The Truth about Agricultural Depression; An Economic Study of the Evidence of the Royal Commission (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. Evidence Of Successful Farming During The Depression, And Of Profitable Readjustments Of Farming Methods. The evidence and the reports of Assistant Commissioners give many instances of successful farming during the period of depression in all parts of the country, even in those counties where depression has been most acute, and on the old lines of farming. From every county there are striking illustrations of what results may be obtained by more economic methods and by changes of cultivation suited to the times. This class of evidence deserves careful consideration. The signs of distress and the course of decline are more obvious, and may be more easily and fully traced. The indications of recovery or reconstruction are harder to define, whether as to time or as to method. It is important to determine as far as possible whether such instances of relative success are individual, whether they are due wholly to special local advantages or circumstances, whether they merely indicate a stage of endurance or resistance, which really means that resources got together in better times are being drawn upon, or whether there is any true economic readjustment from which continued success is to be anticipated. And, lastly, it is of the utmost importance to ascertain the conditions, the presence or absence of which is found to accompany such cases of doing well in bad times. A selection of instances from the evidence is appended. Taking first cases of farming on existing lines and in the most depressed districts, Essex itself furnishes several striking instances. Thus: ?A mixed soil farm, of 950 acres, some of it stiff land, and two-thirds of it arable, excellently managed by an exceptionally good farmer and judge of stock, with a capital of nearly 13,000, brought...