The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-10-25 00:00:00

THE FUTURE OF FARMING.

The following letter baa been sent to The Tunes, for
publication :

Sixty years ago the Sermon were the ruling due The
towns then bad trot acquired their present preponderance,
and the electors In the country districts, whether for county
or trolough, were entirely In the landed interest. Perhaps
nothing ro contributed to their lots of power as the
practical lotroductton of steam and the consequent enormous
development of trade But after half a century indications
are not wanting of the Inevitable compensation which kroner
or later follows human changes. The development of testi°
and mania suture caroled a corresponding Increase of ',opal
-
Munn, until at the present moment the demand far bread
•r largely exceeds the home supply that the Imports of
, foreign corn are enormous In bulk. At lint this reduced
the political and commercial *tat tie of the farmer still lower ;
hie produce wee driven out of the market by rant consign-
ments from abroad. But with the demand for corn Clans a
stal larger --A disproportionately larger-I°llmnd for meat.
Corn could he imported, meat could not (at least
nut Ia appreciable quantities or qualify), and the
Immediate result, as soon as this was felt, wag a
rise In the prosperity and importance of the farmer.
Ills attention was at once turned to the prod.-
lion of meet. The cattle. It Le true, were not actually fad
on the corn which should be human food, out In effect they
were, since the vegetables and products upon which they
were fatted were either manufactured from or took up the
room of ouch food, thee still further reducing the real—
though not, perhaps, the apparent —supply of English corn.
Gradually, In fact, England is becoming a mast-producing
country as opposed to cereal crops, and the land is turned
into Vast iattlug stalls for the city markets.
-• • - - • -

So closely does the actual supply of meat correspond with
the demaud that a very slight derangement of ordinary con-
ditions is sufficient to cause au appreolable disturbance, and
even A permanent increase In prices. Such a derangement
was the visitation of various contagious diseases. rhe
numerical loss from these inflictions was comparatively
small, where arrayed against tho tale of the vast
flocks in the kingdom, yet it tx, reined • very decided
titan ag,i prices took • rise which has never since
alarmist
clear to
Increase

WeTU.

. _

an. alarmist view of

the question. It Wm become ai;iticlealy—creaTlO eli that,
II th,. plultiton sh.ou:d ounuuuT • '

present rMio, the mar,sin between en inadequate supply and
the chances of • partial famine would be very small Indeed.
The consciousness of this state of things ha. been sire hly
making itself felt in attempt* to increase the production of
meat. Obviously, to do tide requires an increase in the
number of cattle kept. To a Londoner, who has sees tire
crowded dairies o: Islington sr Bayswater, this may appear
eaey enough. 1 la hundred cows can he kept ins building
which occupies no more apace than an ordinary garden,
surely the farmers, with their hundreds and thousands of
acres, can support a proportionanle number. The number
they now keep is ridiculously sma.l In comparison But
these dairies are chitty feel from the refuse of distilleries.
and the result le milk, indeed—London milk—hut the beast
becomes akin and bone. There Is no most here, unless. in-
deed, the cattle are fed on artificial food ; but, first, how is
suitLient artificial food to be ototahsed to feed these contem-
plated additional niiillo Is of stock ; and, secondly, hew is it
to be paid tor? Where is the artificial food to be derived from
It must be grow n somewhere. but If it Is grown in exceptional
quantities r must be by the use of exceptional and expen-
sive manners. Where are these manures to be got from in
such incalculable quantities? Another attempt has been
made—by increasing not the number, but the meat-besting
p iwer of stock—to so modify their shape and so increase
their usainallating powers that one animal might carry the
meat of three. This haa be, u attempted, and with cone!.
derable anemia both with sheep and cattle ; but the re-
sult Is practically the same. These besets require more
artificial food. and hence more artificial manure. They cost
more to produne. This problem, therefore, simply Increases
In difficulty ; iii. not solved. Is meditating over It the
agriculturist places the blame partly upon certain anti-
quated rested:lona as P. his dealings with the land under
hie occupation. Ile is restricted to a particular rotation of
crors. which was reasonable enough in the olden time, when
the burr of use crop made the manure of the next, but
utterly untenable in these days of artificial manure. But
the principal (Mil ulty is the fact that he may lay out
large amount of tayiral, sink it. and receive no return for
unexhausted improvements. This grievance Implies that
if he could cnly employ a larger amount of capital he
could greatly increase the produce. To some extent this
is undoubtedly true, but only to some exteht In the
fleet place, there are already many individual cases In which
ci mpensation is guaranteed, sad what Is the result? These
favoured persons do probably produce slightly In excels
of their competitors, but it is wily by an extenelonl of the
same conditims. they empty no wore powerful manure ;
they invent no more efficient artificial food ; and until
this Is dune, enabling a vastly larger number of cattle to
be kept, DO MVP Diable alteration will ensue. The same
Eillcatlou o,oura Supposing con,permation for unexhausted
improvements WM the rule, and supposing ahlimited capital
was ready to invest, where then would the artificial food
and the artificial manure in such enormous quantal. be
LtoalnaMe ? The present sources would simply material),
raise their price; not that such a movement she-aid be op-
posed, but It la a delusion to think that by that means
store any serious alteration is possible. Some, however.
Hogland is to be a meat-growing country, It is clear the
Co wiles most be retained in close connexion 111th the
Mother Coon's., as 150111Wil of flan siippiy. It may yet
come to pass that those vast uninhabited regions may pro-
duce some vegetable In quthilties suit:le:3 to feed the
stock of the future, or some mineral manure with power CO
treble the number and amount of our home crops of cattle-
food The real question is this,—Where are the necessary
au pplls sot art iflAs I manure land artificial food to be obtained?
Tt.e questions of lease I r yearly tenancy, of local taxation,
concpensation, dec., are all mere minor matter, before the
great national demand for meat. Ills obvious that if they
can become the agents for the production of sufficient meat,
• great future DOI before the Engiish farmers. They will
occupy their old position as the most powerful chase it,
the country. Coal stud iron, all must 3 mid to meat ; and
the denser the population the more eecomialy will become
these hitherto all-powerful matt rata. But, on the other
band, with Increased prosperity and increased political
weight, there whl come corresponding reapordihdlities ;
at d the free of public opinion is now so great that any
abuse of these advantagee will be certain to bring retributive
ruin Sh uld the popnlatods still increase, and no farther
&Matteis Ire ade to our present means of pro Wing meat,
the concentration of interest I:i!en
.the farmer, as the. very

middleman between food .nd 'fan Me, tUbeLque
psinfully Intense 7-Faithfully yours,

C,ate-Fam, dulndon.

RICPEARD JEFFREIES.