The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-08-21
The Actual Story Of a Typical English
Farm.

Farm.
In the face of prevailing complaints,
general statements as to the unremu-
nerative character of arabic husband
ry, estimates of the loss endured, espe-
cially by cultivators of heavy lands, and
apprehensions of ruin to the farming
interest of this country, it may be well
to illustrate the true position of affairs
by the facts of q particular case.
The example taken is fair one; and
it is real and not ideal, the figures be-
ing extracted from books honestly kept
by bona-fide tenant farmer for his
own information in business and never
intended for publication. Indeed, SO
far from being an instance of farming
under exceptional difficulties or with
faulty management, both the soil and
the management are superior to those
on average English holdings, and if
earning livelihood has latterly been
found Impossible in this favorable case,
much worse must be the condition of
occupiers farming less valuable land
with inferior capital and skill.
The farm referred to consists of 600
acres, chiefly of strong alluvial loan,
with a portion inclining to q peaty ma
ture, and one-fifth of the area may be
characterized as useful, though not
frst-class, grass land. 1t lies in q level
district, under the tolerably dry skies
of the eastern counties. 1t is a mixed
husbandry occupation with no peculiar
features in the stocking or cropping.
No strict rotation of crops is observed,
the tenant being happily unfettered in
this respect; aud in favorable seasons.
when this means of making some profit
is found practicable, extra crops of
oats, barley and sometimes of brown
and white mustard, are grown after
wheat. Neither hay, straw nor roots
are sold off; dairying is conducted on
a very small scale; and the tenant en-
joys no special advantages such as
pertain to pedigree herd or flock, the
exhibition of animals for prizes, or the
breeding of hunters or other horses at
exceptional prices. He keeps breed
ing flock of about 140 ewes, selling off
the lambs in the summer, as in the dis
trict there is found difficulty in keep
ing them alive during autumn; and
about 400 sheep are brought in during
the spring, to be fed off on grass and
coleseed. Fifteen to twenty calves are
raised in q year, the remainder of the
cattle being usually purchased in the
autumn, wintered on straw, roots and
oilcake, and finished off for the butcher
during the following summers graz
ing. That liberal management is prac-
%ho ;t,,ys
artificial foods and manures, ranging
from f400 to f5OO per annum; while
large quantities of homegrown corn
also are consumed on the farm. And
as to the business ability displayed and
the economical manipulation of both
the horse and manual labor, it is suffi-
cient to say that the occupier is we'll
known as one of the leading farmers of
the eastern counties, that he is highly
esteemed both privately and publicly
in his own county, man of marked
ability in every department of prac-
teal agriculture, careful supervisor
of his laborers, a clearly manager of
his land, judicious in his treatment of
livestock, and a business-like dealer
alike in corn and stock markets.
What is the present position of the
farm business thus described? The &C
counts show that the gross returns
available for the payment of all out
goings and for tenants profit have been
for the last three years as follows: In
1876 the total was 3,162; in 1877,
E3, $50; and in 1873, Is, 1853, averaging
E3, 200 per year. For the same period
the average expenditure per year
which this sum had to meet has been
for rent, 1.-THE, local rates, and imperial
taxes, $3.50; for labor, 81, 270; for
artificial foods and manures, and for
seeds, E47O; and for tradesmen's farm
bills, f15O-or, together, f3, $40. To
this must be added q considerable
amount of repairs and insurance, the
cost of replacing machinery and imple-
ments, wear and tear of the farm
horses, and also market expenses, Of
which items the particulars are not be-
fore us. It is plain that the business,
instead of yielding any interest what
ever on the capital invested, has in
Cured dead loss which looks like
E4OO per year at the very least, and is
apparently more; and this for three
years in succession. It will be observed
that the outgoings mentioned do not
include any part Of the cost of the ten
ants living; and, in fact, in addition
to the above loss on the farming trans
actions, the whole of the tenants
household and family expenditure for
three years must have come out of the
capital. No matter whether the occu-
pier he q man of handsome means or
not, this is process which cannot long
continue. And it is not surprising that
he should write: "My heart is broken
about farming, and l do not care to
throw good money after bad" At the
present moment it is too early to deter.
mine whether the corn crop viii attain
to an average or not, but, so far, prob
abilities are entirely against the pros
pect of an abundant harvest. Nor Can
the tenant expect with any confidence
to find this q handsome paying stock
year. So that whether the gross re.
turns from 1879 will be somewhat bet.
ter than those of the last three years OF
not, it may be regarded as certain that
they will not bring in enough to recouI
any part of what the tenant has sunk
during this disastrous period.
Such being . truthful statement Of
fact as regards q good farm held under
favorable conditions of tenure, and
managed with more than unusual in.
telligence, enterprise and personal at
tention, it is easy to accept the com
mon lament that, upon q vast number
of poorer farms, and particularly upon
heavy wheat soils, arabic husbandrJ
has been losing at the rate of severa
pounds per acre during each of the last
! three unlucky years.-Losdon Times.