A Short History of English Agriculture Part 37

[680] Ibid. (1901), p. 34.

[681] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv.

[682] Broadly speaking, the arable section, or eastern group, included the counties of Bedford, Berks., Bucks, Cambridge, Ess.e.x, Hants, Hertford, Huntingdon, Kent, Leicester, Lincoln, Middles.e.x, Norfolk, Northampton, Notts, Oxford, Rutland, Suffolk, Surrey, Suss.e.x, Warwick, and the East Riding of York; the gra.s.s section, or western group, included the remaining counties.

[683] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1894), xvi. (1), App. B.

ii.

[684] Ibid. App. B. iii.

[685] Ibid. (1895), xvi. 169.

[686] Ibid. p. 164.

[687] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1895), xvi. 187-8.

[688] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (2nd ser.), xxiv. 538

[689] Ibid. (1894), p. 681.

[690] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 22. Cf. p.

319 n.

[691] Ibid. pp. 30-1.

[692] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 31.

[693] Ibid. p. 37:

NUMBER OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS IN ENGLAND AND WALES.

1871. 1881. 1891. 1901.

996,642 890,174 798,912 595,702

The figures for 1901 are from Summary Tables, _Parliamentary Blue Book_ (C, d. 1, 523), p. 202, Table x.x.xvi.

[694] According to the Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1893-4, the labourer was 'better fed, better dressed, his education and language improved, his amus.e.m.e.nts less gross, his cottage generally improved, though generally on small estates there were many bad ones still'.--_Parliamentary Reports_, 1893, x.x.xv. Index 5 et seq.

[695] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 53, 85. Sir Robert Giffen suggested that the decline in the price of wheat pay be partly attributed to the great increase in the supply and consumption of meat.

[696] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. App. iii.

Table viii. From an examination of the accounts of seventy-seven farms, the average expenditure on labour was found to be 31.4 per cent. of the total outlay.

[697] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 106. But see above, p. 271.

[698] 59 & 60 Vict., c. 16; I Edw. VII, c. 13.

[699] _Rural England_, ii. 539. Yet the census returns of 1871, 1881, and 1891 gave no support to the idea that _young_ men were leaving agriculture for the towns. See _Parl. Reports_ (1893), x.x.xviii. (2) 33.

[700] The author speaks from information derived from answers to questions addressed to landowners, farmers, and agents in many parts of England, to whom he is greatly indebted.

[701] It is, however, a fallacy to a.s.sume, as is nearly always done, that the ordinary farm labourer, at all events of the old type, is unskilled. A good man, who can plough well, thatch, hedge, ditch, and do the innumerable tasks required on a farm efficiently, is a much more skilled worker than many who are so called in the towns.

[702] _Parl. Reports_ (1893), x.x.xv. Index.

[703] 7 Edw. VII, c. 54, amending the Allotments Acts of 1887 and 1890 and the Small Holdings Act of 1892. The Allotments Act of 1887 defined an 'allotment' as any parcel of land of not more than 2 acres held by a tenant under a landlord; but for the purposes of the Acts of 1892 and 1907 a 'small holding' means an agricultural holding which exceeds one acre and either does not exceed 50 acres or, if exceeding 50 acres, is of an annual value not exceeding 50. At the same time the Act defines an allotment as a holding of any size up to 5 acres, so that up to that size a parcel of land may be treated as a small holding or an allotment.

[704] Jebb, _Small Holdings_, p. 25.

[705] Jebb, _op. cit._, p. 28.

[706] _Allotments and Small Holdings_ (1892), p. 19 et seq.

[707] The gross income derived from the ownership of lands in Great Britain, as returned under Schedule A of the Income Tax, decreased from 51,811,234 in 1876-7 to 36,609,884 in 1905-6. In 1850 Caird estimated the rental of English land, exclusive of Middles.e.x, at 37,412,000. Cf. above, p. 310.

[708] According to the Commission of 1894, the amount expended on improvements and repairs alone on some great estates was: On Lord Derby's, in Lancashire, of 43,217 acres, 200,000 in twelve years, or 16,500, or 7s. 8d. an acre, each year. On Lord Sefton's, of 18,000 acres, 286,000 in twenty-two years, or about 13,000, or 14s. an acre, each year. On the Earl of Ancaster's estates in Lincolnshire, of 53,993 acres, 689,000 was spent in twelve years, or 11s. 7d. an acre each year; and many similar instances are given.--_Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 287-9.

[709] Shaw Lefevre, _Agrarian Tenures_, p. 19.

CHAPTER XXII

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.--LIVE STOCK

It is a curious fact that the barriers which protected the British farmer were thrown down shortly before he became by unforeseen causes exposed to the compet.i.tion of the whole world. Down to 1846 Germany supplied more than half the wheat that was imported into England, Denmark sent more than Russia, and the United States hardly any.

Other compet.i.tors who have since arisen were then unknown. By the end of the next decade Russia and the United States sent large quant.i.ties, as may be gathered from the following table [710]:

ANNUAL AVERAGE IMPORTS OF WHEAT AND FLOUR FOR THE SEVEN YEARS 1859-1865.

Cwt.

Russia 5,350,861 Denmark and the Duchies 969,890 Germany 6,358,229 France 3,828,691 Spain 331,463 Wallachia and Moldavia 295,475 Turkish dominions, not otherwise specified 528,568 Egypt 1,423,193 Canada 2,223,809 United States 10,080,911 Other countries 1,036,968

In the years 1871-5 the United States held the first place, Russia came next, and Germany third with only about one-sixth of the American imports, and Canada was running Germany close. Other formidable compet.i.tors were now arising, and by 1901 the chief importing countries[711] were:

Cwt.

Argentina 8,309,706 Russia[712] 2,580,805 United States of America 66,855,025 Australia 6,197,019 Canada 8,577,960 India 3,341,500

Since then the imports of wheat and flour from the United States have decreased, and in 1904 India took the first place, Russia the second, Argentina the third, and the United States the fourth. However, in 1907 the United States sent more than any other country, followed by Argentina, India, Canada, Russia, and Australia, in the order named.

It is probable in the near future that the imports from the United States will decline considerably, for in the last quarter of a century its population has increased 68 per cent. and its wheat area only 25 per cent. On the other hand, the population of Canada increased 33 per cent. and her wheat area 158 per cent. in the same time; while in Argentina an addition of 70 per cent. to the population has been accompanied by an increase of the wheat area from half a million to fourteen million acres. It is probable also that India and Australia will continue to send large supplies, and there are said to be vast wheat-growing tracts opened up by the Siberian Railway, so that there seems little chance of wheat rising very much in price for many years to come, apart from exceptional causes such as bad seasons and 'corners'.

McCulloch, writing in 1843,[713] says that, except Denmark and Ireland, no country of Western Europe 'has been in the habit of exporting cattle'. Danish cattle, however, could rarely be sold in London at a profit, and Irish cattle alone disturbed the equanimity of the English farmer.

For a few years after the repeal of the corn laws and of the prohibition of imports of live stock, the imports of live stock, meat, and dairy produce were, except from Ireland, almost nil[714]; since then they have increased enormously, and in 1907 the value of live cattle, sheep, and pigs imported was 8,273,640, not so great, however, as some years before, owing to restrictions imposed; but this decrease has been made up by the increase in the imports of meat, which in 1907 touched their highest figure of 18.751,555 cwt, valued at the large sum of 41,697,905.[715]