Journal entry – John Grey – 1 Mar 1834

Saturday 1st March



Returned to Corbridge early in the morning , attended to letters & business in the Office.  Directed Benson to make preparation for the Building at Whitechapel, as sanctioned by the Board, & to obtain estimates for it & the farmhouse at Lees.  Received from Mr Hogarth at Scremerston the application to the Board, praying for a reduction of rent, which I herewith forward.  It is hardly necessary for me to make any remarks on the subject of this Petition, in addition to those which I have been called upon to make from time to time, upon the ruinously low prices of Grain during the whole of the present season.  The Berwick market has been throughout, the lowest in the Country, & Mr Hogarths statement is a confirmation of what I have often repeated to the Board, that a Farmer almost exclusively dependant upon the growth of Corn, is in a most hopeless predicament. But to relieve himself in this respect, why does not Mr Hogarth voluntarily adopt the rotation of alternate grass and corn which I have laid down in the recent Agreement for Chesterhill & Glororum, by which he would have a mixture of Sheep & Wool in his farm produce, & though the extent of his Corn Crop would be diminished, the land would be in better condition for growing it.  It is true that such a change cannot be effected all at once, & if it could, that still it might not afford Mr Hogarth an adequate relief.  Acting upon the principle hitherto adopted by the Board, I presume they will only offer to Mr Hogarth a reduction through the medium of a new valuation & letting.  



After getting through the business of the Office, I rode over the farms on Thornbrough Estate to see the new line for a boundary fence between that property and Newton, as set out by Mr Hunt & the opposite party, & to consider by an inspection of the fields, an application from Mr Scott respecting their management in connexion with the farm he already holds. Mr Scott has signed an Agreement binding himself to manage his former farm as well as his new one, hereafter, in the five instead of the four course rotation.