The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 14
Sir James Caird's Tables of Comparative Agricultural Values and Comparative Harvests
Sir James Caird's Tables of Comparative Agricultural Values and Comparative Harvests.
1770. | 1850. | 1880. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Rent of Land | per acre | 13s. | 27s. | 30s. |
Price of Bread | per lb. | 1½d. | 1¼d. | 1½d. |
Price of Meat | per lb. | 3¼d. | 6d. | 9d. |
Price of Butter | per lb. | 6a. | 1s. | 1s. 8d. |
Wages of Agricultural Labourer | per wk. | 7s. 3d. | 9s. 7d. | 14s. |
Rent of Labourer's Cottage | per wk. | 8d. | 1s. 5d. | 2s. |
Comparisons taken from the Books of a Dairy Farm, situate between Lancaster and Garstang.
In 1770 | and In 1850. |
---|---|
Rent, 218. an acre | Rent, 41s. an acre. |
Rates, 3d. per pound. | Rates, 3s. 9d. per pound. |
Tithes compounded for. | Tithes commuted, and included in rent. |
4-7ths of farm in grass. | 4-5ths of farm in grass. |
3-7th8 arable. | 1-5th arable. |
Annual produce of a cow, £4. | Annual produce of a cow, £9. |
Six horses in a plough, and do an acre a day. | Two, and sometimes three horses in a plough. |
First man's wages, £9 a year, and his board. | First man's wages, £15 to £16 a year, and board. |
Second man, £5 a year, and board. | Second man, £10 a year, and board. |
Dairymaid. £3 and board. | Dairymaid. £7 10s and board.page 132 |
Bread (oat), 11 lb. for a 1s. | Bread, 4d. per 41b. loaf, coarse wheaten bread; 5d per 41b., best. |
Cheese, 3d. per lb. | Cheese, 5d. per lb. |
Butter, 8d. per lb. | Butter, 11d. to 1s. per lb. |
Beef, 2½d. per lb. | Beef, 5d. to 6d. |
Mutton, 2½d. per lb. | Mutton, 6d. |
Labourer's house-rent, 20s. | Labourer's house-rent, 50s. to 100s. |
Land Assessments.
1857. | 1875. | Increase Capitalized at 30 years' purchase. | |
---|---|---|---|
England | £41,177,000 | £50,125,000 | £268,440,000 |
Scotland | 5,932,000 | 7,493,000 | 46,830,000 |
Ireland, from 1862 | 8,747,000 | 9,293,000 | 16,380,000 |
Gain to Land-owners | £331,650,000 |
Estimated increase of Farmers' capital during same period, through rise in values of Live Stock | 114,000,000 |
Gain to Landed and Agricultural Interest from Free Trade | £445,650,000 |
The gain of wages to Labourers is not included. |
Farmers.
Estimated No. in Great Britain | 560,000 |
Ireland | 600,000 |
1,160,000 | |
Aggregate capital employed by the Farming Class, above | £400,000,000 |
Produce of Wheat per Acre.
1849 | 123 | |
1850 | 102 | |
1851 | 110 | |
1852 | 79 | |
1853 | 71 | |
1854 | 127 | |
1855 | 96 | |
1856 | 96 | |
1857 | 124 | |
1858 | 116 | |
1044 | ||
1859 | 92 | |
1860 | 78 | |
1861 | 92 | |
1862 | 108 | |
1863 | 141 | |
1864 | 127 | |
1865 | 110 | |
1866 | 90 | |
1867 | 74 | |
1868 | 126 | |
1038 | ||
1869 | 102 | |
1870 | 112 | |
1871 | 90 | |
1872 | 92 | |
1873 | 80 | |
1874 | 106 | |
1875 | 78 | |
1876 | 76 | |
1877 | 74 | |
1878 | 108 | |
918 | ||
1879 | 58 | |
1880 | 90 | |
1881 | 86 | |
1882 | 90 | |
1883 | 95 | |
1884 | 105 |
The above table is based upon 28 bushels as an average crop, and reckoning 28 bushels=100. The figures of this and other tables are from Sir James Caird's valuable works on "The Landed Interest" (Cassell and Co.), and "English Agriculture" (Longmans).
Year. | Acres. | Character of the Yield. | Assumed Bushels per Acre. | Available for Consumptln after Deducting Seed. Imperial Qrs. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1866 | 3,661,000 | Under average | 27 | 11,400,000 |
1867 | 3,640,000 | Much under | 25 | 10,390,000 |
1868 | 3,951,000 | Much over | 34 | 15,790,000 |
1869 | 3,982,000 | Under | 27 | 12,490,000 |
1870 | 3,773,000 | Over | 32 | 14,100,000 |
1871 | 3,831,000 | Under | 27 | 11,970,000 |
1872 | 3,840,000 | Much under | 23 | 10,110,000 |
1873 | 3,670,000 | Much under | 25 | 10,550,000 |
1874 | 3,833,000 | Over | 31 | 13,700,000 |
1875 | 3,514,000 | Much under | 23 | 9,124,000 |
1876 | 3,124,000 | Under | 27 | 9,665,000 |
1877 | 3,321,000 | Much under | 22 | 9,432,000 |
1878 | 3,382,000 | Over | 30 | 11,825,000 |
1879 | 3,056,000 | Very much under | 18 | 6,990,000 |
1880 | 3,070,000 | Under | 26 | 9,114,000 |
1881 | 2,967,000 | Under | 27 | 9,124,000 |
1882 | 3,164,000 | Under | 28 | 10,243,000 |
1883 | 2,715,000 | Under | 26 | 8,124,000 |
1884 | 2,751,000 | Over | 30 | 9,504,000 |
1885 | 2,553,000 | Over | 31 | 9,175,000 |
Average of 19 years. | 3,434,000 | 26¾ | 10,666,000 | |
Average of first nine years. | 3,798,000 | 28 | 12,278,000 | |
Average of nine years ending 1883. | 3,146,000 | 25¼ | 9,182,000 |
"The large farm system embraces nearly twice the proportion of corn, and half the proportion of green crops and grass. In other words, it is doubly dependent on the price of corn as compared with the middle class farm system, which relics to a far greater extent on its dairy produce, its fat cattle, its vegetables, and its hay. The result is, that the latter pays more rent or surplus for the use of the land, and a higher rate of wages to the labourer......A man who has regular employment at wages finds an immense advantage in a good garden allotment beside his cottage, and that is vastly increased when that cottage is on the farm, away from the temptation of the beer shop, and where, as part of his wages, he receives the keep of a cow. This is the system in the border counties, where agriculture is in the most prosperous state, and the agricultural labourer the best fed and clothed, the most educated and intelligent of his class in any part of the three kingdoms."—Sir James Caird (Statistical Society's Journal, March, 1869.)
"To far too great an extent we have been accustomed to measure the so-called 'harvest' generally, and even the entire agricultural position, by the success or failure of the wheat crop alone. When it is remembered that the proportions devoted to this cereal vary so enormously in different parts of the country, and reflect on the fact that though a bad harvest usually means loss on all our grain crops, it by no means follows that all suffer equally, I think I may be allowed to plead for greater prominence being allowed to the records of the yield of our other crops."—Major P. G. Craigie, Sec. Central Chamber of Agriculture (Statistical Society's Journal, March, 1883.)