How to Choose and Manage a Farm

By Isabella Beeton

This vintage book contains a detailed treatise on farming and farm management, being a guide to every aspect of farming from design and construction to drainage and irrigation. Although old, much of the information contained within this book is timeless and will be of considerable utility to modern farmers and smallholders. Contents include: "Farming in General", "Landlord and Tenant", "Farms and Farm Buildings", "Farm Labourers' Implements and Machinery", "Leading Principles of Agriculture", "Soils, Draining and Irrigation", "Land and its Management", and "Farm Operations and Farm Educations". Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on agriculture and agronomy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Home Farm Books
• Release date: Sep 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781473341500

Book preview

CHAPTER I.

FARMING IN GENERAL.

Farming in General—Different kinds of Farming—Capital—Expenditure on Farms per acre—Commencement of Farming—Taking a Farm—Proper Situation—Customs, Leases, and Covenants—Time of Entry—Bedfordshire—Berkshire—Buckinghamshire—Cambridgeshire—Cornwall—Compensation for Improvements and Unexhausted Manures—Derbyshire—Devonshire—Dorsetshire—Durham—Essex—Gloucestershire—Hampshire—Herefordshire—Hertfordshire—Huntingdonshire—Kent—Lancashire—Leicestershire and Rutlandshire—Lincolnshire—Middlesex—Monmouthshire—Norfolk—Northamptonshire—Northumberland—Nottinghamshire—Oxfordshire—Shropshire—Somersetshire—Staffordshire—Suffolk—Surrey—Sussex—Warwickshire—Westpioreland—Wiltshire—Worcestershire—North Wales—South Wales—Yorkshire.

1. FARMING IN GENERAL.—Agriculture has been properly described as the most ancient of all the arts; yet, to utter a paradox, it is now but in its infancy; for, until the present century, the most successful methods of cultivating the soil to advantage were comparatively unknown.

Several physical sciences may be said to be embraced in the successful practice of agriculture; one of the most prominent of which is that of chemistry in its relation to the constituent properties of various manures in constant use; which are, to a great extent, the means of supplying to plants the different kinds of food each requires.

A slight knowledge of geology is very necessary also to the modern farmer, whose task and proper business it is to get as much as he possibly can out of the land, without exhausting it for succeeding crops; and to do this effectively and thoroughly, he must needs be acquainted with the soil upon which his operations are carried on; for some are deficient in mineral elements, that often require to be supplied, as well as nitrogenous or ammoniacal manures, which are regarded as the chief fertilisers, and upon which large sums of money are every year expended.

These large sums could often be considerably decreased in amount by proper and careful management, and by the observance of well-understood principles the practice of which is, unfortunately, too much neglected by many; while, on the other hand, it is to be feared, in some instances, that, in the exultation caused by the great accession of knowledge that has been brought to bear upon the cultivation of the soil in late years, the new principles have, in some respects, been allowed to obscure and overshadow the old, in certain points where they were meritorious, to which we shall briefly refer in the course of the present work.

2. DIFFERENT KINDS OF FARMING.—There are various kinds of farming, the systems of which can be pursued more or less successfully as they are in accordance with the natural capabilities of the land and district; and there is no farm upon which one kind of produce cannot be more successfully raised than another. But it may so happen that there may not be so good a market for the kind of produce that may be most easily, or most abundantly obtained. And this, unfortunately, is the case just now with the arable farmers of Great Britain, who find themselves unable to compete with the wheat-growers of the United States, and the north of Europe.

Instead of resignedly sitting down and putting up with the inconveniences entailed by this unfortunate condition of affairs, as if it was impossible to alter them, and there was nothing left but to bow to the behests of fate, and the inexorable law of necessity, earnest endeavours should be made to alter the prevailing state of matters, and turn one’s attention to a more profitable department of farming; and even arable-land farmers, without an acre of grass-land, could keep cows, whose produce in the shape of milk and butter is always saleable, and pays well, upon the soiling system, who now never dream of ever making any such attempt.

Even on clay-land (where it is impossible to grow turnips, and, of course, out of the question to attempt to keep sheep, according to the one-idea’d notion of some farmers of even this enlightened generation) the matter is quite feasible, and is successfully managed in a rare case or two by a few skilful cultivators; for, if clay-land will not grow turnips, it will grow mangolds, cabbages, tares, clover, &c.; and these, eaten by sheep, will give a more satisfactory return than can be obtained from cattle even.

The various kinds of farming may be briefly comprehended under the—(1) Mixed systems of agriculture and stock-keeping; (2) Dairy-farming exclusively; (3) The business of the grazier, or flockmaster; (4) Arable-land cultivation for the growth of corn, roots, &c.; (5) Poultry-farming, which is chiefly done upon a small scale; (6) Timber-growing, coppice and osier-bed management; (7) Market-gardening and fruit-raising; (8) Exclusively grass farms, as may be met with in the neighbourhood of London, where hay is the chief produce aimed at; (9) Pig-keeping, where this department is made a special business of; (10) Certain minor, or subsidiary branches, which it is not necessary definitely to specify, but which answer the purpose of certain individuals to carry on in a separate form.

3. CAPITAL.—In order to definitely estimate the amount of capital required to carry on successfully the business of a farm, it is necessary, in the first place, to determine upon what system, or plan, it is to be carried on.

Upon an arable farm, where a quarter or two-fifths of the land are in grass every year, in the case of the five-course rotation system, the cost of labour, which is a very important item, will be much less than when a smaller portion is so arranged for.

Where a large portion of the farm is made to yield food for stock that is fed upon it, the cost of the purchase of cattle or sheep, to consume the produce, will be heavy.

Upon an entirely arable farm, the labour-bill will be very high every season, as well as the cost of horses and their keep, unless the steam-plough is mainly resorted to.

Upon a grass-farm, the amount of capital needed will be comparatively small, the chief operations being confined to bush-harrowing, rolling, spreading manure, and haymaking.

In the case of a partly-arable dairy-farm, the cost per acre will be the medium amount between the highest and lowest cases instanced.

In the case of arable farming, when a good deal of stock is bought and sold, a much larger capital will be required than in most other cases, and we could furnish detailed particulars showing the cost of every item, and the scale upon which each operation should be conducted; but this would take considerably more space than our confined limits will allow; and we must content ourselves by saying that a farm of this description, to do everything thoroughly well, would require a capital of £15 10s. per acre.

Where some of the heavier expenses are modified, in cases analogous to the above, a capital of £12 per acre will be found sufficient.

A dairy-farm of 300 acres, let at £1 15s. per acre, and carrying a herd of 100 cows, would require a capital of about £7 10s. per acre, this including such items as the cost of 100 cows at low rates, partly purchased and partly bred; 3 horses, carts, harness, dairy-furniture, roller, enough hay bought of the outgoing tenant to last till May, and reckoning the labour to cost but 15s. per acre annually; and so on down to the least possible scale of expenditure, as in the case of a grass-farm pure and simple, where the necessary capital would be but trifling; but even grass-farms in time often gradually get converted into dairy-farms, when only a stray cow or two has been kept in the first instance, and perhaps a few pigs, from the natural increase which comes of itself in time.

It is scarcely possible to form a calculation of the amount of capital required that would be applicable to every case; but there is a common existing presumption that, upon land of a medium quality, under the ordinary course of cultivation, where the live-stock is of a good description and the implements new, the requisite amount will be about £7 to £10 per acre.

A less amount than this is often made to do, and some farmers are much more ingenious than others in devising expedients to make up for deficient capital, and get along where men of less acuteness are not so successful; but one of the chief drawbacks arising from want of sufficient capital is, that it often compels the farmer to sell at a disadvantage at times when produce is at its lowest, instead of being able to wait for a rising market; a result which will often make as much difference as that arising from a good or a bad crop.

It has often been pointed out before that no mistake is more common, or injurious, than the supposition that the more land a man holds, the greater will be his profits, the contrary being the case in relation to the capital employed; and that £1,000 spent in the cultivation of 200 acres will only bring £100 profit, but the same amount applied to the cultivation of 100 acres would bring £200; so that while many have been ruined by having a large farm, others have acquired a competency, with the same means, upon one half the size.

A larger capital has become necessary, since the general adoption of the alternate system of husbandry, owing to the greater amount of live-stock that has to be kept now, to what used to be the case when the land was brought round into a fit state for the reproduction of corn by repeated fallows, instead of green crops, as now prevail, under the more spirited management of land.

The following estimate, published in the Farmers’ Series of the Library of Useful Knowledge, founded on the estate of Scoreby will give an idea of the calculations that formerly used to be made on this head.

Capital required to enter upon a farm of 200 acres of a varied soil, at a rent of £200 per annum, in the following state and rotation of crops, in the East Riding of Yorkshire:—

THE STRONGER SOIL.

ANNUAL EXPENSES.

4. EXPENDITURE ON FARMS PER ACRE.—The expenditure of farms per acre at the present time may be roughly summed up as follows, which will give some definite idea of the amount that is usually considered about the rate per acre.

The labour bill will be looked upon as being rather low than otherwise, but steam-ploughing must not be lost sight of.

5. COMMENCEMENT OF FARMING.—From the foregoing it will be seen that, before a farm is taken, it is highly necessary to weigh the various advantages and disadvantages that may present themselves in connection with each, and consider whether the disposable amount of capital is sufficient to manage any particular farm in a thoroughly efficient manner. A small farm, well managed, with enough capital, is always found to answer much better than a large one where the farmer is cramped for means.

When everything is propitious, and all goes well in favourable seasons, the pinch of insufficient capital is not, perhaps, felt to be so very severe after all. But let there come adverse times, when farming operations want to be done with rapidity, to take advantage of the seasons, and the farm is undermanned, so that advantage cannot be taken of opportune moments—when over-ripe corn stands that ought to be cut; when hay cannot be carted away or made, by reason of an insufficient staff; or seed put in the ground at the proper moment, and a season becomes lost—these are the times when its wants are deplored; and under-manning a farm is much the same as under-manning a ship. When the sky is serene and favourable breezes blow, the ship’s course is smooth and prosperous enough; but let a sudden squall come on, when it is necessary to take in all sail quickly, and there is not a sufficient crew to do it promptly and efficiently in time, the ship stands a chance of being capsized.

6. TAKING A FARM.—But simple disadvantages may be often ameliorated by good management, as, for example, in those situations where the soil is sandy and poor, there are opportunities of keeping a large quantity of poultry profitably; an item often overlooked altogether in farm calculations; or, it may be, where sheep-farming may make up, from the facility with which turnips may be grown, for other shortcomings; and all these disadvantages should be well weighed against the advantages, and a proper scheme of future management be carefully deliberated upon before a farm is taken.

The experience of different persons is often very diverse, and it is only natural to suppose that an arable-land farmer would incline to those forms and methods of cultivation with which he is most familiar, or a Gloucestershire dairy-farmer lean to the class of occupation to which he has been accustomed. But these different predilections should never be indulged in at the expense of the capabilities of any particular place that may be more calculated to one class of husbandry than another, and these should be dispassionately weighed in every important particular.

The farming customs and usages of the United Kingdom are also very different, and a person about to take a farm in a strange county is often at a loss to know what the farming customs are of that particular district, which may make all the difference to him and his management; as the new methods may be the means of quite throwing him out of his calculations, in consequence of a system being adopted to which he is entirely unaccustomed.

7. PROPER SITUATION.—These various considerations must be considerably affected by the position of the farm; and a proper situation, and one the best adapted for the branch of agriculture that is aimed at, is a very important matter.

As, however, the farmer cannot always find a farm to let just where he may happen to like it to have been, he must make a point of carefully noting that the situation of the proposed farm is one that may be made subservient to his intended purpose, and the operations to be conducted upon it, and this will often depend upon the customs of the county, and these differ very materially in different counties.

8. CUSTOMS, LEASES, AND COVENANTS.—Nothing, perhaps, can be more diverse than the various customs and methods which prevail in England with respect to the different methods and conditions upon which land is let, and the various covenants attached thereto.

Sometimes, even in neighbouring parishes, the widest difference exists as to the mode of regulating the various covenants, some of which are alike injurious to both outgoing and incoming tenants; as, for example, we may mention the practice in Gloucestershire, which compels the outgoing tenant to knock the fruit off the apple and pear-trees at Michaelmas; or leave them for the incomer, when a portion of the fruit is not ripe until the end of October; the same custom also prevailing in Worcestershire.

9. TIME OF ENTRY.—In the South of England, Michaelmas is the most common time for entering upon a farm; but in the North, Whitsuntide, or old May-day, is, perhaps, most usual; but in Scotland, the common practice is for the tenant to enter upon possession of the farm-buildings at Whitsuntide, together with the fallows and permanent pasture; while the arable land is held by the outgoing tenant until the crops are secured.

This arrangement seems the fairest to all parties, where the fallowing system forms part of the established method of cultivation; as the outgoing tenant cannot be supposed to take that interest in affairs which he otherwise would do, were he remaining on the land; and he is not inconvenienced by what is being done in the process of cultivation by the incoming tenant.

But even this depends very much upon the nature of the soil, and what is raised from it. Upon light soils, where green crops can