disheartened than ever. With the incoming of the last decade
of the century there seemed to be some justifiable hopes of
the dawn of better times, but they were speedily doomed to
disappointment. In 1891 excessively heavy autumn rains washed
the arable soils to such an extent that the next season's
corn crops were below average. Wheat in particular was a
poor crop in 1892, and the low yield was associated with
falling prices due to large imports. The hay crop was very
inferior, and in some cases it was practically ruined. This
gave a stimulus to the trade in imported hay, which rose
from 61,237 tons in 1892 to 263,050 tons in 1893, and despite
some large home-grown crops in certain subsequent years (1897
and 1898) this expansion has never since been wholly lost.
The misfortunes of 1892 proved to be merely a preparation for the
disasters of 1893, in which year occurred the most destructive
drought within living memory. Its worst effects were seen
upon the light land farms of England, and so deplorable was
the position that a royal commission on agricultural depression
was appointed in September of that year under the chairmanship
of Mr Shaw Lefevre (afterwards Lord Eversley). Thus, within
the last quarter of the 19th century--and, as a matter of
fact, only fourteen years apart--two royal commissions on
agriculture were appointed, the one in a year of memorable
flood, 1879, and the other in a year of disastrous drought,
1893. The report of the commission of 1893 was issued in March
1896. Amongst its chief recommendations were those relating
to amendments in the Agricultural Holdings Acts, and to
tithe rent-charge, railway rates, damage by game, sale of
adulterated products, and sale of imported goods (meat,
for example) as home produce. Two legislative enactments
arose out of the work of this commission. In the majority
report it was stated ``that, in order to place agricultural
lands in their right position as compared with other ratable
properties, it is essential that they should be assessed
to all local rates in a reduced proportion of their ratable
value.'' The Agricultural Rates Act 1896 gave effect to this
recommendation. Its objects were to relieve agricultural
land from half the local rates, and to provide the means of
making good out of imperial funds the deficiency in local
taxation caused thereby. It was provided that the act should
continue in force only till the 31st of March 1902, but a
further act in 1901 extended the period by four years, and
in 1905 its operation was extended to the 31st of March
1910. The other measure arising out of the report of the
royal commission of 1893 was the Agricultural Holdings Act
1900. This was an amending act and not a consolidating act;
consequently it had to be read as if incorporated into the
already existing acts. As affecting agricultural practice there
were three noteworthy improvements in respect of the making
of which, without the consent of or notice to his landlord,
a tenant might claim compensation---(1) the consumption on
the holding ``by horses, other than those regularly employed
on the holding,'' of corn, cake or other feeding-stuff
not produced on the holding; (2) the ``consumption on the
holding by cattle, sheep, or pigs, or by horses other than
those regularly employed on the holding, of corn proved by
satisfactory evidence to have been produced and consumed on
the holding''; (3) ``laying down temporary pasture with clover,
grass, lucerne, sainfoin or other seeds sown more than two
years prior to the determination of the tenancy.'' A further
act was passed in 1906 (the Agricultural Holdings Act 1906)
which improved the tenant's position in respect of freedom of
cropping, disposal of produce and compensation for disturbance.
After 1894, in which year the brilliant prospects of a bountiful
harvest were ultimately extinguished by untimely and heavy
rains, all the remaining seasons of the closing decade of
the 19th century were dominated by drought. A fact that was
amply illustrated, moreover, is that the period of incidence
of a drought is not less important than its duration, and
the same is true of abnormal rainfall. A spring drought, a
summer drought, an autumn drought, each has its distinctive
characteristics in so far as the effect upon the crops is
concerned. The hot drought of 1893 extended over the spring
and summer months, but there was an abundant rainfall in the
autumn; correspondingly there was an unprecedentedly bad yield
of corn and hay crops, but a moderately fair yield of the main
root crops (turnips and swedes). In 1899 the drought became
most intense in the autumn after the corn crops had been
harvested, but during the chief period, of growth of the root
crops; correspondingly the corn crops of that year rank very
well amongst the crops of the decade, but the yield of turnips
and swedes was the worst on record. It is quite possible
for a hot dry season to be associated with a large yield of
corn, provided the drought is confined to a suitable period,
as was the case in 1896 and still more so in 1898; the English
wheat crops in those years were probably the biggest in yield
per acre that had been harvested since 1868, which is always
looked back upon as a remarkable year for wheat. The drought
of 1898 was interrupted by copious rains in June, and these
falling on a warm soil led to a rapid growth of grass and, as
measured by yield per acre, an exceedingly heavy crop of hay.
With the exceptions of 1891 and 1894, every year in the period
1891-1900 was stricken by drought. The two meteorological
events of the decade which will probably live longest in the
recollection were, however, the terrible drought of 1893,
resulting in a fodder famine in the succeeding winter, and
the severe frost of ten weeks' duration at the beginning of
1895. Between these two occurrences came the disastrous
decline in the value of grain in the autumn of 1894, when
the weekly average price of English wheat fell to the record
minimum of 17s. 6d. per imperial quarter. As a consequence,
the extent of land devoted to wheat in the British Isles
receded in 1895 to less than 1 1/2 million acres. The year
1903 was memorable for a very heavy rainfall, comparable
though not equal in its disastrous effects to that of 1879.
Successful trials of sulphate of copper solution as a means
of destroying charlock in corn crops took place in the years
1898-1900. Charlock is a most persistent cruciferous weed,
but if sprayed when young with the solution named it is
killed, the corn plants being uninjured. In 1901 the formation
of the Agricultural Organization Society marked the first
systematic attempt to organize co-operation among the farmers
of Great Britain. In the subsequent years the principle,
which had already made great progress in Ireland, began to
obtain a hold in England and Wales, where, in 1906, there
were 145 local co-operative societies with a turn-over of
Amongst legislative measures of importance to agriculturists
mention should be made, in addition to those that have been
referred to, of the Tithe Rent-charge Recovery Act 1891,
which transfers the liability for payment of tithe from
the occupier to the owner. In the same year was passed the
Markets and Fairs (Weighing of Cattle) Act. The object of
the Small Holdings Act 1892 was to facilitate the acquisition
of small agricultural holdings. It provided that a county
council might acquire any suitable land, with the object of
allotting from one to fifty acres, or, if more than fifty
acres, of an annual value not exceeding L. 50, to persons who
desired to buy, and would themselves cultivate, the holdings.
If, owing to proximity to a town or otherwise, the prospective
value were too high, the council might hire such land for the
purpose of letting it. (See ALLOTMENTS AND SMALL HOLDINGS
for this and other acts.) The Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs
Act 1893 compelled sellers of fertilizers (i.e. manures),
manufactured or imported, to state the percentage of the
nitrogen, of the soluble and insoluble phosphates, and of
the potash in each article sold, and this statement was to
have the effect of a warranty. Similar stringent conditions
applied as regards the sale of feeding-stuffs for live
stock. The Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs Act 1906, amending
and re-enacting the act of 1893, provided for the compulsory
appointment by county councils of official samplers. It
also provides penalties for breaches of duty by the seller,
but grants him protection in cases where he is not morally
responsible. The Finance Act of 1894, with its great changes
in the death duties, overshadowed all other acts of that
year both in its immediate effects and in its far-reaching
consequences. The Copyhold Consolidation Act 1894 supersedes
six previous copyhold statutes, but does not effect any
alteration in the law concerning enfranchisement. The
Diseases of Animals Act 1896 provided for the compulsory
slaughter of imported live stock at the place of landing.
The Light Railways Act and the Locomotives on Highways Act
were added to the statute book in 1896, and various clauses
in the Finance Act effected reforms in respect of the death
duties, the land-tax, farmers' income-tax and the beer
duty. The Chaff-cutting Machines (Accidents) Act 1897 is
a measure very similar in its intention to the Threshing
Machines Act 1878, and provides for the automatic prevention
of accidents to persons in charge of chaff-cutting machines.
The Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1899 has special reference
in its earlier sections to the trade in dairy produce and
margarine. In 1899 was also passed the act establishing the
Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland.
The year 1900 saw the passing of a Workmen's Compensation Act, which
extended the benefits of the act of 1807 to agricultural labourers.
Acreage and Yields of British Crops.
The most notable feature in connexion with the cropping of
the land of the United Kingdom between 1875 and 1905 was
the lessened cultivation of the cereal crops associated with
an expansion in the area of grass land. At the beginning
of the period the aggregate area under wheat, barley and
oats was nearly 10 1/2 million acres; at the close it did
not amount to 8 million acres. There was thus a withdrawal
during the period of over 2 1/2 million acres from cereal
cultivation. From Table I., showing the acreages at intervals
of five years, it will be learnt that the loss fell chiefly
upon the wheat crop, which at the close of the period
TABLE 1.--Areas of Cereal Crops in the United Kingdom
-- Acres
YEAR. WHEAT. BARLEY. OATS. TOTAL.
1875 3,514,088 2,751,362 4,176,177 10,441,627
1880 3,065,895 2,695,000 4,191,716 9,952,611
1885 2,553,092 2,447,169 4,282,594 9,282,855
1890 2,483,595 2,300,994 4,137,790 8,922,379
1895 1,456,042 2,346,367 4,527,899 8,330,308
1900 1,901,014 2,172,140 4,145,633 8,218,787
1905 1,836,598 1,872,305 4,137,406 7,846,309
occupied barely more than half the area assigned to it at the
beginning. If the land taken from wheat had been cropped with
one or both of the other cereals, the aggregate area would
have remained about the same. This, however, was not the
case, for a fairly uniform decrease in the barley area was
accompanied by somewhat irregular fluctuations in the acreage of
oats. To the decline in prices of home-grown cereals the
decrease in area is largely attributable. The extent of this
