We cannot abandon the fact that before
rent can be paid the produce of the farm must
be sufficient to pay for the labour of the tenant
and his men. There can be no rent until there
is a margin of receipts over and above the cost
of: production. Rents are based upon competi-
tion for a fixed quantity: of land, but farmers
will pay no rent, and consequently no land values
tax, which restricts the value of their labour, and
therefore no more than competition fixes.

To the small holder of land, whether he be
owner or tenant, the taxation of land value is of
great moment. To the tenant it means a reduc-
tion of rates and greater security for improve-
ments, while to the owner it means that the
erection of buildings and the general improve-
ment of the farm can be accomplished without
increasing the rateable value. The tax, too, is
THE RATING OF LAND 275

calculated to increase the employment of labour,
for an increase in the area of cultivated land
would of necessity be followed by an increased
demand for labour. Thus, a diminution in ‘the
number of the unemployed would be accom-
panied by an increase in the rural population,
and a largely increasing demand for cottages
and allotments of land. With better times and
increased..wages the agricultural labourer would
be able to purchase more and better food, and to
enjoy the comforts of life to a greater extent.

It has been urged by those who regard the
increase of the wealth of the few as of greater
importance than the increase of the wages of the
many, that an increase in the rural population
will increase the number of the poor, and that,
on the other hand, their diminution will increase
the national wealth. This has not been the result
of the division of land in other countries. The
prosperity of Holland and Belgium, Denmark
and Sweden, France and Germany, is chiefly
owing to the fact that the land is owned by the
many. A policy which will enable us to make
every available acre productive in the highest
sense, and to produce a much larger quantity
of the food we require, deserves the support of
every man who has the welfare of his country
276 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

at heart. By following any other course we must
eventually become dependent upon imported
food.

It is important to realise that, unless the de-
mand for farms or houses increases, or the
supply decreases, rents cannot be raised. It is
true that there are tenants who will submit to
an increase of rent rather than leave homes to
which they have become attached. In such cases
landlords may succeed in shifting the tax on to
their shoulders; but in principle a charge upon
rent cannot be transferred to the user of the land
for which rent is paid. The fact that a tax is
imposed upon a farm or a site upon which a
house has been built does not confer ability upon
the owner to command more rent, nor does it
make a tenant or applicant willing to pay more
rent. The owner of land is not able to increase
_his rent at his pleasure, for in practice he can
obtain no more than market price, and the im-
position of a tax would in no way alter this fact.

To tax land value or rent is not to tax land,
for all land would not be taxed. Thus, cultivated
or used land which pays no rent owing to its
poverty would pay no tax. Land is not an
article of production which is increased in price
by the imposition of a tax. If a tax is placed
upon its value that value is not increased in con-
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SOLE MANUFACTURERS

J. BIBBY & SONS, King Edward St., Liverpool

 
278 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

sequence. Its value or price is determined by
the law of supply and demand, and, as already
observed, no one will pay more rent for it because
a tax is imposed. An article of production,
whether it be a hat or a quarter of wheat, is
increased in price by the imposition of a tax.
The supply of land, however, is not affected one
way or the other by the imposition of a tax on its
rent or value, which in consequence falls upon
the owner, except in so far as the supply of land
available for agriculture is to a certain extent
diminished at the present time by the indiffer-
ence of landlords or by their devotion of valu-
able agricultural land to nonproductive pur-
poses; this system of rating would'tend to cause
some of this land to be devoted to agriculture,
and so there would be a tendency towards a
diminution of rent through the increase in the
available supply of land.

The existing system of rating is neither uni-
form nor just. Whatever may be the result of
the rating of land values in towns, it will have
the effect of reducing the rates paid by the farmer
and the small-holder. Under present conditions
a house or other building is rated with the land
upon which it stands. The rate is paid by the
tenant; the owner of the land escapes altogether.
Nor are the separate charges made upon agricul-
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tural buildings exempt from this curious system,
for the land upon which the farmhouse and farm
buildings stand is charged with the buildings.
Land should be rated in accordance with its
value, and not in accordance with the use to
which it is put. A given plot is equally valuable
whether it is unused, put to some use, or put to
the best use; but if it is unused it is not rated,
if it is used and slightly productive it is rated,
and if it is made the most of it is rated up to the
hilt. Thus, the rate charged is in proportion to
the industry displayed, whereas it should be just
the reverse. It is thus, too, that we encourage
owners of land to neglect it, while we discourage
them from making the best use of it. A farmer,
for instance, should not be rated on his land
because he has made it highly productive—that
is a reason for decreasing the rate, which is
otherwise a tax on his industry; but the owner
should be rated on its value apart from the im-
provements which the skill of man has effected.
If, however, it has acquired a value owing to
the presence or work of the community—a value
which he has had no hand in creating—the
owner must pay on that valuation.

The result of this system of rating will be that
many who have never paid a penny-piece to the
rates for their unused land will be placed upon
 

 

Potash
Manures

KAINIT, SULPHATE OF POTASH,
MURIATE OF POTASH, &c.

These Manures afford the cheapest means of supplying
Potash, which is

ESSENTIAL FOR ALL CROPS

The heavier and better the crop required, the more Potash
must be supplied. May be obtained of

ALL MANURE DEALERS

The Chief Commercial Agents are :—

S. ENGLAND & IRELAND —Messrs. BERK & Co.,

1 Fenchurch Avenue, London.

N. ENGLAND—Messrs. CAMERON, SWAN & Co,,
4 St. Nicholas Buildings, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

E. SCOTLAND—Mr. H. KNOBLAUCH 28 Baltic
Street, Leith.

W. SCOTLAND —Messrs. SCHNEIDER & CO, 13
Bath Street, Glasgow.

Particulars may be obtained from the above, and Pamphlets and
advice on Manuring from the

AGRICULTURAL OFFICES
OF THE POTASH SYNDICATE
1i7 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.

or, 52 North Bridge, Edinburgh
or, 50 Essex Street, Dublin

 

 
282 MAKING THE MOST OF THE LAND

the rate books, that those who have paid too little
because they have not put their land to the best
use will pay more, while those who have put
their land to the best use and have been rated
accordingly will pay less—and this will apply
to large numbers of farmers all over the country !
As the measure by which the rates will be fixed
is the value which the community has created,
it follows that in wealthy towns and districts
land values will be high, whereas in the rural
districts the assessments of agricultural land
will be fixed on a lower scale, and the charge in
the pound reduced.
 

 

 

NITROLIM

IS CHEAPER PER UNIT OF
NITROGEN THAN EITHER
SULPHATE OF AMMONIA,
NITRATE OF SODA OR
NITRATE OF LIME

For Price and Particulars apply to

MANURE MANUFACTURERS

or their Agents throughout England, Scotland,
Ireland and Wales

PAMPHLETS, ETC., GRATIS OF

NITROGEN FERTILISERS.

LIMITED

WINCHESTER HOUSE, LONDON, E.C.

 

 

 

 

 
 

TWO
INTERESTING FACTS

In 1883, thirty years ago, Mr. James Hunter originated and intro-
duced the system which guarantees the Purity, Genuineness and Germin-
ation of all seeds sent out by the Firm.

James Hunter, Ltd., have had the honour of supplying all the Grass
and Clover Seeds used by Mr. R. H. Elliot in the course of his experi-
ments (extending over 21 yeas) in laying down over goo acres of land to
grass on his farm at Clifton-ou-Bowment. Mr. Elliot is the originator
of the widely known and practised system of farming which has been
named after his estate in Roxburghshire, and which is now called by the
Board of Agriculture ‘‘The Elliot System of Farming.”

Intelligent buyers of Grass and Clover Seeds are invited to apply for
literature on the subject of pure Grass and Clover Seeds and the laying
down of land to Grass, which will be supplied gratis and post free by

JAMES HUNTER, Ltd.

Grass and Clover Seed Specialists,
CHESTER, ENGLAND

 

 

 

 

 

This hook MUST be read hoth by Empfoyers
and Employed. It states the case fora
living wage ABSOLUTELY FAIRLY.

Mr. PHILIP SNOWDEN

IN HIS WIDELY DISCUSSED BOOK

THE LIVING WAGE

shows how the demand of labour for the means to maintain a
decent and comfortable standard of life can be met with industrial,
economic, and social advantage.

““Mr. Snowden’s book,” says The Yorkshire Observer, “is written
with calmness and moderation ; the revolutionary note is almost
entirely absent ; there is no appeal whatever to class prejudices,
and no denunciation even of capital. Nor does he expect the ideal
of a living wage to spring at one bound unto actuality.”

THE LIVING WAGE. By Philip Snowden, M.P. Witha
preface by Harold Spender. 1/- net.

 

 

 

 

 

HODDER & STOUGHTON, PUBLISHERS, LONDON, E.C.

 

 
The Most Profitable Crops are to he obtained from

GARTONS

NEW AND REGENERATED
BREEDS OF

FARM SEEDS

16 QUARTERS PER ACRE OF OATS
(GROWN FROM OUR NEW BREED “THE RECORD”)

10 QUARTERS PER ACRE OF WHEAT

(GROWN FROM OUR NEW BREED “VICTOR”)

120 TONS PER ACRE OF MANGELS

(GROWN FROM OUR IMPROVED BREED OF “LARGE
YELLOW GLOBE”)

 

ABOUT OUR GRASS AND CLOVER SEEDS.

AN IMPORTANT AGRICULTURIST WRITES :—

“It gives me pleasure to send this unsolicited testimonial in
favour of your New and Improved Breeds of Grass and Clover
Seeds. For the past five years I have sown your Seeds side by side
with those supplied by other firms, and each year, without exception,
yours have proved to be the most superior. I do not think that it
is possible to go beyond the results of a trial like this, which has
conclusively proved to me that your Seeds are what you claim them
to be, viz. superior to anything else that can be bought on the
market. I have just had the pleasure of showing several friends
over my fields, and they quite agree with my own opinion.”

ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUES FREE ON APPLICATION FROM

GARTONS (Limited), WARRINGTON

THE SCIENTIFIC FARM PLANT BREEDERS
 

FIFTY YEARS’ EXPERIENCE

Copy of letter, received December 9, 1912, from—
Mr. JoHN Fearn, 8a MeEtrorp Roap, ILrorp.

“‘T have no doubt you will be interested to know that on Friday, the
29th of November, I completed my Fifty Years of the use of,

THORLEY’S FOOD FOR CATTLE

“* Fifty years,ago I. was invited to see the Fat Cattle at the Home Farm, -
Bretby Hall, at that time the seat of the Earl of Chesterfield. The Cattle
were being prepared for the Annual Christmas Fat Stock Sale. -One
particular heifer, three years old, was pointed out to me, which would hold
a quart of water on its back; its hips were so large with good solid flésh,
and the wreath along the ribs to the chine left the centre of the back quite
hollow. I was next:taken to see the pigs, twenty of the small white breed.
They were about 14 score each, with short legs and deep sides. The sheep
were also a very fine lot, weighing from 30-to 35 lb. per quartet. I was

“ informed that all the food used for this wonderful herd of cattle was mixed
with THORLEWS CATTLE FOOD, and from that day to this I have
used THORLEY’S FOOD for hoises, cows, pigs and mae in a
small way.

‘¢ When residing at Crewe I kept six cows for milking purposes. -One
. cow after calving gave me 33 quarts of milk every 24 hours, and I gathered
15 lbs. of butter from it. This in a great measure I attributed to the use
of your Cattle Food being constantly used with their food.

**Since residing in Ilford I have constantly used the Food fox my flock
of poultry ; giving them the Ordinary Cattle Food in summer, and the
Ovum in‘cold weather. I am still using the Food and Ovum (and find
nothing more health-producing), ‘and shall continue to use it so‘longasI .
am able to attend to my poultry myself.

bs “Gentlemen, you are at liberty to print my letter for the benefit of
others who have not as yet tried your Food. Let any one who has a small
holding: try it with one of his two breeding sows as a simple test, leaving
‘the other one without the Food. Give one packet night and morning in
the ordinary food from the day of farrowing to the time of weaning (say
~ ten weeks), and he will find the little ones are worth 5/- to-7/6 each more
than the ‘ones without the Food.
. ‘Faithfully yours, J. FEARN.”

Thorley’s Food is sold by Agents in all parts—

Case containing 448° Packets, 28/- 1 cwt. Bag, 26-
oy ” 224 " ,, ° 14/6 eon » 186
” ” 12 ” TSO  -& vss a te

es. 5B, A=

 

 

JOSEPH THORLEY, Ltd., King’s Cross, London

 

 
 

 

“ALFA-LAVAL”

NEW MODEL
CREAM SEPARATOR

SUPPLY CAN. Stamped in one piece, ~
rests on a bracket at just the right
height so that it can be easily filled
by any one.

BOWL. Self-balancing, and fitted with
the latest type of Discs, which are not
numbered and may be inserted in any
order.

QILING. Is entirely automatic, which
ensures ease of turning, silent working
and lasting wear.

- Skims cleaner than any other.
Sales exceed 1,500,000.

 

 

“‘ CHAMPION ”
BUTTER CHURN

FITTED WITH PATENT LEVER FASTENER

As used in all the Principal Dairy
Schools and at the London Dairy
Show.

Best Design, Highest Quality Material
and Workmanship.

““ SANDRINGHAM ”
DAIRY HERD RECORDER

Shows at a glance whether your cows are
profitable or not. ‘lhe quantity of milk
is given in pounds and ounces, also in

   

 

pints and quarts. It is not affected by
froth or uneven floors.

THE “SANDRINGHAM” RECORD PAD
is the simplest form of noting the
quantities given.

ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE POST ,
FREE ON APPLICATION '

DAIRY SUPPLY CO. Ltd,, "Sh WE"

 

 

 

OCT =. 1989 CONSERVATION

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