AGRICULTURE In 1878 a typical Herefordshire farm of 200 acres would probably have 150 acres in permanent grass of which ten to twenty would be orchard. The stock consists of twelve to fourteen cows, of which in the spring two or three old ones would be fattened for the butcher. There are twelve or fourteen calves running with their dams and the same number of yearlings, of which the greater portion may be for sale in the autumn, or they may be kept on for another year before they are sold at £p.Q apiece. The remainder of the yearlings would be put to the bull in the next summer to replace the old cows sold off. About one-fifth of the arable land would be in turnips and mangolds for winter food for the stock. These roots, with the straw of the corn crops and the hay from about 60 acres of old grass, would keep the cattle and the small flock of sheep until they were turned out to grass in May. The rainfall of the years 1879 and 1880 over the midland, western, and southern counties of England will long be remembered ; over most of this area it was one-fourth above the average, and sometimes 3 in. of rain fell in the twenty-four hours, producing most disastrous floods. The amount of sunshine was naturally diminished, and these adverse conditions had a very prejudicial effect on the health of live-stock. The saturated land produced rougher and coarser herbage, the finer grasses languished and perished, fodder and grain were imperfectly matured. Flukes multiplied and produced liver-rot in abundance among the live-stock, especially on the heavy clay soils, as they had not done since the season of 1829 and 1830, and even extended to comparatively dry uplands where they had not been known for fifty years. This devastation was not confined to sheep, cattle were attacked, hares and rabbits died in numbers, and horses and pigs were not exempt. From the reports of eighty Herefordshire stock farmers collected in 1880 it appears that the disease of liver-rot was widespread among sheep and cattle, and had reached farms where it had not appeared within man's memory, valuable pedigree flocks and herds also suffering from it. Sheep, which if sound would have fetched 50^. to 63^. a head, were sold at from 7^. bd. to 27^. and should not have been sold at all. On Bury House Farm, near Wigmore, the whole of the live-stock were lost or sold as diseased, as was the case on Field Place Farm on the Garnstone estate, and many other farmers reported losses nearly as bad as these. On the other hand, Mr. Helme attributed the saving of his flock to a very liberal use of salt with a very little nitre, and Mr. Arkwright in a flock of 470 Southdowns and Leicesters had no case of liver-rot in 1879 and only sixteen cases in 1880, most likely because the sheep were liberally fed on dry food and had plenty of salt. The disease was apparently generally contracted in May or June, its symptoms became apparent in October and November, and the highest death rate was in the following March and April. In 1 884 Herefordshire with Shropshire and Staffordshire comprised the area for the farm prize competition of the Royal Agricultural Society's Show. One of the farms entered near Tenbury of 475 acres carried 72 head of cattle, valued at ^^1,332 ; 19 horses at ;^5i0, and 277 sheep at ^^842 lOi., a total of ^2,684 lOJ. Fortunately a list of stock on the farm at the sale in 1822 had been preserved, which showed that at that date there were 45 head of cattle valued at ^^140 IJ. 3<^.,^* 13 horses at ;^I32 2j., and 104 sheep at ;^I56, a total of ;^428 3;. 3^. It will be thus seen that the average price of the cattle on the farm in 1822 was a little over ^3 a head, that the capacity of the farm for keeping stock had doubled, and their value had increased sixfold. On another farm near Hereford, in 1884, consisting of 533 acres, of which 283 were arable and 250 pasture, there were in January 107 head of cattle, 553 sheep, and 39 horses. Forty bushels of barley to the acre was an average crop, and Hunter's red chaff wheat on clover ley from 7. bushels of seed produced over 40 bushels per acre, and oats 50 to 60 bushels. The whole of the grass-land had been drained lately, the landlord finding the pipes, and the tenant doing the labour. The regular staff of labourers was twenty men and boys, and in addition some work was done by contract. Men's wages were from i zs. to 1 4;. a week and cider ; in harvest time they received 25^. extra and bread and cheese at five o'clock ; they were also allowed 200 yards of ground for growing potatoes. Carters had rather higher wages. The annual cost of labour was about ;^8oo, ox £ 9^. ()d. an acre ; and the capital employed very large, amounting to from /12 to j^ 1 6 an acre, the results of which were described as satisfactory. In 1866 the Board of Agriculture for the first time collected returns of the crops and live- stock in all the counties of Great Britain, but as in that year all occupiers of under five acres of land were excluded, and the live-stock census was taken on 5 March, the returns of 1867 are better for purposes of comparison with subsequent years, as they included all occupiers, and the live-stock census was taken 25 June. ^ This is a very lovir price ; the cattle were Herefords, and comprised 9 cows and calves, 5 three-year- old heifers in calf, 8 two-year-olds, 3 barren cows, 4 three-year-old bullocks, 4 two-year-old bullocks, 6 year- ling heifers, and 6 yearling bullocks. The highest price for a cow and calf was ^^ii 15/. Three-year-old bullocks fetched ^^8 10/. each ; two-year-old heifers &om gz 6/. to j^i8 ; yearlings, 57/. to ^4. I 417 53
