ON THE LAND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3081, 31 December 1908, Page 7

ON THE LAND.

WORKING COSTS.

Experimebb ttiight with profit & be carried through, says the London ""Morning Post," to assess the cost of tillage. We have various estimates based upon farmers' experience, but as the cost of labour and the introduction of labour-saving machinery alter with circumstances, it would be an advantage to have a revised estimate of costs. From the Irish Board of Agriculture comes a statement which is not without interest. It is the account of expenditure on Fanriingstown Farm, as set forth by Mr D. B. O'Brien. Altogether, 36 Irish acres, equal to about 55 English acres, were under cultivation. The cost of labour and horse work is written down at £279 Is 6d. The manures, artificial and farmVard, valuing the. latter at 2s 6d a jfoad. cost £93 15slOd. The seedsynan's bill was £sl 5s sd, the rent land taxes £63. On the other side *of the ledger 16J Irish acres of oats .; produced 4,125 stones, valued at 9d, and 41 tons of straw, estimated as- worth £sl ss. Only four Irish acres wtre under wheat, the 1,000 stones of grain, and 12 tons of straw being worth £49 10a. Valuing turnips at 8s a ton, much less than their local worth, six Irish acres produced £l3O. Four and a-half Irish acres of mangolds yielded 225 tons at 10s, equal to £ll2 10s. Three Irish acres of potatoes gave a crop that yielded £l6O in the market, while two, acres cultivated for labourers had a crop valued at £6O. The total for the 36 Irish, or 58 English, acres was £707 18s 'dd. Against this we have to set costs of £487 2s 9d, leaving a balance of £220 16s, not at all bad in these days of socalled depression. Human labour was estimated at 2s a day, and horse labour 2s 6d, the latter, if anything, a generous figure. Last year, of course, was a very good season, many farmers showing a bigger profit than they fiave done for not one, but twcde(tades. Perhaps on that account '"allowance should be made for the rosdate view which this statement presents.