The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-23 00:00:00

Income-tax—say— 20 0 0
Poor and highway rates.. .. .. 216 0
Other rates.. •• • • 0 0 0
.. ..

Total ..

.. £22 16 0

But, with or without these burdens, can agriculture
be made to pay? I reply that where the land is rich
and well-drained, and consequently is not "subject to
seasons," and is well and judiciously farmed, it can
pay. In the case of small farms answering to this
description it has in many cases paid well, even during
the- past four years. It is very difficult to get at a
farmer's balance-sheet, and, considering all things, I do
not wonder at it. I know of many men, however,
occupying from JO to 50 acres of land, who are not only
paying their way, but making money. They are mostly
men who pay a high rent, but do not farm under the
usual foolish and antiquated restrictions. They may
take a crop of turnip seed or sell off a few loads of
straw, or may substitute a crop of early Ryott
potatoes for a dead fallow if they treat the land
liberally. They make (for them) a large amount by
rearing calves, pigs, and cede lambs, and they have
little or no labour bill, the work being done by them.
selves. My neighbour C, who farms over 600 acres,
assures me that the total produce of his farm last year
he made "nothing to the good," and complains that
he scarcely gets poultry and eggs for his own use.
My neighbour D, who farms 30 acres, made this year
of five acres of early potatoes £220. Last year his wife
sold— •
6 reared calves .. Z 25 0 0
32 pigs, at .. 25 12 0
O cede lambs, less cost at ss. each .. 43 0 0
18 turkeys at 10s. ed. 9 9 0
220 couples of fowls and ducks, at 48. .. 41 0 0

£147 1 0
All this besides the ordinary produce of the land, and
with only the drawback of a few quarters of maize
and a few bushels of linseed: I do not mention the
produce of two cows, which nearly met the house ex-
penses. I am not an advocate for dividing all the
land into small farms, but a lesson may be gathered
from such cases as this. Two years since an
enterprising man purchased 25 acres of pasture
land which for many years had been let at 10s.
per acre. The price paid was above £l5O per acre.
The first year the gross produce in early potatoes,
celery, and cauliflowers reached over £lOO per acre;
and I am credibly informed that this year the gross
produce will come near £l6O per acre, or in one year
more than the cost of the land. All land is not suitable
for market gardening, but a lesson may also be
gathered from this case. Once more: a person known
to me has realized this year nearly £3OO from about
a rood of land by the growth of a common garden
flower, and a poor man from a patch of only 20ft. by
10ft, has realized £6 10s.
I mention these facts to show that enterprise, in-
duPtry, thoughtfulness, and readiness of resource may
do much. They cannot entirely overcome the difficul-
ties which the cultivator of the soil has to contend
with, in agdition to those that have to be met by the
tradesman and the merchant; but while the farmer
has a right to ask for the removal of such burdens as
press unfairly upon him, he needs, and will
.do
well to cultivate, more of the skill and enterprise which
have raised British commerce and manufacture to •lo
high a position, that he may, even in these "hard
times," be able to eat of the fruit of his labour and to
"hold his own ; " and when it shall please the
Almighty Ruler to send fruitful seasons, he too may
partake of restored prosperity and "rejoice and be
glad."—Yours, ice., H. T. F.