The next writer of note is John Mortimer, whose Whole Art of Husbandry, a regular, systematic work of considerable merit, was published in 1707.
From the third edition of Hartlib's Legacie we learn that clover was cut green and given to cattle; and it appears that this practice of soiling, as it is now called, had become very common about the beginning of the 18th century, wherever clover was cultivated. Rye-grass was now sown along with it. Turnips were hand-hoed and extensively employed in feeding sheep and cattle.
The first considerable improvement in the practice of that period was introduced by Jethro Tull, a gentleman of Berkshire, who about the year 1701 invented the drill, and whose Horse-hoeing Husbandry, published in 1731, exhibits the first decided step in advance upon the principles and practices of his predecessors. Not contented with a careful attention to details, Tull set himself, with admirable skill and perseverance, to investigate the growth of plants, and thus to arrive at a knowledge of the principles by which the cultivation of field-crops should be regulated. Having arrived at the conclusion that the food of plants consists of minute particles of earth taken up by their rootlets, it followed that the more thoroughly the soil in which they grew was disintegrated, the more abundant would be the ``pasture'' (as he called it) to which their fibres would have access. He was thus led to adopt that system of sowing his crops in rows or drills, so wide apart as to admit of tillage of the intervals, both by ploughing and hoeing, being continued until they had well-nigh arrived at maturity. Such reliance did he place in the pulverization of the soil that he grew as many as thirteen crops of wheat on the same field without manure.
As the distance between his rows appeared much greater than was necessary for the range of the roots of the plants, he begins by showing that these roots extend much farther than is commonly believed, and then proceeds to inquire into the nature of their food. After examining several hypotheses, he decides this to be fine particles of earth. The chief and almost the only use of dung, he thinks, is to divide the earth, to dissolve ``this terrestrial matter, which affords nutriment to the mouths of vegetable roots''; and this can be done more completely by tillage. It is therefore necessary not only to pulverize the soil by repeated ploughings before it be seeded, but, as it becomes gradually more and more compressed afterwards, recourse must be had to tillage while the plants are growing; and this is hoeing, which also destroys the weeds that would deprive the plants of their nourishment.
The leading features of Tull's husbandry are his practice of laying the land into narrow ridges of 5 or 6 ft., and upon the middle of these drilling one, two, or three rows, distant from one another about 7 in. when there were three, and 10 in. when only two. The distance of the plants on one ridge from those on the contiguous one he called an interval; the distance between the rows on the same ridge, a space or partition; the former was stirred repeatedly by the horse-hoe, the latter by the hand-hoe.
``Hoeing,'' he says, ``may be divided into deep, which is our horse-hoeing; and shallow, which is the English hand-hoeing; and also the shallow horse-hoeing used in some places betwixt rows, where the intervals are very narrow, as 16 or 18 inches. This is but an imitation of the hand-hoe, or a succenadeum to it, and can neither supply the use of dung nor fallow, and may be properly called scratch-hoeing.'' But in his mode of forming ridges his practice seems to have been original; his implements, especially his drill, display much ingenuity; and his claim to the title of founder of the present horse-hoeing husbandry of Great Britain seems indisputable.
Contemporary with Tull was Charles, 2nd Viscount Townshend, a typical representative of the large landowners to whom the strides made by agriculture in the 18th century were due. The class to which he belonged was the only one which could afford to initiate improvements. The bulk of the land was still farmed by small tenants on the old common-field system, which made it impossible for the individual to adopt a new crop rotation and hindered innovation of every kind. On the other hand, the small farmers who occupied separated holdings were deterred from improving by the fear of a rise in rent. Townshend's belief in the growing of turnips gained him the nickname of ``Turnip Townshend.'' In their cultivation he adopted Tull's practice of drilling and horse-hoeing, and he was also the founder of the Norfolk or four-course system, the first of those rotations which dispense with the necessity of a summer-fallow and provide winter-keep for live-stock (see below, Rotation of Crops). The spread of these principles in Norfolk made it, according to Arthur Young (writing in 1770), one of the best cultivated counties in England. In the latter half of the century another Norfolk farmer, Thomas William Coke of Holkham, earl of Leicester, (1752-1842), figures as a pioneer of high-farming. He was one of the first to use oil-cake and bone-manure, to distinguish the feeding values of grasses, to appreciate to the full the beneficial effects of stock on light lands and to realize the value of long leases as an incentive to good farming.
Agriculture in Scotland in the 18th century.
Of the progress of the art in Scotland, till towards the end of the 17th century, we are almost entirely ignorant. The first work, written by James Donaldson, was printed in 1697, under the title of Husbandry Anatomized; or, Inquiry into the Present Manner of Tilling and Manuring the Ground in Scotland. It appears from this treatise that the state of the art was not more advanced at that time in North Britain than it had been in England in the time of Fitzherbert. Farms were divided into infield and outfield; corn crops followed one another without the intervention of fallow, cultivated herbage or turnips, though something is said about fallowing the outfield; enclosures were very rare; the tenantry had not begun to emerge from a state of great poverty and depression; and the wages of labour, compared with the price of corn, were much lower than at present, though that price, at least in ordinary years, must appear extremely moderate in our times. Leases for a term of years, however, were not uncommon; but the want of capital rendered it impossible for the tenantry to attempt any spirited improvements.
The next work on the husbandry of Scotland is The Countryman's Rudiments, or Advice to the Farmers in East Lothian, how to labour and improve their Grounds, said to have been written by John Hamilton, 2nd Lord Belhaven about the time of the Union, and reprinted in 1723. The author bespeaks the favour of those to whom he addresses himself in the following significant terms:—-``Neither shall I affright you with hedging, ditching, marling, chalking, paring and burning, draining, watering and such like, which are all very good improvements indeed, and very agreeable with the soil and situation of East Lothian, but I know ye cannot bear as yet a crowd of improvements, this being only intended to initiate you in the true method and principles of husbandry.'' The farm-rooms in East Lothian, as in other districts, were divided into infield and outfield.
``The infield (where wheat is sown) is generally divided by the tenant into four divisions or breaks, as they call them, viz. one of wheat, one of barley, one of pease and one of oats, so that the wheat is sowd after the pease, the barley after the wheat and the oats after the barley. The outfield land is ordinarily made use of promiscuously for feeding of their cows, horse, sheep and oxen; 'tis also dunged by their sheep who lay in earthen folds; and sometimes, when they have much of it, they fauch or fallow a part of it yearly.''
Under this management the produce seems to have been three times the seed; and yet, says the writer, ``if in East Lothian they did not leave a higher stubble than in other places of the kingdom, their grounds would be in a much worse condition than at present they are, though bad enough.'' ``A good crop of corn makes a good stubble, and a good stubble is the equalest mucking that is.'' Among the advantages of enclosures, he observes, ``you will gain much more labour from your servants, a great part of whose time was taken up in gathering thistles and other garbage for their horses to feed upon in their stables; and thereby the great trampling and pulling up and other destruction of the corns while they are yet tender will be prevented.'' Potatoes and turnips are recommended to be sown in the yard (kitchen-garden). Clover does not seem to have been in use. Rents were paid in corn; and for the largest farm, which he thinks should employ no more than two ploughs, the rent was about six chalders of victual ``when the ground is very good, and four in that which is not so good. But I am most fully convinced they should take long leases or tacks, that they may not be straitened with time in the improvement of their rooms; and this is profitable both for master and tenant.''
Such was the state of the husbandry of Scotland in the early part of the 18th century. The first attempts at improvement cannot be traced farther back than 1723, when a number of landholders formed themselves into a society, under the title of the Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland. John, 2nd earl of Stair, one of their most active members, is said to have been the first who cultivated turnips in that country. The Select Transactions of this society were collected and published in 1743 by Robert Maxwell, who took a large part in its proceedings. It is evident from this book that the society had exerted itself with success in introducing cultivated herbage and turnips, as well as in improving the former methods of culture. But there is reason to believe that the influence of the example of its numerous members did not extend to the common tenantry, who not unnaturally were reluctant to adopt the practices of those by whom farming was perhaps regarded as primarily a source of pleasure rather than of profit. Though this society, the earliest probably in the United Kingdom, soon counted upwards of 300 members, it existed little more than 20 years.
In the introductory paper in Maxwell's collection we are told that—
``The practice of draining, enclosing, summer fallowing, sowing flax, hemp, rape, turnip and grass seeds, planting cabbages after, and potatoes with, the plough, in fields of great extent, is introduced; and that, according to the general opinion, more corn grows now yearly where it was never known to grow before, these twenty years last past, than perhaps a sixth of all that the kingdom was in use to produce at any time before.''
In 1757 Maxwell issued another work entitled The Practical Husbandman; being a collection of miscellaneous papers on Husbandry, &c. In it the greater part of the Select Transactions is republished, with a number of new papers, among which an Essay on the Husbandry of Scotland, with a proposal for the improvement of it, is the most valuable. In this he lays it down as a rule that it is bad husbandry to take two crops of grain successively, which marks a considerable progress in the knowledge of modern husbandry; though he adds that in Scotland the best husbandmen after a fallow take a crop of wheat; after the wheat, peas; then barley, and then oats; and after that they fallow again. The want of enclosures was still a matter of complaint. The ground continued to be cropped so long as it produced two seeds; the best farmers were contented with four seeds, which was more than the general produce.
1760 to 1815.
The gradual advance in the price of farm produce soon after the year 1760, occasioned by the increase of population and of wealth derived from manufactures and commerce, gave a powerful stimulus to rural industry, augmented agricultural capital and called forth a more skilful and enterprising race of farmers.
A more rational system of cropping now began to take the place of the thriftless and barbarous practice of sowing successive crops of corn until the land was utterly exhausted, and then leaving it foul with weeds to recover its pover by an indefinite period of rest. Green crops, such as turnips, clover and rye. grass, began to be alternated with grain crops, whence the name alternate husbandry.
The writings of Arthur Young (q.v.), secretary to the Board of Agriculture, describe the transition from the old to the new agriculture. In many places turnips and clover were still unknown or ignored. Large districts still clung to the old common-field system, to the old habits of ploughing with teams of four or eight, and to slovenly methods of cultivation. Young's condemnation of these survivals was as pronounced as his support of the methods of the large farmers to whom he ascribed the excellence of the husbandry of Kent, Norfolk and Essex. He realized that with the enclosure of the waste lands and the absorption of small into large holdings, the common-field farmer must migrate to the town or become a hired labourer; but he also realized that to feed a rapidly growing industrial population, the land must be improved by draining, marling, manuring and the use of better implements, in short by the investment of the capital which the yeoman farmer, content to feed himself and his own family, did not possess. The enlargement of farms, and in Scotland the letting of them under leases for a considerable term of years, continued to be a marked feature in the agricultural progress of the country until the end of the century, and is to be regarded both as a cause and a consequence of that progress. The passing of some 3500 enclosure bills, affecting between 5 and 5 1/2 million acres, during the reign of George III., before which the whole number was between 200 and 250, shows how rapidly the break-up of the common-field husbandry and the cultivation of new land now proceeded. The disastrous American War for a time interfered with the national prosperity; but with the return of peace in 1783 the cultivation of the country made more rapid progress. The quarter of a century immediately following 1760 is memorable for the introduction of various important improvements. It was during this period that the genius of Robert Bakewell produced an extraordinary change in the character of our more important breeds of live stock, more especially by the perfecting of a new race of sheep—the well-known Leicesters. Bakewell's fame as a breeder was for a time enhanced by the improvement which he effected on the Long-horned cattle, then the prevailing breed of the midland counties of England. These, however, were ere long rivalled and afterwards superseded by the Shorthorn or Durham breed, which the brothers Charles and Robert Colling obtained from the useful race of cattle that had long existed in the valley of the Tees, by applying to them the principle of breeding which Bakewell had already established. To this period also belong George and Matthew Culley—the former a pupil of Bakewell— who left their paternal property on the bank of the Tees and settled on the Northumbrian side of the Tweed, bringing with them the valuable breeds of live stock and improved husbandry of their native district. The improvements introduced by these energetic and skilful farmers spread rapidly, and exerted a most beneficial influence upon the border counties.
From 1784 to 1795 improvements advanced with steady steps. This period was distinguished for the adoption and working out of ascertained improvements. Small's swing plough and Andrew Meikle's threshing-machine, although invented some years before this, were now perfected and brought into general use, to the great furtherance of agriculture. Two important additions were about this time made to the field crops, viz. the Swedish turnip and potato oat. The latter was accidentally discovered in 1788, and both soon came into general cultivation. In the same year Merino sheep were introduced by George III., who was a zealous farmer. For a time this breed attracted much attention, and sanguine expectations were entertained that it would prove of national importance. Its unfitness for the production of mutton, and increasing supplies of fine clothing wool from other countries, soon led to its total rejection.
In Scotland the opening up of the country by the construction of practicable roads, and the enclosing and subdividing of farms by hedge and ditch, was now in active progress. The former admitted of the general use of wheel-carriages, of the ready conveyance of produce to markets, and in particular of the extended use of lime, the application of which was immediately followed by a great increase of produce. The latter, besides its more obvious advantages, speedily freed large tracts of country from stagnant water and their inhabitants from ague, and prepared the way for the underground draining which soon after began to be practised. Dawson of Frogden in Roxburghshire is believed to have been the first who grew turnips as a field crop to any extent. It is on record that as early as 1764 he had 100 acres of drilled turnips on his farm in one year. An Act passed in 1770, which relaxed the rigour of strict entails and afforded power to landlords to grant leases and otherwise improve their estates, had a beneficial effect on Scottish agriculture.
The husbandry of the country was thus steadily improving, when suddenly the whole of Europe became involved in the wars of the French Revolution. In 1795, under the joint operation of a deficient harvest and the diminution in foreign supplies of grain owing to outbreak of war, the price of wheat, which, for the twenty preceding years, had been under 50s. a quarter, suddenly rose to 81s. 6d., and in the following year reached 96s. In 1797 the fear of foreign invasion led to a panic and run upon the banks, in which emergency the Bank Restriction Act, suspending cash payment, was passed, and ushered in a system of unlimited credit transactions. Under the unnatural stimulus of these extra-ordinary events, every branch of industry extended with unexampled rapidity. But in nothing was this so apparent as in agriculture; the high prices of produce holding out a great inducement to improve lands then arable, to reclaim others that had previously lain waste, and to bring much pasture-land under the plough. Nor did this increased tillage interfere with the increase of live stock, as the green crops of the alternate husbandry more than compensated for the diminished pasturage. This extraordinary state of matters lasted from 1795 to 1814, the prices of produce even increasing towards the close of that period. The average price of wheat for the whole period was 89s. 7d. per quarter; but for the last five years it was 107s., and in 1812 it reached 126s. 6d. The agriculture of Great Britain, as a whole, advanced with rapid strides during this period; but nowhere was the change so great as in Scotland. Indeed, its progress there, during these twenty years, is probably without parallel in the history of any other country. This is accounted for by a concurrence of circumstances. Previous to this period the husbandry of Scotland was still in a backward state as compared with the best districts of England, where many practices, only of recent introduction in the north, had been in general use for generations. This disparity made the subsequent contrast the more striking. The land in Scotland was now, with trifling exceptions, let on leases for terms varying from twenty to thirty years, and in farms of sufficient size to employ at the least two or three ploughs. The unlimited issues of government paper and the security afforded by these leases induced the Scottish banks to afford every facility to landlords and tenants to embark capital in the improvement of the land. The substantial education supplied by the parish schools, of which nearly the whole population could then avail themselves, had diffused through all ranks such a measure of intelligence as enabled them promptly to dhscern and skilfully and energetically to take advantage of this spring-tide of prosperity, and to profit by the agricultural information now plentifully furnished by means of the Bath and West of England Society, established in 1777; the Highland Society, instituted in 1784; and the National Board of Agriculture, in 1793.
1815 to 1875.
The restoration of peace to Europe, and the re-enactment of the Corn Laws in 1815, mark the beginning of another era in the history of agriculture. The sudden return to peace-prices was followed by a time of severe depression, low wages, diminished rents and bad farming. The fall in prices was aggravated, first by the unpropitious weather and deficient harvest of the years 1816, 1817, and still more by the passing in 1819 of the bill restoring cash payments, which, coming into operation in 1821, caused serious embarrassment to all persons who had entered into engagements at a depreciated currency, which had now to be met with the lower prices of an enhanced one. The frequency of select-committees and commissions, which sat in 1814, 1821 and 1822, 1833 and 1836, testifies to the gravity of the crisis. The years 1830-1833 are especially memorable for a disastrous outbreak of sheep-rot and for agrarian outrages, caused partly by the dislike of the labourers to the introduction of agricultural machines.
During this period of depression, which lasted till the 'forties, want of confidence prevented any general improvement in agricultural methods. At the same time, certain developments destined to exercise considerable influence in later times are to be noted. Before the close of the 18th century, and during the first quarter of the 19th, a good deal had been done in the way of draining the land, either by open ditches or by James Elkington's system of deep covered drains. In 1834 James Smith of Deanston promulgated his system of thorough draining and deep ploughing, the adoption of which immeasurably improved the clay lands of the country. The early years of the reign of Queen Victoria witnessed the strengthening of the union between agriculture and chemistry. The Board of Agriculture in 1803 had commissioned Sir Humphry Davy to deliver a course of lectures on the connexion of chemistry with vegetable physiology. In 1840 the appearance of Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture and Physiology by Justus von Liebig set on foot a movement in favour of scientific husbandry, the most notable outcome of which was the establishment by Sir John Bennet Lawes in 1843 of the experimental station of Rothamsted. Since Blith's time bone was the one new fertilizer that had come into use. Nitrate of soda, Peruvian guano and superphosphate of lime in the form of bones dissolved by sulphuric acid were now added to the list of manures, and the practice of analysing soils became more general. Manual labour in farming operations began to be superseded by the use of drills, hay-makers and horse-rakes, chaff-cutters and root-pulpers. The reaping-machine, invented in 1812 by John Common, improved upon by the Rev. Patrick Bell in England and by Cyrus H. McCormick and others in America, and finally perfected about 1879 by the addition of an efficient self-binding apparatus, is the most striking example of the application of mechanics to agriculture. Improvements in the plough, harrow and roller were introduced, adapting those implements to different soils and purposes. The steam-engine first took the place of horses as a threshing power in 1803, but it was not until after 1850 that it was applied to the plough and cultivator. The employment of agricultural machines received considerable impetus from the Great Exhibition of 1851. The much-debated Corn Laws, after undergoing various modifications, and proving the fruitful source of business uncertainty, social discontent and angry partisanship, were finally abolished in 1846, although the act was not consummated until three years later. Several other acts of the legislature passed during this period exerted a beneficial influence on agriculture. Of these, the first in date and importance is the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836. Improvement was also stimulated by the Public Money Drainage Acts 1846-1856, under which government was empowered to advance money on certain conditions for the improvement of estates. Additional facilities were granted by the act passed in 1848 for disentailing estates, and for burdening such as are entailed with the share of the cost of certain specified improvements.
Meanwhile much had been done in the organization of agricultural knowledge. Mention has already been made of the institution of the Highland Society and the National Board of Agriculture. These institutions were the means of collecting a vast amount of statistical and general information connected with agriculture, and by their publications and premiums made known the practices of the best-farmed districts and encouraged their adoption elsewhere. These associations were soon aided in their important labours by numerous local societies which sprang up in all parts of the kingdom. After a highly useful career, under the presidency till 1813 of Sir John Sinclair, the Board of Agriculture was dissolved in 1819, but left in its statistical account, county surveys and other documents much interesting and valuable information regarding the agriculture of the period. In 1800 the original Farmer's Magazine came into existence under the editorship of Robert Brown of Markle, the author of the well-known treatise on Rural Affairs. The Highland Society having early extended its operations to the whole of Scotland, by and by made a corresponding addition to its title, and as the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland gradually extended its operations. In 1828, shortly after the discontinuance of the Farmers' Magazine, its Prize Essays and Transactions began to be issued statedly in connexion with the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. This society early began to hold a great show of live stock, implements, &c. In 1842 certain Midlothian tenant-farmers had the merit of originating an Agricultural Chemistry Association (the first of its kind), by which funds were raised for the purpose of conducting such investigations as the title of the society implies. After a successful trial of a few years this association was dissolved, transferring its functions to the Highland and Agricultural Society.
In England the Agricultural Society was founded in 1838, with the motto ``Practice with Science,'' and shortly afterwards incorporated by royal charter. In 1845 the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester was incorporated. This era of revival was not, however, without its calamities. The foot-and-mouth disease first appeared about 1840, having been introduced, as is supposed, by foreign cattle. It spread rapidly over the country, affecting all domesticated animals except horses, and although seldom attended by fatal results, caused everywhere great alarm and loss. It was soon followed by the more terrible lung-disease, or pleuro-pneumonia. In 1865 the rinderpest, or steppe murrain, originating amongst the vast herds of the Russian steppes, had spread westward over Europe, until it was brought to London by foreign cattle. Several weeks elapsed before the true character of the disease was known, and in this brief space it had already been carried by animals purchased in Smithfield market to all parts of the country. After causing the most frightful losses, it was at last stamped out by the resolute slaughter of all affected animals and of all that had been in contact with them. Severe as were the losses in flocks and herds from these imported diseases, they were eclipsed by the ravages of the mysterious potato blight, which, first appearing in 1845, pervaded the whole of Europe, and in Ireland especially proved the precursor of famine and pestilence.
A short period of low prices followed the repeal of the Corn Laws, wheat averaging only 38s. 6d. a quarter in 1851, but the years from 1852 to 1875 were the most prosperous of the century. The letters written by Sir James Caird to The Times during 1850, and republished in 1852 under the title English Agriculture in 1850-1851, give a general review of English agriculture at the time. The scientific and mechanical improvements of the first half of the century were widely adopted, while the prices of the protectionist period showed little decline. Amelioration in all breeds of domesticated animals was manifested, not so much in the production of individual specimens of high merit as in the diffusion of these and other good breeds over the country, and in the improved quality of live stock as a whole. The fattening of animals was conducted on more scientific principles. Increased attention was successfully bestowed on the improvement of field crops. Improved varieties, obtained by cross-impregnation either naturally or artificially brought about, were carefully propagated and generally adopted, and increased attention was bestowed on the cultivation of the natural grasses. The most important additions to the list of field crops were Italian rye-grass, winter beans, white Belgian carrot and alsike clover.
Agriculture since 1875.
The last quarter of the 19th century proved, however, a fateful period for British agriculture. The great future that seemed to await the application of steam power to the tillage of the soil proved illusory. The clay soils of England, the latent fertility of which was to be brought into play in a fashion that should mightily augment the home-grown supplies of food, remained intractable, and the extent of land devoted to the cultivation of corn crops, instead of expanding, diminished in a marked degree. British farmers of long experience look back to 1874 as the last of the really good years, and consider that the palmy days of British agriculture began to dwindle at about that time. The shadow of the approaching depression had already fallen upon the land before the year 1875 had run its course, and the outlook became ominous as the decade of the 'seventies neared its close. One memorable feature was associated with 1877 in that this was the last year in which the dreaded cattle plague (rinderpest) made its appearance in England. The same year, 1877, was the last also in which the annual average price of English wheat (then 56s. 9d.) exceeded 50s. a quarter. With declining prices for farm produce came that year of unhappy memory, 1879, when persistent rains and an almost sunless summer ruined the crops and reduced many farmers to a state of destitution. Much of the grain was never harvested, whilst owing mainly to the excessive floods there commenced an outbreak of liver-rot in sheep, due to the ravages of the fluke parasite. This continued for several years, and the mortality was so great that its adverse effects upon the ovine population of the country were still perceptible ten years afterwards. A fall in rents was the necessary sequel of the agricultural distress, to inquire into which a royal commission was appointed in 1879, under the chairmanship of the duke of Richmond and Gordon. Its report, published in 1882, testified to ``the great extent and intensity of the distress which has fallen upon the agricultural community. Owners and occupiers have alike suffered from it. No description of estate or tenure has been exempted. The owner in fee and life tenant, the occupier, whether of large or of small holding, whether under lease, or custom, or agreement, or the provisions of the Agricultural Holdings Act—all without distinction have been involved in a general calamity.'' The two most prominent causes assigned for the depression were bad seasons and foreign competition, aggravated by the increased cost of production and the heavy losses of live stock. Abundant evidence was forthcoming as to the extent to which agriculture had been injuriously affected ``by an unprecedented succession of bad seasons.'' As regards the pressure of foreign competition, it was stated to be greatly in excess of the anticipations of the supporters, and of the apprehensions of the opponents of the repeal of the Corn Laws. Whereas formerly the farmer was to some extent compensated by a higher price for a smaller yield, in recent years he had had to compete with an unusually large supply at greatly reduced prices. On the other hand, he had enjoyed the advantage of an extended supply of feeding-stuffs—-such as maize, linseedcake and cotton-cake—-and of artificial manures imported from abroad. The low price of agricultural produce, beneficial though it might be to the general community, had lessened the ability of the land to bear the proportion of taxation which had heretofore been imposed upon it. The legislative outcome of the findings of this royal commission was the Agricultural Holdings Act 1883, a measure which continued in force in its entirety till 1901, when a new act came into operation.
The apparently hopeless outlook for corn-growing compelled farmers to cast about for some other means of subsistence, and to rely more than they had hitherto done upon the possibilities of stock-breeding. It was in particular the misfortunes of the later 'seventies that gave the needed fillip to that branch of stock-farming concerned with the production of milk, butter and cheese, and from this period may be said to date the revival of the dairying industry, which received a powerful impetus through the introduction of the centrifugal cream separator, and was fostered by the British Dairy Farmers' Association (formed in 1875). The generally wet character of the seasons in 1879 and the two or three years following was mainly responsible for the high prices of meat, so that the supplies of fresh beef and mutton from Australia which now began to arrive found a ready market, and the trade in imported fresh meat which was thus commenced has practically continued to expand ever since. The great losses arising from spoilt hay crops served to stimulate experimental inquiry into the method of preserving green fodder known as ensilage, with the result that the system eventually became successfully incorporated in the ordinary routine of agricultural practice. A contemporaneous effort in the direction of drying hay by artificial means led to nothing of practical importance. By 1882 the cry as to land going out of cultivation became loud and general, and the migration of the rural population into the towns in search of work continued unchecked (see below, Agricultural Population) . In 1883 foot-and-mouth disease was terribly rampant amongst the herds and flocks of Great Britain, and was far more prevalent than it has ever been since. It was about this time that the first experiments were made (in Germany) with basic slag, a material which had hitherto been regarded as a worthless by-product of steel manufacture. A year or two later field trials were begun in England, with the final result that basic slag has become recognized as a valuable source of phosphorus for growing crops, and is now in constant demand for application to the soil as a fertilizer.
In 1883 the veterinary department of the Privy Council—which had been constituted in 1865 when the country was ravaged by cattle plague—-was abolished by order in council, and the ``Agricultural Department'' was substituted, but no alteration was effected in the work of the department, so far as it related to animals. In 1889 the Board of Agriculture (for Great Britain) was formed under an act of parliament of that year (see AGRICULTURE, BOARD OF). The election took place in the same year (1889) of the first county councils, and the allotment to them of various sums of money under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act 1890 enabled local provision to be made for the promotion of technical instruction in agriculture (see below, Agricultural Education.) It was about this time that the value of a mixture of lime and sulphate of copper (bouillie bordelaise), sprayed in solution upon the growing plants, came to be recognized as a check upon the ravages of potato disease.
The general experience of the decade of the 'eighties was that of disappointing summers, harsh winters, falling prices, declining rents and the shrinkage of land values. It is true that one season of the series, that of 1887, was hot and droughty, but the following summer was exceedingly wet. Nevertheless, the decade closed more hopefully than it opened, and found farmers taking a keener interest in grass land, in live stock and in dairying. Cattle-breeders did well in 1889, but sheep-breeders fared better; on the other hand, owing to receding prices, corn growers were more disheartened than ever. With the incoming of the last decade of the century there seemed to be some justifiable hopes of the dawn of better times, but they were speedily doomed to disappointment. In 1891 excessively heavy autumn rains washed the arable soils to such an extent that the next season's corn crops were below average. Wheat in particular was a poor crop in 1892, and the low yield was associated with falling prices due to large imports. The hay crop was very inferior, and in some cases it was practically ruined. This gave a stimulus to the trade in imported hay, which rose from 61,237 tons in 1892 to 263,050 tons in 1893, and despite some large home-grown crops in certain subsequent years (1897 and 1898) this expansion has never since been wholly lost.
The misfortunes of 1892 proved to be merely a preparation for the disasters of 1893, in which year occurred the most destructive drought within living memory. Its worst effects were seen upon the light land farms of England, and so deplorable was the position that a royal commission on agricultural depression was appointed in September of that year under the chairmanship of Mr Shaw Lefevre (afterwards Lord Eversley). Thus, within the last quarter of the 19th century—and, as a matter of fact, only fourteen years apart—two royal commissions on agriculture were appointed, the one in a year of memorable flood, 1879, and the other in a year of disastrous drought, 1893. The report of the commission of 1893 was issued in March 1896. Amongst its chief recommendations were those relating to amendments in the Agricultural Holdings Acts, and to tithe rent-charge, railway rates, damage by game, sale of adulterated products, and sale of imported goods (meat, for example) as home produce. Two legislative enactments arose out of the work of this commission. In the majority report it was stated ``that, in order to place agricultural lands in their right position as compared with other ratable properties, it is essential that they should be assessed to all local rates in a reduced proportion of their ratable value.'' The Agricultural Rates Act 1896 gave effect to this recommendation. Its objects were to relieve agricultural land from half the local rates, and to provide the means of making good out of imperial funds the deficiency in local taxation caused thereby. It was provided that the act should continue in force only till the 31st of March 1902, but a further act in 1901 extended the period by four years, and in 1905 its operation was extended to the 31st of March 1910. The other measure arising out of the report of the royal commission of 1893 was the Agricultural Holdings Act 1900. This was an amending act and not a consolidating act; consequently it had to be read as if incorporated into the already existing acts. As affecting agricultural practice there were three noteworthy improvements in respect of the making of which, without the consent of or notice to his landlord, a tenant might claim compensation—-(1) the consumption on the holding ``by horses, other than those regularly employed on the holding,'' of corn, cake or other feeding-stuff not produced on the holding; (2) the ``consumption on the holding by cattle, sheep, or pigs, or by horses other than those regularly employed on the holding, of corn proved by satisfactory evidence to have been produced and consumed on the holding''; (3) ``laying down temporary pasture with clover, grass, lucerne, sainfoin or other seeds sown more than two years prior to the determination of the tenancy.'' A further act was passed in 1906 (the Agricultural Holdings Act 1906) which improved the tenant's position in respect of freedom of cropping, disposal of produce and compensation for disturbance.
After 1894, in which year the brilliant prospects of a bountiful harvest were ultimately extinguished by untimely and heavy rains, all the remaining seasons of the closing decade of the 19th century were dominated by drought. A fact that was amply illustrated, moreover, is that the period of incidence of a drought is not less important than its duration, and the same is true of abnormal rainfall. A spring drought, a summer drought, an autumn drought, each has its distinctive characteristics in so far as the effect upon the crops is concerned. The hot drought of 1893 extended over the spring and summer months, but there was an abundant rainfall in the autumn; correspondingly there was an unprecedentedly bad yield of corn and hay crops, but a moderately fair yield of the main root crops (turnips and swedes). In 1899 the drought became most intense in the autumn after the corn crops had been harvested, but during the chief period, of growth of the root crops; correspondingly the corn crops of that year rank very well amongst the crops of the decade, but the yield of turnips and swedes was the worst on record. It is quite possible for a hot dry season to be associated with a large yield of corn, provided the drought is confined to a suitable period, as was the case in 1896 and still more so in 1898; the English wheat crops in those years were probably the biggest in yield per acre that had been harvested since 1868, which is always looked back upon as a remarkable year for wheat. The drought of 1898 was interrupted by copious rains in June, and these falling on a warm soil led to a rapid growth of grass and, as measured by yield per acre, an exceedingly heavy crop of hay.
With the exceptions of 1891 and 1894, every year in the period 1891-1900 was stricken by drought. The two meteorological events of the decade which will probably live longest in the recollection were, however, the terrible drought of 1893, resulting in a fodder famine in the succeeding winter, and the severe frost of ten weeks' duration at the beginning of 1895. Between these two occurrences came the disastrous decline in the value of grain in the autumn of 1894, when the weekly average price of English wheat fell to the record minimum of 17s. 6d. per imperial quarter. As a consequence, the extent of land devoted to wheat in the British Isles receded in 1895 to less than 1 1/2 million acres. The year 1903 was memorable for a very heavy rainfall, comparable though not equal in its disastrous effects to that of 1879. Successful trials of sulphate of copper solution as a means of destroying charlock in corn crops took place in the years 1898-1900. Charlock is a most persistent cruciferous weed, but if sprayed when young with the solution named it is killed, the corn plants being uninjured. In 1901 the formation of the Agricultural Organization Society marked the first systematic attempt to organize co-operation among the farmers of Great Britain. In the subsequent years the principle, which had already made great progress in Ireland, began to obtain a hold in England and Wales, where, in 1906, there were 145 local co-operative societies with a turn-over of
Amongst legislative measures of importance to agriculturists mention should be made, in addition to those that have been referred to, of the Tithe Rent-charge Recovery Act 1891, which transfers the liability for payment of tithe from the occupier to the owner. In the same year was passed the Markets and Fairs (Weighing of Cattle) Act. The object of the Small Holdings Act 1892 was to facilitate the acquisition of small agricultural holdings. It provided that a county council might acquire any suitable land, with the object of allotting from one to fifty acres, or, if more than fifty acres, of an annual value not exceeding L. 50, to persons who desired to buy, and would themselves cultivate, the holdings. If, owing to proximity to a town or otherwise, the prospective value were too high, the council might hire such land for the purpose of letting it. (See ALLOTMENTS AND SMALL HOLDINGS for this and other acts.) The Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs Act 1893 compelled sellers of fertilizers (i.e. manures), manufactured or imported, to state the percentage of the nitrogen, of the soluble and insoluble phosphates, and of the potash in each article sold, and this statement was to have the effect of a warranty. Similar stringent conditions applied as regards the sale of feeding-stuffs for live stock. The Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs Act 1906, amending and re-enacting the act of 1893, provided for the compulsory appointment by county councils of official samplers. It also provides penalties for breaches of duty by the seller, but grants him protection in cases where he is not morally responsible. The Finance Act of 1894, with its great changes in the death duties, overshadowed all other acts of that year both in its immediate effects and in its far-reaching consequences. The Copyhold Consolidation Act 1894 supersedes six previous copyhold statutes, but does not effect any alteration in the law concerning enfranchisement. The Diseases of Animals Act 1896 provided for the compulsory slaughter of imported live stock at the place of landing. The Light Railways Act and the Locomotives on Highways Act were added to the statute book in 1896, and various clauses in the Finance Act effected reforms in respect of the death duties, the land-tax, farmers' income-tax and the beer duty. The Chaff-cutting Machines (Accidents) Act 1897 is a measure very similar in its intention to the Threshing Machines Act 1878, and provides for the automatic prevention of accidents to persons in charge of chaff-cutting machines. The Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1899 has special reference in its earlier sections to the trade in dairy produce and margarine. In 1899 was also passed the act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland.
The year 1900 saw the passing of a Workmen's Compensation Act, which extended the benefits of the act of 1807 to agricultural labourers.
Acreage and Yields of British Crops.
The most notable feature in connexion with the cropping of the land of the United Kingdom between 1875 and 1905 was the lessened cultivation of the cereal crops associated with an expansion in the area of grass land. At the beginning of the period the aggregate area under wheat, barley and oats was nearly 10 1/2 million acres; at the close it did not amount to 8 million acres. There was thus a withdrawal during the period of over 2 1/2 million acres from cereal cultivation. From Table I., showing the acreages at intervals of five years, it will be learnt that the loss fell chiefly upon the wheat crop, which at the close of the period
TABLE 1.—Areas of Cereal Crops in the United Kingdom— Acres
1875 3,514,088 2,751,362 4,176,177 10,441,627 1880 3,065,895 2,695,000 4,191,716 9,952,611 1885 2,553,092 2,447,169 4,282,594 9,282,855 1890 2,483,595 2,300,994 4,137,790 8,922,379 1895 1,456,042 2,346,367 4,527,899 8,330,308 1900 1,901,014 2,172,140 4,145,633 8,218,787 1905 1,836,598 1,872,305 4,137,406 7,846,309
occupied barely more than half the area assigned to it at the beginning. If the land taken from wheat had been cropped with one or both of the other cereals, the aggregate area would have remained about the same. This, however, was not the case, for a fairly uniform decrease in the barley area was accompanied by somewhat irregular fluctuations in the acreage of oats. To the decline in prices of home-grown cereals the decrease in area is largely attributable. The extent of this decline is seen in Table II., wherein are given the annual average prices from 1875 to 1905, calculated upon returns from the 190 statutory markets of England and Wales (Corn Returns Act 1882). These prices are per imperial quarter,—-that is, 480 lb. of wheat, 400 lb. of barley and 312 lb. of oats, representing 60 lb, 50 lb. and 39 lb. per bushel respectively. After 1883 the annual average price of English wheat was never so high as 40s. per quarter, and only twice after 1892 did it exceed 30s. In one of these exceptional years, 1898, the average rose to 34s., but this was due entirely to a couple of months of inflated prices in the early half of the year, when the outbreak of war between Spain and the United States of America coincided with a huge speculative deal in the latter country. The
TABLE II.—Gazette Annual Average Prices per Imperial Quarter of British Cereals in England and Wales, 1875-1905.
Year. Wheat. Barley. Oats.
s. d. s. d. s. d. 1875 45 2 38 5 28 8 1876 46 2 35 2 26 3 1877 56 9 39 8 25 [] 1878 46 5 40 2 24 4 1879 43 10 34 0 21 9 1880 44 4 33 1 23 1 1881 45 4 31 11 21 9 1882 45 1 31 2 21 10 1883 41 7 31 10 21 5 1884 35 8 30 8 20 3 1885 32 10 30 1 20 7 1886 31 0 26 7 19 0 1887 32 6 25 4 16 3 1888 31 10 27 10 16 9 1889 29 9 25 10 17 9 1890 31 11 28 8 18 7 1891 37 0 28 2 20 0 1892 30 3 26 2 19 10 1893 26 4 25 7 18 9 1894 22 10 24 6 17 1 1895 23 1 21 11 14 6 1896 26 2 22 11 14 9 1897 30 2 23 6 16 11 1898 34 0 27 2 18 5 1899 25 8 25 7 17 0 1900 26 11 24 11 17 7 1901 26 9 25 2 18 5 1902 28 1 25 8 20 2 1903 26 9 22 8 17 2 1904 28 4 22 4 16 4 1905 29 8 24 4 17 4
weekly average prices of English wheat in 1898 fluctuated between 48s. 1d. and 25s. 5d. per quarter, the former being the highest weekly average since 1882. The minimum annual average was 22s. 10d. in 1894, in the autumn of which year the weekly average sank to 17s. 6d. per quarter, the lowest on record. Wheat was so great a glut in the market that various methods were devised for feeding it to stock, a purpose for which it is not specially suited; in thus utilizing the grain, however, a smaller loss was often incurred than in sending it to market. In 1894 the monthly average price for October, the chief month for wheat-sowing in England, was only 17s. 8d. per quarter, and farmers naturally shrank from seeding the land freely with a crop which could not be grown except at a heavy loss. The result was that in the following year the wheat crop of the United Kingdom was harvested upon the smallest area on record—less than 1 1/2 million acres. In only one year, 1878, did the annual average price of English barley touch 40s. per quarter; it never reached 30s. after 1885, whilst in 1895 it fell to so low a level as 21s. 11d. The same story of declining prices applies to oats. An average of 20s. per quarter was touched in 1891 and 1902, but with those exceptions this useful feeding grain did not reach that figure after 1885. In 1895 the average price of 480 lb. of wheat, at 23s. 1d., was identical with that of 312 lb. of oats in 1880, and it was less in the preceding year. The declining prices that have operated against the growers of wheat should be studied in conjunction with Table III., which shows, at intervals of five years, the imports of
TABLE III.—Imports into the United Kingdom of Wheat Grain, and of Wheat Meal and Flour—Cwt.
Year. Wheat Grain. Meal and Flour. Total.
1875 51,876,517 6,136,083 58,012,600 1880 55,261,924 10,558,312 65,820,236 1885 61,498,864 15,832,843 77,331,707 1890 60,474,180 15,773,336 76,247,516 1895 81,749,955 18,368,410 100,118,365 1900 68,669,490 21,548,131 90,217,621 1905 97,622,752 11,954,763 109,577,515
wheat grain and of wheat meal and flour into the United Kingdom. The import of the manufactured product from 1875 to 1900 increased at a much greater ratio than that of the raw grain, for whilst in 1875 the former represented less than one-ninth of the total, by 1900 the proportion had risen to nearly one-fourth. The offal, which is quite as valuable as the flour itself, was thus retained abroad instead of being utilized for stock-feeding purposes in the United Kingdom. In the five subsequent years the proportion was fundamentally altered, so that with a greatly increased importation of grain, that of meal and flour was in the proportion of about one-ninth. The highest and lowest areas of wheat, barley and oats in the United Kingdom during the period 1875-1905 were the
Wheat . 3,514,088 acres in 1875; 1,407,618 acres in 1904.Barley . 2,931,809 acres in 1879; 1,872,305 acres in 1905.Oats . 4,527,899 acres in 1895; 3,998,200 acres in 1879.
These show differences amounting to 2,106,470 acres for wheat, 1,059,504 acres for barley, and 529,699 acres for oats. The acreage of wheat, therefore, fluctuated the most, and that of oats the least. Going back to 1869, it is found that the extent of wheat in that year was 3,981,989 acres or very little short of four million acres.
The acreage of rye grown in the United Kingdom as a grain crop is small, the respective maximum and minimum areas during the period 1875-1905 having been 102,676 acres in 1894 and 47,937 acres in 1880. Rye is perhaps more largely grown as a green crop to be fed off by sheep, or cut green for soiling, in the spring months.
Of corn crops other than cereals, beans and peas are both less cultivated than formerly. In the period 1875-1905 the area of beans in the United Kingdom fluctuated between 574,414 acres in 1875 and 230,429 acres in 1897, and that of peas between 318,410 acres in 1875 and 155,668 acres in 1901. The area of peas (175,624 acres in 1905) shrank by nearly one-half, and that of beans (256,583 acres in 1905) by more than one-half. Taking cereals and pulse corn together, the aggregate areas of wheat, barley, oats, rye, beans and peas in the United Kingdom varied as follows over the six quinquennial intervals embraced in the period
Year. Acres. | Year. Acres.1875 . . 11,399,030 | 1890 . . 9,574,2491880 . . 10,672,086 | 1895 . . 8,865,3381885 . . 10,014,625 | 1900 . . 8,707,602| 1905 . . 8,333,770
Disregarding minor fluctuations, there was thus a loss of corn land over the 30 years of 3,065,260 acres, or 27%.
The area withdrawn from corn-growing is not to be found under the head of what are termed ``green crops.'' In 1905 the total area of these crops in the United Kingdom was 4,144,374 acres, made up
Crop. Acres.Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,236,768Turnips and swedes . . . . . . . . . 1,879,384Mangel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477,540Cabbage, kohl-rabi and rape . . . . 225,315Vetches or tares . . . . . . . . . . 139,285Other green crops . . . . . . . . . 186,082
The extreme aggregate areas of these crops during the thirty years were 5,057,029 acres in 1875 and 4,109,394 acres in 1904. At five-year intervals the areas
Year. Acres. | Year. Acres.1875 . . 5,057,029 | 1890 . . 4,534,1451880 . . 4,746,293 | 1895 . . 4,399,9491885 . . 4,765,195 | 1900 . . 4,301,774| 1905 . . 4,144,374
These crops, therefore, which, except potatoes, are used mainly for stock-feeding, have like the corn crops been grown on gradually diminishing areas.
The land that has been lost to the plough is found to be still further augmented when an inquiry is instituted into the area devoted to clover, sainfoin and grasses under rotation. The areas of five-year intervals are given in Table IV. Under the old Norfolk or four-course rotation (roots, barley, clover, wheat) land thus seeded with clover or grass seeds was intended to be ploughed up at the end of a year. Labour difficulties, low prices of produce, bad seasons and similar causes provided inducements for leaving the land in grass for two years, or over three years or more, before breaking it up for wheat. In many cases it would be decided to let such land remain under grass indefinitely, and thus it would no longer be enumerated in the Agricultural Returns as temporary grass land, but would pass into the category of permanent grass land, or what is often spoken of as ``permanent pasture.'' Whilst much grass land has been laid down with the intention from the outset that it should be permanent, at the same time some considerable areas have through stress of circumstances been allowed to drift from the temporary or rotation grass area to the permanent list, and have thus still further diminished the area formerly under the dominion of the plough. The column relating to permanent grass in Table IV. shows clearly enough how the British Isles became
TABLE IV.—Areas of Grass Land (excluding Heath and MountainLand) in the United Kingdom—Acres.
PermanentYear. Temporary (i.e. (i.e. not broken up Total.under rotation). in rotation).
1875 6,337,953 23,772,602 30,110,555 1880 6,389,232 24,717,092 31,106,324 1885 6,738,206 25,616,071 32,354,277 1890 6,097,210 27,115,425 33,212,635 1895 6,061,139 27,831,117 33,892,256 1900 6,025,025 28,266,712 34,291,737 1905 5,779,323 28,865,373 34,644,696
more pastoral, while the figures already given demonstrate the extent to which they became less arable. In the period 1875-1905 the extreme areas returned as ``permanent pasture''—a term which, it should be clearly understood, does not include heath or mountain land, of which there are in Great Britain alone about 13 million acres used for grazing—-were 23,772,602 acres in 1875, and 28,865,373 acres in 1905. Comparing 1905 with 1875 the increase in permanent grass land amounted to over five million acres, or about 21%.
On account of the greater humidity and mildness of its climate,Ireland is more essentially a pastoral country than Great Britain.The distribution between the two islands of such important cropsof arable land as cereals and potatoes is indicated in Table V.The figures are those for 1905, but, though the absolute acreages
TABLE V.—Areas of Cereal and Potato Crops in Great Britainand Ireland in 1905.
Wheat. Barley.
Acres. Acres.Great Britain . 1,796,993 1,713,664Ireland . . . . 37,860 154,645
Total . . . . . 1,834,853 1,868,309
Oats. Potatoes.Great Britain . 3,051,376 608,473Ireland . . . . 1,066,806 616,755
Total . . . . . 4,118,182 1,225,228
vary somewhat from year to year, there is not much variation in the proportions. The comparative insignificance of Ireland in the case of the wheat and barley crops, represented by 2 and 8% respectively, receives some compensation when oats and potatoes are considered, about one-fourth of the area of the former and more than half that of the latter being claimed by Ireland. It is noteworthy, however, that Ireland year by year places less reliance upon the potato crop. In 1888 the area of potatoes in Ireland was 804,566 acres, but it continuously contracted each year, until in 1905 it was only 616,755 acres, or 187,811 acres less than 17 years previously.
A similar comparison for the several sections of Great Britain, as set forth in Table VI., shows that to England belong about 95% of the wheat area, over 80% of the barley area, over 60% of the oats area, and over 70% of the potato area, and these proportions do not vary much from year to year. The figures for cereals are important, as they indicate that it is the farmers of England who are the chief sufferers through the diminishing prices of corn; and particularly is this true of East Anglia, where corn-growing is more largely pursued than in any other part of the
TABLE VI.—Areas of Cereal and Potato Crops in England, Wales and Scotland, and in Great Britain, in 1905.
Wheat. Barley.
Acres. Acres.England . . . . 1,704,281 1,410,287Wales . . . . . 44,073 91,243Scotland . . . 48,641 212,134
Great Britain . 1,796,995 1,713,664
Oats. Potatoes.England . . . . 1,880,475 434,773Wales . . . . . 207,929 29,435Scotland . . . 962,972 144,265
Great Britain . 3,051,376 608,473
country. Scotland possesses nearly one-third of the area of oats and nearly one-fourth of that of potatoes. Beans are almost entirely confined to England, and this is even more the case with peas. The mangel crop also is mainly English, the summer in most parts of Scotland being neither long enough nor warm enough to bring it to maturity.
The Produce of British Crops.
Whilst the returns relating to the acreage of crops and the number of live stock in Great Britain have been officially collected in each year since 1866, the annual official estimates of the produce of the crops in the several sections of the kingdom do not extend back beyond 1885. The practice is for the Board of Agriculture to appoint local estimators, who report in the autumn as to the total production of the crops in the localities respectively assigned to them. By dividing the total production, say of wheat, in each county by the number of acres of wheat as returned by the occupiers on June 4, the estimated average yield per acre is obtained. It is important to notice that the figures relating to total production and yield per acre are only estimates, and it is not claimed for them that they are anything more. The fact that much of the wheat to which the figures apply is still in the stack after the publication of the figures shows that the latter are essentially estimates. The total produce of any crop in a given year must depend mainly upon the acreage grown, whilst the average yield per acre will be determined chiefly by the character of the season. In Table VII. are shown, in thousands
TABLE VII.—Estimated Annual Total Produce of Corn Crops in the United Kingdom, 1890-1905 —Thousands of Bushels.
Year. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Beans. Peas.
1890 75,994 80,794 171,295 11,860 6313 1891 74,743 79,555 166,472 10,694 5777 1892 60,775 76,939 168,181 7,054 5028 1893 50,913 65,746 168,588 4,863 4756 1894 60,704 78,601 190,863 7,198 6229 1895 38,285 75,028 174,476 5,626 4732 1896 58,247 77,825 162,860 6,491 4979 1897 56,296 72,613 163,556 6,650 5250 1898 74,885 74,731 172,578 7,267 4858 1899 67,261 74,532 166,140 7,566 4431 1900 54,322 68,546 165,137 7,469 4072 1901 53,928 67,643 161,175 6,154 4017 1902 58,278 74,439 184,184 7,704 5106 1903 48,819 65,310 172,941 7,535 4812 1904 37,920 62,453 176,755 5,901 4446 1905 60,333 65,004 166,286 8,262 4446
of bushels, the estimated produce of the corn crops of the United Kingdom in the years 1890-1905. The largest area of wheat in the period was that of 1890, and the smallest was that of 1904; the same two years are seen to have been respectively those of highest and lowest total produce. It is noteworthy that in 1895 the country produced about half as much wheat as in any one of the years 1890, 1891 and 1898. The produce of barley, like that of oats, is less irregular than that of wheat, the extremes for barley being 80,794,000 bushels (1890) and 62,453,000 bushels (1904), and those for oats 190,863,000 bushels (1894) and 161,175,000 bushels (1901). Similar details for potatoes, roots and hay, brought together in Table VIII., show that the
TABLE VIII.—Estimated Annual Total Produce of Potatoes, Roots and Hay in the United Kingdom, 1890-1905—Thousands of Tons.
Year. Potatoes. Turnips. Mangels. Hay.
1890 4622 32,002 6709 14,466 1891 6090 29,742 7558 12,671 1892 5634 31,419 7428 11,567 1893 6541 31,110 5225 9,082 1894 4662 30,678 7310 15,699 1895 7065 29,221 6376 12,238 1896 6263 28,037 5875 11,416 1897 4107 29,785 7379 14,043 1898 6225 26,499 7228 15,916 1899 5837 20,370 7604 12,898 1900 4577 28,387 9650 13,742 1901 7043 25,298 9224 11,358 1902 5920 29,116 10,809 15,246 1903 5277 23,523 8212 14,955 1904 6230 28,033 8813 14,860 1905 7186 26,563 9493 13,554
production of potatoes varies much from year to year. The imports of potatoes into the United Kingdom vary, to some extend inversely; thus, the low production in 1897 was accompanied by an increase of import from 3,921,205 cwt. in 1897 to 6,751,728 cwt. in 1898. No very great reliance can be placed upon the figures relating to turnips (which include swedes), as these are mostly fed to sheep on the ground, so that the estimates as to yield are necessarily vague. Mangels are probably more closely estimated, as these valuable roots are carted and stored for subsequent use for feeding stock. Under hay are included the produce of closer, sainfoin and rotation grasses, and also that of permanent meadow. The extent to which the annual production of the leading fodder crop may vary is shown in the table by the two consecutive years 1893 and 1894; from only nine million tons in the former year the production rose to upwards of fifteen million tons in the latter, an increase of over 70%.
Turning to the average yields per acre, as ascertained by dividing the number of acres into the total produce, the results of a decade are collected in Table IX. The effects of a prolonged
TABLE IX.—Estimated Annual Average Yield per Acre of Crops in United Kingdom, 1895-1904.
Year. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Beans. Peas. Potatoes.
Bush. Bush. Bush. Bush. Bush. Tons. 1895 26.33 32.09 38.67 22.98 22.62 5.64 1896 33.63 34.16 37.97 25.69 25.34 4.93 1897 29.07 32.91 38.84 28.91 27.55 3.47 1898 34.75 36.24 42.27 31.13 27.60 5.23 1899 32.76 34.64 40.57 30.19 27.22 4.82 1900 28.61 31.67 39.97 28.18 25.89 3.77 1901 30.93 31.70 39.35 24.29 25.97 5.81 1902 32.91 35.83 44.50 31.49 28.51 4.92 1903 30.15 32.38 40.81 31.27 26.56 4.45 1904 26.97 31.25 40.80 23.23 25.75 5.24
Mean, 10 Years 30.85 33.28 20.35 27.68 26.24 4.84
1905 32.88 34.79 40.38 32.33 25.71 5.86
Turnipsand Hay, Hay,Year. Swedes. Mangels. Rotation. Permanent.
Tons. Tons. Cwt. Cwt. 1895 13.11 16.44 29.08 25.21 1896 12.79 14.99 27.95 24.14 1897 13.90 18.03 32.53 30.71 1898 12.74 17.71 36.49 34.27 1899 9.97 17.41 31.04 29.11 1900 14.29 19.97 32.42 30.98 1901 12.95 19.37 28.98 23.85 1902 15.35 20.85 35.29 32.57 1903 12.44 17.19 33.07 31.27 1904 14.83 18.57 33.43 31.04
Mean, 10 Years 13.21 18.18 32.06 29.32
1905 14.19 19.91 32.24 28.37
spring and summer drought, like that of 1893, are exemplified in the circumstance that four corn crops and the two hay crops all registered very low average yields that year, viz. wheat 26.08 bushels, barley 29.30 bushels, oats 38.14 bushels, beans 19.61 bushels, rotation hay 23.55 cwt., permanent hay 20.41 cwt. On the other hand, the season of 1898 was exceptionally favourable to cereals and to hay. The effects of a prolonged autumn drought, as distinguished from spring and summer drought, are shown in the very low yield of turnips in 1899. Mangels are sown earlier and have a longer period of growth than turnips; if they become well established in the summer they are less susceptible to autumn drought. The hay made from closer, sainfoin and grasses under rotation generally gives a bigger average yield than that from permanent grass land. The mean values at the foot of the table—they are not, strictly speaking, exact averages—indicate the average yields per acre in the United Kingdom to be about 31 bushels of wheat, 33 bushels of barley, 40 bushels of oats, 28 bushels of neams, 26 bushels of peas, 4 3/4 tons of potatoes, 13 1/4 tons of turnips and swedes, 18 1/4 tons of mangels, 32 cwt. of hay from temporary grass, and 29 cwt. of hay from permanenet grass. Although enormous single crops of
TABLE X. Decennial Average Yields in Great Britain of Wheat,Barley and Oats—Bushels per Acre.
10-YearPeriods. Wheat. Barley. Oats.
1885-1894 29.32 33.02 38.21 1886-1895 28.81 32.68 38.23 1887-1896 29.49 32.82 38.13 1888-1897 29.19 32.97 38.51 1889-1898 29.86 33.26 38.86 1890-1899 30.15 33.50 38.81 1891-1900 29.92 33.13 38.46 1892-1901 29.83 32.80 38.26 1893-1902 30.53 32.83 38.64 1894-1903 30.95 33.16 39.05 1895-1904 30.56 32.82 38.81 1896-1905 31.21 33.04 38.92
mangels are sometimes grown, amounting occasionally to 100 tons per acre, the general average yield of 18 1/4 tons is about 5 tons more than that of turnips and swedes. Again, although from the richest old permanent meadow-lands very heavy crops of hay are taken season after season, the general average yield of permanent grass is about 3 cwt. of hay per acre less than that from clover, sainfoin and grasses under rotation. The general average yields of the corn crops are not fairly comparable one with the other, because they are given by measure and not by weight, whereas the weight per bushel varies considerably. For purposes of comparison it would be much better if the yields of corn crops were estimated in cwt. per acre. This, indeed, is the practice in Ireland, and in order to incorporate the Irish figures with those for Great Britain so as to obtain average values for the United Kingdom, the Irish yields are calculated into bushels at the rate of 60lb to the bushel of wheat, of beans and peas, 50lb to the bushel of barley and 39lb to the bushel of oats.
The figure denoting the general average yield per acre of any class of crop need re-adjustment after every successive harvest. If a decennial period be taken, then—for the purpose of the new calculation—the earliest year is omitted and the latest year added, the number of years continuing at ten. Adopting this course in the case of the cereal crops of Great Britain the decennial averages recorded in Table X. are obtained, the period 1885-1894 being the earliest decade for which the official figures are available. It thus appears that the average yield of wheat in Great Britain, as calculated upon the crops harvested during the ten years (1896-1905), exceeded 31 bushels to the acre, whereas, for the ten years ended 1895, it fell below 29 bushels. A large expansion in the acreage of the wheat crop would probably be attended by a decline in the average yield per acre, for when a crop is shrinking in area the tendency is to withdraw from it first the land least suited to its growth. The general average for the United Kingdom might then recede to rather less than 28 bushels of 60 lb. per bushel, which was for a long time the accepted average—unless, of course, improved methods of cultivating and manuring the soil were to increase its general wheat-yielding capacity.6