The prices of some agricultural produce and the cost of farm labour for the last fifty years

Abstract

In venturing to bring before the Statistical Society a few notes on the above subject, I do so with much diffidence, because a matter of such importance at the present time should be dealt with by one who is a master of statistics, and not by a 'prentice hand’; and the prudence of a tenant farmer drawing public attention to his holding just now may well be questioned. The figures which follow are chiefly derived from farm accounts kept by my father, the late Edward Barrington, and myself; they extend over a period exceeding half a century. The accounts are kept with a detail which is not usual with farmers, and consist of six principal books.