UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
AT LOS ANGELES

GIFT OF CAPT. AND MRS.
PAUL MCBRIDE PERIGORD

UNiVEKSlTY of CALibVUMU,

AT

LOS ANGELES

LIBRARY

THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

i

A NEW SERIES ON
ECONOMICS

Crown Svo

The following are the first of a set of volumes dealing
with the fundamental principles and method of Political
Economy in a concise and simple manner.

Their object is to explain the essential facts and theories
of that science, raid its important bearing upon human
welfare in language not too technical or abstract, and
thereby to stimulate an interest in economic doctrine, and
to fo»ter a study of the problems of wealth and poverty,
production and consumption, and of the causes which
govern the welfare of nations.

The series isedited by G. Armitage-Smith, D.Lit., M.A.

A PRIMER OF NATIONAL FINANCE.

By Henry Higgs, C.B.

LABOUR ORGANIZATION.

By George O'Brien, Litt.D.

FOREIGN TRADE.

By W. Henderson Pringle, M.A., LL.B.

WEALTH: ITS PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION.

By A. W. KiRKALDY, M.A., B.Litt. Oxon.

THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS.

By Christopher Turnor.

THE LAND AND
ITS PROBLEMS

BY

CHRISTOPHER TURNOR

WITH TEN DIAGRAMS

• • ••■

METHUEN & GO. LTD.

36 ESSEX STREET W.G.

LONDON

144cia,i

First PubHshed in igsi

■■••.•

PREFACE

WE have been a land-ignorant race — and yet
we are all dependent upon the land, the towns-
man as well as the countryman. It is not a
question requiring the consideration and the votes of
only the rural population ; the urban population holds
the predominant voting power. Therefore a sound
land policy can only be hoped for when, in the first place,
the townsman understands something about the land,
and, secondly, when he is capable of thinking correctly
. , about it. So this book is not intended in any way as a
^ technical treatise on Agriculture ; rather is the object
^ to lay stress upon the vast importance of Land as our
c greatest Imperial and National asset, and to show that if
•^ the permanent consolidation of the Empire is to be
^ achieved this can only be effected by giving the necessary
. care and thought to the development of our land resources.
j5 It is therL£ssential for this purpose to consider the land
'^ of the Empire as a whole, rather than piecemeal in its
•^ different geographical parts. And inseparably inter-
•^ woven with the Land problem is the human side — the
question of the cultivator of the soil and the conditions
under which he should live.

This great twofold problem of the land and the people
has never really received the consideration it should by
the people of the Anglo-Saxon race. And herein lies
the root of the evil.

In other civilized countries the townspeople realize

5

6 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

much more definitely than we do their direct dependence
upon the land, because for many years it has been
customary to give the rising generations instruction
concerning land, just as instruction in history or
mathematics is given.

One of the aims of this book is to show the national
importance of maintaining the area of land under the
plough, and of increasing that area where it is wise to
do so.

Another aim is to lay stress upon the national and
social importance of maintaining the number of small
holdings (i.e. farms of fifty acres and under) and upon the
need of improving the living and business conditions of
the smallholders.

It is not suggested for one moment that the United
Kingdom should become entirely a country of small
holdings, nor is it suggested that all grass land should
be ploughed up.

There must always be a large proportion of grass land ;
but this should be well farmed, and put to the best
economic use, which it is not at the present moment.

The one hope of the writer of this book is that it may
serve in some small degree to interest people, not
definitely connected with the land, in the land problem ;
and induce them as voters to insist upon our land being
put to its fullest national use, that the cultivators of the
land shall live under the best possible conditions, and
that their children be given educational opportunities
equal to those enjoyed by the town child.

Since Chapter IX was written, the Government has
repealed Part I of the Agriculture Act.

C. T.

COiNTENTS

PACE

CHAPTER

Preface 5

I. Historical Introduction .... 9
II. Tenure 30

III. Agricultural Dramatis Person/e . -41

IV. Production ...... 70

V. The System and Methods of Production in

THE United Kingdom . . . -91

VI. Small and Large Holdings . . .112

VII. Farm Accounts and Demonstration Farms 132

VIII. On Taking Up an Agricultural Career . 141

IX. The Objective in Production and Future

Developments . . . . -153

X. I.mperi.\l Considerations . . . -177

Appendices . . . . . .190

Index , . . . . . .251

THE LAND
AND ITS PROBLEMS

CHAPTER I
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

THE review of the history of agricultural develop-
ment in the United Kingdom must needs be
brief in a book of this size ; it is a subject full of
interest and of importance, but we shall have to confine
ourselves to salient features and to that side of the story
which relates to efforts to increase the production of
food from the soil.

For it is a matter of fundamental importance that the
land of the country shall produce the economic maximum
amount of food for its people — the word " economic "
is here used in its widest sense, and includes not only
financial considerations, but also the question of the
conditions under which the producers of primary wealth
live. For where the living conditions of the cultivators
are bad, production is uneconomic from the national
point of view.

In this chapter I shall give first a brief sketch of the
state of agriculture in Britain for the past two thousand

9

10 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

years, and, secondly, some account of the condition of
the cultivators.

The degree of civilization of a race of people is very
clearly indicated by their attitude towards the land ;
primitive man regarded the land solely as a happy
hunting ground ; he lived by what he could kill. In
the next stage we find man beginning to realize the
advantages of keeping domestic animals ; but for many
centuries, in northern countries, these domestic animals
were of a very poor type and obtained their living entirely
from the natural produce of the land, and it was a
precarious living in winter. Winter feeding of stock,
as we understand it now, is a comparatively recent
practice.

It is only in what may be termed the third stage of
civilization that we find our forbears beginning to
develop husbandry ; then agriculture, i.e. the actual
cultivation of the land, had its birth, and it remained for
a long time in a very elementary state in northern Europe
and England.

Modern agriculture, in which the use of machinery
and artificials play so prominent a part, may be said to
date from 1837, and the highly intensive cultivation of
the soil was not attempted until much later in the
century.

PRE-ROMAN PERIOD

The first mention of British agriculture known in
history is to be found in the story of the travels of
Pytheas, the enterprising Greek who sailed round the
western coast of Europe and apparently got as far north
as Norway.

He visited various points on the English coast about
the middle of the fourth century B.C., and conceived an

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 11

exaggerated idea of the size of our islands, thinking that
he was visiting the fringe of a vast continent. He only
coasted along the eastern and southern sides of England ;
and he places on record that he found the natives growing
wheat, and on account of the uncertain climate their
method of harvesting was to strip the ears and thresh
them under covered sheds. He does not refer to the
growing of any other crops, so that we cannot say what
their methods of agriculture were ; but in view of their
growing wheat and handling it in that way it is safe to
assume that they had reached a certain stage of develop-
ment in agriculture.

The only other thing he mentions is a drink that seems
to resemble strangely our modern beer !

The next visitor to Britain was the Roman Posidonious,
in the first ccntur}- before Christ, and he refers to agri-
culture in much the same terms as Pytheas,

THE ROMAN PERIOD

During the Roman occupation of Great Britain there
was quite an advanced agriculture, although we do not
know what area of land was under cultivation ; we know
that they grew wheat and that they harvested it in an
up-to-date way, stripping off the ears of wheat in the
American fashion and when necessary drying the grain
on heated stone or concrete floors. This treatment of
the wheat crop means that the straw is lost — a loss which
we could not afford, in these days, in England.

Even — what is more remarkable — lucerne, or alfalfa,
was grown ; it is only during the last few years that our
farmers have again taken to this valuable crop.

The Romans fully understood and utilized the power
possessed by leguminous crops of increasing the richness

12 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

of the soil. A passage in Pliny advises the farmer to
" sow next year's wheat crop in the field where he has
just gathered his beans, vetches, lupins, or such other
crop as enriches the soil."

The chief plants of the leguminous order, besides those
mentioned above, are peas, clovers and lucerne. Of
these lucerne is the plant that endures the longest ; a
field may remain under lucerne for from five to nine
years in England, and in some other countries for an
almost unlimited time.

The Romans in their turn acquired their knowledge
of agriculture from the ancient Egyptians, who under-
stood the value of leguminous crops and of rotation of
crops at a very early age.

A very advanced agriculture was practised in the
Mediterranean countries from prehistoric times ; this
development was the natural result of a dense population
living on fertile land limited in area ; high cultivation was
essential in order to feed the dense population.

It is interesting to note that, in quite another part of
the world, the Chinese understood the use of leguminous
plants as early as looo B.C.

This knowledge of the use of leguminous plants, and
of the immense value of the rotation of crops, is one of
the definite landmarks in the development of agriculture ;
and the recovery of this knowledge is of comparatively
recent date in England.

THE FIFTH TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

When the Roman occupation of England ended, all
attempt at agriculture ceased. Little was done even in
the Middle Ages, which was indeed a period of darkness
as far as the cultivation of the land was concerned.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 13

Meat in one form or another remained the staple diet
for centuries, presumably salted meat for N\inter use ;
for, with a complete absence of cultivated foodstuffs,
live stock in winter must have been too thin to be worth
killing — and it could only have been the breeding stock
which would be left to face the winter as best they could.
In the eleventh century agriculture began to revive
in Spain under the influence of the Saracens, who were
decidedly good cultivators, and who set about building
up the great primary industry that the inroads of the
Goths and Vandals had so completely wiped out. But
this revival did not reach the British Isles until many
centuries had elapsed. Even at the end of the reign of
Henry VIH salads and edible roots were not grown, and
on one occasion when Queen Catherine had set her heart
upon a salad she had to send to Holland for it ! Wheat
was a luxury ; the poorer classes had to content them-
selves with oats, barley, or rye, of which gradually
increasing quantities were grown.

SHEEP versus cattle

Up to nearly the end of the sixteenth century it may
be said that cattle and sheep grazing were the mainstay
of the landowner and farmer. As English wool was in
great demand on the Continent, and sheep were more
profitable than cattle, the landowners endeavoured to
own as large flocks as possible ; at various periods they
pushed this policy so far that a serious shortage of beet
resulted. In the fourteenth century we find the Govern-
ment so much perturbed at the situation that legislation
was introduced to encourage cattle-breeding and lessen
the predominance of sheep ; this took the somewhat
quaint form of giving cattle the precedence over sheep.

14 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

Apparently, however, sheep did not take this lowering
in the social scale very much to heart, for in 1488 a very
serious state of affairs is recorded.

" Where in some towns," says the Statute 4th
Henry VH, " two hundred persons lived and were
occupied with their lawful labours, now there are
occupied two or three herdsmen and the residue fall
into idleness."

Therefore it was enacted that farms with 20 acres
under tillage must be upheld, under a penalty of half
the profits to be forfeited to the King.

This failed to improve the situation and in 1534 a
new Act was tried, " Sheep being come in to a few
persons' hands." Single persons owned flocks of sheep
ranging in number from four thousand up to even
twenty-four thousand. A monopoly in wool existed, and
the price thereof in consequence had risen greatly.
Therefore a penalty was imposed upon everyone who kept
over two thousand sheep, and no person was to take more
than two tenantries of husbandry.

GRASS versus arable

When Elizabeth came to the throne the case of sheep
versus cattle had more or less settled itself, and we find
a new basis to the legislation. The aim was to secure a
larger area of plough land and to reduce the area under
grass ; and one of the most drastic measures ever passed
was that of the 39th Elizabeth (1597) enacting that all
land made pasture since the ist Elizabeth shall again be
converted to tillage, and that no existing arable shall be
converted into pasture.

In view of the measures taken by the Government
during the Great War to induce British farmers to keep

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 15

a larger area under the plough, this Elizabethan Act is of
great interest.

It is abundantly clear from history that the British
farmer has bv disposition a natural inclination towards
grass land farming and to keep his arable area as small as
possible — this quite apart from the fact that grass grows
better in the British Isles than almost an>"where else in
Europe ; and in some parts of the country the heavy
rainfall makes it quite legitimately the predominating
crop.

Whatever the practical results from the Elizabethan
Law thev are not recorded— the measure must have had
a certain effect in increasing arable cultivation, but little
real progress in agriculture in England can be noted until
early in the eighteenth century. In Scotland, even in
the rich southern counties, agriculture was at a lower ebb
and later in developing than in England.

Still, signs of the coming developments can be found ;
for instance, one of the earliest references to the growing
of turnips and clover as sheep-food is by Houghton in
i6S I . And he bears testimony to the fact that arable land
produces more food for man and beast than grass land.
" Ten acres sown with turnips, clover, etc., will feed
as many sheep as one hundred acres would before have
done."

In this he indicates the direction future developments
should take, and he thus sets up one of the landmarks in
our agricultural history.

FROM THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Jethro Tull was one of the first of the pioneers in
'* modern " agriculture ; in 1701 he first began to drill
wheat and turnips ; he grew turnips as one of his

16 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

standard crops, and adopted the system of horse hoeing,
thus largely supplanting the old and more laborious
system of hand hoeing. Before the drill was invented,
which enabled the sowing of seed in evenly spaced
straight lines, all sowing was done by hand — broadcast,
which made horse hoeing impossible. But Jethro TuU
was full thirty years in advance of his times and had to
face the opposition and even hostility of the farming
community.

The use of turnips must have spread slowly, for the
writer possesses a silver cup which was given in 1769
as a prize for " the best six acres of turnips compleatly
hoed " ; this in the North Riding of Yorkshire, so that
there at all events turnips were regarded as a new crop
to be encouraged by prizes as late as 1769.

After Jethro TuU the two outstanding agricultural
pioneers are Coke of Norfolk, who worked for the im-
provement of agriculture in all its branches, and Bakewell,
who concentrated his attention upon the improvement
of our live stock. They did their great work towards
the end of the eighteenth century ; but a marked and
general improvement in our agriculture began to show
itself about 1730.

By the end of the eighteenth century the rotation of
crops was universally practised ; this involved the full
use of leguminous plants.

Although this is so, the functions of the leguminous
plants were by no means fully understood ; and the
most valuable plant of this order, lucerne or alfalfa,
was little used.

We have seen that it was grown in Roman times in
England, but any material increase in the area used for
this crop did not take place until the end of the nineteenth
and beginning of the twentieth century. The areas

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 17

devoted to lucerne being in 1890 iS.ooo acres, in 1910
28,000 acres.

As has been stated the great use of the leguminous
plants is that they put nitrogen into the soil in the
least expensive manner ; farm-yard manure also provides
a certain amount of nitrogen and of phosphates and
potash.

Science has placed these substances at the disposal
of the farmer in another form — in that of artificial or
chemical manures, but the use of these should be
complementary ; they do not replace the use of farm-
yard manure and leguminous plants.

The progress begun in 1730 was continuous, and
carried British agriculture up to its zenith (in the middle
of the nineteenth centur}-) when the yield from our
soil far exceeded that of any other country in terms
per acre. Foreign agriculturists flocked to England, to
study our methods, up to about i860 ; then a change
began to be noticed.

Other countries, having benefited by our experience,
then began not only to catch us up but to surpass us ;
they developed a superior organization of the industry
and they made far greater and more intelligent use of
the discoveries of scientists, particularly in regard to
the application of chemical manures.

Finally it is only in the quality of our pedigree
live stock that we have been able to maintain our
supremacy ; and even in the handling of our live stock
there is much room for improvement.

In 1875 the great agricultural depression began, due
to the competition of the new world, and there resulted
a disastrously retrograde movement in our primary
industry' ; production decreased and land even went
out of cultivation, farmers went bankrupt, and the

18 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

industry lost ^1,000,000,000 of its capital. Yet, during
this period, in continental countries agriculture was
forging steadily ahead. Here I am concerned only with
the bare statement of the fact.

It was not until 1904 that definite signs of improve-
ment in the agricultural situation could be seen, and
from that time until the Great War prices were working
slowly upward and farmers were better off. But in
spite of increasing prices there was little correspond-
ing increase in production from the soil.

WHEAT

Wheat is or should be the basic crop in arable
farming, and from the national point of view it is of
such importance that a paragraph or two must now
be devoted to it.

From 1600 onwards, more and more wheat was
produced and the yield of wheat per acre gradually
increased.

In the Middle Ages the average yield of wheat per
acre was very low — about that of Australia to-day, i.e.
some 12 bushels per acre. By 1800 it had risen to an
average of 20 bushels, and for the nineteenth century
the yield was about 30 bushels, and this is our present
average.

It is hard for us to realize from our own experience
in regard to growing wheat in England that, at one
period, she was a wheat-exporting country — in fact for
nearly a century, between 1688 and 1760, the export
was considerable in some years.

After 1760 we exported very little wheat, and from 1840
our imports increased steadily . In 1 840 we were gro win g

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HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 19

home wheat for about twenty -four inillion people ;
this was our high-water mark ; after that not only did
our wheat production fail to keep pace with the increase
in our population, but it was the crop that suffered
most and was most reduced owing to the effects of the
depression.

In 19 1 4 we were only growing suflicient wheat to
meet the needs of about eight million people, or one-
fifth of our population.

THE CULTIVATOR

So far we have been considering the actual cultivation
of the land ; and now, if we turn our attention to the
condition of the people living on and by the land, we
can trace an evolution that has not been altogether good
especially from the labourer's point of view. Under
a primitive society everyone had access to land for
what that was worth ; it was an open run for everyone's
live stock. As population increased most nations seem
to have gone through a period of communistic ownership
of lands. A certain area was recognized as belonging
to a commune and it was divided up amongst the members
as best suited the needs of the commune ; or, if it was
not actually divided up, the individuals had certain
rights of pasturage on the common land. This system
survived into Feudal times in a greater or less degree in
different countries.

In Russia it obtained up to the great revolution,
and apparently still exists ; there the " Mir " or com-
munal council divided the common lands amongst the
members of the community at certain definite periods
or when need arose. On these occasions there was
no chairman of the meeting, all the members of the
Mir talked, sometimes all at once ; and out of the

20 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

seeming confusion, in the end, an allocation of the land
evolved itself that apparently gave satisfaction to those
concerned.

ENCLOSURE

In England after the Norman conquest most of the
land was " common land " — the hedged-in farm as
we know it did not exist — and this common land or
common or open field system of tenure continued,
though in ever diminishing extent, well into the nine-
teenth century.

High farming was impossible under this system ;
there was nothing for it but to enclose this land,
and I believe the earliest case of legal enclosure was
at the end of the thirteenth century. This process
continued through the succeeding centuries, at a
gradually accelerating rate, till all land worth enclosing
was enclosed.

The enclosing of the open farm, and doing away with
the common land system of farming, was all to the good.
The enclosing of wild and uncultivated land, and bringing
it under cultivation, was also beneficial from every
point of view. But alas there was much enclosure
which was far from being sound from the national point
of view, and that was the enclosing of common lands
over which the smallholders and labourers had common
rights, and valuable rights they were.

To-day some of these commons still survive, but
they are now rather public pleasure grounds than the
land of the commoners — a class which, in the old sense
of the term, is practically extinct. In the old days the
common lands were for the use of the commoners, i.e.
those who had common rights, the right to pasture their
sheep and geese and even cows on the common lands.

IIISTORK AT. TXTHODUCTION 21

Also a certain portion was given up to tillage. A large
proportion of the labouring men possessed common
rights which were of the utmost value to them. One
has only to study a pre- 1790 labourer's family budget
to see how much better and more varied was the fare,
as compared with the labourer of later years who had
been deprived of his common rights.

The hundred years between 1750 and 1850 was the
great period of Enclosure Acts : between 1790 and 1850
some 7,000,000 acres were enclosed.

Not only was the enclosing of common land a great
injustice to the labouring class, it was unsound from the
social and political points of view ; as stated above the
daily fare of the labourer was adversely affected and all
direct and independent interest in the land was removed,
and the agricultural labourer was forced into the ranks
of the landless proletariat.

We have not even yet come to the end of the effects
of this disastrous policy.

The advocates of enclosure ever insisted upon the
tact that " Enclosures secured the better cultivation of
the land," and this is quite true ; only the land should
have been enclosed and secured to the commoners
themsehes, and the large neighbouring landowners
should not have been allowed to get possession of it as
they actually did owing to the fact that the new small
owners, not being able to afford the cost of fencing, etc.,
had to sell out. It is noteworthy that in Prussia and in
certain other countries enclosure on a large scale took
place ; but the common land was turned into small
holdings, of which the late commoners became the
occupying owners to the great benefit of the community
generally.

In some parts of England certain villages have still

22 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

the " cow pasture," often the much circumscribed
remains of the old common land ; a certain number of
the villagers have a right to pasture a cow apiece in the
common field. In view of the present shortage of milk
it would be well to increase the area of common cow
pasture, and so encourage the cottager to keep a cow or
two. Unfortunately with land changing hands fre-
quently, as it does now, these useful cow pastures tend
to disappear.

We have here to place on record the fact that one
bad feature of the later development of agriculture has
been the divorce of the labourer from a direct interest
in the land.

From time to time some more far-seeing individual
would draw attention to this serious evil. A little more
than one hundred years ago Lord Winchelsea urged that
at least a good garden should go with every cottage, and
he set an example which was followed by many of the
great landowners. But this only touched the fringe of
the problem ; it did little to undo the mischief done,
and it was not until the Small Holdings Act of 1908 was
passed that an effort on a large scale was made to give
again a direct interest in the land to the labourer.

HOUSING

Up to 1837 the housing conditions of the country
labourer were very bad ; from that date onwards there
has been steady improvement, but even to-day there is a
serious shortage of cottages and many of the existing
cottages are not fit for a man with a family.

It should be remembered in regard to housing in
the^ country, that bad conditions there are not quite as
serious as they are in the town ; the inhabitants are

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 23

more out of doors and follow healthier occupations.
Before the great depression the cottages were much more
generally in the hands of the landowner — the labourer
held his cottage from the owner and not from the tenant
farmer. To-day, as a rule, all the cottages belonging to
the farm are let with the farm and the labourer holds his
cottage at the will of the farmer who employs him — this
is technically the " tied cottage "—and he may suffer
hardship in consequence. The great need is for " free "
cottages in our villages and near to the schools.

Rentals for cottages have always been so low that
cottage building has never been a remunerative propo-
sition. And it is very hard to see how the agricultural
labourer will ever be able to pay an economic rental for
his cottage.

WAGES

Agricultural wages have always been low. For
generations after the Norman Conquest the labourer
was not paid any wage at all — he had to work in return
for the protection afforded to him by his overlord, while
he got his subsistence from the land to which he had
right of access, or from certain payments in kind.

By the fourteenth century cash wages were becoming
fairly general ; and it is interesting to note that the period
of highest wages in the whole history of our agriculture
was during the fifteenth century, when the average cash
wage was equivalent to 24s. per week in the money value
terms of 1914. This happy state of affairs for the
labourer was chiefly due to the shortage of labour which
was created by the Black Death.

In the sixteenth century wages dropped again, and
there was little improvement until about 150 years ago,
when an upward tendency began to assert itself.

24 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

In 1770 wages were about 7s. per week in cash, plus
certain payments in kind ; but we must remember that
up to this date, and the complete enclosure of the common
land, labourers were able to supplement their wages
considerably from the land they had access to.

By 1850 the average was los. a week in cash, plus
allowances ; and in 19 14 the average for England had
risen to about i6s. in cash and allowances — bacon, milk,
potatoes — valued at about 4s.

The cash payment varied considerably in the different
parts of England ; in Lincolnshire it was i8s., in York-
shire and the northern counties 20s. and 21s. It was
lowest in the southern counties, only 12s. to 14s. in some
places.

Several years before the war this low rate of pay had
begun to weigh upon the national conscience, and many
farmers themselves realized that wages should be higher ;
there was a general consensus of opinion that 20s. a week
in cash should be the minimum wage.

Then came the war, and in 19 16 the Agricultural Wage
Boards were established ; the cost of living had already
increased so much that there could be no question of a
20s. a week minimum — it required double that to meet
more or less the increased cost of living.

RATE OF WAGE PER ACRE

It is, however, curious to note that although the rate of
wage per week remained so constantly low, yet in relation
to rental, and ratio to the gross output of the farm, it rose
rapidly.

The output was increasing, so that shrinkage of output
was not the cause, nor was it owing to variation in rent,
nor, as we have seen, to an increased wage. It is

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 25

suggested that the main cause is that the output per
labourer has greatly lessened ; this is true to a certain
extent — indeed, since the Great War to a marked extent —
but I cannot regard it as the main cause, which I think
will be found to lie in the fact that in times of prosperity
more and more labour per farm was employed.

In other words, one of the factors of agricultural
progress being that a greater amount of labour was
bestowed upon the land, the wage bill increased in
consequence.

The following figures illustrate the point.

In 1805 on a farm chiefly arable, rented at £1 per
acre, the rate of wages per acre was only 5s. In another
case where the farmer paid ^{^200 a year for his farm his
labour bill was only £^S per annum.

During the last half of the nineteenth century the wage
bill in terms per acre was roughly taken to be equal to
the rental per acre, though as a matter of fact it was
generally a few shillings per acre more than the rental.
From a slightly diflerent point of view the accounts of
a Suffolk farm of 600 acres show that for the period
1839-43 the ratio of cost of labour to gross profits was
49 per cent ; 1863-7, 54 per cent ; 1871-5, 59 per cent ;
1890-4, 133 per cent.

The enormous increase in the ratio for the last period
was chiefly due to the low prices prevailing in the great
depression.

To-day (in 1920) the labour bill would generally
average at least four times the rental on an arable farm.

SOCIAL STATUS

In early Feudal times there was no clear distinction
between the farmer and thr labourer ; there was the

26 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

landowner — the overlord — and all others occupied upon
the land worked for him ; they looked to him for pro-
tection and gave their services to him in return. The
times were unsettled ; landowners spent most of their
time in fighting, rather than in the development of their
land which they held direct from the Crown. They
were obliged to give their services to the King when
called upon to do so.

As time went on, and population increased, the individual
farmer began to develop. Doubtless capacity counted
then as it does now, and the capable man would have
the larger area of land and employ men to work for
him.

Before 1400 the farmer did not pay rental (as we
understand the term) to the landowner ; he gave the
latter one half of the annual produce from his farm. This
is the Metayer system, which rules to this day in Italy
and parts of France. But in practice this system does
not work well ; it entails much work for the landowner's
agent who has to see to the handling and selling of great
quantities of produce, and who also has to exercise strict
supervision to see that the farmer does not sell produce
before the division has been made.

From 1400 on, it became increasingly the custom for
the landowner to require his tenants to pay rent in cash.
Although the system of landlord and tenant gradually
grew up in Great Britain, there was also a steady growth
of the occupying owner — the sturdy yeoman who was
such a valuable factor in the rural community. At the
end of the seventeenth century there were 160,000
occupying owners, constituting well over 50 per cent of
the total occupiers of land.

From that date began the decline in occupying owner-
ship ; merchants becoming rich liked to buy land in the

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 27

country, but the process was slow up to the Napoleonic
wars. One of the most baneful eflects of these wars was
the practical extinction of the yeoman class. Carried
away by the high price of wheat, the small ow^ners were
tempted to speculate and to live extravagantly ; in
consequence they were obliged to sell to rich to\msmcn,
and to the great landowners of England w ho at this period
from one cause or another had become possessed of great
wealth. There was little opportunity for foreign invest-
ment and the chief object was to buy more land — to lay
farm to farm ; so the great landowners became greater,
and the land was vested in fewer hands than ever before
in the history of England and the class of tenant farmers
increased in consequence.

It is worthy of note that throughout the Feudal times,
and until dispossessed by Henry VIH, the Church was
a great landowner, and as a rule this land was the best
cultivated in the kingdom ; this was largely because
it was less aflected by the imsettled conditions than the
the land of the great barons who gave much of their
time to fighting for the King.

The following are the chief points which emerge from
a study of our agricultural history for the last thousand
years.

(i) That prior to the nineteenth century agricultural
labourers had a more direct interest in the land owing
to the fact that considerable numbers had access to
common lands.

(2) That the proportion of occupying owners was
higher before 1800 than it has been since ; the reduction
in the number of owners was largely due to the effects of
the Napoleonic wars.

(3) That State interference in agriculture is no new

28 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

feature ; and that at various periods during the last
600 years the Government has attempted to reduce the
area under grass and to increase the area under the
plough.

(4) That the British farmer has always resented such
interference, and has often put up a passive but effective
resistance to it.

(5) That the development in British agriculture is of
comparatively recent date.

(6) That in the main, development and improvements
in agriculture have not been evolved by the farmers
themselves, but by a few outstanding individuals — or
in recent years by the action of the Government, e.g.
in creating a system of agricultural education.

The great agricultural societies have played an
important part at times, but these societies are not
" farmers' " societies pure and simple. Landowners have
always taken a leading part. In regard to State inter-
ference it has sorrowfully to be admitted that in this
country it has been on the whole singularly unsuccessful,
largely because we have had an official personnel not
well qualified to deal with complicated land questions,
and even more because we have had no fixed and carefully
thought out agricultural poHcy to guide the official
administration.

In strong contrast is the result of Government action
in such countries as Denmark and Germany ; there for
many years there has been a definite agricultural policy
recognized as right and sound by all parties, and the
State has assisted the agriculturists (and in turn it has
been assisted by them) to bring that policy to fruition
to the benefit of the whole nation.

The succeeding chapters will deal with the more

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 29

recent phases of agriculture subsequent to the Napoleonic
wars.^

* For anyone wishing to read up the history of English
Agriculture and its evolution let me recommend Mr. Curtlcr's in-
terestingly written Shot Histoty of Eni;lish Af;rict(lfure (Clarendon
Press, Oxford) ; Mr. Prothcro's Ai;ricullute, Past and Piesent.
And for an exhaustive history of the agricultural labourer, A Htstoty
of the Encltsh Agrtct4ltutal Labourer, by Hasbach, and The Village
Labourer, 1760-183J, Hammond. For a full history of Enclosure
in all its forms, The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common
Fields, Slater. Coke of Norfolk (John Lane, Bodley Head) is a
most interesting book in two volumes and gives a good picture of
what was going on agriculturally at the end of the eighteenth
centur)'. For a short and interesting history of economics the
Pnticiples of Political Economy by List is strongly recommended ;
it deals impartially with the questions of free trade and protec-
tion, and it is a book that every student should read.

CHAPTER II
TENURE

LEGALLY speaking there are many varieties of
tenure, some being survivals of the comphcated
^systems of the Saxon and Middle Ages, but in
this chapter the word tenure is meant to embrace only
two main systems under which land is occupied to-day —
occupying ownership and occupying tenancy. Whereas,
in most countries of the world occupying ownership
forms the basis of the system of tenure, with us the bulk
of the land is held by occupying tenants renting their
farms from the owners of the land. At least this was true
up to the outbreak of the Great War ; but during the war,
and since, there has been a rapid breaking up of the great
estates and a consequent increase in the number of
smaller owners. In many cases the farmers have bought
their own farms ; in others, unfortunately, the land has
been bought by speculators.

The chief reason for this selling of large estates is that
owing to the increased taxation and the greatly enhanced
cost of buildings, repairs, and general maintenance the
landowner's income is so seriously reduced that he is
forced to sell. Even before the war the landowner received
at the outside only 2 per cent interest on capital invested
in land and buildings ; and now he can sell out and
reinvest at 5 per cent or 6 per cent. In all countries
the rate of interest received from capital invested in land

30

TENURE 31

(including equipment), as distinct from capital invested
in the working of the farm, is lower than from other forms
of investment, but nowhere is this so strikingly the case
as in England.

During the past centur}-, and up to 19 14, statistics
show us that 88 per cent of the occupiers of agricultural
land were tenants, and only 12 per cent occupying
owners. So that our system was one under which one
man owned the land while another cultivated it.

The advocates of the tenancy system maintain that
it is an excellent plan for the man unskilled in cultivation
— the landowner — to provide the capital, in the form of
land, for the practical man— the farmer — to work ; and
it is undoubtedly pleasing to the practical man to get
capital below the market rate of interest, but it is un-
economic and therefore in the long run unsound. Above
all, it is not conducive to the highest effort on the part
of the farmer.

It is interesting to note that in Denmark sixty or
seventy years ago the proportion of occupying owners to
tenants was precisely the same as with us at the present
time. Hut when the reform of agriculture was undertaken
in that country, acting upon a definite policy in which
the agriculturists and Government worked in complete
accord, the first object was to reduce the number of
tenants and to increase the number of occupying owners.
So that to-day in Denmark the position is reversed,
there are only 12 per cent tenants and 88 per cent
occupying owners. It is very generally held in other
countries that occupying ownership is the basis of sound
agricultural conditions ; and there can be no question
that the countries in which agriculture has reached its
highest point of development and organization have
occupying ownership as the dominant form of tenure.

82 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

It is not implied uiat ownership in itself is the only cause
of a high state of agriculture, but it is seen to be a
constant and important factor.

Considering the problem solely as it affects the United
Kingdom the questions of interest are : —

(i) Why did tenancy become practically the universal
form of tenure ?

(2) Has this form of tenure been satisfactory from the
economic point of view ?

(3) Are changes necessary to meet the needs of the
present and, as far as can be foreseen, future condi-
tions ?

In regard to the first point, causes other than
economic come in and play their part.

As already stated, one effect of the Napoleonic wars
was to reduce the number of small owners and to
increase the number of tenants. The large landowners
and rich townsmen were buying out the small owners,
and if a man wanted a farm he had to rent one.

If during the last forty or fifty years we have neglected
cereal growing, in the early decades of the nineteenth
century we overdid it ; everything was sacrificed to
growing wheat. Little wheat could be imported and the
required amount had to be grown at home ; prices rose
till few farmers could resist the temptation of going in
for wheat growing, and much land that was not suitable
for wheat was nevertheless planted with it. Farmers
gambled in wheat, with the result that many of the
smaller owners went under and were obliged to sell
their land. Where the tenant failed, he simply went
out and another took his place.

Another cause was the enclosure of common fields ;
this process crowded out the small owner, his land

TENURE 83

became incorporated in the large surrounding estates
and was naturally let out to tenants.

A still further reason for the development of tenancy
was the existence of a great land hunger amongst the
rich ; land brought with it social prestige and political
power. And the amenities of ownership of land must
not be overlooked, for this side of the question was
more pronounced in England than in most other
countries. For years the landowners were so wealthy
(often quite apart from their capital in land) that they
could afford to consider landowning as an amenity
rather than as their main source of income. Then as
time went on the English landowner developed a great
fondness for shooting and often, alas ! " sport had it "
to the disadvantage of agriculture. There is no doubt
that the excessive development of sport could not have
taken place under a system of small ownership.

Again, landowners did not wish to farm large areas
themselves and therefore the only course open to them
was to let it to tenants. In those days tenants lived up
to their contracts, and painted and kept in repair their
houses and buildings. So that the landowner's out-
goings for the maintenance of his farms were light as
compared with the period subsequent to the great
depression of 1875.

The increase in tenancy, for the reasons given
above, just happened to coincide with a period of
great agricultural progress ; it was not deliberately
developed because considered to be the system of
tenure best suited to progressive agriculture, nor
did it come about as the result of the working of
any iminutable law of economy.

The system at its best undoubtedly suited the tempera-
ment of our people, and for the time being it saved them

3

34 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

the bother of formulating a national agricultural policy
based on sound principles. As a nation we abhor
problems and finding their solution 1

From 1820 to 1870, when the farmers were prosperous
and landowners also had plenty of money, the tenancy
system was a pleasant one to both parties. The land-
owner took pleasure in putting up good houses and fine
farm buildings, and the farmers took pride in keeping
them in good order. The relationship was generally
a most cordial one.

Coming to the second question, has this system of
tenure been good for the nation from the economic point
of view ? There is a very general tendency to accept as
good any system that is universal. " It would not exist
if it did not suit the characteristics of the people and
the country." Or " It exists as the result of the workings
of the Laws of Economy." Or, putting it in a somewhat
cruder form, " The farmers like it ! "

But it is necessary to go somewhat deeper into the
question if sound conclusions are to be arrived at.
In the first place, all the laws of economy are not im-
mutable as are the laws of nature ; man by taking
thought can alter conditions, and so alter the economic
situation that the application of these laws is affected.
For instance, the common or open field system of
cultivation was undoubtedly uneconomic, but that did
not justify the taking of the land from the people who
owned it ! The uneconomic features could have been
removed and at the same time the rights of the owners
confirmed — to the great advantage of the nation's
economy.

The first consideration that strikes the observer is
that not only is the land of England owned by one set
of men and cultivated by another, but that the set of

TENURE 35

men who Dwn the land are passive partners in the
industry ot" ac;ricuhure — mere rent receivers.

Though many owners depend upon the rental trom
the land for their subsistence, few- depend upon the
actual cultivation of the land for any considerable
portion of their income. In other words, English
landowners do not derive their income direct from the
land as a result of their own ciTorts — they obtain it
vicariously. This does not mean that the owner is in
any way a parasite, for in the past he has generously
expended his capital to put the land into a condition
for the farmer to use. And in the years of agricultural
depression he came to the farmer's assistance and bore
his full share of the loss. But it does mean that the
farmers do not regard the owner as one of themselves,
or as directly interested in the cultivation of the land.

For one important class of the agricultural community
to be so little interested in the actual cultivation of the
soil is certainly an evil that has helped to bring about
unsound conditions. The contrast in the case ot the
foreign owner is striking ; he farms as a rule the larger
part of his estate, and he farms it on a commercial basis
and so successfully that he is regarded as a farmer by
the farmers themselves. More than this, he is regarded
as the leader of agriculture and the natural person to
represent the farming class in the legislature.

In support of the system of tenancy, it is said that it is
much more sound economically for the farmer to rent
his land, and keep all his capital for working capital,
rather than to sink it in the purchase of the land itself.
This is incontrovertible, and no one wishes to controvert
it ; but if land banks existed in this country as they do
on the Continent the tenant would be able to buy his
farm under a system of annual instalments, zvithuut

36 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

encroaching upon his working capital. Under this
system the farmer sinks Httle or no capital in the purchase
of land, and long experience has shown that annual
payments do not work out at a higher figure than the
farm can stand economically ; so this argument against
purchase falls to the ground. Again, it is pointed out
that the small owners (and large owners also) often are
weighed down by mortgages and finally have to quit —
but that is not an argument against ownership, it is an
argument against mortgages ! The permanent mortgage
is the most unsound form in which an owner can borrow
money. That was clearly recognized one hundred years
ago by landowners on the Continent, and as a result
the system of loans with sinking fund was established.

Under the mortgage system, if the value of the land
drops, the occupying owner finds himself in difficulties,
and often he cannot afford to keep his house and build-
ings in proper repair ; consequently the property soon
shows signs of neglect and the system of occupying
ownership gets a bad name.

It is stated that : —

" The farmers do not wish to buy their farms."

Of course they do not, as long as they can find land-
owners sufficiently " accommodating " to let their
land at half its value and also do repairs that the farmers
ought to do themselves. This is uneconomic and there-
fore unsound business. And it is generally admitted
that low rents and low farming go together ; men are
tempted to take more land than they can manage, or
more than they have capital for. It is conducive to
extensive rather than intensive farming. It may be said
that the remedy would be to raise the rents rather than
to alter the system ; but this is easier said than done.

TENURE 87

particularly having regard to public opinion in regard
to rent.

There is also an ethical consideration : under the
tenancy system the farmer is inclined to look to the
landowner for assistance when in difficulties, instead of
reiving upon his own resources, and this is not good tor
his character ; but it is a side which, it is right to point
out, has become noticeable as a result of the agricultural
depression.

It is argued that under the system of occupying
ownership it is harder to maintain the standard of
cultivation, and to keep the farmer up to the mark.

'I'he answer to this is that in countries where ownership
dominates the highest average standard is found, and
the condition of the buildings is exemplary. This is
not due entirely to ownership in itself but rather to
public opinion which demands a high state of cultivation,
and to the organization of co-operative societies and
credit societies which have laid down rules and regu-
lations that must be observed if the individual farmer
wishes to enjoy the full benefits of membership. In
practice the pressure a landowner can bring to bear
upon his tenant's methods of farming is nil. If a tenant
is farming badly the landowner can dismiss him for
reasons of good husbandry and good estate management,
but he must be farming very badly before the owner will
resort to this extreme measure.

Finally, it seems to be practically impossible to
establish any satisfactory system of credit for the farmers
in this countr}' ; and the fact that the majority are
tenants must have a great deal to do with it, for it is
obviously much easier for an owner to borrow money
than^'it is for a tenant. The need for this access to
working capital has long been recognized by the Ministry

88

THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

of Agriculture and all leading agriculturists. Countless
efforts have been made to start a system under which the
farmer, particularly the small farmer, could raise short-
period loans, but all efforts have failed. The pros and
cons for tenancy and occupying ownership are here set
out in juxtaposition.

Tenancy.

(i) The tenant lacks security,
and therefore lacks per-
manent inducement to
improve his cultivation.

(2) The working capital per

acre is in practice less
than it is under the
system of occupying
ownership on the Con-
tinent.

(3) The tenant often has a

larger area than he can
manage or capitalize effi-
ciently.

(4) The two above causes

have an adverse effect
on the yield from the
land.

(5) It is harder for a tenant

to borrow than it is for
an owner.

(6) There is a tendency for

the tenant to rely too
much upon the land-
owner.

Occupying Ownership.

(i) Provides the best form of
security.

(2) The occupying owner is
not so much inclined to
have more land than he
can manage effectively.

(3) There is the incentive of

ownership which leads a
man to get the utmost
out of the soil.

(4) A full system of credit

societies is only possible
under the ownership
system.

(5) It develops self-reUance.

(6) It is sound, from the
national point of view,
for the land to be in the
hands of many rather
than concentrated in the
hands of a few owners.

TENURE 89

In regard to the third question, " Are changes in our
system of tenure necessary ? "

The answer is clearly yes ; in fact modifications are
already taking place that have been brought about
rather bv force of circumstances than by the adoption
of any definite policy. And herein lies a danger ; when
changes come merely from force of circumstances there
is drift and want of organization, which can only be
avoided if the trend of circumstances be recognized and
utilized to the pubHc benefit. As already stated, one
result of the Napoleonic wars was to increase the number
of tenants — while the economic conditions created by
the Great War, and recent legislation, are again causing
a large increase in the number of smaller owners.

The great estate is bound to disappear — it is dis-
appearing rapidly. The farmer is being forced to
buy — we should see that he buys under sound
conditions.

We have seen that the permanent mortgage is a
menace to the industry — yet most of the new owners
have hea^'^' mortgages on their farms, because even yet
there are no land banks. Under a proper system of
loans, with sinking fund, every year's instalment paid by
the farmer increases his margin of safety. Owing to the
evil mortgage system many of the new owners will find
themselves on the verge of ruin when prices fall, in fact
cases of financial ruin have already occurred.

Although the great estates may disappear, landowners
will still continue to have farms to let ; but instead of
letting them on yearly leases we may well see a develop-
ment of long leases.

We shall probably see a development of industrial
farming on a large scale by companies.

We may see a development of co-operative farming,

40 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

which would be all to the good, if a workable system
that would appeal to our agriculturists can be
devised.

We should see the landowner farming himself a much
larger area of land than at present, preferably under
some system of partnership with a highly qualified
expert. This would be a new form of tenure in this
country which will be discussed in greater detail later on.

The new Agriculture Act brings in modifications in
the present system of tenure, rather than any new form
of tenure. And the need is not so much of a new form
as of getting back to the old form — occupying ownerships
but under new and improved conditions.

CHAPTER III
AGRICULTURAL DRAMATIS PERSON^^

THE LANDOWNER

ONE cannot think about the landowner without
the question of rent arising/ and unfortunately
most of the popular ideas about agricultural rent
are fallacious. The general view of townsmen, who
have not studied the question, is that the landowner is
an extortioner and draws a large revenue from the land
which he possesses ; and they often question his right
to possess it.

In the first place, with few exceptions, the landowner
(or a predecessor) has bought his land just as he would
have bought any other form of property — the one difference
being that in buying it he contracts either consciously
or unconsciously special responsibilities, particularly
towards the nation and to the people living on his land ;
and an impartial study of the rents charged by owners of
agricultural land for the last eight hundred years will
show that these have not been extortionate.

In the fourteenth century rent averaged about 6d. per
acre and good meadow land about 2/- per acre (6d. in
those days was about the equivalent of 6/- in, say, 1914).
To buy, land was worth about 12 years' purchase (i.e.
the rent X 12). This rate of rental remained the same

» See Appendix Nu. i.
4«

42 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

until 1540, but the value of the land gradually rose to
20 years' purchase.

During the succeeding 160 years, rent rose by degrees
to 5/- per acre for arable land and 8/- for grass land.

By 1 770 the average rental of a mixed farm (grass and
arable) was 10/- per acre, with 30 years' purchase as its
selling value.

Taking the rental of a specific estate of 20,000 acres
at four different dates, we find :

In 1799 .... 19/- per acre

„ 1812 .... 25/8 „ „

„ 1830 .... 25/1 „ „

„ 1850 . . . . 36/8 „ „

If it be granted that the moderate increase of 6/8
per acre between 1799 and 1812 was due to the land-
owner's desire to reap some benefit (and why should he
not ?) from the high prices of produce then prevailing,
the increase of 1 1 /7 as between 1830 and 1850 was clearly
not due to this reason, but simply to the fact that owners
were spending vast amounts of capital in developing
their farms. In the case of Coke of Norfolk, when he
succeeded to his property the rent roll was ,(^2,000 a
year. He spent 3^500,000 in making his property pro-
ductive, in turning semi- waste land into fertile land
producing food for the nation. And the result — a gross
rental of ,{^20,000 a year — could not be regarded as
extortionate. And financially he was one of the most
successful of owners.

In the second place, coming to recent times, the owner
does not draw large revenues from the ownership of
land — in 19 14 the total income received in the form of
rental by all persons owning land and houses in the
United Kingdom was about ^(^285,000,000 ; but mark —

AGRICULTURAL DRAMATIS PERSOX.E 43

only j(^50,ooo,ooo of this vast sum represented the rental
derived from agricultural land. And as at least 50 per
cent in practice has to be returned for upkeep and
development of the farms and estates, the landowners
collectively only receive a net rental of about ^(^25, 000 ,000
— a sum of comparatively small importance when the
present national expenditure is envisaged.

But even this ^(^25, 000,000 does not represent the
rental of the land itself ; for the amount spent by land-
owners in equipping and developing their land, before
it could be utilized by the tenant farmers, was so large
that this 5(^25,000,000 represents only about a 2 per cent
rate of interest on the capital thus expended.

The landowner receives as available income either a
low rate of interest on capital expended in developing the
land, and no rental for the land itself, or a moderate rental
for the land and no interest on his capital expenditure ;
it is one, or the other, not both.

When the great depression came (in 1870) the land-
owner bore the brunt of the loss it entailed ; for, although
many farmers went bankrupt during this period, land-
owners suffered a permanent loss of rent and capital.
To-day the landowner is hit harder by the conditions
brought about by the Great War than any other section
of the agricultural community. Examination of the
account books of typical estates shows that after paying
taxes, rates, and the cost of upkeep of farm-houses and
buildings, the landowner is left with only 3/9 in
the ^ as effective income ; often much less. This is
a fact that should be realized by the townsman. In
consequence, on all sides our fine country houses are
being closed.

Rents in the United Kingdom are lower than in any
of the developed European countries ; they are too low

44 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

for the real good of the industry itself. " Low rents,
low farming " is almost a proverb, and a great Scotch
farmer once said that high rental was the best of all
artificial manures. So much for the idea that the land-
owners are battening on the life blood of the agricultural
industry.

I am not defending landowners because I am myself
a large landowner — but because, as such, I am in
possession of facts which those who attack agricultural
owners obviously do not know, or that in a blindly
partial spirit they deliberately choose to ignore. Land-
owners have ever proved themselves patriotic and have
done the best according to their lights ; and I have
no hesitation in affirming that there is no ground for
accusation against the agricultural owner on the score
of rack-renting. But I wish I could say as much in regard
to their past attitude and action in regard to the enclosure
of common fields.^

ENCLOSURE OF COMMON LANDS

There can be no doubt that this policy, which was
adopted and rigorously pursued for several centuries,
led to the extinction of much that was valuable in our

1 The Clarendon Press, Oxford. Lord Ernie on the Story of
Enclosure says, in the Times Literary Supplement, February 17th,
192 1, reviewing Mr. W. H. R. Curtler's The Enclosure and Re-
distribution of our Land : —

"The return of the Enclosure Commissioners, 1876, shows
that the land enclosed between 1845 and 1875 amounted to 590,000
acres, which was divided among no less than 25,930 people, in the
following manner : 620 Lords of the Manor received on an average
44 1 acres each; 21,810 common right owners received on an
average 24 acres each ; 3500 purchasers (of land sold to pay expenses
of enclosure) received on an average 10 acres each. It is not
disputed that claims were often incapable of legal proof, or that
the value of a common right may often have been underestimated

AGRICULTURAL DRAMATIS PERSON.E 45

old English country life. It killed the community
spirit, which we are now striving to revive, and worst
of all it turned the tillers of the soil into a landless
proletariat.

The landowners have just this excuse — at that time
evcr\one was advocating enclosure as the great means of
securing the development of agriculture and increased yield
from the soil ; I am not aware of anyone who raised his
voice against it, or at any rate of anyone who put forward a
constructive counter-proposal — as was the case in Prussia
for example. The whole nation seems to have stood for
enclosure ; and most enclosures were sanctioned and
confirmed by Acts of Parliament. In view of this tact
the accusation against the landowners of wholesale
robbery cannot be justified. In support of this statement
an examination of enclosure legislation shows that land
was, in fact, allotted to the majority of the commoners;
but as they could not afford to fence it, as required by
law, they had to sell to the surrounding landowners.

OWNER AND LABOURER

Another mistake which owners have made, and I fear
still are making, lies in their having failed to identify
themselves sufliciently with the agricultural labourer and
his interests. For many generations the country labourers
were oppressed and exploited — there is nothing to be
gained by mincing words ; they were housed badly.

by the Commissioners who were responsible for the awards, or that
the allotted portions were often sold as soon as they were made.
But any accusations based on these or similar facts must fall very
far short of a ( hargc of robbery. It is a proof of Mr. Curtler's
judicial spirit that lie emphasizes the real blot on enclosures, and
lays to the charge of the movement the siu of ignoring the moral
claims of the poor."

46 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

paid badly, they lived under distressingly bad conditions,
and with little opportunity or prospect of advancement.
And I cannot but feel that the Church and the landowners
could have been more active in advocating and effecting
improvement.

Coming to quite recent times, if owners as a body had
been more sympathetic with the quite reasonable wish of
agricultural labourers to form Trade Unions of their own,
the feeling between labour and the other two sections of
the agricultural community would have been far better
to-day.

Or again, when the National Insurance Act came into
force, had landowners united in assisting the working
men to retain (and work under the Act) their Friendly
Societies, formerly so numerous, these could have been
saved from extinction.

Where they have been saved they have justified their
continued existence to the full.

Even in these days, with labour becoming more and
more powerful, I still believe that the landowner can
play a great part where he is qualified ; he will still be
accepted as leader — simply because he is outside faction,
and his integrity is known.

The landowner's chief claim to consideration lies in
the fact that he is the largest shareholder in the agri-
cultural industry.

It was his capital that rendered possible the great
developments of the nineteenth century ; and it was his
sense of duty, and his interest in these developments,
rather than motives of gain which led him so to invest
his capital. He was, in fact, a patriotic investor and alas
too often a philanthropic investor as well.

But the present situation demands more landowners ;
no longer must landowners be mere philanthropic investors

AGRICULTURAL DRA^L\TIS PERSONS 47

of capital. Estates in the future will have to be run on
strictly business lines. And the owners must become
more and more interested in the actual production of
food, and so become eftcctive leaders in the organization
and development of the industry. Years ago the Danish
landowners realized these two points, and to-day their
position is unassailable.

THE LANDOWNER FARMER

Force of circumstances will compel owners to charge
such tenants as remain to them rents that will more and
more approach the economic rent of the land. If I am
correct in my forecast of an upward tendency in rent
(and I believe this will be the case whether land remains
under private ownership or passes to the State) then one
result will be to squeeze out the indifferent farmer and
the medium-sized farm, say, of 300 or 400 acres. These
will be replaced by capitalists and syndicates, and by the
owners themselves farming much more than they do at
present. And this will be all to the good if the Govern-
ment sees that the right proportion of smallholders is
maintained — national stability demands this, as also
does justice to the legitimate desire on the part of labourers
to have access to the land.

But if the landowner is to farm more hind than in
the past, he will have to rej^ard landowning as a pro-
fession and train for it. Even then it will not follow
that landowners as a class will make successful farmers ;
as a rule they have too many other duties and distrac-
tions— and farming is a great occupation, and an exacting
one.

There can be no doubt that every owner should have
a thorough understanding of " land economics," and so

48 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

be qualified to take an active part in agricultural develop-
ment. But it is only those who have been thoroughly
trained, and who mean to make farming their main
occupation in life, who should attempt it on any large
scale.

For those who are engrossed in public business or
other occupations, there is still a way in which they can
take a practical interest in farming — and farm their own
land, and that is by adopting the partnership system.
This has been largely developed in the United States
and other countries ; it has rarely been resorted to here,
and yet the advantage to the landowner is great.

MORTGAGE

Stress has been laid on the evils of the mortgage, and
landowners have suffered and still suffer from the mort-
gages that weigh down so many estates. Long ago they
should have taken steps to free their land from mortgage ;
at this moment money is too scarce and dear to do any-
thing in the matter.

But we can see how it might have been done if we study
the Landschaft system of credit in Germany. Briefly,
landowners grouped together and pooled their land for
the purpose of providing collective security ; any
member of the local group or society could borrow
money for the purpose of developing his estate. Bonds
were issued which were negotiable in the open market,
and were eagerly sought after. A sinking fund was
provided which extinguished the loan in 40 years.

The system has worked admirably for over 100 years.
In 1914 over ,(^150,000,000 worth of these bonds were
current.

AGRICUI.Tl RAL DRAMATIS PERSONS 19

THE CENTRAL LANDOWNLlls' ASSOCIATION

Landowners tliemselvcs stand in need of combination
just as much as any other section of agriculturists ; they
must unite if they are to lead the industry and safeguard
its interests. In 1904 the writer, in association with
several other landowners who were feeling the need for
such combination, took measures to secure the creation of
the Central Landowners' Association. Under the intelli-
gent leadership of the late Lord Onslow as chairman, and
Charles Bathurst, now Lord Bledisloe, the Association
soon became a power in politics — but it remained small
in numbers until about two years ago when it began
to expand rapidly.

In 1909 the Land Union was formed and they have quite
distinct spheres. The Land Union stands primarily for
urban landowners, the Central Landowners' Association
for agricultural owners. The Land Union is essentially
a fighting body ; it defends its members, attacks existing
abuses as they affect landowners — it is really a Property
Defence Society. The Central Landowners' Association
has other aims ; being a body with wide experience of
land problems it seeks rather to take preventive measures,
and to guide legislation affecting land on right lines. It
recognizes that the landowner should not put up a fight
merely for his own sectional interests ; that his claim tor
the consideration of his fellow-citizens lies in the fact that
he takes a broad and national view, and tiiat his object is
the development of the agricultural industry as a whole.

THE FARMER

The English farmer is, and for a good many generations
lias been, an individualist of the most pronounced kind.

50 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

In the main, as would be expected, he is conservative
in poUtics, while the men he employs are largely liberal.
The farmer and the labourer to a very large extent have
voted on opposite sides at elections. This cleavage is
more marked in England than in other countries.
Chiefly, 1 think, because of the reason already given —
the agricultural labourers have so httle direct interest
in the land.

This division in the ranks of the industry is bad both
politically and economically.

Along with his individualism and conservatism the
British farmer possesses dogged determination to a
remarkable degree. He has suffered more than any
other race of farmers from the neglect and stupidity of
Government, and from the apathy and sometimes even
hostility of our land-ignorant townsmen. He has seen
the whole nation absolutely indifferent to the prosperity
or ruin of agriculture — the primary national industry.
In spite of it all he has held on.

If he has not progressed as much as farmers in other
countries since 1875, who is to blame ? Prices were
against him, railway rates were against him ; and that
organized agricultural instruction, which revolutionized
agriculture in other countries, was denied to him. For
years during the great depression the farmer could only
just exist ; how could a man in such a position, alone and
unaided, improve the standard of his farming ?

Yet it was during this very period of depression,
when our agriculture was on the down grade, that the
most remarkable expansion of that industry took place
in continental countries — both free trade and protected.

The reasons for this great difference in results are
these :—

First, when the depression came upon us, we were

AGRICLT.TURAL DRAMATIS PERSON.E 51

leading the world agriculturally ; we were content with
our position and I think most farmers felt, even if they
did not proclaim it, that English agriculture could not be
improved upon — a resting upon one's oars attitude that
is always dangerous. And so they did not realize that
it was necessary to organize in order to meet the new
competition successfully.

Secondly, even before 1875, other nations hud begun
to organize their agricultural industry, and we had not.
They began to develop systems of agricultural education
that proved to be (as they ever must) the foundation of
sound and rapid development ; whereas it was not until
1910 that we began to concentrate attention upon
developing a system of agricultural education.^

One of the strongest indictments that can be brought
against our agriculturists is that, as a whole, they have
been opposed to education and opposed to co-operation
which is the bedrock of organization.

We have, and for long have had, certain outstanding
farmers in each county, who are second to none in the
world in skill and general intelligence ; but the difference
between our good farmers and our bad farmers is greater
than exists in any other country, and it is the bad farmer
who pulls the average down.

And the reason for a more uniform standard amongst
the agriculturists of other cc^untries is, precisely, the
superior education and organization which have tuned
up the whole industry.

It is best to face the situation frankly, and to admit
that in the United Kingdom there are a large number of
farmers who, from want of capital and knowledge, are
not obtaining from the land the production it should

• For detailed infcirmalioii see the reports of tlic Rural Coiifcrcucc
on Agricultural Education.

52 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

yield. As stated elsewhere {vide page 104) the yield of
the land of the United Kingdom has not been increasing,
even with increasing prices for agricultural produce ; for
instance, in the period between 1904 and 19 14, the
production from our land was declining.

This is the fundamental fact.

The nation as a whole has become aware of this fact,
and they blamic the farmer, or the landowner, or both ;
they in no way realize that the unsatisfactory condition
to-day is mainly due to the lack of a national land policy,
and now they demand that " something " should be
done.

This is the reason why the Government is now con-
cerning itself with the land and agriculture in a way it
has never done before. It is unthinkable that the Govern-
ment would have interfered at all had the yield from our
land been increasing, as is the case in Germany or
Denmark. Any interference on the part of Government
means a greater or less degree of official control. And
there is nothing more distasteful to the British farmer
than official control. It is useless for him to battle
against control ; there must be control of some kind if
we are to organize and develop the industry.

But official control which is dangerous and unsound can
be checkmated, if all agriculturists will combine and
show that they themselves can control their industry, and
develop it in the nation's interest as well as in their own.
This is the only sound control.

In 1866 the Central Chamber of Agriculture was
created ; its object was to bring owners, farmers and
labourers into one organization, but it never attracted
labour, and although it has done much useful work for
the Agricultural cause its membership never exceeded
about twenty-five thousand. It was in no way a Union.

AGRICULTURAL DRA^LVTLS PERSON.E 53

In 1904 the Farmers' Union was started by Mr. Colin
Campbell and a few others ; it grew steadily up to 1914,
and from that date, owing to conditions created by the
war, its growth has been rapid ; to-day it has a member-
ship of over one hundred thousand, or to put it in
another way one farmer out of every five of all the farmers
in England belongs to it. This is good, hut it is not
good enough ; every farmer should belong to this Union.
If the farmers will work harmoniously w ith the Land-
owners' Union (The Central Landowners' Association)
on the one hand and with the Labourers' Unions on the
other, and if, above all, they desire and pursue a sound
and sane policy, then will their power be great in the
land — and enduring. But if they narrow down their
interests to those of a section and do not work for the
development of the whole industry, ever bearing in
mind the national point of view — then short will be
their day !

Let those farmers, who think that the owner ought to
be abolished, remember that there is a growing feeling
amongst labourers that the farmer should be abolished ;
but there should be no question of abolishing any section
of the agricultural community. Again let me say to
those others who wish to retain the landowner, because
they like to use his land at a rental that is below the
economic rent, that no measures can be devised which
will stop an owner from selling out when the force of
economic circumstances compels him. That is a law
of economy which it is futile to fight against ; rather,
as has been said already, farmers should seize upon the
first favourable opportunity to urge the creation of land
banks, so as to enable the occupier to buy his farm when
need arises.

Another very important point for the farmer to bear

54 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

in mind is that, at the present stage, it is much better
for farmers to combine for industrial purposes than for
pohtical ; combine industrially, and political power (and
I am all in favour of seeing a certain number of farmer
M.P.s) will come as a consequence. But to combine
politically in the first instance is to pursue a shadow and
miss the substance.

The new machinery set up by the Government (the
County Agricultural Committees, etc.) concerns itself
directly with the industry and is not, or should not be,
political. Therefore agriculturists should make every
effort to capture this administrative machinery, and
reduce the official element to the minimum. The
farmer of the future will, I am sure, have to give more of
his time to public or semi-public work than he did in
the past. The Miller of the Dee attitude, " I care for
nobody and nobody cares for me," is no longer possible.
The large farmer will have to think more about the
interests of his smaller brethren than he has done hereto-
fore. And if collective buying and selling, and access to
credit for short-period loans, are vital to the small
farmer, then the large farmer will have to throw himself
heart and soul into the movement. And in these days
of combines, when it is impossible to say that a ring in
this or that important commodity will not be made, the
large farmer will in the long run find this to be to his
own advantage.

Another point is that many of our smaller farmers
are not good business men ; buying and selling has
been reduced to a fine art by the dealer, and the properly
run co-operative society can undertake all that side for
the man who may be a good cultivator but not a good
business man. By a properly run society is meant one
which is run on sound business lines, and has a well-

AGRICULTURAL DRAMATLS PKRSON.E 55

trained business man at its head. Untortunutely this
is not by any means always the case in this country,
and this leads to unsatisfactory results, and brings odium
on the great principle of co-operation in agricultural
circles.

Again, as a class, our farmers have not recognized
as thev should the advantages of education, both technical
and general. How often has a farmer said to me,
" Look at Mr. S., he never had any education and he is
the most successful man I know." Two points are
overlooked in this somewhat crude statement, one — that
Mr. S. is educated, he has educated himselj , and the other
that, as a rule, it will be found that Mr. S. himself values
education highly and is determined to give his children
the best education that can be procured. Every suc-
cessful farmer must have a high degree of technical
knowledge and theoretical as well, although often he
mav be hardly conscious of his theoretic knowledge. He
must be able to handle and organize labour well. He
must have business acumen, for buying and selling to
best advantage are important factors in successful
farming. More than in almost any other profession he
must be able to think ahead and plan his course, not for
one year but for a series of years. Is it not clear that
the trained brain will do all this more effectively than the
untrained ?

It augurs well for the future that the National Farmers'
Union have a strong education committee, which takes
a broad and progressive view of the needs of the com-
munity. Nothing can be of greater importance than to
lead farmers to take an active interest in the educational
developments within their respective counties. For
it is only by making use of all the information and
guidance which the farm institutes and countv eihuntion

56 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

staffs can give, that we can hope to improve our standard
of farming. Our average farmer does not yet understand
the economic use of artificial manure or even of the
fundamental farm-yard manure ; he does not under-
stand the economic feeding of live stock ; he has not
made a study of the proper organization of farm labour.
Yet these points are of the greatest importance in the
economy of the industry. There are still too many
farmers who do not understand that science has been of
untold value to them ; were it not for science such every
day substances as superphosphate, basic, sulphate of
ammonia, would not be there to help the farmer in
his conquest of the soil. If farmers fail to see what
research has done for them in the past, in spite of
this constantly recurring evidence, how make them
understand the still unlimited resources which science
can make available for agriculturists ?

Finally, the organized farmers should have a strong
publicity department and be prepared, when need
arises, to carry on an educational campaign amongst
our ignorant townspeople and to answer maliciously
false attacks on the industry.

During the war our urban consumers made frequent
allegations of profiteering against the producers of food ;
in their ignorance they accused the farmer of profiteering
and running up the cost of Hving, when the enhanced cost
was really due to world prices. As a matter of fact, owing
to Government action in regard to wheat and other
commodities, our farmers actually received considerably
less than the world prices. No one denies that a large
number of farmers did well during the period of the
war, but it is quite certain that they did not recoup
themselves for their losses during the long period of
depression when the nation lived on the landowners'

AGRICULTURAL DRA:nL\TTS PERSONJ: 57

and farmers' capital ! I'he farmers were actually
helping to pay the bread subsidy during the years when
the world-price for wheat was higher than the con-
trolled price for English wheat. The total loss to our
farmers under this head is some ,(^15,000,000.

Another injustice occurred when the consumer
blamed the farmer as he often did for increased cost,
when this was really due to the high commission
demanded by the middleman or distributor of the
commodity in question. In the summer of 1920, when
consumers in most of the large towns had to pay 2s. 8d.
a gallon for milk, the dairy farmer was getting only
IS. 3d. a gallon ; and this, owing to increased cost of
production, left only a small margin of profit. On the
other hand, the distributors were charging is. 5d. a
gallon for merely handling the milk, an altogether
exorbitant charge !

The consumers so vastly outnumber the producers
that it is dangerous to leave them in ignorance of
these facts ; especially as with certain politicians their
one aim in life seems to be to spread lying state-
ments about the land and the agricultural industry. I
suppose it is the only sort of " political cflort " of which
these mediocrities arc capable 1 All agricultmal bodies
should subscribe to form a strong bureau for publicity
work ; it is urgently needed.

If the farmer is to keep his end up he must combine,
and more than ever during the coming years must the
farmer's watchword be " Orga?iizc."

For the history of the Central Chamber of Agriculture see the
iKXik by Sir Herbert Matthew.

58 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

THE LABOURER

The agricultural labourers outnumber the farmers
by about two to one. This proportion would be much
greater if it were not for the large number of small-
holders (cultivators holding under 50 acres), who are
classed as farmers. Also it should be remembered that
the proportion of labourers to employers has varied as
the proportion of pasture to arable has varied ; grassland
employs little labour and this, from the national point
of view, is one of the strongest arguments for reducing
the area of grass and increasing the area of arable.

It is a matter for great regret that the interests of the
labourer and of the farmer are held to be divergent, to
an extent unparalleled in any other country. This
divergence in interest is due to several causes, chief
among which are : —

(i) The fact that the agricultural industry is not in a
highly organized condition and therefore does not tend
to unite all those engaged in it.

(2) That the labourer, for many generations, has
been a paid " hand " with no direct interest in the land
he tills.

(3) A feeling of grievance at the way in which en-
closure was effected still survives.

(4) The way in which the poor laws were administered
between 1810 and 1836.

(5) The deliberate policy of a certain type of politician
in setting one class against another since 1884.

(6) The attitude of many farmers to their men,
treating them as beings of a lower order.

It is a commonplace that the labourer votes in op-
position to the farmer, and this attitude is a great barrier

AGRICULTURAL DRAMATIS PKRSOX.i: 59

to the success of any agriculturist standing for Parlia-
ment. Yet, if the organized industry is to carry the
weight it should politically, it is essential that agricul-
turists should vote " soHd." The labourer is not to be
blamed for this attitude ; it is the result of low wages
and bad conditions in the past, and to an ingrained
feeling of suspicion due to the treatment that has been
meted out to him for so long.

Coming to the immediate present — a revolution in
the labour situation has taken place within the last five
years ; a minimum rate of wages is enforced by a
Statutory Wage Hoard, our agricultural labourers are
rapidly enrolling in Unions and a spirit of independence
has appeared. This revolution has perturbed and is
perturbing our farmers, especially the smaller farmers
who employ only two or three labourers ; and yet all
things considered the upheaval has not been so great as
might have been expected.

Nothing but disaster can follow if the organized
farmers on the one hand, and the organized labourers on
the other, stand out simply for their own sectional
interests, and forget that these can be secured only by
thinking of the good of the industry as a whole. (I am
here referring to the Unions not to other organizations.)
So that the immediate problem is how to get labour to
work shoulder to shoulder with the farmer in the
development of the industry. 7'his implies the need for
good feeling, which is essential as it is the only founda-
tion on which to build.

Although in politics the labourer and the farmer are
opposed so generally, and there are farmers whose
treatment of their men leaves much to be desired, yet,
on the other hand, there are many farmers whose
relations with their men are excellent. Aiul where

60 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

such relations are good, they are about ideal ; the man,
interested in the land, keen on the prosperity of the
farm, with a nice cottage and garden and a pig, and
the farmer on his side regarding the labourer as an
old friend and careful of his interests. How different
from the relations between the factory hand and his
employer !

Granted then this good feeling as the basis, the
solution of the problem will be found in regaining what
was lost by the wholesale enclosure of the commons,
i.e. the labourer's direct interest in the land. He must
have easy access to land for allotments and later on to
land for small holdings — that is the first point. The
second is to give him a certain share in the control of
the industry, chiefly by means of Councils analogous to
the Whitley Councils and operative in a fairly circum-
scribed area ; and a share in profits over and above his
fixed wage. Further, it must be made clear that an
adequate wage for labour is indeed regarded as a first
charge upon the industry. Many employers were
aghast at the idea of paying a wage of 45/- a week to
their men ; and yet there is little doubt that, from the
end of 1 91 7 to 1921, 45/- per week was not as good a
wage as 20/- per week before the war. Thirdly, the
labourer has votes at parliamentary and county council
elections, and he should sit upon local bodies as well as
in Parliament — this is a development which is un-
doubtedly coming. And, fourthly, we must make good
our promises to improve housing conditions ; young
men wanting to marry, and remain in the country, must
be able to get a decent cottage at a fair rental.

The energetic action which the Government have
been taking since 1917, to maintain and increase the
acreage under the plough, should be a guarantee to the

AGRICULTURAL DRA>L\TIS PERSON.E 61

labouring man that at last the Government do reaUze
that it is ploughhind that employs the largest amount of
labour. This is a very important point and it is
clearly understood by the labourers themselves ; and
there is no doubt that they resent the laying down of
land to grass, for they know that it is taking away their
occupation.

But the point that labour does not yet fully understand
is — that no possible legislation on the part of any Govern-
ment can prevent the farmer laying down land to grass,
if his only alternative is to retain it under the plough at
a financial loss, or with an wholly inadequate return upon
his outlay.

A Government can take measures to tune up the
indifferent farmer, and in this it should have the whole-
hearted support of labour ; it can further secure the
good farmer against loss in growing crops on arable
land, which it is to the nation's interest to have grown ;
and by insuring the farmer against loss the Government
gains a right to see that the farmer pays his labourer an
adequate wage. All that is a workable equation ; and
no one should understand more clearly than the labourer
the basic principle that the farmer cannot go on producing
food, cultivating the land, and so employing labour,
at a loss.

And that is the reason why the labourer should support
the farmer's demand for a fair price for his produce.

But nothing that a Government can do will enable
the farmer to farm against bad labour, or an in-
adequate output per man. That is the bed-rock of
the problem ; whether a fair proportion of the land
is to be under the plough, or whether there is to be
a wholesale laying down to grass, rests largely with
the labourers themselves to say. There is so much

62 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

wrong-thinking on this subject — labourers think they have
to work for farmer " Smith," and if they slack that they
are scoring off Smith, but it is not so ; it is the land itself
that demands a certain minimum amount of labour
from each and every cultivator, and the man who
slacks is cheating the land, and the land will punish
him.

For if the output of work per man sinks below a
certain level. Agriculture, the " Land Industry," will
suffer and decay, and the workers in the industry will
feel despair in their hearts, for there is no feeder to despair
like a decaying industry ; with the final result — more land
will go down to grass and thousands of men will be
driven from the countryside. A grave responsibility
rests with the leaders of labour and with the officials
of the Trades Unions, for it is they who more than anyone
else can enable the labouring men to take a clear view of
the situation. And our intelligent and progressive
owners and farmers should at all times be ready to confer
frankly with these leaders on subjects affecting the welfare
and development of agriculture.

There has been talk of the 48-hour week being applied
to agriculture, but how absurd to try to treat agriculture
as if it were exactly like the industries carried on under
cover and unaffected by the weather ! In some weeks
it is impossible to put in more than 30 hours on the land
— the quarrel is not so much with the 8-hour day as
with the 48-hour week. I believe if a longer period
were taken, for example a 208-hour month instead of the
48-hour week, the difficulty about bad weather would
be largely overcome. Nothing should be done which
would put the agricultural industry at a disadvantage
as compared with urban industries — it cannot afford it.
It is not suggested that the agricultural labourer should

AGRICULTURAL DRAMATIS PERSON.^ 63

be at a disadvantage as compared n\ ith the town labourer
in regard to leisure hours ; but when it is a question of
getting in the nation's food supply in a variable climate
like ours, the necessary adjustments to meet the case
should be made. In bad weather the hours of manual
labour are perforce curtailed, and I have been astonished
at the amount of serious reading the agricultural worker
can put in during the year if he is so disposed.

The agricultural labourer in his own sphere is a
skilled labourer, and he should be treated as such. It
should be open to the energetic worker to earn much more
than the minimum wage by means of piecework, wherever
this can be arranged, and there could be much more
piecework if the farmers gave their minds to developing
it ; and the labourers should agree to the principle.

In the winter months the hours of work are short,
work is often altogether held up by the weather, and
the labouring man can have his hours of leisure — and in
summer, too, except at times of pressure — hay and
corn harvest, for example. At these times there should
be no question of knocking off at 5 o'clock ; work should
go on late into the evening and the overtime should be
well paid. The unfortunate thing is that at the present
moment many labouring men stop work at 5 p.m.,
regardless of any other consideration, and the overtime
wages do not tempt them. There is the other side ;
many of the farmers think they cannot afford to pay over-
time and so do not encourage it. The nett result is seri-
ous ; less work is being put into the cultivation of the land.

It is not that I am an advocate of long hours ; in the
factory the 8-hour day is certainly long cnough^ — too
long in some cases— and an 8 or 9-hour day in agriculture
may be long enough, though personally I would rather
work 9 hours on the land than 6 hours in a factory.

64 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

The point is that, in view of the uncertainty of the
weather, there must be elasticity ; and the objective
should be so to increase the number of men in the country
on holdings of their own, that there will be a surplus of
men who while they work part, or even most of their
time, on their own holdings, would give a certain number
of days to the surrounding farmers. These men would
be the very finest type of workers and such a reserve of
additional labour would be invaluable. While one wishes
to see the best possible conditions for agricultural
labourers, and increased opportunity for advancement,
it is only fair to the industry to state that investigations
show that, even now, the proportion of labourers who
rise to an independent position (i.e. become farmers),
is high as compared with other industries.

The working of the National Insurance Act is another
matter closely affecting the rural workers. The old
Friendly Societies were splendid institutions ; often they
were worked very well, and the village Friendly Society
became the meeting-place of the serious-minded men
in the village, and much good work was done voluntarily
by men with a high sense of duty. These small
Friendly Societies, wherever financially sound, could
and should have been preserved.

Unfortunately the way in which the Act was worked
has led to the extinction of most of these societies, and
to the rural workers being insured in the great Urban
Insurance Societies. The result is that the healthy
countryman is paying for the ill -health of the towns-
man. This is not fair, and it could have been avoided ;
it has been avoided in two or three counties. In York-
shire, Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire, and more largely
in Scotland, the small Friendly Societies were kept
from dissolving and formed into County Associations

AGRICULTURAL DRAMATIS PERSONAL 05

approved bv the National Health Insurance autiiority.
Time has proved the wisdom of this action, and these
associations are now the soundest section, actuarily,
under the National Insurance Scheme. Every county
should have had its " Rural Workers' Insurance Society."

The matter was put before the Lord- Lieutenants —
for it was pre-eminently a question in which the land-
owner should have shown his sympathy with the real
interests of the working man, but, save in a few cases,
nothing was done ; a great opportunity was lost owing
to our usual failing —want of vision. It might even now
be possible to do something in this direction, but it
would be more difficult as the system is established.

The questions we have been touching upon are
important, but they are insignificant when compared with
the great problem of Education— the education of the
children of the rural workers. The Fisher Act will have a
far-reaching effect ; it will take years to set it going in
the country, but the final result will be that the country
child will receive an education, of its own type, as good
as is provided for the town child.

No longer will all education cease at the age of 13 ;
it will be carried on by means of continuation instruction
from 14 to 16, and undoubtedly in the end till 18, as it
is in Denmark. And why should we be behind ? T'his
continuation instruction will embrace general education
as well as technical, so that the effect upon the general
intelligence of the future labourer will be very great.
If the new system is developed on right lines the
resultant good to the nation and to the individual
will be incalculable.

But there are dangers to be avoided. In llie past,
instruction in the elementary school was too much based
upon the te.xtbook. The manual side was neglected.

66 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

We must avoid the other extreme. Again, the ideal was
formerly that of the " Educational Ladder," up which
the exceptional pupil might climb to the top— the average
pupil was neglected — and in many cases the supposedly
exceptional pupil did not get to the top because he was
not really exceptional. Now the ideal is that of a great
" Educational Highway," along which all shall travel ;
well and good, provided that it be clearly recognized
tliat human beings, though of equal value in the sight of
God, are not equal in mental capacity any more than
they are in size or weight. Some children can travel fast
and some slowly, some will go far upon the highway and
others not so far, and there can be no greater cruelty
than to attempt to force the pace of the slow mover.
The high road must pass via secondary education to the
university and travel must be free from one end to the
other. The majority of men have to work with their
hands ; let us, therefore, have the most intelligent race
of workers that is possible, men who will realize their
responsibility to the nation and to their neighbour
as well as to themselves, men who will take an intelligent
interest in their work. This means the maximum
practicable amount of education for the workers' children.

In the country, education must inculcate a love and
understanding of things that grow and a love of the
countryside ; it must be based upon, and draw its
inspiration from, surrounding life ; it must not be an
attempted reproduction of urban education. In fact
the reverse should be the aim ; urban education should
as far as possible reproduce the good features of rural
education.

All this for the rising generation, but we must not
leave out those who are past school age ; great work has
been done by adult classes in our towns, and though

AGRICULTURAL DRAMATIS PERSON/E 67

more difficult, still experience proves tiiat they are of
equal value to the rural worker and therefore should be
developed. It is essential that he should be given an
insight into the simple economics of the industry ;
there is nothing our workers stand in need of so badly as
some understanding of economic principles. With that
knowledge they can take a broader view, and they will
be able to distinguish between what is good and w'hat
is bad for their industry ; and as voters they will be
better able to weigh the questions upon which they
have to vote.^

THE WAGE BOARDS

It is impossible to bring this section to a close without
a brief reference to the Wage Boards.

I was one of the first to advocate their formation ; 1
believed them to be essential, and I still hold to the
principle.

During the war we could not have done without them ;
independent action on the part of the labourers and
farmers could never have succeeded in adjusting the
wages throughout the country, as it was necessary that
they should be adjusted. There can be little doubt
that without the wage boards a very dangerous situation
would have arisen between employer and employed.
Further, the Government could not have given the
guaranteed prices to the farmer without the set-ofi' of
the \N age Boards.

During the period of great crisis I consider that the
Central Wages Board made a great mistake in its policy
— its one aim should have been to fix a generous wage,
and not to go into details in regard to hours, or to interfere
in the relations between employer and employed.

* See Appoiulix No. I I

68 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

The motto should have been " An adequate wage, but
free individual bargaining in all else."

Local custom varies from farm to farm even in the
same county, and it is not only the farmer who may
prefer a particular method of dealing with " confined "
labour, but the men themselves ; and the method
may be very different from the one laid down by the
Wages Board. Again, the rate fixed for young unmarried
men was undoubtedly too high, in comparison with the
wage granted to the married man with a family. In
short, the present Wage Boards undoubtedly suffer from
a want of elasticity.

Many farmers hold the view that they would willingly
do without the Government's guarantee of a minimum
price for wheat if they could also be rid of the Wages
Board ; I cannot agree with this view. In the first
place, the guarantee is a valuable recognition of the
important principle, that the nation cannot ask the farmer
to produce a certain crop without guaranteeing him
against loss in its production. In the second place, I do
not believe that public opinion would consent to the
abolition of Wage Boards.

There is a more practical question : are the present
constitution and procedure of the Wage Boards all that
can be desired, or should alterations be made ?

I think that men who have had practical experience
of the working of Wage Boards will agree that there is
much room for improvement ; the present system under
which the employers sit on one side of the table and
the workers on the other, and the appointed members
upon a raised dais, leaves much to be desired. A real
round-table conference, with the members sitting without
reference to section, would be more conducive to
discussion^; really, the need is for Whitley Councils to

AGRICULTURAL DRAMATLS PERSON.-E 09

be applied to agriculture. In fact, the National Alliance
of Employers and tlmployed are taking up this question
and have already started Councils in one or two counties.
I think that agriculturists would be well advised to
back this movement ; and if it makes good, and meets a
need, this system might in the end supersede the present
Wage Boards.

Rowntree's How the Worker Lives, and Mr. F. E. Green's book,
A Histoty of the English Agricitltural Labourer, 1870-19.20, published
by King and Son, should be read as giving the labour point of
view. The l.itter, perhaps not unnaturally, gives a somewhat biased
view.

CHAPTER IV
PRODUCTION

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND CERTAIN FOREIGN

COUNTRIES

THE two great functions of the land in the
civilized state are to produce the economic
maximuiTi of food for the nation, and to give
employment to the largest number of cultivators.

This statement may be regarded as an axiom, and as
the measure with which to gauge the development
and degree of prosperity of the agricukural industry
in any country. Unless the land is producing its
utmost, it will not be giving employment to the
maximum number of cultivators ; and conversely,
unless there are a sufficient number of trained
cultivators of the soil, the land cannot be put to
its fullest use. And where this is the case it means
that the land, the great source of new or primary
wealth, is not making its proper contribution to the
wealth of the nation. Or to put it in another way, the
nation's greatest asset — which is land — is not being
made the most of.

The economic importance of primary wealth is not as
fully realized as it should be in this country ; brought
down to its final issue, production from the land is paid

70

PRODUCTION 71

for by (or given in exchange tor) the wealth produced
by urban industry.^

In regard to the production of food, other considera-
tions than the purely economic come into play ; k r
instance it mav be necessary, from the point of view ot
defence, that a nation should grow the largest possible
amount of wheat, more than might be strictly economic.
Again, it is in the interest of the whole nation to maintain
the area of land under the plough, on account of the
employment it provides, although grass land may be
the more advantageous from the farmer's point of view.
Most important of all, the proportion of people
living on and by the land must be maintained,
otherwise the nation's health and standard of
physique will suffer. This is a point of supreme im-
portance to every townsman ; in their own interests they
must see to it that there is an overflowing agricultural
population, so that a reasonable annual influx therefrom
may maintain the physical standard of the towns.

Let us now apply our measure to the agricultural
industry in Britain, and see whether the industry is
in the right condition, or the land developed as it
should be.

In 1 914 the gross production from the land was

' Referring to the many millions of pounds sterling of primary
wealth produced from the soil of the United States one of their
Government reports says : —

" The sum ia one that challenges the American imagination ;
these virtually nine billion dollars (^1,752,000,000) penetrate into
every form of commerce, art, industry, society. It is their
fructifying magic that swells bank balances, that makes possible
daring exploits in the realms of development and general expan-
sion (U.S.A. Department of Agriculture, 1909).

In America there is a very clear understanding of the imi)ortance
of primary wealth, and if our (jovernmeiit had understood IIiIh
more fully the land of our Kmpire would be vastly more productive
th.iii it is to-day.

72 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

practically the same as it was in 1814, and much less
than it was in 1840. The low prices and consequent
agricultural depression of the eighties and nineties caused
this faUing off in production ; but although from the
year 1904 to 1914 prices were improving, production
was stationary — or if anything tending downwards.
Nationally, nothing could be more serious. We will deal
later with the causes which brought about this state of
afl'airs.

Turning to the number of men employed upon the
land, a serious decrease is found to have taken place during
the last sixty years. In fact, it is only in the LTnited
Kingdom that the dechne in the agricultural population
has been absolute and not relative. In all other countries,
although the proportion of town dwellers has increased
more rapidly than the agricultural population, never-
theless the agricultural population has increased as well.
So that the land of the United Kingdom is not to-day
producing as much as it should, nor is it employing
its full quota of labour.

It has just been pointed out that between the years
1904 and 19 14, although the prices of agricultural
produce were rising, there was little corresponding
increase in production but rather the reverse. From
the purely economic point of view this may seem hard
to explain ; for if the demand, as indicated by the
enhanced prices, increases, so ought the supply, and it
does so in most industries. But in the case of the farmer
other factors come into play. The urban producer can
switch from one class of production on to another, to meet
the varying demand, much more rapidly than can the
farmer.

The farmer has to think in rotations, i.e. in periods
of three or four years. The prices may be good this

PRODUCTION 73

vear, but what will they be next year or the year after ?
In fairness ti) the farmer, the long period of agricultural
depression must be borne in mind, during which period
thousands of farmers went bankrupt and the capital
of the industry was lowered by some ^(^ 1,000,000 ,000.
The urban critic must never lose sight of this fact. The
farmer had to play for safety — his own personal safety —
not the nation's. W ho can blame him ?

Hard experience had taught him that a land-ignorant
nation cared little whether its primary industry flourished
or decayed : the cult of the day was cheap food. Cheap
food and cheap human beings, have we got rid of this
pernicious doctrine ? The war gave it a nasty knock ;
but can we honestly say to the farmer it is dead, never
to rise again ?

That the land of the United Kingdom was not pro-
ducing what it should, during the greatest crisis with
which this nation has ever been faced, was not the fault
of the British farmer. It was the fault of a long line of
Governments which systematically neglected our land
resources. But it is easy to blame Governments ; in
the last resort the fault lies with the town voters, who
hold the controlling power, and who in their blindness
could not understand the importance to the nation
of a flourishing agriculture and a highly developed
land.

Then the war came and forced the Government and
the nation to turn their attention to that neglected source
of food supply — the land of the United Kingdom.

The Government set up committees to enquire into
our home-grown food supply and its potential expansion.
The findings of all were the same — that our land could
and should produce more than it did. They reported
that a great increase in cereal production was essential,

74 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

and that the farmer should be guaranteed against any loss
he might incur in meeting the nation's need.

For the first time in our history it was officially recog-
nized that the agricultural producer could not be expected
to produce needed food at a loss ; and as a corollary,
that if, in the interests of national defence, it was necessary
to secure the production of certain crops at home, special
arrangements would have to be made with the farmer.
Otherwise, on business principles, lie would produce
the crops which paid him best, without regard to the
national point of view.

This in no way implies want of patriotism on the part
of the farmer. During the war the farming class was
as patriotic as any other, and certainly never profiteered
in the way that other sections of the community did.
In fact the farmer had little chance of doing so ; for
there is no doubt that Government control affected
him more adversely than it did most producers. And
more than once it debarred him from receiving the
current world price for his commodities. Yet over and
over again the profiteering of the distributor has
been charged against the producer — another result
of the ignorance of the urban consumer !

Under the Asquithian regime it was quite impossible
to induce the Government to consider seriously the
augmentation of home supplies, even though it was
abundantly clear that our dependence on sea-borne
food was an ever-increasing danger ; so that all credit
should be given to the Coalition, under Mr. Lloyd George,
for being the first English Government which has given
time and serious consideration to the question of how
best to increase the production of our land. Although
the war is over, and the danger of being starved out by the
enemy is removed for the present, increased production

PROniTTION 75

is none the less essential if we are to recuperate rapidly
from the eftects of the war.

How ditierent the attitude and action of other European
Governments and peoples ! In every continental
country the Government and all classes of the population
were determined to see that the land produced its
maximum. This is the first general comparison. We
will n<jw pass on to the consideration of production in
Germany, Belgium, Denmark and France.

GERMANY

Left to shift for itself, our agricultural industry was
showing little sign of expansion during the decades
preceding the war, as will be seen from our production
figures for the 25-year period between 1888 and 1913.

And comparison with the German production figures
for the same period emphasizes the unsatisfactoriness
of our results. To illustrate this point, I am using an
excellent set of diagrams prepared by Mr. Richardson,
the agricultural adviser to the Government of the State
of Victoria (Australia).

In considering the results achieved, we must remember
that unlike ourselves the Germans concentrated upon
securing a flourishing agriculture. All that science and
education and (organization could do for the development
of the land was done. And Germany's protective tarifi"
had the effect of giving the German farmer confidence
that he would get a fair return for his cflorts.

DIAGRAM I

This shows that between 1888 and 1913 our production
of cereals actually decreaseil to a small extent ; potatoes

76 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

alone of the main arable crops show a certain increase.
In Germany the increase in cereals and potatoes during
that period stands at just over lOO per cent.

It should be noted that in 1888 there was already a
great falling-off in our cereal production, especially in
wheat, as compared with our high water period from
1840 to 1875.

DIAGRAM II

This shows that although during the period under
consideration there was a great increase in the area of
land under grass, the corresponding increase in live stock
was very small ; whereas in Germany with no increase
in grass a heavy increase was achieved, except in the
case of sheep.

We must push our comparison further if we are to
arrive at a true understanding of the difference between
the production of the land in the United Kingdom and
in Germany.

The area under cultivation in the former may be put
at 50,000,000 acres, in the latter at 80,000,000 acres. ^

Our population in 1913 was about 45,000,000 ; theirs
68,000,000.

In that year our total home production of cereals
amounted to 308,000,000 bushels. Theirs amounted to
nearly 1,500,000,000 bushels, or roughly five times as
much as our production.

In 1913 Germany produced 1,988,000,000 bushels of
potatoes, while we could show only a total of 283,000,000

1 " Land under cultivation " means all land, whether arable or
grass put to agricultural use ; our exact figures are 47,000,000
acres, plus 9,000,000 acres of rough hill grass land which I value at
3 acres as equivalent to i acre average grass and so reduce it to
3,000,000 acres for the sake of round figures.

. ArillCAI. RKrUK-iKMAIION OK COMI'AKATIVK I'KlMiKKSS 1\ Al.KICll.ll'KAI. l"K<l|>rCriON IIKIWKKS

Till-: VTAKs i8S8-ioi3 IS ckkai' iikiiain ami t;i:R\i\w

I. GREAT BRITAIN.

1883.

1913.

Decrease, '24 i>er cent.
Wheat, 7ti,(MMi,iMi(i hushels. Wheat, r)S,0(i(i,(i(iO Kushels.

Increase, IJ |>er cent.

Oats, 151,000,000 bushels.

Oats, 180,000,000 busliels.

Decrease, 6 per cent.

Barley. 70,000,000 bushels. Barley, 68,000,(K)0 bushels.

P| Decrease, 86 per cent. g

Rye, 14,00<J,000 bushels. Hye, 2,000.000 bu.',hcl.s.

r

' Increase, 20 ].er cent.

I'.ilatoeH. i^i8./J(Kl,(XJ<J bushels. Potatoes, '283,OOO,(Mt0 bushels.

1888.

I. ril£R/V\ANY.

Increase, (ic i><i <•. nt

1913.

WlifMt, lu;i, (»!)(■), (UK) Imshcls.

Wli(>ai, 1 7 1 ,111111, (Mill liusholh.

Increase, 17") per cfiit.

Outs. 24H.U(M>.(MKt biisliels.

Increase, 7."{ |>ei <eiit.

();u>, iit;'.i,(MM»,niiu liiii,hel

Barley. 97,(KM).OfM) bushels.

Barley. 168.000.000 bushels.

Increase, s4 \,cv cent.

\'-yi-, •2t;j,oiiM,iHii» l)im}iol>i

Pvve, tsi,(»(»U.t»UO buslicls.

I'liUiluut, SJ.'jO.lMHJ.iMXi bilsl.iK I'.-lttl.jca. I .IISS.IIMM.IKIK bush.-j.s

Increase. In') |m i ri-ni

t.R \Pllir.M. RErKESENTATIllN »>K COMI'ARATIVK I'KtM'.RRSS IN ANIMAL Hl'SI\AM>KV HIMWKliN IIIK

VKARs iSSS-iqi-; i\ (;kKAT unit \r\ ami tM:i;\i\\\

II. GREAT BRITAIN.

188a. 1913.

LaLllc-, lU.JlU.LMHj.

<. auif. 1 1 ,"j| i.udo.

Increase, 16 [k,-!- cent.

Increase, :i \>er cent.

Horses, 1,940 (XKi.

Horses, l,99i>,()i)0.

No Increase.

Sheep, •2S,9I4),(XK).

Sheep, '2S,;M)7,0UU.

Increase, C \kt cent.

'il': •.-:", "xi.

I'lg-, l,l'' ',i»MI.

II (ii:r>\ann

1913.

1888.

I link-, 'Jll, 1>_\IMIU.

Increase, i.il per cent.

(."altle, S, .4U,L>UU.

increase, '^7 [kt rent

Decrease, (in |>ci cimii

.Sheep, I J,7.0o,i>u().

Increase, J7!» i>ei icni

I'l^s, .5.82i),<XM).

I'igM, '-'2,1(>U,()<)<(.

PRODUCTION 77

bushels — their production was more than six times
that of ours.

Whilst British crop production has actually declined
during the past 25 years, that of Germany shows an
annual increase of ^(^ 120,000,000 in value by the end of
the period. Von Scherwin Lowitz^ estimates that the
annual value of Germany's agricultural produce approx-
imates ^700,000,000, made up as follows : Corn,
£140,000,000 ; meat, ^^200,000,000 ; dairy produce,
;{^ 1 37,000,000 ; potatoes and sugar beet, £80,000,000 ;
the balance being made up of fruit, vegetables, oil, fibre
crops, viticulture and poultry products. That is :

£700,000,000 worth of produce ofT 80,000,000 acres.

Turning to our 50,000,000 acres under cultivation, we
find the production for the 5-year period, 1909-13, as
follows : — -

The sale of live stock and stock products . £151,000,000
\\ heat and potatoes .... 27,000,000

Total .... £178,000,000

If we add another £22,000,000 for other produce, we
get a round sum of about £200,000,000 as the annual
value of the produce of our soil. And it has remained
at about this figure for several generations.

To reduce these large figures to small ones easily
grasped, it means that our gross yield from the land comes
out at about £4 sterling per acre.

The German return per acre is much higher than this ;
but there is little to be gained by working it out in detail,
because elaborate calculations would have to be made

* Deutschland unter h'aitcr Wilhelm II.

* Sir Thomas Middlrton's address to the Agricultural SuLittv,
University College of Wales, December ly, lyiy.

78 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

to adjust the effect of the differences in the price of the
agricultural produce of the two countries.

DIAGRAM III

This shows how the i co-acre unit is cropped in England
and in Germany.

The circle represents lOO acres ; and at a glance we
see how much more, of every main crop, is grown in
Germany per lOO acres than with us. It is only in the
case of the proportion under grass that we stand far ahead
of Germany. And it is precisely for this reason that the
I co-acre unit in the United Kingdom only yields, in
total produce, about one-half of the produce it does in
Germany. Yet remember our soil is better than German
soil — -our climate on the whole more favourable to agri-
culture ; yet ico acres in Germany is made to feed far
more people than it does here.

Why is this so ?

The answer is that the steady advance in production
in Germany, apart from her tariff policy, is due to :

(i) The fact that the importance of agriculture to
the nation has been fully realized by the Government
and the people.

(2) The systematic organization of agricultural edu-
cation.

(3) The improvement effected in the technical methods
of the farming community.

(4) The widespread adoption of co-operation and
organized credit.

(5) The comprehensive application of science to the
land.

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PRODUCTION 79

As an example of the effect of the apj-iHcation of science
to the growing of sugar beet the following diagram is
instructive : —

DIAGRAM IV

Professor von Rumkcn of Berlin summarizes the
German view of agricultural education in this way : —

" The great progress that agriculture has achieved in
Germany during the last quarter of a century is the
result of the union of practice with science, and proves
that money spent on research and on education brings
in a high rate of interest, and is compensated for by
increase in land taxes and of revenue from the State
railways."

This is an economic fact wliich, alas, is not appreciated
in this country. The net result is, as we have seen,
that Germany provides more home-grown food per loo
acres than we do : a result due partly to the increase
in production per acre, which took place between 1888
and 191 3, but even more largely to the method of cropping
in general vogue.

'I'he area under corn is large and, note well, the head
of live stock carried per 100 acres in spite of this fact is
also large— generally larger than with us. With us the
whole discussion is one of " horn " (live stock) versus
corn ; yet the example of continental agriculture
proves that both can be developed together. Of this
truth we have demonstrations at home if we would
only open our eyes to see them.

Lincolnshire is one of the foremost " arable " counties ;
yet the head of stock carried on its farms, which are as a
rule two-thirds arable and one-third grass, compares
lavrjurably with the grass - land farms of the western

80 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

counties. One cause for the widespread (and unfounded)
belief that grass land carries more stock than arable is
that oiu' agricultural returns of live stock are taken in
the summer, when grass is carrying its maximum amount
of stock and arable land its minimum. Were the returns
made in mid-winter the results would be all in favour of
the arable farms, which are then winter feeding their full
head of stock.

Hitherto our comparison in production has been
between England and Germany ; we shall now briefly
survey production in some of the other continental
countries, not for the sake of making odious comparisons
but because it is interesting to see what principles are
at work in other countries.

Everywhere we find this in common : the continental
farmers rely upon arable land as their mainstay, and
consider that they could not afford to have any large area
under grass. Grass is not regarded, as with us, as
something almost sacrosanct, but just as a crop like any
other crop ; and it is a crop, and its yield and feeding
merits should be considered in relation to other crops.

DENMARK

Denmark has very little grass land ; yet it is certainly
the premier dairy country of the world both in regard
to the number of cows kept per loo acres, and in regard
to the yield per cow. Taking everything into considera-
tion, there is no doubt that this is the most interesting
country for the Englishman to study agriculturally.
The people closely resemble us in temperament ; there
is the same individualism and independence ; yet this
has not prevented them from bringing co-operation and

I()it 1648 Ib'^e l»6B 1676 IBBS >e98 1303

PHYSICAL SLLLCTION PHYSICAL AND PHYSICAL CHEMICAL AND

CHLMICAL SLL"" ■ PHYSIOLOGICAL SLLLCTION

GRAPH Showing improvtmcnts iffecttd in lu^aj conUnt of btctt.

DIAliK.^M 1%

PRODUCTION 81

organization to the highest level ever reached in the
histor\' of agriculture. And it would be hard to find
any other rural people with so high a standard of edu-
cation ; this is perhaps the greatest advantage they have
over us. Inherently our agricultural workers, in the
northern half of England at all events, are at least equal
to the Danish ; but a large proportion of the Danish
labourers own a sufficient amount of land to give them a
direct interest in the agricultural industry, and a valuable
degree of independence. And the conditions affecting
the smallholders are far superior to those existing in this
country.

The Co-operative movement had its origin in England
about 100 years ago. It has flourished in our tozcns
and has reached a degree of development unequalled
in any other country. The Wholesale Co-operative
Societies count their membership by millions and the
annual turnover is more than ^150,000,000 a year.

The Danes took the idea from us, but with one great
difference. They made it a rural movement ; the result
being that the majority of Danish farmers to-day are
members of a Co-operative Society, and the bulk of their
produce is sold co-operatively — they are their own
middle-men.

The great advantages derived from the full develop-
ment of co-operation are these : the producer is not only
enabled to fix his prices for the produce of the farm at
figures which arc remunerative in the first case, and much
less fluctuating than with us, but he also earns a second
profit as a trader— a profit which goes to the middleman
here. Though the control of prices is so largely in the
hands of the farmers, it is well to note that they have
never taken unfair advantage of this. During the years
preceding the war the prices of Danish farm produce
6

82 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

were slightly lower than they were in England — and yet,
owing to the perfect organization of the industry, the
Danish farmers were earning a far larger profit than their
English confreres. Organization does pay.

Perhaps the most important feature in the Co-operative
movement was the creation of Credit Societies, which
placed capital at the disposal of the cultivator in the form
of short term loans. This access to capital was invaluable
to the small farmer ; it made him a capitalist, instead of
having to struggle all his life against the evil of insufficient
capital wherewith to run his holding properly.

People who do not understand the question often
point out that the Danish farmers, large and small,
have been prodigal in borrowing ; but they do not add
that the borrowing is sound borrowing, that the loans
invariably carry a sinking fund — and that it is good
business to borrow at 6 per cent or 7 per cent if the loan
earns 15 per cent or more for the borrower.

The increase in production in Denmark between
1888 and 191 3 has been remarkable, in fact, in regard
to wheat production, the most remarkable in the world.
For its size, Denmark had about the same proportion
under wheat that we had in 191 3, and the average yield
has been raised from 30 bushels per acre to 40 bushels
per acre ; and since 191 3 the average has considerably
exceeded that figure, having reached 45, 47, and 48
bushels per acre for 1916, 1917, and 1918.

The conditions under which milk is produced in
Denmark are extremely good, due chiefly to the fact
that the bulk of the milk is sold to the co-operative
creameries and they insist upon receiving milk in first-
class condition ; and the societies have drawn up strict
regulations in regard to the handling of the cows and
of the milk. This is far sounder than our system

PRODTTTTON 83

of some urban Government department framing and
administering regulations.

In Copenhagen there is a special milk supply for
infants. It comes from carefully selected farms, and
extra care is given to its handling and transport to special
depots in the town ; this is done at a profit, although the
charge for distribution is lower than it is in this country
for milk which is far less satisfactory from the hygienic
point of view.

The net result of the perfect organization of the
milk business is that the producer makes a good
living, and the consumer gets his milk at a lower
price than he does in England. There must, of course,
be a charge for the distribution of milk, but an addition
of 100 per cent to the price received by the producer is out
of all reason — yet that was the average tariff before the war.

The houses and farm buildings in Denmark are
remarkably fine and form a conclusive testimony to the
prosperity of the agricultural industry. The farm-houses
are ver\' often as large as small country houses with us,
and the modern labourer's cottage is very good, and all
are kept in excellent order. Before the war, when dis-
cussing the profits derived from farming, I found a very
general view that farmers saved and put by in 37 years
an amount of capital that would enable them to retire
from farming and give them an income equal to their
average annual income. Or, to put it in another way,
the income derived from the land averaged ^4 per acre.
This £4 per acre would represent, say, £1 los. received
as rental (88 per cent of the farmers own their land),
I OS. interest on working capital, and £2 as net profit.
And in many cases the income from the land was much
higher.

There is no doubt that the cultivation of sugar beet,

84 TPTE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

which is largely developed in Denmark, is one of the chief
reasons for the high condition of the arable land and the
increase in the cereal yields. For this crop is an admir-
able preparation for the subsequent corn crop. But
since 191 5, owing to the increased cost of labour, Danish
farmers are giving up sugar beet to a great extent.

It is sometimes argued that it is because Denmark is
a small country that it has been possible to do all this ;
this, however, does not appeal to me as sound argument.
Our eastern counties are comparable in size, and superior
in soil and climate, to Denmark ; and there is no reason
why there should not be a similar agricultural develop-
ment, at all events in these counties.

BELGIUM

In this country the average size of the farms is so
much smaller than it is with us that it does not aiford
at all so useful a comparison as Detmiark ; also the
cultivation, which is much more intensive than in the
latter country, reaches a degree of intensiveness to
which we can never aspire. Indeed, I do not consider
that it would be desirable for us. The holdings are in
many cases so small that the amount of work that the
cultivator is forced to put into them, to extract a living
at all, is more than one would wish to see our tillers of
the soil called upon to perform. Yet they not only make
a living but succeed in putting by large sums annually,
as is shown by the large deposits in the Belgian agricul-
tural bank ; also one cannot fail to be impressed by the
zest of life of the Belgian smallholders. The study of Bel-
gium teaches us two interesting and valuable lessons ;
the first that a country, in which urban industrialism
has reached the highest degree of intcnsity^ — for the

PRODUCTION 85

output in manufacture, per head of the population,
was before the war the highest in the world — can at
the same time achieve an agricultural output, per
acre, which throws every other country into the
shade. The second lesson is that light and poor
soils can in a few decades be turned into the most
highly productive soil if scientifically handled. It is
mainlv a question of building up the lunnus (or vegetable
matter) in the soil ; this was done by ploughing in green
manure crops, vetches, lupins, etc., and by applying
dressings of farm-yard manure far heavier than any of
our farmers would think of apj^lying, coupled with the
full use of artificial manures.

Before the war the gross receipts for the produce from
a little over 4,000,000 acres (the agricultural area of
Belgium) reached the sum of /^8o,ooo,ooo sterling ;
compare this with our ^(^ 200 ,000,000 sterling from
50,000,000 acres !

There is a third lesson we should learn from Belgium,
and that is the value of a dual occupation to the towns-
man ; we have been shown something of this in the
results derived from the large development of urban
allotments that took place in this country during the war.

In Belgium the system of providing the town worker
with a garden, of sufficient size to give him supple-
mentary occupation when his main work is slack, has
been carefully developed ; and over 70 per cent of the
Antwerp dock labourers have land sufficient to give them
not only healthful occupation when dock work is slack,
but to make a valuable contribution of fresh vegetables
for the use of their families.

The example of Belgium shows clearly that it is not
true that a country must be either industrial or agri-
cultural, but that it is possible to achieve the highest

86 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

possible development in both urban industries and in
agriculture.

Elementary education in Belgium, as in most of the
continental countries, has this good feature that it
instils a love of country life and country pursuits ; with
the result that a much larger proportion of the children
than is the case with us definitely wish to remain in
the country. It is easier in Belgium for the schools
to do this than it is here, for the children are nearer
to the practical work being done on the land ; they
see their parents at work ; the spirit of emulation is
stirred, and in the holidays they work along with their
parents.

Here the father and older brothers are probably
working on a large farm, at some distance it may be from
the cottage, and the children in consequence do not
grow up in touch with practical work ; and when they
do go to work for a farmer, at the age of fourteen, it
rarely happens that they are directly under the father's
influence. Indeed, it is to be feared, the influence to
which they are subject is often far from good.

The coming development of the continuation day
school, with its consequent prolongation of educational
and mental discipline, will prove of untold value to our
rising generation if it is run on sound lines.

FRANCE

It is the wonderful thriftiness of the cultivators of
the soil that has made French agriculture what it is ;
roughly one-half of the population live on and by the
land.

The French Government, more perhaps than the
Government of any other great country, consciously

PRODUCTION 87

determined tliat the urban side of their civilization should
not be developed at the cost of the rural side ; and that
urban industry should not be over-capitalized while
the agricultural industry remained without sufficient
capital to develop it.

France has had a protective tariff for generations ;
with such a large proportion of her population producers
of primar)' wealth it could not well be otherwise. And
during certain periods of the nineteenth century her
increase in national wealth, due to the development of
her agriculture, exceeded any record which we can show.
Conversely, no other nation can show so large a drop in
the capital value of any industry as that which resulted
from our agricultural depression.

It is a matter of histor\' that it was the French agricul-
turists who paid the indemnity to Germany after the
war of 1870-71.

Before 19 14 France produced practically all the
wheat she consumed ; and the annual value of the wheat
crop was about ^(^ 100,000,000, or five times that of our
wheat crop. It is interesting to note that during the
nineteenth century the price of wheat in France did
not fluctuate at all to the extent that it did in this
country.

But in regard to actual treatment of the land and
methods of husbandry, in general terms we have not
much to learn from France ; co-operation is not highly
developed, and the subdivision of farms has passed
economic limits. There are some very good farm in-
stitutes in F"rance, but French farmers are not easily
influenced.

The French peasantry lead a very hard life, and it is
not desirable to build up a class of such peasant pro-
prietors in England ; we want something much better

as THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

than this ; we want to have our right proportion of small
farmers (owning their farms where they wish to), well-
housed, living comfortably, and organized as highly as
they are in Denmark or in the Taranaki district of
New Zealand.

METHODS OF MEETING THE COMPETITION OF THE

NEW WORLD

It was about the year 1870 that the competition of
the new countries began to make itself felt in agricul-
tural products.

But even before this the peoples and Governments
of the continental countries had begun to devise a
" land policy " and to organize the agricultural industry ;
they were wiser in their generation than we. And the
result of their wisdom was that they were enabled to
carry on a steady expansion of the primary industry,
in spite of the blast of competition from the tillers
of virgin soil.

Whereas, far from expansion, in this country there
was a steady shrinkage from 1875 onwards when the
depression fairly set in.

In the golden era of our agriculture, 1840 to i860,
and up to 1870, the farmer's working capital was about
5(^10 per acre ; after the depression and up to the out-
break of the Great War that capital was down to about
3^5 ^^ L^ P^^ acre, taking an average for the whole
country, while on a similar basis the continental farmer's
working capital was from £11 to £1^ per acre with an
upward tendency. On the Continent land was attracting
capital ; in England it was not.

The competition from the new countries threatened all
old countries aHke ; we adopted one method of meeting

PRODITTIOX 89

the threat, the otlier countries adopted a ver)^ different
one. Here the landowners reduced their rents to assist
the farmers, and the farmers reduced their labour bill
and put the minimum into the land — with the inevitable
result, decrease in the output from the soil.

We remained unorganized. We stuck to our four-
year rotation of cropping as if it were something in-
violable ; but we did not adhere to the proportion of
land which, when the four-year system was at its zenith,
it was considered should be kept under the plough.
Four million acres of arable were allowed to " tall
down " to grass.

Our Scottish farmers departed from the strict
formula of the four-year cropping, and adopting fairly
generally a five-year course (under which the clover ley
was left down for three years) they weathered the
depression far better than we did.

On the Continent the line adopted was : Produc-
tion per acre must be increased, new systems of
cropping must be developed, and the industry must
be organized.

I think the comparisons I have given make clear
which was the right, and which was the wrong, method.

And we are again at the parting of the ways ; one
road leads to progress and development, the other to
retrogression.

Which road are we going to take ? It seems probable
that it will not be the question of the price of produce
which will be the determining factor — rather that of
labour ; but it comes to much the same in the end. And
if we now go in once more for a policy of curtailing
our agriculture, the results will be di.sastrous.

We did not tackle the situation in 1S70 in the right
way ; to-day we shall have less excuse lor going wrong,

90 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

for we possess the advantage of having before us full
proof of the advantages of the land policies and more
scientific methods adopted in other countries.

Up to 1870 the rest of the world learnt from us ;
now for a period we must learn from others — learn,
not copy, adapt, not slavishly imitate.

Many people will object to this injunction, being "too
proud to learn ! "

Rowntree's Lessons from Belgium.
Melines' Le retoiir ci la terre.

CHAPTER V

THE SYSTEM AND METHODS OF PRODUCTION
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

IX the last chapter certain general results from the
British and Continental systems of agriculture were
compared. In this chapter I propose to go into
some detail in regard to our methods of production, and
to discuss the growing of certain specific crops ; this,
not in the least with a view to teach the agriculturist,
but rather to give the layman and student a certain
insight into the cultivation of the land, and to indicate
certain shortcomings in our present system.

The layman often thinks that the cultivation of the
land is a ver)' simple affair — that any half-trained person
who is not fitted for other professions can take up
farming, and that agricultural labour is unskilled labour.
The very reverse is the case. For every worker on the
farm is a skilled labourer in his own line. And more
knowledge, thought and forethought are required in
successful farming than in almost any other occupation.
About 140 years ago a system of agriculture began
to be evolved in this country, under the direction of the
great agriculturists mentioned in the historical intro-
duction— a system which is known as the Four- Year
Rotation.

Taking a given field under this system : in the first year
it grew roots (turnips, swedes, mangfjlds) ; in the second

9«

92 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

year barley (in which " seeds " were sown) ; in the
third year " seeds " in which clover and rye grass played
the chief part ; in the fourth year wheat. Oats were
used to substitute, in part, wheat or barley according to
the type of soil and season.

This system led to great developments in the United
Kingdom, but it was too universally adopted and too
slavishly applied.

THE ROOT CROP

The chief object of the root crop was to clean the land
for corn and provide winter food for sheep and other
stock, but there are thousands of acres on which turnips
and swedes will not grow with any certainty of profit ;
this was proved generations ago — but we still persist in
attempting to grow them universally.

Mangolds contam a higher percentage of nourishment
than any of the other varieties of roots, and provide
excellent " bulky " food for dairy cows in winter.
Further, they are one of the most certain of crops
and should rarely fail if properly cultivated. It is a
good sign that the area under mangolds has somewhat
increased.

But much more land could profitably be taken from
the turnip and swede crop and be given to the growing
of fodder or soiling crops^ {vide Appendix No. III). A
really heavy (or smother) crop of one of these plants
most effectively cleans the land— the weeds cannot
grow.

There is a further drawback to turnips and swedes
where they are fed off by sheep (i.e. where sheep are

^ A fodder or soiling crop is a green crop which is cut and fed
to stock, or upon which the stock are " penned " to eat it down.

METHODS OF PRODUCTION 93

brought into the field to eat them as they grow), and that
is that often the sheep have not completed their work till
latish in the spring, and the ploughing of the field for
spring corn (oats or barley) cannot take place until they
are out of the field ; this results in late-sown corn and
often consequently a light crop.

SHEEP

The old-fasi\ioned idea still largely obtains that, on
certain classes of soil, manuring by the sheep droppings
and the consolidating of the land by the treading of the
sheep are the best — even the essential — preparation for
the barley crop.

I have been told by old experienced farmers that I
could not farm certain land without sheep. But never-
theless I have so farmed it for years, and my barley
crops have been the best in the neighbourhood !

The fact is that manuring by sheep droppings is by
no means scientific ; it is hard to secure an even distribu-
tion, and an unequal sample of corn results. And the
harrow and the roll intelligently used arc better than the
treading of the soil by sheep.

LEGUMINOUS CROPS

In regard to the use of leguminous plants, of which
white and red clover are the most used in this country,
under the four-year rotation one-fourth of the arable
land of the farm should be under this crop.

As already stated, the knowledge of the use and
functions of the leguminai constitutes a definite landmark
in agricultural development.

This order of plant life possesses the valuable power,

94 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

by means of certain bacteria, of storing up and using
" free " nitrogen obtained from the atmosphere.

If the root of a clover, lucerne, bean, pea or any other
leguminous plant is examined, it will be seen that it
possesses numerous small round lumps or nodules.

These have been formed by the bacteria which live
in the plant, and in return give up the nitrogen they
have absorbed from the atmosphere. When the plant
dies this store of nitrogen becomes available in the soil
for the succeeding crop.

Hence the explanation of the extra heavy crops of
mangolds or corn which are obtained when they follow
lucerne that has been " down " for a few years.

So that lucerne or white and red clover not only give a
rich food for live stock in the part that grows above
ground, but their underground growth directly enriches
the soil.

Hence it is clear that it is of the greatest economic
importance to make full use of these plants.

Unfortunately there is much land which will not
grow clovers every four years — it becomes clover-
sick.

Quite apart from this, there are other soils on which
the clovers are by no means a certain crop. And nothing
is worse in farming than to have fields carrying only a
two-thirds crop, or it may be a half crop.

In the United Kingdom clover, even red clover, is
not generally sown by itself but with rye grass and
sometimes two or three other temporary grasses — the
" seeds " crop of the rotation. Generally speaking, this
is a one-year crop — though the mixture can be altered
to " stand " for longer. But often a one-year " ley " is
allowed to remain down for a second year and the red
clover largely disappears — this treatment is not economic.

METHODS OF PRODUCTION 95

One of the most valuable of all the leguminous plants
is lucerne, or alfalfa, and its use could be greatly developed
in the eastern and southern parts of England ; also I
believe that it will be found possible to extend its use in
parts of the country- where now it cannot be grown,
provided that varieties of seed can be discovered which
will stand the climate. A field can be left profitably
under lucerne for four or five years, and then ploughed
up ; it is one of the most valuable of fodder crops, and
one acre will provide as much food for live stock as three
or four acres of average grass.

When the lucerne is ploughed up at the end of five
years, it will have stored up nitrogenous manure equiva-
lent to about one ton of nitrate of soda or sulphate of
ammonia, which is worth about £^2^ to-day and was
worth £^10 to ;^i2 before the war.

Nitrogenous manure is the most costly of all manures
to give to crops ; and as the leguminous plants provide
it in the cheapest manner, whatever system of cropping
is adopted should be so devised as to make full use of
these plants.

FARM-YARD MANURE

The other substances required by the growing crops
are Ume, phosphate and potash. These (save the lime)
are all contained in farm-yard manure which, in addition
to containing these substances, has a valuable pliysical
effect on the soil ; it adds humus (or body) to the soil.
But the value of farm-yard manure depends largely on
the way in which it is kept and handled — if loosely
exposed to rain and aerobic action for many months, most
of the valuable substances, especially the nitrates, are
washed out.

Unfortunately few of our farmers handle this valuable

96 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

manure properly, and millions of pounds worth of its
fertilizing properties are lost every year.

Again, our farmers only apply about one-half the
amount of farm-yard manure that it is customary to
apply per acre on the Continent. One often sees applica-
tions of manure (which has lost half its value owing to
bad handling) so thinly scattered on the land that the
results therefrom are practically negligible ; this is
clearly uneconomic.

ARTIFICIAL MANURES

About one hundred years ago the use of artificial
manures began to be understood, again not including
lime which has been used for centuries. The value of
animal superphosphates (i.e. from bones) was discovered
by Liebeg ; and Lawes and Gilbert of Rohamsted first
discovered how to treat and make available as plant
food the mineral phosphates, which are found in deposits
in different parts of the world. Much more recently
basic slag, a by-product of the iron furnace, was found
to be a valuable manure giving phosphate and lime.
Then a great importation of nitrate of soda from Chili
developed. But as the import of this was stopped by the
war our farmers had perforce to use sulphate of ammonia
(a by-product of the gasworks) as their main nitrogenous
manure.

All these artificials gradually came into use as supple-
mentary to farm-yard manure for certain crops — roots
and potatoes particularly ; but even to-day the amount
of artificials used per acre is far below that used generally
on arable land on the Continent. And even more serious,
a large proportion of the artificials used by farmers
are bought as " ready mixed " manures, whereas the
chemicals should be bought separately and mixed at

METHODS OF PRODUCTION 97

home. Very often the farmer has little idea what he is
applying ; the mixed manure may be good or it may be
bad : in any case it is generally far more expensive, at all
events per unit value. I have also pointed out that a
less amount of farm-vard manure is used ; the net result
being that our farmers do not put into the land any-
thing like the amount of nourishment for the crops
that is given in countries with a highly developed
agriculture.

WHEAT

Now, in regard to the position of wheat in the four-
year rotation, one-half of the arable land is under corn,
and one-half of this again should be wheat. But for
some decades past the area under wheat has been
gradually lessened, oats and barley taking its place,
until in the years before the war we find much less than
25 per cent of the ploughed land under wheat. Yet
wheat is a basic crop ; I shall presently give the financial
results when good wheat crops have been grown. It
cannot and should not pay to grow crops which come
out at 3 quarters to the acre. The average for the
country should be 5 quarters. This average would
bring us up to the Danish pre-war yield, and it is not
advocating the impossible. In many districts where
3 quarters to the acre is the rule, the really good farmer
will be found producing 5 quarters. And this yield
should become easier to obtain, with the new and heavy
yielding varieties of wheat which are now being produced.

Even at its best, under the four-year rotation, only
one-half of the land was under cereals ; whereas under a
three-year rotation, in which several successive crops
of corn are grown, it is possible to have two-thirds of
the land under corn. However, when more than one crop
7

98 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

of corn is grown successively in the same field, full use
must be made of artificials if good crops are to be obtained.
Last year (1920) 9 quarters of oats per acre were threshed
from a field on my farm ; this field had been down to
lucerne for five years, and then grew a fine crop of man-
golds and three crops of corn before the above very good
crop of oats — evidence of the powers for enrichment
possessed by lucerne, for the soil itself was by no
means good.

VARIATION IN ROTATION

Great modifications in the four-year rotation have
already been made by our leading agriculturists. I have
even heard of a fifteen-year rotation, but I should not
like to specify the exact order ! A five-year rotation has
been common in Scotland for some time, and Sir Thomas
Middleton gives in detail a six-year rotation also in
vogue in Scotland {vide page 104). On my arable dairy
farm a three-year rotation is practised in the main. It
is as follows : —

First year, roots chiefly mangolds (heavy dressing of
farm-yard manure apphed) ; second year, barley ; third
year, oats. The land is too light for wheat save in one or
two fields.

Under this rotation, clover (" seeds ") comes every
twelfth year ; it is sown in the spring corn. The
leguminous area is " made up " with lucerne ; this is
left down four, five, or six years, according to the con-
dition of the crop. If the land is clean, three or four
successive grain crops are grown ; to grow a grain
crop after a grain crop greatly cheapens the cost of
production.

As an example of yet another variation Mr. Prout
has grown corn, chiefly wheat, consecutively for fifty

METHODS OF PRODUCTION 00

years. The fact is that the good farmer who keeps his
land clean is master of, instead of slave to, his rotation ;
and he can vary his cropping to suit the needs of
the year — provided certain underlying principles arc
observed. The main object must be not only to have a
heavy yield in this or that field, but to see that no part
of the farm is producing only half crops ; also to see
that the grass land is producing the maximum amount
of which it is capable.

The four-year rotation is still adhered to by our
indifferent farmers — it is their sheet-anchor — and were
it suddenly abolished they would find themselves in great
difficulties.

Nevertheless the time has come to recognize that,
for the industry as a w^hole, the four-course system
is no longer necessary ; and that a radical change,
gradually and scientifically introduced, would improve
our agriculture and increase the yield from the soil.

GRASS versus .'arable land

Coming now to the main apportionment of the whole
farm : in the eastern or corn-growing counties two-thirds
was supposed to be under plough and one-thirtl under
grass, and in the west and south of England one-third
under plough and two-thirds under grass. This gives
only a ver)' rough idea of the proportion of arable to
grass, for there were infinite variations according to the
nature of the farm. But this is definite, even when the
area of arable is largest : the proportion of grass land
to the whole is larger than on the Continent. And here
we come to the root of the whole matter ; not only arc
there methods of handling arable land which will
profitably produce more food than the four-year shift,

100 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

but we do not handle our grass land properly and so we
lose on both counts.

Diagram No. Ill, page 78, shows at a glance the case
of grass versus arable, and I again make certain com-
parisons with the situation in Germany because it helps
us to understand the situation here. There is more
than twice as much grass land, per 100 acres of cultivated
land, in the United Kingdom as there is in Germany.
Let us examine the reasons for this.

(i) The question of climate is an important factor ;
the climatic conditions are more favourable for grass
production here than anywhere in Europe. But un-
fortunately it does not follow that our grass land is of
an uniformly high quality ; quite apart from the fact
that there is much land in England under grass which is
less suited to grass than to arable cultivation. Even in
parts of the country which from every point of view
are rightly grass land districts, there is much poor
grass — poor owing to neglect and bad farming.

(2) There is no doubt that for many years the con-
tinental farmer has realized that arable farming is more
profitable than grass land farming. This is a point that
the English farmer does not yet fully understand.

(3) Arable farming requires more capital, and a
greater annual expenditure than grass farming ; and
whereas the German farmer (and indeed the continental
farmer generally) was quite wiUing to embark upon this
expenditure, knowing full well that his Government
and his nation would see that he was not let down, the
English farmer had no such assurance — but very much
the reverse.

(4) There is no doubt that the inclination of the
English farmer has always been towards grass rather

METHODS OF PRODUCTION 101

than towards arable farming ; and we have seen in our
brief historical survey how, through all ages, the Govern-
ment has attempted to modify this inclination.

It is a natural inclination ; large numbers of our
farmers who are not particularly well-trained or educated,
and who are content with their lot, only wish to make a
bare living — and this they can do off anything from 50-
to 200-acre farms where grass dominates, in the west and
south-west of England.

Grass farming does not require the mental and physical
effort necessary for successful arable farming ; and so
we see a large number of farmers of this type who drift
along on their grass farms, generally with a neat little
house and just sufficient to sustain life, and there is
an end of it. The grass land is not properly handled,
and it is carrying live stock of no very high order. Such
land is not being put to the full economic use from the
national point of view, and the usefulness of such farmers
as citizens is open to question.

(5) A new factor has come into the problem within
the last few years and that is the question of labour —
not so much from the point of view of the wage as the
amount of work each man puts in during the working
hours. If the prices for arable crops are properly
adjusted the farmer can pay a good wage ; but no farmer
can farm against a general slacking off of effort on the
part of the men who work for him —this is an increasingly
serious point. If it is true that there is a general decrease
in " effort output " per man, this will become the
determining factor in the retention of land under the
plough or in its being laid down to grass.

Having stated the chief causes of the predominance
of grass in the United Kingdom, let us now consider
whether this predominance is to the benefit of the nation

102 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

— or whether our national necessities do not require an
apportionment of grass to arable more nearly approaching
that of Germany ? In general terms looo acres of grass
land, and the stock which it carries, gives employment
to one-third the number of men employed upon looo
acres under the plough.

So that for every looo acres laid down to grass less
labour by two-thirds is employed, and the other two-
thirds are driven from the land.

Nationally, this is perhaps the most serious point of
all ; and bound up with the national point of view is the
imperial one. Imperially, we must have an over-
flowing agricultural population ; so that each year
we can send out to our Dominions overseas a certain
number of men born and brought up on the land,
without depleting our supply of cultivators at home.

The second point is that the land must be made to
yield the maximum amount of food for the nation. And
land under the plough feeds more people than does
even the best grass land. Here are the facts as stated
by Sir Thomas Middleton, late of the Ministry of
Agriculture : —

*' Taking the figures for the five-year period 1909-13,
it is apparent that live stock farming in the United
Kingdom was paramount. It may be shown that
36,000,000 acres were devoted to producing meat and
milk as against 2,950,000 to the growing of wheat and
potatoes.

" The sales of live stock and of stock products totalled
some ^^151, 000,000 per annum, while wheat and potatoes
produced 3(^26,750,000 only.

" The entire food supply of our live stock is not,
however, produced from the soil of the country.

METHODS OF PRODITTION 103

" We import feeding stuffs for which the farmers paid
annually ;(^32,ooo,ooo in the 1909-13 period.

" These feeding stuffs have considerable manurial
value, and we may write off' ^{^6,000,000 as the sum due
for manure by land used for raising other saleable
products than Hve stock.

" This would indicate the value of Uve stock and live
stock products of the United Kingdom to be j(^ 125,000,000
per annum in the period 1909-13. It may be remarked
in this connection that the trade in exporting cattle and
sheep, though valuable to those engaged in it, was
relatively very small in the period under review."

This is an important point to bear in mind as
there has always been a tendency to exaggerate the
value of this branch of the industry, which carries
also this disadvantage to English agriculture —that
the export of our pedigree stock has had the effect of
improving the position of our foreign competitors.

To return to Sir Thomas Middleton : —

" Let us now turn our attention to examining our
returns per acre in money and food which we get from
the land of the United Kingdom. When for ' total
value ' we substitute ' value per acre ' there is less
reason for the complacency with which we have hitherto
regarded the results of our live stock farming (and live
stock farming is grass-land farming).

" When a deduction for imported feeding stuffs has
been made we find that the receipts from the live stock
come out at about 69-5d. per cultivated acre, as against
i82-9d. per acre reahzed by wheat and potatoes.

" Coming to the relative energy value of the different
foods produced it may be shown that 100 acres of an

104 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

average yield would provide energy for the following
number of persons : —

Under potatoes .... 400
Under wheat .... 200

Under oats . . . . .15°

Under mangolds converted into meat . 40
Under meadow hay . . . 12 to 14

" If, further, we assume a farm to be worked on a
six-course rotation, wheat, potatoes, oats, roots, barley,
clover- it may be shown that per 100 acres energy
for about 150 persons could be produced ; on grass
land of average quality, half producing meat and half
milk, the corresponding figure would lie somewhere
between fifteen and twenty.

" The changes in our system of farming in the past
fifty years have had one result which I believe that few
of us have realized. It is that, in spite of the great
advance made by British farmers between the close of the
Napoleonic wars and the depression of the seventies,
the population we were feeding from our own soil in
the period 1909-13 was little greater than it was a century
ago, and substantially less than it was seventy-five years
ago. In the period 1801-10 the soil of the United
Kingdom fed i6| millions. In the period 1831-40 about
24I millions, while in 1909-13 the number was about
lyl millions."

These are the figures that deserve careful study from
the national point of view. As a result of this study
only one conclusion can be arrived at, and that is that a
larger proportion of our land should be under the plough
than is at present the case. This does not mean that all
our grass land should be ploughed up, or that our very
best grass land, which justifies its existence, should be

METHODS OF PRODUCTION 105

touched. But it does mean that the proportion of grass
to arable land, per loo acres, should be 45 or 50 acres
instead of the present 72 acres ; even then we should
have more grass per 100 acres than Germany has, and
quite rightly so.

Again, ploughing up this acreage of grass does not
mean that we should have an "up corn and down
horn " policy ; for with that increased area of land
under the plough, properly managed, we should have
more and not less live stock. Taking all existing con-
ditions into consideration our motto should be " Up corn
and up horn," as Lord Lee, then Minister for Agriculture,
said when speaking at Gloucester in April, 1920.

So much for the national point of view. Turning
to the economic side, let us consider what is the relative
profit earned by the farmer from plough land and grass
land respectively.

First, it must he admitted that it is very difficult to
get much data ; for until quite recently little attention
has been paid to careful book-keeping, or to tabulating
the results where good accounts are kept. Within the
last two years or so an official " Costings Committee "
has been set up, but its work is not yet sufficiently
advanced to be of great practical use ; also the fact that
this committee has been at work only during a time of
abnormal conditions and prices, resulting from the war,
means that we cannot safely base calculations upon its
interim report. Ihis will be referred to later.

For my present purpose the paper read at the Surveyors
Institution in 191 2, by its then president Mr. Edward
Strutt, gives the best figures I know of ; it shows clearly
the profit and loss on large acreages, and over three
separate periods, of the main crops on a mixed farm.
It must be remembered that the land in question is

106 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

situated in an eastern county, that it is in an arable rather
than a grass land district, and further that such grass as
there is is not first-class but just average, or perhaps
somewhat below average.

As Mr. Strutt manages and farms the area with which

Eighteen Years.

Twelve Years

Six Years.

Period 1894-1911.

Period 1894-1905.

Period 1906-11.

Total

Average

Total

Average

Total

Average

Crop.

Number

Profit

Number

Profit

Number

Profit

Acres.

Pf

;r Acre.

Acres.

per Acre.

Acres.

per Acre.

i

S.

d.

£ s.

d.

i s. d.

Wheat . .

4.093

2

18

8

2,3584

2 5

2

1,734*

3 17 0

Barley-

3.6o3i

2

3

4

2,480

2 I

4

i.i23i

279

Winter Oats

1,9804

2

18

6

1,2384

2 17

6

742

3 0 I

Spring Oats

1,3572

2

I

7

7404

I 19

0

617

248

Beans .

521

I

5

I

354

I I

1 1

167

I II II

Peas

595i

0

19

1 1

389J

0 3

2

206

3 3 8

Swede & Man

gold Seed

546

2

5

5

485^

2 8

9

6o4

0 18 6

Red Clover

2,084?,

2

II

6

1,288

2 9

9

796i

2 14 4

Sanfoin

785

I

9

6

69s i

I 8

9

894

I 14 8

Lucerne

7264

I

5

4

544i

I 6

7

182

I I 3

Rye .

Tares .

526

0

6

3

Zi7

0 7

9

189

0 3 7

Trefolium

Mangolds

2,6564

0

18

2

1,6684

0 10

0

988

I 12 5

Potatoes

515I

4

13

I

"32

0 12

4

402

629

Cabbages

Kohl .

703

0

2

8

505*

0 4

0

i97i

002

Rabi, etc.

Maize .

27s

I

4

10

2364

I 4

0

384

I 6 6

Permanent

Grass Land

13.514*

0

7

II

9,1 33i

0 8

7

4,381

066

Note. — Losses are shown in heavy type.

we are here concerned on behalf of a company, the book-
keeping is careful and accurate ; and, in passing, it may
be noted that the shareholders have received a very good
rate of dividends throughout the whole period.

METHODS OF PRODUCTION

107

The accounts given here " represent two farms of
roughly 2000 acres of which three-fifths are arable and
two-fifths pasture, the arable land of a mixed quality,
erring rather on the hea\T side.

" Opposite are the net financial results per acre over
(i) the whole eighteen years ; (2) the first twelve years ;
and (3) the last six years. The average profit per acre
shown has been arrived at after charging all expenses,
including rent, rates and taxes, but excluding interest
on capital.

" The following figures show the result of stock-
keeping on the same area of land : —

18 years

(1894-1911)

Annual Profit.

12 years
(1894-1905) -
Annual IVoflt.

6 years

(1906-11)

Annual Profit.

Cows .

Cattle . .
Pigs . . .
Sheep
Poultry . .

i s. d.

80 1 0 ( .
32 0 0
11 0 0
14 0 0
143 0 0

I s. d.
716 0 0

75 0 0
10 0

32 0 0
159 9 3

{ s. d.
972 0 0

54 0 "
31 0 0

22 0 u
III 0 0

Total Profit

ii?,7 0 0

17^7 9 3

;{II28 0 0

Note. — Losses arc shown in heavy type.

" It will be observed that cows and poultry after being
charged with every expense have been profitable to the
farm. Taking the whole period, cattle, sheep and pigs
have shown a slight loss.

" During the eighteen years the cows kept have
averaged about 450, so that, even in their case, the net
profit each year only amounted to from 43/- to 45/-
per head.

" The net profit from the arable land over the whole

108 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

eighteen years has been ^^2 15s. yd. per acre, and from
the grass land during the same period 7s. iid.

" It is especially interesting to note that the wheat
crop grown in the dry climate of the east of England
has proved itself the most profitable ; and it would seem
to be possible, if the prices of the last six years should
be maintained, that a far larger area of wheat might be
grown than is now the case."

It should be noted that, during the period when
Mr. Strutt's figures show that wheat was the most
profitable crop, the practically universal opinion amongst
farmers was that wheat growing did not pay, but that
raising live stock did. Personally, I began my farming
operations on a large scale in 1903, when I had to take
over 4000 acres of " mixed farm " land as they stood ;
and one very soon realized from the account books
that the live stock department was showing a loss, while
there was a good profit from cereals. In general terms,
the book-keeping on farms is not accurate enough to
show which department is making a profit, and guesses
on such a subject are of no value.

It should, however, be clearly recognized that there
are large numbers of grass-land farmers who do not know
how to handle arable land properly, and who would in
consequence make little or no profit if they attempted
to do so ; also that, while the potential margin of profit is
greater from arable than it is from grass land, in the case
of the poor farm that margin is susceptible to greater
variation than is the case in grass-land farming.

Again there is little doubt that where a nation is hostile
to, or neglects, the agricultural industry, the grass-land
farmer can face such a situation better than " the arable
farmer."

But it should not be necessary to take such a situation

METHODS OF PRODUCTION 109

into consideration ; and in every country, where the
importance of agriculture is reahzed, no doubt exists
in the minds of the cukivators in regard to the superior
profits derivable from plough land.

THE SOILING SYSTEM

Another interesting demonstration is that of the
Harper Adams Agricultural College (Newport, Salop),
which for several years past has been carrying out an
experiment in dairying on arable land — that is, keeping
the cows entirely (apart from cake, etc., purchased)
upon foodstuffs produced from plough land. And for
the sake of comparison they have kept a similar number
of cows on good grass land. The results are most
interesting and of special importance, because they come
from a typical good grass-land district.

In fact, this system of growing soiling crops is more
suited to districts with a fairly heavy rainfall than it is
to the drier eastern counties ; and it provides a sound
and profitable way of keeping land under the plough
in districts where extensive cereal growing would be
perhaps too risky. Here are the results : —

F'ifteen acres produced fodder crops for thirteen cows,
the bulk consumed by the cows as green food, direct
from the field, the rest turned into hay to provide
dry food. In addition the cows received about 4 lb. of
cake a day.

In 1917, 4994 gallons of milk were obtained per acre,
against 198-5 gallons from similar land in grass. And
this is really good grass land ; the average yield of milk
per acre of grass for the whole country does not exceed
120 gallons. We hear much of our wonderful English

110 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

grass ; as a fact, the area of first-class grass is very small
— probably only 500,000 acres.

In 1 91 8 the yield was 548 gallons per acre, or nearly
three times that obtained from land in grass. A great
advantage is that, under this system, the flow of milk is
not subject to the sudden variations that occur in the
case of cows feeding on grass ; and another is that the
yield of milk is heavier in the winter months than it is
in the summer.

The cost of feeding under this system is practically
the same all the year round ; and if farmers will only
take to it, it will prove of great assistance in the
solution of that serious problem — the winter milk
famine.

The net profits obtained were ,^20 os. 3d. per acre,
which are enormous, and which are naturally larger
than would be obtained from a large farm worked on
the same system. These profits are arrived at after
deducting all costs, including interest at 6 per cent on
capital and 10 per cent depreciation.

In practice, and when once organized and established,
this system does not involve any great increase of labour
over the ordinary mixed farm.

We stand in need of more demonstrations of the value
of this system, in different parts of the country, if we are
to wean the farmer from his undue dependence upon
grass. It is extraordinary, when one looks into it, to
find how little it is realized even amongst farmers that
ordinary grass is only first-class food during three months
of the year. I shall include the whole of Mr. J. C.
Brown's Report in the form of an appendix ; and I here
quote only his concluding paragraph, with which I am
in complete agreement, and which contains a great

METHODS OF PRODUCTION 111

economic truth: "This system, if adopted, will un-
doubtedly prove to provide a valuable check to the
Law of Diminishing Returns. And it is one of the
chief duties of the research worker to discover
checks to the Laws of Economy." ^

* Vide Appendix No. Ill on sorting crops.

CHAPTER VI
SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS

A I ^ HE question of the relative production of grass
and of arable land has been dealt with in a

1

preceding chapter. In this chapter the relative
production on small and large holdings will be con-
sidered ; but in the case of small holdings the question
of the proper proportion of grass to arable comes in,
in some ways more strongly than in the case of the large
farm. For, to justify its existence, the small holding
should produce more per acre than the large farm — in
other words it must be more intensively (or highly)
cultivated — but grass is the least " intensive " of all
crops. This does not mean that there should be no small
grass-land holdings ; from 5 up to 20 acres of grass
can prove invaluable to a man who has some other
occupation and whose holding is supplementary. It is
the full-fledged small farm of 30 to 50 acres which should
have the maximum possible amount under the plough.

At the outset let me say that I do not take the view
that England should become a country of small holdings,
any more than I would say that the large farm of several
thousand acres should supersede farms of all other sizes.
There is room for the development of both^ and we shall
probably see this development in the next thirty years
or so.

In some parts, the number of medium-sized farms of

112

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 113

from 100 to 300 acres will probably be reduced, to make
way for an increase in small holdings and in large farms .

From the national point of view the smallholder is
important because he gives solidarity to the agricultural
population — we require a larger number of people with a
direct interest in the land ; and in these days of labour
trouble, the smallhc^lder and his family are generally self-
contained and can dispense with outside hired labour.

The definition of a small holding is " a farm of 50 acres
or under, or whose rental does not exceed ^50 a year."

When small holdings are talked about, people generally
think of the small holdings created by the County
Councils under the Act of 1908. Little is heard of the
great number of old-established small holdings, that have
battled with adverse circumstances for many generations.
It is typical of a land-ignorant people like ourselves to
pass over, and leave unassisted, a great existing class
of agriculturists ; and to spend large sums of money
in placing a few new men on the land, under a system
and under conditions which are far from satisfactory.

How many people realize that of the half million farmers
in the United Kingdom no less than 230,000 are small-
holders ? How many realize that from 1908 to 19 14 the
combined effort of all the County Councils in England
resulted in the placing of only 16,000 people upon the
land ? We must remember that of these 16,000 only some
1500 were placed on newly equipped small farms.
The shortage of houses in the country' was an ever-
increasing evil ; yet this Small Holdings Act only brought
about the erection of 1500 new houses and buildings !

But the legislation was passed, and the stupid people
who had been fussing about giving access to the land to
the vast numbers who were supposed to be clamouring
for it were satisfied. The Small I loldings Act slu^uld have

a

114 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

been regarded and administered as a " Home Settlement
Act " ; Sweden shows us what can be done in that
direction in an old country.

From start to finish no thought was given as to how,
and under what conditions, the men should be placed
upon the land ; and, even worse, no thought was given
to the 230,000 existing smallholders and the need of
improving their condition ! Our land " reformers,"
chiefly townsmen, with their parrot-like cry of " access
to the land," were too lazy to study the problem of small
holding settlement, or to see for themselves the results
of organized settlement in countries where the right
system had been adopted.

The motto should have been " make good before you
extend " ; and had the Government, acting upon this
principle, set out in the first place to organize the existing
smallholders and to create for them conditions as good
as exist in other countries, the nation would then have
realized the economic and social possibilities of small
holdings. And newly established smallholders would
have been joining a highly organized and flourishing
community. In fact, if this course had been adopted,
the small holding section would have increased and
developed as a natural consequence ; there would have
been sound growth, instead of artificial growth.

All this is not only a case of " should have been," it
is the practical issue of what " can be " to-day, and this
side is of greater importance than ever before. We wish
to increase the yield of the land : the yield of the existing
small holdings can be enormously increased.

At the present time it is impossible to create new
small holdings on an economic basis, for the cost of
building and equipment is prohibitive ; let us, therefore,
concentrate on the existing small holdings. This is

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 115

unanswerable logic — but, alas ! we are not a logical
people !

I have in mind a district of small holdings (and there
are many such districts) ; at the present moment they
are not being cultivated to the national advantage ; the
smallholders are doing the best they can, under the
circumstances, and are putting up a splendid tight against
adverse transport and marketing conditions. Yet it would
not cost a large sum of money to turn that district into
a demonstration of a flourishing small holding colony.

Organized transport by means of motors, and in some
cases light railways, would put the smallholders within
reach of markets.

Organized marketing by means of co-operative societies
would free the smallholder from the " strangle-hold "
of the huckster who to-day handles his produce, and
takes much of the profit that should go to the small-
holder.

Organized supervision and expert guidance would show
the smallholder the advisability of altering his system of
cropping ; and he would be a willing learner if rightly
approached. Instead of having much of his land under
grass (generally an uneconomic crop for a smallholder)
and raismg sheep and beasts of rather indilferent quality,
he would go in for arable land dairying. And we must
look to the smallholder more and more to produce the
much-needed increase in our milk supply. It is becoming
increasingly diflicult for the large dairy farmer to get
milkers, and consequently many are going out of the
business.

Organized access to capital would enable the small-
holder to eff^ect these changes, which would result in
trebling the production from his holding and doubling
his income. This is not an exaggerated statement ;

116 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

there are plenty of examples to show what can be obtained
from the small holding properly cropped and run.
Incidentally, the question of access to capital has received
far less attention in this country than on the Continent ;
yet it is the key which unlocks the door to the land and its
successful cultivation.

In my criticism of the small holdings created between
1908 and 1 9 14, 1 do not wish to imply that the procedure
of the County Councils has been altogether bad ; as
far as their own interests are concerned it has been quite
good. The County Councils have lost very little money
over small holdings ; the smallholders have met their
obligations well, and the amount of rent in arrear is
negligible. I am not here discussing the post-war
situation.

It is when we come to the interests of the smallholders
themselves that our system breaks down ; for, speaking
generally, they have not been settled under right con-
ditions, and in consequence they are not as effective
producers of food as they should be — this to the nation's
disadvantage as well as their own. In other countries
the Governments have realized, much more clearly than
we, the importance of the smallholder in the agricultural
community ; and they have taken sound measures to
secure the creation of conditions favourable to him.
This has not involved spoon-feeding, or paternalism ;
the smallholders were simply given opportunity and
encouragement to organize and improve their own
conditions, and transport was provided as a matter of
course and as a national affair.

In parenthesis, let me say that placing smallholders
on the land is " settlement," and creating the right
conditions for smallholders is *' scientific settlement " ;
but it V* as only when our Government was faced with the

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 117

problem of dealing with cx-senice men that they, for
the first time, gave any consideration to the problem
of " organized " or " scientific " settlement. As the
result of considerable pressure, the Government appointed
the Verney Committee in 191 6; and the report of this
Committee (cd. 9079) is noteworthy, in that it is
the first to lay down the principles of sound settlement.
Its recommendations have been more or less embodied
in the '* Settlement (Facilities) Act," and rather less
than more, they have been or are in the process of
being carried out.

Further details are given in Appendix No. IV.

There is much variety in the types of small holdings,
as also in their size. Technically, a holding of under
5 acres is an allotment, though in fact the majority of
allotments are of i acre and under.

Market garden holdings would be, as a rule, of under
5 acres ; in France or Belgium, with their wonderful
intensive methods of cultivation, one acre is considered
the economic size, and a skilled man can make from
j(^8o to ^100 net per annum (at pre-war rates) off such
a holding. Next in size w'ould come the combined
market garden and fruit holding, averaging about 10
acres, with tree fruit or bush fruit.

The jruit Jarm is planted with standard apple, pear,
plum, or cherry trees, as the case may be, and often with
raspberries, currants, or gooseberries between the rows
of trees. This type of farm may range froni 20 to 50
acres in size, 30 acres probably being about the average.
When in full bearing the gross yield can be ^(^80 to ;Cioo
per acre, and more in exceptional cases, and one has known
men to clear £40 per acre in a good year. At a very
moderate estimate the profits from this t}'pe of farm should
average £20. Hut prtjfits will always depend upon the

118 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

human factor — one man makes good where another fails.
The Evesham district in Worcestershire is one of the best
examples of this type of holding, and the development
there during the last thirty years has been remarkable.
Wherever there are holdings of the above types in con-
siderable numbers — and the whole aim ought to be to
concentrate them — there should be fruit and vegetable
drying plants, and jam, bottling, and fruit pulp factories ;
only so can prices be steadied and the effect of gluts
avoided.

The small j arm. On grass land, holdings range up to
50 acres (generally 30 to 50 acres where the holder
counts on making his livelihood from the land) in the
western half of England ; and a very fine development
of the grass-land dairy holding, averaging about 30 acres,
is to be found in Cheshire and Lancashire. But even
here a larger area might be advantageously under the
plough. This would reduce the large purchases of food
stuffs for the cows ; and one of the axioms for the small-
holder is : " Be as self-contained as possible." The
Lancashire smallholders are progressive and have
responded well to the efforts of their County Council
to give them the full advantage of expert guidance in all
matters relating to the land. This County Council
expends a larger sum on agricultural education than does
any other County Council, and the beneficial results are
clearly seen.

One word more in regard to small grass-land holdings.
It is not intended to rule out the grass holdings altogether,
for when they a.re properly looked ajter they are justifiable.
A few acres of grass land may be a great boon to the
agricultural labourer, enabling him to keep a cow and
earn extra money with less work than he would have to
bestow upon an arable holding ; it often happens that

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 119

the \vife and children attend altogether to the cow and
holding, while the man is working for a wage.

The carrier and the carter really require some grass
land, and the small village tradesman too is often keen
to have a field. But this class of holder is prone to
regard his land just as a convenient run for his horses,
or an odd beast or two, and to neglect it. These men
have a right to have this land only if they can tend it
properly.

It is well to bear in mind that there are two main
divisions into which smallholders fall — the first, those
whose aim is to make their entire living off their farm ;
the second, those who are more or less dependent upon
some other source for their livelihood, and who regard
their holding as supplementary.

There are districts in which a man would find it hard
to make a living solely from his holding, and yet where
it would be a most profitable adjunct to some other
occupation. In other words, there are cases where a dual
occupation is more profitable than a single one ; in many
countries the system of dual occupation has been much
more developed than with us. To give an example,
afforestation work and work on a small holding make a
most happy and profitable combination.

In the eastern half of England the small holdings —
again averaging from 30 to 50 acres largely of arable
land — produce a certain amount of corn (in some
districts specializing on potatoes) and beasts and some
sheep, rather than cows. And it is this type of farm that
should be gradually transformed into arable dairy farms,
and the necessary conditions created to secure their
success. For the farmer with less than 50 acres cannot
afford grass as a crop in the eastern counties. He should
go in for lucerne and other fodder crops that may suit his

120 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

locality. I am afraid the majority of smallholders of
this type do not earn an income of much more than ^i a
week in cash, plus the home-grown food they consume,
and a rent-free dwelling. This cannot be considered an
adequate return for the " effort output " on the part of
the man ; in Denmark on similar holdings the small
farmer earns at least double this cash income. (These
figures are all on a pre-war basis.)

The first step necessary to secure the potential develop-
ment of the small farm, whether on grass land or on
arable, is to organize the " bulk " handling of its produce ;
by the establishment of the creamery, dealing with the
distribution of whale milk, or turning it into butter, or
cheese, as the case may be ; of the hacon jactory and of
the poultry and egg depot — for pig and poultry keeping
should be important side issues on all small holdings.
The first object of collective marketing by means of the
factory, or depot, is to provide the machinery to under-
take all the business side for the smallholder. The small-
holder's whole effort should be to produce food by the
direct labour of his hands, and unlike the large farmer
he has not the time to attend markets, nor the business
training necessary to meet professional dealers on equal
terms. That is why the business side must be done for
the smallholder.

It is quite useless to expect smallholders themselves
to start these factories and depots on a co-operative
basis. They have not the necessary capital or knowledge ;
and merely preaching co-operation is not effective. Far
better is the Australian method, where the Government
erects the factory, manages it until it is well estabHshed
and paying its way, and then encourages the small-
holders gradually to buy the Government out, and to
own the concern co-operatively. From the outset the

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 121

smallholders appoint a committee of management to
work with the factory manager, in order to train for the
work. This applies not only to the factories and depots,
but to all stores and other agencies which do business
for the group of smallholders.

Although it will be to the national advantage to see
a great development of dual occupation, with men
settled on holdings from which they do not draw' their
entire livelihood — still our main object should be to
see, not only that the bona fide smallholders do not
decrease, but that their numbers are increased where
and when possible.

The present cost of building and equipment is so great
that it would be wise to check the creation of small
holdings for the next few years— not only in the interests
of economy, but of the holders themselves — for the
present cost overweights them in regard to capital. And
apart from the present cost, even before the war I always
felt that the expenditure on buildings was too great ;
a man starting upon a new small holding in England
should be willing to go through the same housing phases
as the settler in the new^ world, first the temporary
shack, and then the good cottage. And many men,
especially if unmarried, would be quite willing to do
this ; but our housing rules and regulations permit it not.
Too high a standard has been set, and this means too
great an initial capital expenditure ; which in the end
will prevent, or delay in any case, the smallholders'
upward progress.

When circumstances again permit of the creation of
new small holdings, we should bear these points in
mind ; and meanwhile we can be organizing the business
side, putting t(jgether the framework for turning all our
existing smallholders into more efficient producers.

122 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

This will make our area of land go further — for where
an Englishman asks for 50 acres, the Dane asks for 25
and makes more of them, and earns a larger profit, than
the Englishman from his 50 acres.

We have now arrived at a point when we can discuss
the relative economy of the small holding in comparison
with the larger holding. On the one hand there is the
out-and-out advocate for small holdings — generally a
townsman and a theorist, who knows nothing of the
economy of either small or large holdings, and who
has an impracticable vision of all the land of the
United Kingdom being divided up amongst small-
holders. On the other side you have a large body of
people with a practical knowledge of agriculture who,
while they admit that the maintenance and even the
development of small holdings is desirable on social
and national grounds, say that they are not and cannot
be economic.

That small holdings are not altogether uneconomic,
even to-day, is clearly proved by the fact that there
exist some 230,000 old-established small holdings ; they
would not exist at all unless the men were making a
living, and they certainly would not be making a living
unless they were clearing more per acre than the average
profit per acre obtained on the larger farm. Even in the
present unorganized condition of our agriculture (and the
smallholder suffers from this want of organization far
more acutely than does the large farmer) such figures as
are available tend to prove that our small holdings, in
spite of the present unsatisfactory conditions, produce
more food per acre, and a larger profit per acre, for
the cultivator than do the large farms. In no continental
country would it be necessary to adduce proof of this,
for it is an accepted fact.

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 128

The great difficulty is that most of the opponents of
small holdings are men definitely interested in large
farming, who fear that an increase of small holdings will
cause inconvenience to the large farmers (which will
be the case sometimes) ; or they have had striking proof
of the bad condition and handling of certain small
holdings they know intiniately, and they generalize from
this experience. In some strange way they pass over
the fact that they know of equally bad management of,
and of bad results from, large farms. There are
numberless farms of 300 and 400 acres managed as
badly as can be ; yet one does not hear it generally
said that, in consequence, there should be no farms
of this size, or that they are uneconomic !

Unfortunately most of the members of the County
Council Small Holdings Committees belong to the type
just described. Further, as a rule they are men without
great vision ; they do not realize how unfavourable to
smallholders are the present conditions, nor the revolution
that the creation of good conditions would bring about.

We are indeed in an unfortunate position — our urban
visionaries are without practical knowledge, and our
practical men are possessed of little vision !

As a rough basis for comparison reference may again
be made to the statement that the average grass produc-
tion per acre in the United Kingdom was ^4 sterling
before the war. Taking an example of the most intensive
cultivation, land under the French method of market
gardening produces over £s'^^ worth of vegetables per
acre per annum, giving quite a fair margin of profit —
^80 to jC^°o ^ year. Under ordinary English market
gardening the turnover would be about /[lOO a year.
In the case of cultivation under glass a yield of /iiooo
a year gross per acre has been obtained in dillerenl

124 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

places I have visited— in Essex and Jersey for example —
and the net profit ranged from ;(^200 to ;^400 per acre.
But for cultivation under glass the initial capital outlay
is very great, and expert knowledge of a very high order
is necessary to secure success. The present high cost of
equipment would make development in this direction
impossible.

The capital outlay for the French system of market
gardening was about ;^50o per acre — this at pre-war
prices ; in fact all these figures are pre-war, as with the
present rapid fluctuation it is hard to give reliable
figures.

From the 5 -acre market garden and fruit holding
I have three returns showing j^iio, ;^i25 and ;^i30, as
the net cash income three holders received from their
land ; and this after paying annual instalments which
would purchase the land in twenty years. To these
cash receipts should be added the value of the produce
from the holding consumed by the family.

Taking the fruit farm of 30 acres, for instance, in the
Evesham district, at a conservative estimate the gross
yield per acre would average something about j^6o, and
the net profit about fjzo per acre. The Lancashire grass-
land holdings show about as good results as can be
found from this type. I have seen w^ell-kept accounts
in this district which show profits ranging from f^ to
f^\o per acre, and a gross turnover of up to ^10 per acre.
I have been on holdings of 30 acres which were carrying
fifteen cows and a number of pigs — this is what may be
termed " intensive grass farming." But these holdings
were splendidly situated in regard to markets, and the men
themselves were particularly progressive. The average
grass-land holding of 30 to 50 acres probably does not
yield more than a cash profit of ^2 per acre. And very

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 125

much the same result is obtained from the average small
mixed farm, except where the land is particularly good
as, for instance, in the neighbourhood of Spalding. Here
the area that provides a man with a good living is much
less than in most parts ; men can do well on 20 acres.

A notable feature on the Continent is the way in
which the smallholder builds up his land, turning, by
his treatment of it, light poorish soils into highly pro-
ductive. We have hardly begun to understand this, and
in consequence the general opinion is that it is essential
to place smallholders on land of very good quality.
Hea\'>' land is not suitable for small holdings ; but
comparatively poor land, provided it is easy working,
is suitable and, as it can be bought at a lower figure,
an important saving in the initial expenditure can be
effected.

I know intimately a holding of 27 acres, on land that
would fetch from ^'20 to £2^ per acre in the market,
which has been handled in an up-to-date way. It is an
arable dairy farm, carr\'ing ten cows in milk ; the only
grass, a paddock of i acre adjoining the cow-shed ;
cropping 5 acres lucerne, 7 acres mangolds, 14 acres
oats and barley. The financial results of an average
year (1914) were — gross sales of milk, oats and barley
j(^530, or just under ^(^20 per acre. The profit received
by the smallholder was ^^220 or about £S 3s. per acre ;
this after paying all working expenses, rent, rates and his
own wage at £50 per annum, but not including interest
upon his working capital which was /[350 or about
£12 per acre. At the present time it would require
more than twice as much working capital to ensure
success. But his gross receipts last year were about
/^looo, and his profit ,(^400.

The buildings, standings for ten cows, two pigsties

126 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

and an implement shed, cheaply constructed in wood,
cost £120. The good three-bedroomed and parlour
cottage cost ;£225 ; fencing and water (laid on from a
main close by) £2^ — total ^^370. This equipment could
not be provided to-day for less than ,^2000.

This holding is an interesting example of the applica-
tion of Danish methods to a small holding in the eastern
counties ; and the gross yield, with profit per acre, is
largely in excess of that obtained from the usual small
holding on similar land in this country. But it shows
what can be done. After four or five most profitable
years the Danish tenant returned to Denmark ; the
present holder is an Englishman who has been in posses-
sion for two years, and is doing as well as his pre-
decessor.

Expensive machinery ought to be owned co-operatively
and serve a group of holdings ; only so can its economic
use be secured. Much nonsense is talked about all the
holders wanting the machine at the same moment. In
practice, where this system is properly worked, the
results are satisfactory ; and it means that the small
farm can thus be placed on a par with the large farm
in regard to up-to-date machinery. It would be unwise
to forecast the profits derivable from farming during
the coming years. But this can safely be said that, as
far as labour is concerned, the smallholder will be in the
best position because he is independent of outside
labour.

THE MEDIUM-SIZED FARM

So much for the economy of the small holding ; we
will now consider that of the medium-sized farms —
those of 100 to 300 acres in the eastern half of England.
One finds that many of these are under-capitalized and ,

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 127

quite apart from that point, are in the hands of men who
are not farming them well ; some of these men are
incapable of better farming, others would improve
greatly under guidance. But in any such question as
this, the great variations as between counties must be
remembered. In the North Riding of Yorkshire, for
instance, the 250-acre farm is generally very well done,
and the falling off is in the 400- to 600-acre farm ;
whereas in Lincolnshire the 400- to Coo-acre farm is
generally well done, and the 200- to 300-acre farm may
be indifferent.

One important result of the War Executives has been
to bring home to the agriculturists who worked upon
them how serious is the degree of bad farming in this
country. It is only when information is tabulated that
one can really see how matters stand. Every day good
agriculturists, in their walks abroad, used to see the
bad farming of the medium-sized farms ; but they
were not in the limelight as were our small holdings,
and so little notice was taken of the condition of these
farms.

It is quite certain that a large number of the indifferent
medium-sized farms did not bring in 10/- per acre
profit to the tenant. The working capital before the
war could not have averaged over ^6 per acre and often
much less. F'arms of this description were let at from
10/- to 12/- per acre. On this basis the farmer who put
in, say, ;^i8oo as working capital on a 300-acre farm, and
cleared £is^ pcr annum, after paying rent and working
expenses would only have ^^78 for his personal remunera-
tion after paying 4 per cent interest on his capital. It
is true he had his house rent-free, and the greater part
of his household requirements from the farm ; but
still the results are ridiculously inadequate, when one

U8 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

considers the intrinsic capital value of the land and
its potential income-earning capacity.

It cannot be said that this class of farmer has very
materially improved his position during the war. The
large and good farmer has done so. He was able to
make the best (and quite legitimate) use of the oppor-
tunity to win back, for the agricultural industry, sofne
proportion of the capital lost to it during the great
depression owing to the lack of intelligence on the part
of the Government and the nation. Looking to the future
I think we shall see this type of farm absorbed into
large industrial farms, which are bound to develop, or
where the land is suitable turned into small holdings.

Coming to the good farmer, I personally know men
who always counted on doubling, or even trebhng, the
turnover of any farm they took over from an indifferent
farmer ; and they generally succeeded in doing so.
Here mixed arable farming is under review ; not potato
farming in which the gross turnover is very high.
The men referred to secured a gross turnover of
from j^io to j(^i2 per acre, and a net profit of from £2
to £2 per acre, as compared with the average £/\. per
acre gross output and £1 per acre profit. Where the
term net profit is used, the profit after all working expenses,
and rental, and interest on the capital has been paid, is
meant. Otherwise, where the term profit is employed
it means the cash available for the farmer to spend, after
having paid rental and working expenses but not interest
on his working capital.

A 191 2 budget of a looo-acre mixed farm in Germany,
where the gross turnover averaged ^16 per acre, shows a
net profit of £^ per acre (the value of the products having
been worked out at the then current English prices).

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 129

THE INDUSTRIAL FARM

Much has been heard of the advantages to be gained
from the really large industrial farm of 5000 acres, or
even up to 10,000 ; there is certainly room for this type
of farm ; in fact it could play a very important part,
particularly in improving the cultivation of poor, heavy
land.

I am in no way opposed to this development, but there
are many difficulties in the way of achieving it ; difficulties
which I have experienced personally, for I have been
connected with such an enterprise.

First, a ver^' large amount of capital is necessary —
/] 1 00,000 working capital for a 5000-acre farm is about
the lowest figure at which it can be put, and at least
another ;(^ioo,ooo if the land is bought and not rented ;
and it is by no means easy to get capital for agricultural
enterprise in England, though if the venture were in
Patagonia it would probably prove attractive !

Secondly, it is by no means easy to find the right
manager, and success or failure will depend upon the
manager.

Thirdly, a large labour staff will be necessary ; and
at present, and probably for some time to come, the
handling of large groups of labourers presents special
difficulties.

Fourthly, even if well paid, the relations of the labourer
to the employing company, or syndicate, arc not as
healthy as those which exist where there is a resident
farmer. And, from the social point of view, the labourer
would be more \aluable to the community as a small-
holder than as a member of a large staff.

Fifthly, the overhead charges are high, especially if
tiic directors have to be paid ; these charges might well

y

130 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

swallow up all the profits if the management be at all
defective.

If the industrial farm is to be of full benefit to the
nation, it is clear that it should absorb the indifferent
medium-sized farms on land not suitable for small
holdings. Public opinion would be averse to industrial
farms absorbing typical smallholding land. The ad-
vantages are that it is potentially easier to run a very
large farm as a business, and secure the economic use
of costly machinery and the full organization of labour.
For purposes of management it would probably be found
advisable to divide the large farms into " management
units " of 1000 acres ; even so, it would be hard to find
really efiicient managers of looo acres, and harder still
to find a man fully qualified to be the super-manager of
5000 acres. This country does not produce many such.

People who have but a superficial knowledge of
agriculture are often heard to argue that, because the
big factory is more economic than the small factory,
the big farm must be more economic than the small
farm. But this argument can be pushed too far even
in the case of the factory ; the small factory has certain
advantages from the human point of view, and its
" economy " could be greatly bettered by a full develop-
ment of electric power.

When one comes to the land the comparison to a
large extent breaks down ; agriculture is fundamentally
different from any urban industry. Not only is it more
affected by the weather, but the human element comes
into it on a larger scale than into any other industry.
The handling of animals forms a large part of the work
— and the " pony fattens best under the master's eye."
The land itself responds to the individual in a way and
to a degree that a machine does not. It is impossible to

SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS

131

give the same degree of individual care per acre on a
I coo-acre farm as can be given on a 30- to 50-acre
holding.

And again, among the men working on large farms
there are, and ahvavs will be, a certain number whose
ambition it is to have individual holdings of their own ;
this is a healthy ambition which should be satisfied.
The importance of the smallholder in stabilizing the
social condition must not be lost sight of; and as
soon as circumstances permit the development of
small holdings should be taken in hand again.
Meanwhile, those desirous of a small holding, and not
averse to migration, should be given the opportunity of
settling in our lands oversea on the best possible terms
and under carefully organized conditions.

To sum up from the figures I have given in this
chapter, it is clear that even under the present unfavour-
able conditions the average production per acre from
the small holding is higher than the general average for
the country, and the same holds good in regard to profit.

The following table is interesting as showing the
results of a well-run colony — which is indeed a settle-
ment— in regard to the head of population and Hve stock
carried, marking the increase in favour of small holdings.

Cheshire County Council, 1916.

/•'imr Colonies aggregating 3070 acres.

No. of Holdings.

Popula-
tion.

Cattle.

Horses.

Pigs.

Sheep.

Poultry.

As at present 95
Before purchase . 29

536
175

2282
1 142

170
63

1256
306

210
190

3400
760

Increase 66

361

II40

107

9SO

20

2640

CHAPTER VII

FARM ACCOUNTS AND DEMONSTRATION

FARMS

IN a preceding chapter sufficient evidence has been
produced to show that arable land produces more
food per acre than grass land ; and all the evidence
also goes to show that our land, both arable and grass,
should produce more than it does. But we need informa-
tion and data which can come only from carefully kept
accounts ; we must know the financial results of the
application of new scientific methods to the land on a
commercial scale.

All increase in production is due to the application of
science to the land. In the thirteenth century the yield
of wheat in England was only about 5 bushels to the
acre ; this yield has been gradually increased until it
now stands at an average of 31 bushels per acre.

The first improvements were due to the learning by
practical farmers of how better to perform the processes
of cultivation. Then there is the science of the seedsman,
who studies varieties of seeds, and makes improvement
by selection and the actual breeding of new varieties ;
and finally there is the science of the highly trained man
who tells the agriculturist what chemicals to use. We
have by no means yet reached the limits of what science
can do for agriculture. For this reason exact data are
needed to show the results, on a commercial scale, of

132

FARM ACCOUNTS 133

the application of certain methods and of certain
scientific discoveries to the land. This should be the
great work of the Agricultural Costings Committee
already referred to.

It is quite impossible to make guesses in regard to the
law of diminishing returns. This economic law has an
important bearing upon agriculture, for there is a point
in production beyond which it does not pay to go ;
but it is not an immutably fixed point. Let us take a
concrete example : supposing the yield of wheat to be
30 bushels per acre — at which it gives a profit of, say,
£2 per ^cre — in the interests of agricultural development
we should like to increase that yield to 40 bushels per
acre. If the money spent in higher cultivation, to secure
the increase of 10 bushels, is more than covered by the
value of the increase then clearly it is good business.
But if the cost of producing those 10 bushels exceeds
their value, then from the farmer's point of view it is
bad business.

If it were our object to produce an increase of 20
bushels instead of 10 bushels, although we could do it,
we should find that the profit (if any) would be less on
the second 10 bushels than on the first. Or, looking at
it from a somewhat different point of view — if the
application of 20/- worth of artificial manure per acre
leads to an increased yield in grain to the value of 30/-
per acre, it is a paying expenditure ; but to spend 50/-
upon artificials and obtain an increase of, say, 40 '-
worth of grain would be uneconomic.

Only by the proper and scientific book-keeping of
" demonstration production," can we find out at what
point the law of diminishing return becomes active.

It is noticeable that, while in this country we
stand much in fear of this law, on the Continent

134 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

farmers are much more interested in the converse
law, that of " increasing return." That is why, as
ah-eady stated, the average yield of wheat in Denmark
is some 30 per cent higher than it is here.

The great difficulty is that, not only do farmers not
keep sufficiently accurate accounts, but they are naturally
averse, even under the seal of secrecy, to disclose the real
results.^ Therefore, it will only be by means of estab-
lishing a large number of demonstration farms, run by
the State (or local authority on lines laid down by the
central authority), that we can hope to get the accurate
information needed. The twofold object must be kept
in view : —

(a) Of increasing the yield per acre ;

(b) Of reducing the cost of production per acre.

Now one of the chief features in cheapening the cost
of production is the organizing and efficient handling of
labour. And here comes in the personal equation ; one
man is a born organizer, and the next is not — in fact, for
one man who can organize his labour well there are
probably ten who cannot do so. But these ten, under a
proper system of expert guidance, can be induced to em-
ploy the best methods in regard to the general treatment
of their land. The expert, however, cannot be fully
effective unless he has a farm for practical demonstration.

The interim report of the Costings Committee deals
with the accounts of some 300 farms, covering 146,000
acres in England, Wales and Scotland, and shows a
profit of j(^i 6s. per acre or 10 per cent on the farmer's
working capital. This 10 per cent interest is really
gross interest, for nothing is allowed to the farmer as

^ The compulsory returns for Income Tax under Schedule D,
will soon produce valuable results.

FARM ACCOUNTS 135

remuneration for his personal services. A definite de-
duction should be made for this.

Again, taking the profit in terms per acre, ^i 6s. is
clearly an impossible figure ; much too low. If reference
is made to Mr. Strutt's statement (page io8) one can be
well assured that, if his profit was over ^i per acre in
1 91 2, the profits in 191 8-19 must exceed ,^1 6s. per
acre ; and the writer knows one farm intimately, on
poor land but under particularly able management,
where the net receipts per acre were over l^^ during the
whole period of the war. Further, this profit oi ^\ 6s.
per acre does not represent excess of receipts over
expenditure, but is entirely earned by increase in
valuation : i.e. the stock, etc., on the farm was worth
more at the end of the year than at the beginning. And
if really valuable accounts are to be kept, one of the first
principles to recognize is that the valuation and variation
in stock, etc., should come under the head of " capital
account," and not " current account."

The net profit on a farm should be the excess of
receipts over all expenditure during the " farm year."

Increase in stock which could have been sold, but was
not sold, should not come in ; that increase comes into
the " capital account," and may or may not be realized
during a subsequent year.

In my own farm accounts the stock is still returned
at pre-war values ; all I want to know is whether the
original working capital, that I put into my farm, is
covered by the stock, etc., at present on the farm —
valued by a professional valuer and at original prices.

If I wind up my business, and retire with an increased
capital, that increase should be shown as capital, and
not as an annual profit.

I am sure that Sir A. D. Hall is right in keeping to a

136 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

fixed valuation, of so much per acre, in his farm accounts.
It is an important point ; for it is misleading to show in
the net profit for the year sums which are not realized,
and often cannot be realized. The net profit should
be the sum that can be actually withdrawn, and
used as income, by the farmer.

To give an example, in illustration, not of a farmer,
but of a man with ^20,000 in securities at 5 per cent.

To Value of Securi- By Value of Se-

ties at beginning curities at end

of year . . ,{^20,000 of year . . ,(^20,400

By Interest at 5

Profit ... 1 ,400 per cent . i ,000

5^21,400 5^21400

But the man's income is not ;(^i400, but X^°oo '■>
and if he based his annual expenditure on the basis of
such a balance-sheet, he would soon find himself in
financial difficulties. There is no doubt that a consider-
able number of persons connected with agriculture have
become financially involved, because they have failed to
distinguish clearly between capital and income.

Another point in farm accounts ; it is interesting to
see the total results of the operations of the farming year,
and not to carry profit belonging to one year on into the
next, or at least to as small an extent as possible. If on
April 6th, 1920, for instance, you have on hand corn
estimated at ,^400 from the 1919 crop, I like to see that
shown in the profit for the year 1919-20 and not
carried on into the next ; for probably that corn will be
sold within a few weeks of closing the accounts and a
subsequent adjustment can be made.

So that the form of balance-sheet which I have adopted

FARM ACCOl^'TS

187

is as follows. It is taken from a balance-sheet worked
out by the chartered accountant and is only another
and, to my mind, clearer way of saying the same thing.

And if partnership farming between the landowner
and his manager should develop in this country, I am sure
it is the best form to adopt.

FARM —

April 6, 1917, to April 6, 1918

Current Account

Dr.

To Com and cake pur-
chased

,, Seeds

,, Implements

,, Miscellaneous expenses

„ Wages

„ Rates, taxes and insur-
ance

„ Rent

,, Interest on working
capital

,, Cattle purchased

„ Horses

„ Artificial manures

{. s. d.

988 8

103 t

5 3

483 o

1115 10

7

9

II

3

2

97 19 II
433 Ki O

250 9
129 17
129 3
368 15

Profit for division with
partner

£4105 4 9
2666 15 I

£0771 19 10

A'o<r.— The sale of cows
this year was somewhat
above the average.

On April 6th there was
00 com " oii hand " this
yew.

By Com sales.
,, Milk sales .
„ Hay and straw sales
„ Cattle sales
,, Miscellaneous receipts

Cr.

£ s-

3117 10

2365 II

23 12

974 I

91 3

To Valuation April 6, 1917
„ Increaie being profit
(not withdrawn)

Total

Gross sales of produce per

acre
Average yield of milk per

cow, gallons
Average yield of wheat per

acre, qrs.
Average yield of barley per

acre, qrs.
Average yield of oats per

acre, qrs.
Cost of labour per acre
Cost of artificials per acre

Capital .Account
5355 7 5 By valuation, April 6. 1918 ")649 17 8

294 10 3

£6771

19 10

£13

0 0

657

^\

si

£2
£0

8

3 0

14 0

£5649 >7 8

£5649 17 8

tiolt. — A licensed valuer values each
year, and at pre war prict-s. The one
object being to sec that the working
capital docs not drop below the £}ooo
onpnaUy put in.

138 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

At the present time, with the existing attitude of the
consumer towards the producer, there is no doubt that,
even if their system of book-keeping would enable them
to do so, few good farmers wish to disclose the results
they achieve.

With the prices for agricultural commodities that
have ruled since 1914 the good farmer has made a
good profit ; but the indifferent farmer has been faced
with difficulties, and increased expenditure, that leave
him only moderately better off than he was in pre-war
days.

The net income, per acre, of the average farmer on
medium-sized farms was very small indeed before the
war, 20/- an acre and often much less. The good
farmer, who was a good business man as well, made
much more ; but then he was producing more food for
the country.

This is a point the consumer should remember ; also
that the good farmer has a right to deduct a substantial
salary for his own work, before he declares his rate of
interest. It is for this reason that I feel that not only
should careful farm accounts be kept, but that they
should be made public without reservation.

With the increasing cost of labour it is essential to
have first-class book-keeping ; so that the rate of labour
per acre, in producing various crops, can easily be ascer-
tained. At no period in our agricultural history has it
been more important to reduce the cost of production ;
and this cannot be done unless we can accumulate the
necessary data, based on accurate accounts. They are
the searchlights which illuminate the road to future
developments.

far:m accounts i3o

THE DEMONSTR.\TION FARM

A demonstration farm must be a success commercially
or it will not serve its object. It differs entirely from an
" experimental farm " ; which is not supposed to pay —
it is really a " research farm."

We are behind other countries in regard to demonstra-
tion farms ; only quite recently can we be said to have
had any at all, and the worst of it is that those we now
have are losing heavily. This is no good at all, but the
demonstration farm in continental countries pays, and
pays well, and it must be made to pay here.

The demonstration farm is essential to our future
developments ; without it we shall never get an accurate
system of costing.

And one reason why our new demonstration farms do
not pav is because in England we can rarely find the right
type of manager to handle them. A highly qualified
man is needed, and though of course we have many
highly qualified agriculturists in England, they will not
accept the post of manager of a Government farm for a
salary of ^(^500 or ;(^6oo a year ; they can do far better
than that on their own. A first-class manager should
earn an income of from /^looo to £1500 a year, and the
bulk of it should be derived from a percentage on the
profits he has earned for the farm — payment by result
is the soundest of all business principles -but unfortu-
nately it is a principle which is not understood by the
Imperial Treasury ; if it were, we should have a very
different show ing for the expenditure of public money !

Then again our existing demonstration farms are not
real demonstrations on a commercial basis. They are
mixed iij) with settlement schemes ; ex-service men

140 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

are sent to these farms, often men not carefully selected,
and who are not good workers. Or else the Ministry
of Agriculture interferes with the manager of the farm,
and prescribes the method of farming ; in certain cases
a different method has been prescribed every six months.
All this is quite impossible. Once a good manager is
appointed he should have absolute control ; he should
choose his labourers, and devise his own scheme of
farming.

This principle is as fundamental as it should be
obvious ; yet it has been entirely ignored by the Ministry
of Agriculture.

The result, — a complete failure of the State farms,
and the admission on the part of the Ministry, after two
years' bitter experience, " that farming cannot be con-
veniently managed from Whitehall " ! ^ The admission
is valuable, but the experiment has been costly, and the
loss could have been avoided had the Ministry really
studied how Demonstration farms are managed in
countries in which they have been a great success.

1 Vide the debates in Parliament on the Ministry of Agriculture
vote, April 19, 1921.

CHAPTER VllI

ON TAKING UP AN AGRICULTURAL

CAREER

THIS chapter is meant for the man who wishes to
live in the country' and to take up farming, but who
has had no previous experience of agriculture.
There' is no doubt that at present a large number of
men would like to farm if they thought there was a fair
prospect of success. Some of these men have capital,
and could embark upon farming on a fairly large scale —
large farming as opposed to small farming.

Many of them, on the other hand, would not have much
capital ; sometimes, not even enough to run a small
holding properly without recourse to borrowed capital.

THE INEXPERIEN'CED MAN WITH CAPITAL

Take first the case of the man with a fair amount of
capital. He is inexperienced, and he may elect to go
through a course of study which will give him a certain
insight into farming operations ; this would be all to the
good, but it would not give him the practical knowledge
or experience requisite for the successful running of a
large farm.

He might, of course, cither buy or rent his 400- or 500-
acre farm, put in an ordinary bailiff, and following the
usual methods of the gentleman farmer have a pleasant

141

142 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

life and home, and not lose much. But this would not
be doing his duty by the land ; he should set out to earn
a really good interest on his capital, and also be deter-
mined that the land for which he is responsible shall
produce the utmost for the nation.

If he elects this — the better part — then he should go
into partnership with a first-class man of practical
experience and up-to-date knowledge, vide the descrip-
tion of partnership farming (Appendix No. V) ; American
business men largely resort to this practice in the States
of New York and New Jersey.

At present it is still difficult to find the right type of
partner in this country, though not impossible. If
such a man cannot be obtained we can draw upon
Denmark ; but the ultimate object should be to train
Englishmen for this work, and there should be an ever-
increasing demand for such services.

Under the terms of partnership which I advocate,
the active partner, if he is capable, earns good remunera-
tion ; and at the end of ten years or so he is very often
in a financial position to start on his own. So that
the passive partner should see that he has an understudy
to the active partner coming on ; or if he has the ability,
and has worked closely with his partner, he should be
ready to take on the management of the farm himself.
During the term of partnership, presupposing a wise
selection, the active partner should not be interfered
with in any way ; and the farm should not be expected
to do casual work for the house or garden, or to provide
the household with any commodities.

To be successful it must be a business concern.
Everything that is grown on the farm must be sold in
the best market, and the farm staff must work for the
farm alone. If the house buys milk or eggs from the

AN AGRICULTURAL CAREER 143

farm, it must pay cash for them. And if the passive
partner wants extra work done in the pleasure grounds
or kitchen garden, he should get in an extra labourer,
so as not to upset the organization of labour on the farm.

C.XPITAL REQUIRED

For this partnership farming, in general terms, it
would be a mistake to make the unit less than four or
five hundred acres of good average land. The profit
from a smaller area would not be sufficient to attract
a really good working partner. The farm could be rented
or purchased according to the amount of capital available ;
the point to bear in mind being that, whereas /[lo per
acre was a fair working capital before the war, now it
should be at least ,(^20 per acre, for stocking the farm,
etc., so that a total sum of ;(^ 10,000 would be required
for a 500-acre farm.^

Suitable land can be bought in most counties at from
^25 to £25 P^^ ^^^'^ ' ^^^ ^^ ^^ generally cheaper, so
long as the present low rents continue, to rent rather
than to buy the farm — though there is always the risk of
the owner being obliged to sell, and the tenant being
turned out in consequence.

\\ here possible, it would be desirable to consult the
active partner before taking the farm — in any case he
should be consulted in regard to the outlay of the working
capital ; he has to pay the passive partner interest on this
capital, so it is only fair that he should have the right
to see that it is expended in the most effective way
possible.

It must always be remembered that the first two or

* With the downward tendency in prices the amount of working
capital can be reduced.

144 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

three years of such an enterprise are lean years ; par-
ticularly so if the farm taken is not in good condition,
when the first task is to get it into order. In my own
case the farm was in a very bad state ; yet my partner
paid me, from the outset, full rental and 5 per cent
on my capital — this before the war ! After the second
year, profits were earned which were divided up. See
Appendix V for copy of the very simple form of
partnership agreement.

Next, as to the class of farming recommended. The
arable dairy farm has strong recommendations ; the
main sales therefrom — milk, corn and pigs — the products
most needed by the nation are at the same time most
profitable to the farmer. There would, of course, be
variations in each individual case, and on some farms
a fair area might be devoted to potatoes.

Grass farming need not be excluded from the partner-
ship system, but, if it be chosen, the grass should be
thoroughly well handled, and the highest possible head
of stock carried ; what arable there is should be made
full use of, and if the farm is on the western side of
England the Harper Adams method of green cropping
might be adopted.

The area of the partnership farm might, of course,
be much more than 500 acres ; but it is always wise
to avoid embarking on too large a scale, and there is the
danger of a keen and active partner taking on more than
he can manage effectively, which should be carefully
avoided.

PROFITS

As to the profits that can be earned, it is impossible
to say what the future has in store for the agricultural
industry ; its future, as that of every other industry, lies

.\X AGRICULTURAL CAREER 145

in the lap of the gods. Supposing conditions to be
normal, at a conservative figure a well-run farm on
average land, producing milk, corn and pigs, should
yield up to ^4 per acre net profit, after paying rental and
all other expenses (including 5 or 6 per cent on the
working capital). I'his profit would be shared equally
between the partners ; so that the man embarking on a
500-acre farm would, on this basis, get ;(^iooo a year as
his share, which would bring the total interest earned
by his ;(^ 1 0,000 working capital to the very respectable
rate of 15 per cent. But the consumer must not say
that this is profiteering, for there are bad years in farming
as in every other industry ; and the farmer, if he be
well advised, will put by each good year a certain
amount to a reserve fund.

THE MAN WITH SMALL CAPITAL

Coming now to the case of the man with little capital,
say under ^(^looo; unless he is really capable of hard
manual work on the land he should not think of farming.
The first step would be for him to test himself thoroughly
by going on to some farm for a period of three months
and working as a labourer, for success will depend upon
his own power of work ; and if he is on his trial in summer
time, and likes it, he must ever bear in mind that work
in the winter months is a very different matter. There
is not the faintest use for the would-be farmer of this
type to think that he can do some of the work himself,
and employ permanent outside labour for the rest —
his small holding cannot stand it. It is the individual
work of the smallhoKlcr himself that counts mure than
all else.
10

146 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

For a young man, say, i6 or 17 years of age whose
parents can afford to send him through a proper course
of training, the ideal procedure is the Agricuhural
College and work on a farm under a good farmer. But
it must not be thought that one or two years will be
sufficient ; it is a question of steady training for four or
five years. So that it is very essential to make certain
that the youth, quite apart from his mental capacity,
has a real aptitude for manual work on the land ; and
he should undergo the test already referred to.

During the period of training, a good plan is for the
pupil to spend one or two holidays on a farm in Denmark,
working as a labourer.

These months on a Danish farm would give the
student a new point of view ; and he would be working
in a country where the development and organization
of agriculture have been carried to the highest level yet
achieved. He would see around him small arable dairy
farms and how they are worked by men who know their
job, I am here assuming that the trainee intends to
make his living by actually working on the land ; should
he wish to go in for a position under the Ministry of
Agriculture or a County Council this will still be the
best training.

In Denmark the usual proceeding is for the pupil,
who intends to become a farm manager or expert, at
the end of his course of training to go on to a large farm
and work as under-bailifi^ for two or three years at a
salary, under a manager. In this way he acquires business
experience, and it is most necessary for him to learn how
to buy and sell to best advantage. This side is not of so
great importance where a man settles under the group
system, or where co-operative buying and selling is
developed.

AX AGRICULTURAL CAREER 147

At 21 or 22 years of age most men are too young and
inexperienced to start on their own, or to be entrusted
with the management of a large farm.

Ahhough there are an increasing number of positions
under pubHc authority for the highly qualilied expert,
there is danger of the supply exceeding the demand ;
and the salaries for these posts only average about /J500
a year under County Councils, and up to about ;^iooo
a year under the Ministry of Agriculture.

If, however, the system of partnership farming develops
considerably during the coming decade, there will be
increasing opportunity for the type of man I am dealing
with here ; and if the man is really highly qualified
he should be, as manager-partner of a farm, in a position
to save enough capital to enable him to take a fair-sized
farm of his own before he is too old.

It is clear, however, that older men, perhaps ex-
Ser\'ice men who do not wish to return to a sedentary
indoor occupation, cannot give up four or five years to
training.

\\'hat are they to do ?

In regard to training, the first step must be the test
as a labourer on a farm ; if this is passed successfully,
then a short course (not exceeding a year) at an agri-
cultural college should follow.

The pupil must learn how to plough and how to
handle the ordinary implements and eff^cct simple repairs
thereto. He must learn how to milk and how to feed
live stock, how to keep simple accounts, and as much
of the theory of agriculture as he can acquire in the time.

Those who elect to settle overseas can still make the
test at home ; but the oversea authorities quite rightly
insist upon a year's training on the spot before the settler
is actually granted a holding.

148 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

Where training takes place upon a large farm, even
under a first-class farmer, this is rarely the best prepara-
tion for the management of a small holding — the methods
are so different.

Having received his modicum of training, it is
absolutely essential that the would-be smallholder
should settle in a group or colony of smallholders ; there
he will derive the benefit of co-operation with his
fellows, and there he can continue his training under
an expert.

For some years he will require guidance in handling
his farm ; in fact, effective guidance is his one guarantee
of success. And, next to guidance, access to capital ;
even if a man has sufficient capital to start a holding, he
should only settle where he can be certain of borrowing
further capital on advantageous terms, should this be
necessary for the development of his holding. This
comment applies, with still greater force, to the man who
has not sufficient capital to equip his holding and who
has therefore to borrow at the outset.

The following paragraphs describe the different
courses open to a man with little capital, who wishes to
become a farmer. It is clear that to begin \Ath. he
must be content with a small area of land, whether he
remains at home or migrates. In the United Kingdom
a small holding is technically a farm of 50 acres or
under.

(i) The would-be smallholder could rent an old-
established holding on a private estate. He would have
to apply for it just like any other small farmer ; he
would have to satisfy the owner, or his agent, that he
had sufficient capital and knowledge to farm the holding
properly — and here he would, in most cases, find con-
siderable difficulty. For a small mixed farm, 30 acres

AN AGRICULTrRAT. CAREER 149

is about the smallest economic area and, putting the
working capital at /^20 per acre, a minimum total of
^600 would be required.

In the " Settlement Facilities Act " power is given
to the County Council to advance one-half of the
total working capital required ; but the man who settled
upon a private estate could not claim this advance.
Further, he would probably be on an isolated holding ;
or, at all events, if there were other small holdings they
would be in the hands of old experienced agriculturists,
mostly men born to the profession. Most County
Councils now have a good instructor in agriculture, and
another in horticulture, and often several specialists as
well ; as a ratepayer the new smallholder has a right
to their services and he should have recourse to their
assistance in the cropping and cultivation of his holding ;
he can secure this assistance by writing to the County
Agent or Organizer.

In practice, I fear very few men would be able to get
small farms on private estates ; but, in spite ol the
difficulties I have mentioned, a good small holding on a
private estate is let at a lower rental than one obtainable
in any other way.

(2) To take a holding under a public authority ; the
County Councils are the main small holding authority,
although the Ministry of Agriculture has a certain
number of group settlements where some attempt is
being made at organized settlement.^ I have already
criticized the methods adopted by the County Councils,
and " organized settlement " is further dealt with in
Appendix IV.

However these considerations are really beside the
point, for although by Act of Parliament the County

' It is now proposed to hand these over to the County Councils.

150 THE LAND AND ITS PEOBLEMS

Councils are supposed to provide land for applicants
living within their jurisdiction, they are not obhged to
do so for men wishing to migrate from the town.

The basic fact is that, ov»^ing to the cost of building, it
requires an absolutely prohibitive sum to equip a new
small holding. And owing to straitened public finance,
it is practically impossible to get from the County
Council the loan of one half the necessary working
capital.

We must therefore face the fact that, for the present,
it is almost impossible for an inexperienced man to obtain
a small holding in England ; also that, from the national
point of view, the experienced agriculturist should be
considered to have the first claim. We must enable as
large a proportion as possible of our agricultural labourers
to get small holdings, or at all events allotments, and so
finally to work up to the full-fledged small holding.
As it is, the national exchequer is bound to lose many
millions sterling on the small holdings which are being
provided for those ex-Service men who were agriculturists
before the war, and who are now applicants for small
holdings.

(3) On previous pages I have urged the necessity of
increasing the number of cultivators, by recruiting them
from the ranks of those with little or no previous experi-
ence in agriculture.

Yet in the preceding paragraphs I have been pointing
out how impossible it is for them to get upon the land at
home. And this is a situation which we must accept for
the present, until such time as the cost of building and
equipment comes down and until we have a number of
full-fledged group settlements in this country.

So it comes to this ; the man who is really determined
to go in for farming, who has the necessary strength and

AN AGRICULTURAL CAREER 151

aptitude, must go to the parts of the Empire where there
is suitable land, where the cost of equipment is low and
where the Government make generous arrangements for
the advance of necessary working capital to the settler.

At home the cost of house, farm buildings, etc.,
necessary for a 30-50-acre holding is, at present, about
^(^3000 ; in Australia or New Zealand, for instance, a nice
cottage can still be built for about £'^'^0, and owing to the
climate little is required in the way of buildings.

Practically all the Dominion Governments are far
more generous than the Home Government in regard to
loans to smallholders ; but here again the money shortage
is making itself felt, and the Oversea Governments are
having to restrict their operations.

The type of man I am discussing now is just the
one so much needed in our Dominions ; and he will be
doing a great Imperial service by helping to people and
to make productive the unoccupied lands of the Empire.'

THE POULTRY F.\RM

There are so many men who fancy that they would
like to run a small poultry farm and, worse still, so many
who have tried it and failed, that I must put in a word of
warning.

The high prices for poultry and eggs which ruled
during the war gave a great fillip to poultry farming,
and undoubtedly many people have done well in this
branch of " live stock."

But the fact remains that, with normal prices, very few
men can succeed in making a living out of a poultry farm.

• For information in regard to settlement in the Dominions,
application should be made to the Oversea Settlement Committee,
6, St. James Square, SAV. i.

152 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

This seems to be the case in the Dominions as well as
at home ; poultry are a most important adjunct to the
small farm (and to the large farm, too), but as a mainstay
they should be avoided.

Though I have recounted in this chapter the difficulties
of getting a small holding in the United Kingdom, it is
still quite worth the while of any man, who does not wish
to emigrate, to try his luck and apply to public authority
on the chance. The different types of small holdings
have already been described in Chapter VL

CHAPTER IX

THE OBJECTIVE IN PRODUCTION AND
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IT is hard to say what the future has in store, but
one thing is quite clear — and that is, that radical
alterations will have to be made in our land system
and in our methods of cropping.^

If landowners and tenant farmers are wise in their
generation they will not only recognize this, but will take
an active part in initiating the essential alterations.

If the present owners and occupiers are reactionary,
and oppose all change, there is danger that the mass of
our countrymen will condemn the present land system
as so hopeless that it cannot be mended, and they will
lend a ready ear to suggestions for nationalization ;
although it should be self-evident that nationalization
in itself cannot alter the character or capacity of our
cultivators. Or if the idea finally takes hold that the
agricultural labourer should succeed the farmer as the
manager of land, working in some way under the State
instead of under the individual owner, surely it should
be apparent to anyone who gives the question a moment's
thought that, for such a system to be successful, the
labourer must be educated and trained to become an
efllcient manager of land ?

' See Appendix No. VI wliich gives the report of a short speech
made by Lord Selborne when he look the Chair at my lecture to
the I^ndon School of Economics, March lo, 1916.

>53

154 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

So we come to the root of the matter : education and
training.

There is any amount of latent capacity amongst our
agricultural labourers, but it must be developed by
training. Because a man is a skilled labourer it does not
follow that he would be a good farm manager. Many
labourers have risen to the position of farm bailiffs in
this country ; but if their qualifications, and the results
they achieve are compared with those of the Danish
farm manager, the amount of leeway we have to make
good at once becomes apparent. But then the Danish
farm manager, in the first place, is a well-educated man ;
and, secondly, he undergoes years of training before
he is entrusted with the management of a farm.

Even supposing the system of labour-managers under
the State is developed— and this may be described as
the nationalization of the agricultural industry, as distinct
from the nationalization of the land— all labourers, even if
qualified, could not be managers. And from the point
of view of labour, will the labourer-manager be any better
than the tenant-farmer-manager of to-day ? It is
notorious that the labourer, who rises to the position of
manager in any industry, is often the hardest task-master
of all. I am not here defending the tenant farmers ; a
large proportion are bad farm-managers, chiefly because
of defective education and training. So again we come
back to education.

Putting aside the question of nationalizing the land
or the industry, 1 too large a question to go into here
and unprofitable for it would only be discussing wild
experiment based on no concrete precedent — let us sum
up certain points in regard to the tenure of land.

(i) The great estates are in process of breaking up,

1 See Appendix No. VII.

THE OBJECTIVE IN PRODUCTION 155

and the land to-day is owned by a far greater number of
persons than in 1914 ; to this extent the old system of
landlord and tenant has been modified. It is safe to
predict that this process will continue. In fact the pro-
visions of the Agriculture Act in regard to compensation
will increase the desire of many landowners to sell,
although it may lead owners to wait until a farm is vacant
before they put it up for sale.

On the other hand the high rate of interest now charged
by banks for advances of capital, and the lack of land
banks, may check for the moment the amount of land
thrown on the market ; certainly it will make it more
difficult for the sitting tenant to buy his farm when it is
put up for sale.

(2) Landowners will be forced to farm, on a strictly
commercial basis, a larger amount of land than has been
the practice within recent years ; in fact ere long the
landowner may be found farming all the land which he
has not sold -as is the case in most of the continental
countries.

(3) And if the landowner is to farm successfully,
there is no doubt that he should more and more adopt
the partnership system of farming ; and measures to
train the future farm managers should be taken.

(4) There could be, with advantage, a considerable
development of commercial farming by companies
constituted for this purpose ; and the imit of such farms
would probably be about 5000 acres.

(5) We must ever bear in mind the importance of
maintaining and increasing the number of our small-
holders ; they are an invaluable section of the agri-
cultural community — both socially and economically —
and their sons as they grow up provide the best type
of labour for tiic large farms. To secure the sound

156 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

development of this movement, all new smallholders
should as far as possible be settled in groups.

(6) Although the majority of our English tenants are
in favour of the yearly lease, there is no doubt that the
system of long leases could be extended with beneficial
results ; this system is common in Scotland.

(7) Although co-partnership farming and its close
relation co-operative farming have not proved successful
in this country, these forms of holding land should
receive attention ; and it may be found that, with certain
modifications, it is a system well worth considering.

(8) A further variation of the commercial farm is the
experiment now being made by one or two landowners
of turning their estates into a limited company, and the
tenants into shareholders and members of the board of
directors ; this is mentioned here simply because it is
a new departure — in a few cases it might be successful,
but it would be difficult to find tenant farmers who would
agree to such an arrangement.

(9) We want to bring in new blood to the agricultural
industry, and every encouragement to come in should
be given to those outside the present agricultural circle :
(a) to business men with capital who would go into partner-
ship with a highly trained manager — the partnership
system of farming already referred to — and (b) to men with
little capital who would take up small holdings at home if
obtainable, or settle overseas.

(10) If the developments suggested in this chapter,
both in regard to administration and tenure, are effected
it means that certain sections of the present holders of
land will be gradually squeezed out ; the indifferent
farmer will have to go — also the under-capitalized
farmer.

Some will undoubtedly suffer hardship in the process ;

THE OBJECTIVE IN PRODUCTION 157

but this will be minimized because the changes must be
gradual. And many of those dispossessed, having realized
their capital, can start on a smaller scale and therefore
with a higher rate of capital per acre — which is one of the
secrets of success. Others can find a haven on the land
overseas and many of them should do well there, once
prised out of the rut they are in at present.

A LESSON FROM THE WAR

The war has taught us beyond dispute that it is the
farinaceous foods which it is so essential to grow at home,
i.e. corn and potatoes. They are the most bulky form
of food to transport, therefore in time of war their
importation should be reduced to the minimum. They
are arable land crops, and as shown in preceding
chapters our proportion of grass land is altogether too
large. Unfortunately we are not Nebuchadnezzars, we
cannot live on grass !

In times of peace we should prepare for the possibility
of war ; food is the main munition of war, and if our food
supply is known to be vulnerable it invites attack. The
submarine in the next war will be much more formidable
than in the Great War, when, fortunately for us, it was
a new weapon. If perfected, submarine warfare could
effectively blockade our coast for nine months and
starve us out, unless we greatly increase the production
of farinaceous food within the United Kingdom.

For the past sixty years, from March to September
we have had generally only six weeks' supply of wheat
in the country, sometimes less — a sort of month-to-month
supply, unsatisfactory at best and a great danger in time
of war.

In times of peace, even granted all Government

158 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

control, it will be found wellnigh impossible to
compel the farmers to grow the amount of corn we
should grow. And I am certain it will be a grave
error of judgment on the part of the Government to
concentrate upon this.

Even the guaranteed prices for wheat and oats, fixed
to safeguard the farmer against loss, will not materially
increase the area under corn. I am all in favour of the
principle of the guarantee ; for it is a great step in the
right direction for an English Government to recognize
that the farmer must be guaranteed against loss, if asked
to grow certain crops in the national interest. But we
must not expect too much from the guarantee, rather
must we attempt to create conditions generally favourable
to arable cultivation.

The essential is to have the necessary area under
the plough.

To secure this, the sounder plan will be to concentrate
on increasing the area of arable land by encouraging
the widest possible range of arable crops — lucerne,
sugar beet, fodder crops {vide Harper Adams system),
and above all potatoes ; these crops are all excellent
preparation for corn growing, and when a crisis comes
the land is there ready for corn. We will now consider
certain special crops which should be encouraged.

CERTAIN SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENTS

(i) Increased area under potatoes. Potatoes yield more,
far more, farinaceous food per acre than any other crop.
We have soil admirably adapted for growing potatoes,
our climate suits the plant, and our potato farmers are
the most skilled growers of potatoes in the world. Yet
we only produce about five million tons of potatoes

THE OBJECTIVE IX PRODUCTION 159

annually in the United Kingdom — ^just sufiicicnt to
meet the demand for table use.

In 1914 the German potato crop was fifty million
tons — ten times that of ours ! And note that the German
people only consume ten million tons as potatoes ; the
other forty million tons are used as raw material in the
manufacture of a countless variety of conmiodities such
as potato spirit, flour, starch, imitation corn starch, sago
and tapioca.

The residuum, after making potato spirit, forms a
valuable food for live stock — supplying the carbo-
hydrates which we import in the form of maize from
the Argentine and United States ; and we pay over
;(^20,ooo,ooo for this annually.

Germany is well served with potato dr}dng plants ;
it is only within the last few years that we have had any
such drying plants in this country. Yet it is far more
economic to dry the potatoes than to put them in " pies,"
covered with earth, as we do ; it saves a considerable
percentage of waste, through potatoes going bad, and it
saves the transport of thousands of tons of valueless
water, for the potato contains over 60 per cent of water.

I cannot but feel that the ,(^250,000, advanced by the
Ministry of Agriculture to encourage the development
of home-grown sugar, would have been more efi"ectivcly
applied in developing potato production and its sub-
sidiary industries.

Potatoes can form the mainstay in pig feeding, so
that if this crop were properly developed we could have
a much greater supply of home-grown pork than we had
during the war ; good pork is undoubtedly the most
valuable type of meat, for it supplies the essential fats,
and how much we suffered from the bad quality of pork
and bacon imported from the United States !

160 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

Our pig policy during the war was perhaps the worst
feature in our production.

(2) Pig-keeping. Another very interesting develop-
ment is that of keeping pigs out of doors — no styes at all,
just small and cheap wooden shelters in each wired-in
run. These runs can be on quite poor land, woodland
or poor grass land. Mr, Edge, on his Sussex farms, has
proved what can be done in this direction. Not only do
the pigs so kept thrive better and require 25 per cent
less concentrated food (meal), but they are more immune
from disease than pigs kept indoors ; further, they greatly
improve the poor grass upon which they run. It is of
very great importance to increase our " pig population,"
We have only about two million pigs in the United
Kingdom, whereas we should have about sixteen miUion ;
there were twenty-nine million four-footed pigs in
Germany before the war. The pig should be regarded
in a new light as the utilizer of waste spaces.

(3) Milk production. The supply of milk is altogether
inadequate to meet the hygienic needs of the population.
Were the supply doubled, the milk ration would still
be a low one per head of the population. And a good
milk supply is perhaps the most important single factor
in producing a healthy and robust people. As already
stated, the difficulty in regard to labour (milkers) may
make the further development of the large dairy farm
difficult, or even impossible ; attention, therefore,
should be turned to the small intensive arable dairy farm
of the Harper Adams type, the object being so to crop
the land that only two acres are needed to maintain a
cow instead of four as at present.

(4) Sugar beet. A good deal of attention has been
paid to this crop of late years, and the shortage of sugar
during the war has been of great assistance to those who

THE OBJECTIVE IN PRODUCTION IGl

advocate its development ; that is why I include it in
the list of possible developments. There is no doubt
that we can produce sugar beet of a very good quality
and with a heavy sucrose percentage ; but it is a crop
that requires much labour — can it be made to pay at the
present high rate of wages ? I am more than doubtful.
It would be a great boon if it could be done, for not only
should we have a home-grown supply of sugar, but the
beet pulp — the residuum after extracting the sugar —
is very good food for stock. The cultivation of this crop
is much the same as for mangolds, but from the farmer's
point of view it has a great advantage — mangolds are
sown in May and fed during the winter months to the
live stock, which is not sold till the following year ; so
the farmer is not paid for his mangolds, except where
they are used for feeding dairy cows, for a twelve-month
or more. The sugar beet is also sown in May ; but the
sugar factorv' buys the crop in the autumn, and the turn-
over is completed in six months. This is a great practical
advantage ; though it is one that the farmer will require
educating up to before he fully realizes it.

The question is : will it be possible to induce the
surrounding farmers to grow the 5000 acres of sugar beet,
which is the minimum necessary to feed a factory ? If
produced under the four-year system it would require
a total area of 20,000 acres, supposing each farmer to
have one quarter of his land under sugar beet — which
in practice would be impossible. Personally, 1 do
not think the farmer will consider it an attractive propo-
sition. The great argument for making every effort to
introduce sugar beet cultivation is its beneficial effect
upon the cultivation of the land. I'he development of
the beet crop on the Continent was one of the chief causes
of the general improvement in agriculture there.
II

162 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

On the purely commercial side, the sugar factory,
even a comparatively small one, is a costly affair — at
pre-war prices ^(^ 100,000 was a conservative estimate.
We have only one pre-war factory in the United Kingdom,
and it has not done much. The one now under con-
struction near Newark has already cost far more than the
original estimate, and will probably cost ^(^500,000 by
the time it is completed ; it is hard to see how it can
pay with the downward tendency in the price of sugar.

(5) Poultry. The high prices for eggs and poultry
during the war have brought about a most astounding
development in this department. The value of eggs
and poultry last year reached ^(^ 5 8, 000, 000, while as a
comparison it may be stated that our wheat crop was
worth about ,(^30,000,000. It is to be feared that with
falling prices people will lose interest in poultry rearing,
and that there will be a decline ; yet we are nowhere near
the limit of what we could do with eggs and poultry,
rather as a subsidiary side of general farming than as an
occupation in itself.

(6) Lucerne and fodder crops. After the cereals and
potatoes, lucerne might well be considered as potentially
the most valuable and important single crop that we could
grow and the area should be greatly increased, as also
the area of the annual fodder or soiling crops, reducing
the area under swedes and turnips to the needed extent.

(7) Stock breeding. We are justly proud of our pedigree
stock ; in this we lead the world ; but when it comes
to our average farm stock there is room for great improve-
ment, both in the quality and in the way of haiidUng the
same. Let me recommend Mr. K. J. J. Mackenzie's
excellent little book Cattle for further information in
regard to this branch of agriculture.

It must be remembered that our export trade in

THE OBJECTIVE IN PRODUCTION 168

pedigree live stock is ver\^ small, compared with the
turnover of the agricultural industry ; it does not
represent more than 4 per cent on this turnover.

There are some progressive agriculturists who advocate
the retention of our present grass area for this reason :
the soil while under grass gradually stores up fertility,
so that on account of our predominating proportion of
grass land, we had in 1914 a greater amount of " storcd-up
fertility " than any other nation in Europe.

This contention embodies a certain amount of truth,
and should be weighed and answered.

The reply to it is :

(a) That poor grass land, apart from putting a certain
amount of humus into the soil, stores up very little
fertilitv. It is onlv pasture rich in clovers that does
this.

(6) That crops like lucerne store up more fertility
thiin grass ; and that, even where fodder crops under
the Harper Adams system are grown, the land is still
storing up fertility if the proper amount of farm-yard
manure and artificials have been used.

(c) In a time of crisis it is nmch safer to grow corn
after the crops mentioned in (A), than it is on newly
broken-up grass land ; for this land often has so many
wire worms that the first, and even second, corn crop is
a failure.

(d) Finally this point of stored-up fertility is not really
of importance, if there is a good supply of artificial manure
in the countr}-. During the Great War the " storcd-up
fertility " stood us in good stead just because there was a
shortage of artificials, but this shortage should not be
allowed to occur again.

I have shown already that a larger liead of stock can

164 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

be kept on the mixed arable farm than upon the grass
farm ; so that, if we handle our land properly and
effect changes somewhat on the lines suggested above,
we should produce a greatly increased amount of
farinaceous food without diminishing our live stock.

The fundamental object is to obtain a higher yield
from the soil, and to see that it gives employment to the
largest possible number of cultivators living under good
conditions. If this cannot be done under our old methods
of cropping, these must be changed ; we cannot let a
fetish stand in the way of productive farming.

On the business side we must : —

{a) Create subsidiary and complementary industries.

{b) Organize our markets.

(c) Establish land banks to enable the tenant to purchase
farms to his best advantage.

{d) Call credit societies into existence for short term
loans.

(e) Organize and cheapen transport.

(/) Cheapen the transfer of land.

{g) Greatly increase the output of artificials and take
steps to have our own supply of potash, which before the
war came exclusively from Germany,

These are matters which must not be overlooked, for
they all aid in securing increased production.

THE ADMINISTRATIVE SIDE

Even if the nation, as a result of practical experience
during the war, sets its face against the nationalization
of the land, it will in future insist upon the land being
put to better use than it has been in the past. It

THE OBJECTIVE IX PRODITTION 1G5

is important for agriculturists to realize the strength of
this public opinion ; and the Government, to comply
with it, will be forced to interfere more and more, and
we shall see a baneful development of official control.
The Ministry of Agriculture Act, the Acquisition of Land
Act and the Agriculture Act all combine to lay the founda-
tion of a new land system. It is important to understand
this point. Equally important is it to realize that if these
measures are not successful — are not tmide successful —
in creating a system under which the land will produce
more food and employ more people, then more drastic
experiments will be tried ; of this I am convinced.
Probably that new experiment will be in the direction
of nationalization of the industry, as distinct from the
nationalization of the land.

Experimenting with a great industry is always
dangerous ; and I cannot believe that, under any form
of State management, the cultivator will ever give forth
his maximum output.

The Government, therefore, should itself recognize
that bureaucratic control will not secure progress ; and
that its special sphere should lie in providing the
needed educational facilities, in supporting research, and
demonstration on a commercial scale, and in organizing
transport, markets, and access to capital.

As I have said already, the only alternative to official
control, which is evil, is the control of the industry
by the individuals composing it. This is sound and
beneficial control ; but it presupposes organization, and
if the control is to be successful agriculturists must take
a broad and national view of the question.

But what forces make for broad views more effectively
than wide education and sound training ?

166 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

THE AGRICULTURE ACT 192O

It goes without saying that labour must be associated
in this control. The 1919 Ministry of Agriculture Act
establishes control and connects labour with it, for it
secures the representation of labour on the various
committees ; it rests with the agriculturists themselves
to say whether that control shall be official, or the
co-operative control exercised by the industry itself.

The Agriculture Act legislates for many things that
I have been advocating for years past ; and it is only
natural therefore that I regard it as the possible charter
of future developments, if it is rightly administered.

There are two main sections — the one dealing with
compensation to the tenant for disturbance, and certain
provisions in regard to the landowner who fails to effect
necessary repairs or to manage his estate properly ; the
other dealing with the cultivation of the land.

In regard to Part II, although I am quite in favour
of fair and adequate compensation to the tenant,
especially for capricious notice to quit, in justice to the
landowner it should be remembered that for the last
fifty years he has let his tenants have land at far below
its economic value. And not only this, but he has rarely
compelled his tenants to carry out the repairs to buildings
which they are bound to do under the terms of their
leases. Finally, the tenant farmer has benefited far more
than the owner of land from the results of the Great War ;
in fact, it is not too much to say that the landowners
have suffered perhaps more from its effects than any
other class.

It is the first part of the Act that is of supreme
importance to the industry, and marks a new departure
in legislation. It embodies two great principles : firstly

THE OBJFXTIVE IN PRODUCTION 167

that the labourer must receive an adequate Uving wage
— that labour must be a first charge upon the industry ;
secondly, that the producer must be guaranteed against
loss if he is asked to grow certaui crops, or maintain a
certain proportion of the land under the plough, in the
interests of the nation. This amounts, in practice, to
the recognition of agriculture as a primar}' industry and
that a flourishing home agriculture is essential to the
well-being of the nation. But it is one thing — and a step
in the right direction— to recognize a principle in theory,
and quite another to live up to it ; time alone will show
whether or not the Government and the nation are
honest in their intentions.

Further, the Act makes provision for developing social
life and amenities in rural communities. The import-
ance of this cannot be over-emphasized, for the by
no means necessary dullness of country life must be
alleviated if we are to keep up and increase our rural
population.

As to the machinery for carrying out these provisions,
there are the Wage Boards ; these were established in
1 917, and their powers are confirmed in the Agriculture
Act. These Boards have been described on page 67,
et seq.

THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE ACT^

The Ministry of Agriculture Act 1919, the recent
Agriculture Act and, in a way, the Settlement
Facilities Act are all so closely related as to make
a single piece of legislation. The machinery for
securing the proper cultivation of the land is laid
down in the Ministry of Agriculture Act ; and it has

* See Apptridix No. VIII showing the present and the former
arrangement of departments in the .Ministry of Agriculture.

168 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

called into existence the following committees and
council : —

(i) An Agriculture Committee in each county. This
is a sort of County Agricultural Parliament meeting
quarterly, or oftener if need be ; it has the power to
divide up its functions and delegate its powers to : —

(a) The Cultivation Committee.

(b) The Small Holdings Committee.

(c) The Drainage Committee.

(d) The Live Stock Committee.

(e) The Agricultural Education Committee.

If these Committees are properly manned and worked,
and if there is a reasonable amount of money to spend
on wise developments, an almost limitless vista of progress
opens up.

The Agricultural Committee is a statutory committee
of the County Council, and to this extent official ; and
there is danger that County Councils which are urban
in their composition may appoint unsuitable members
upon this committee. The other section of members
are those appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture ;
this, under the circumstances, was a necessary proviso
—but here again there is a possible danger. If, for
instance, a Labour Government were in power, men
with extreme views and little practical knowledge might
be appointed.

(2) The Agricultural Council of England and Wales.
This sits in London and is the Agricultural Parliament
for the whole country.

It is composed of representative members from the
County Agricultural Committees, from- the Wages Board,
and of members appointed by the Ministry of Agri-
culture, selected to represent the interests of owners,

THE OBJECTIVE IN PRODUCTION 109

tenants, women engaged in agriciiluire, and ot horticul-
ture and research.

The Count} Agricuhural Committees came into being
in October, 1920, and the Agricuhural Council in
December, 1920.

(3) The Advisory Committee. A small committee
appointed from the members of the Agricultural Council,
plus certain nominated members. It is the Agricultural
Cabinet if the Council be considered as the Parliament,
and its chief function is to advise the Ministry on all
land questions.

The machinery thus created is not bad, if it is properly
worked. But the manning of the machine is entirely
in the hands of official authorities — the i\Iiuistry of
Agriculture and the County Councils. This is a danger.
Even worse is the fact that the convening of the Council
— save for its two biennial meetings — rests with the
Minister, as also does the order in which subjects on
the agenda are placed. These matters should be
directly under the control of the Advisory Com-
mittee, if the Council is indeed to be a free parlia-
ment of agriculturists.

I have for years advocated the need for organizing
agricultural opinion ; but the organization should be
voluntary and unofficial in its character. It should be
based on the parish or district and work from the bottom
up, not from the top down.'

Several attempts were made during the past ten years
to create a voluntary — as opposed to official — and repre-
sentative central council of agriculture, but none were
successful ; they failed to get the needed support. Thus

' See Appendix No. IX wliich shows in dia^^rani form the Scheme
for organizalii^ii of a^rii ultural opinion set forth in my licture to
the I^ndon School of Economics, March lo, i<>i''-

170 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

the opportunity was lost, chiefly because agriculturists
were not sufficiently organized to seize it ; now all
that we can do is to accept the situation and make the
best of it. The voluntary organizations, by using their
influence, must see that the right men get on the com-
mittees ; and the right men must give up the necessary
time and trouble to this important work.

If only all the existing voluntary organizations had
been consolidated, and where necessary supplemented,
the creation of the new official organization would
not have been necessary.

I am dealing at some length with the Ministry of
Agriculture Act ; for future developments will be largely
aff"ected by the way in which the provisions of the Agri-
culture Act are administered— by means of the machinery
created under the former Act.

(4) This Act brought in another important change,
it turned the Board of Agriculture into a Ministry of
first-class status. For many years I had advocated this
change, and most agriculturists used to inveigh against
the inadequacy of the old Board ; but, such is human
nature, now that they have a Ministry with a large
income they say " What can it want with so much
money ? "

Not many years ago the Board had the ridiculously
inadequate income of ^250,000 a year ; now the Ministry
budgets over ^4,000,000, and I feel that this is somewhat
excessive — the swing of the good old pendulum. But
we must be patient — it will take some years to get a
personnel at the Ministry capable of spending such a
large sum efficiently, and of exercising to the full its
important functions.

The main function of the Ministry is to guide the
changes, which must come in our agriculture, in the

THE OBJECTIVE IX PRODUCTION 171

right direction — to the benefit of the nation and of the
industr}-.

It can now spend far hirger sums of money upon
research, which is the first step in acquiring the requisite
knowledge for subsequent developments. And we have
seventy' highly trained experts at work at Rothamsted,
which is the oldest and greatest research station in the
world. It is now under the able chairmanship of Lord
Bledisloe, one of our hardest workers in the cause of
agriculture.^

The closest relationship should exist between the
Ministry- of Agriculture and the Agricultural Council ;
between them they should map out the routes of progress.
Each Agricultural Committee also must keep the Council
advised of its own local needs ; and when the main lines
are laid down it is through the Agricultural Committees
and their sub-committees that the changes should be
effected. Centralization would be disastrous ; we now
have the means at hand for decentralization, and the
Ministry must show itself willing to decentralize if
it wishes to attain to its fullest sphere of usefulness.

If these committees are to be efltective, they must
have adequate powers to guide the changes in methods
of cultivation devised by the higher authorities. They
must have power to deal with the considerable areas of
grass land which, from the national point of view, should
be permanently under the plough ; again, there are large
areas of grass in such bad condition that the only effective
treatment is to plough them up, even if they are to be
re-laid to grass in a few years' time.

Here we have the crux of the whole matter. The
provisions of the Agriculture Bill on this head were very

» \ .iluablf n- 'Ml' li wji k i. Iji-ing done at Cambridge, Reading
Univereity and other places.

172 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

much modified by the House of Lords, and this from
mixed motives : some of the members, if indeed not all,
feared a recurrence of the unwise ploughing up orders
that characterized the administration of a few War
Executives — others, as owners, did not wish to see their
grass ploughed up.

80 that, as the matter stands to-day, the only chance
of getting grass ploughed up — grass that should be
ploughed up from every point of view — lies in the
hope that the Cultivation Committees have indeed the
power to secure this under the requirements of " good
husbandry." It remains to be seen what will happen ;
but if the " good husbandry " clause proves insufficient
all our legislation and trouble will have been in vain,
for then the elaborate machinery which has been set up
will be of little use in securing agricultural development.

Above all, if the Cultivation Committees are to be
successful, not only must they be composed of practical
agriculturists but they must receive the backing of the
mass of intelligent agriculturists in the country ; and
this implies, in the first case, that it is essential for the
leading agriculturists themselves to be determined to see
that the land is put to better use in the future, and
increased production won from the soil.

Unfortunately there are large numbers of agriculturists
who are opposed to any control or guidance of the
industry ; and who are satisfied with production as it is,
so long as they are not bothered !

Yet the conferring of these powers upon administrative
bodies is no new experiment ; rather is it the retaining,
in a sounder form, of the powers given to the War
Executives, which acted in each county as the agents of
the Board of Agriculture (or of the Food Production
Department) during the last half of the war.

THE OBJECTIVE IN PRODUCTION 173

Certain modifications in these powers were no doubt
necessary ; but unless these committees have in tact
the power to improve the standard of husbandry and
gradually to introduce changes into our system of cul-
tivation, in all common sense let them be abolished forth-
with and let our agriculture sink into its grave !

The chief reason why drastic measures are so necessary
now is that we had so lagged behind, and have much
leeway to make good.

Undoubtedly some War Executives made mistakes,
ordering grass land to be ploughed up which would have
been better left down to grass. But the enemies of
control magnified these mistakes a thousandfold, and
deliberately closed their eyes to the excellent results
achieved by these committees in many counties.

Through their efforts, bad and indifferent farmers
were tuned up, unpatriotic farmers were prevented from
growing crops which, while profitable, produced no
addition to the food of the nation. And the net result
of it all — one million and seven hundred thousand tons
of extra farinaceous food were produced in 1918 ; thus
bringing up our total yield, approximately, to the total
production obtained in 1850— the high water mark of
our agriculture.

No mean achievement ! And it was rendered possible
by the hearty co-operation of our patriotic farmers —
i.e. the majority.

It is admitted that we have many indifferent farmers
and that in consequence our land is not yielding the food
it should ; there must be guidance and control if this
state of things is to be improved.

When control is talked of, it is often supposed that
if applied at all it would be concentrated entirely upon
arable land, or upon the effort to increase the area under

174 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

the plough ; but the farming of grass land requires just
as much supervision, for in most counties it is very
badly handled. Managed on better lines it could carry
much more stock than it does at present. While I
advocate effective executive powers for the Agricultural
Committees, I would stress " guidance " rather than
" control " ; the latter should be kept in the background —
it is distasteful to the Englishman, both to the exerciser
and to the recipient ! To order the farmer to do this,
or to do that, is the wrong procedure ; in the first
place he should be convinced by demonstration that the
proposed changes in method are good business, and then
he should be shown how to effect them.

One future development that seems fairly well assured
is a much greater degree of combination amongst agri-
culturists. This is largely due to the difficulties with
which we are now faced, and the fact that the official
organization is not popular with farmers may lead to a
more rapid and complete voluntary organization of the
agriculturists.

The Landowners' Association is growing. The
Labourers' Unions are expanding, and the increase in the
membership of the National Farmers' Union is remarkable.
If this body, working in conjunction with the Central
Landowners' Association and the Labourers' Unions,
will take the necessary trouble, there is no doubt that the
County Agricultural Committee can be made a really
effective machine to secure better cultivation and increased
production. It is clear then that not only are the
important principles, already referred to, incorporated in
the Ministry of Agriculture Act and in the Agriculture
Act, but these Acts should secure a hitherto unattained
degree of organization of the administrative side, and
also the decentralization which has long been needed.

THE OBJECTIVE IN PRODUCTION 175

An industry in transition is always in a most critical
state ; and it calls for the most careful consideration
on the part of the leaders of the industry to map out the
course along which it should progress — for the practical
leaders themselves should be the pilots and captains. It a
wise selection is made in the representatives sent from
the County Agricultural Committees to the Central
Agricultural Council in London, then this body should
be well fitted for the work of evolving an agricultural
policy ; a policy which would prove a chart to the present
sea of transition and would establish the new order in
the industry'.

But we must mobilize all our forces, and everyone
with sound and constructive views should be enabled
to contribute his share to the working of the new admin-
istration. And it is a good omen that the r^Iinistry of
Agriculture Act definitely lays down that labour shall be
represented upon these new Executive bodies, and so
will have a definite share in the reconstruction of the
agricultural industr)- and of the conditions of country
Ufe. Quite a number of agricultural labourers who
have thought deeply on the problem, and their con-
tribution to the solution will be most valuable.

To the agriculturists who say " All we want is
to be left alone," I answer that you cannot be left alone
— the industry must be organized.

And not only the agricultural industry but the whole
nation. The war has dealt so shrewd a blow at our
national life that we are staggering under it, and our
future trembles in the balance.

If tiie newly created committees and councils succeed
in fuhilling their functions, this good should result :
for the first time there will be an organi/.ed expression
of agricultural opinion. And the practical agriculturists

176 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

of the country will be in a position to put their views
forcibly before the Government, before legislation affect-
ing their industry is introduced, instead of after ^ as has
been the case in the past. Whether the new develop-
ments will be successful or not time alone can show ;
it will depend largely on the spirit evinced by our farmers,
and equally upon the Government keeping good faith
and not letting down the farmer — so destroying
confidence.

Whether or not, under the new and revised system of
cultivation, the land will prove to be able to pay an
economic rental (to whom is not discussed here) and
at the same time to pay the high rate of wages now
demanded, will depend chiefly on the labourers them-
selves, on the amount of work which they give in
return for their wage. If this work is economically
insuflicient then the land will revert to grass, for the
farmer will be unable to afford the wage bill which
arable cultivation involves, and we shall see our rural
population shrinking still further, with a corresponding
lessening in the production of primary wealth.

In regard to future developments let me recommend
the following productions : Lord Selborne's Recon-
struction Report (cd. 9079), Leshe Scott's Agricultural
Opportunity, and The Future of Our Agriculture, by
H. W. Wolff.

CHAPTER X
IMPERIAL CONSIDERATIONS

IN Chapter 1\', I dealt with production from the
soil of the United Kingdom and showed how
serious is the present situation.
If we now extend our view to embrace the whole
Empire, the conditions are still more unsatisfactory.
In 1 914 the agricultural population of white race (includ-
ing all men, women and children living on and by the
land) totalled 13,400,000 — out of our entire population
of about 62,000,000 — or only about 22 per cent. In
France, with its total population of 36,000,000, and an
area only one-seventy-fourth the size of our Empire,
the agricultural population is 18,000,000. One more
instance : the land of Germany, one sixty-fourth the
size of the British Empire, supported an agricultural
population of 21,000,000 and, incidentally, in 1914
yielded as much produce as we obtained from the land
of our whole Empire, excluding India ! Let us carry
the analysis of the agricultural pojiulation a step further.
Of the above 13,400,000, eight millions live in the United
Kingdom ; this leaves an agricultural population of
only 5,400,000 for the whole of our vast Oversea
possessions. Can anything be more terribly inade-
quate } But it is worse than that — it is a grave menace
to the future of our Empire.

It is only necessary to consider these facts to realize
12 177

178 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

how serious they are. They are facts, however, that are
very Httle known ; therefore the first thing is to bring
them home to every citizen, and particularly to make the
urban population realize their importance. We see the
land of the United Kingdom producing barely half what
it is able to produce ; and the vast area of agricultural
land in the Empire barely scratched.

Yet it is the produce of the land which, given in
exchange for manufactured commodities, makes the
wheels of industry move. It is only by the full develop-
ment of our land that the over-pressure of population
in our urban areas can be relieved and prevented. And
it is only by increasing the number of cultivators of the
soil that we can hope to develop the vast land resources
of our Empire. It is no exaggeration to say that our
future as an Empire, and as a race, depends upon our
ability to increase the agricultural population by some
six or seven millions within the next few decades.

It can be done, if the needed public opinion is created,
and if the Governments of the Empire set themselves
to the task. Seeing that we are already so short of
agricultural population in the United Kingdom, it would
help the problem little just to transfer agriculturists to
our new lands overseas — in fact such a process would
be disastrous to the Motherland. We want new agricul-
tural population, and there are three sources from which
it can come :

(i) Generally, from the rising generation by giving
school instruction which will turn its thoughts towards
a career on the land. And attention should be especially
concentrated on the rural children, to check their drifting
into towns — this has been done successfully in other
countries.

(2) As many as possible of the children brought up

IMPERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 170

at the expense of the State (in reformatories and under
the Poor Law) should be induced to go in for a career
on the land.

(3) By estabhshing training centres, and group settle-
ments, for townsmen who would like to take up an
agricultural occupation. There are many examples
showing how successfully this can be done, provided
there is careful selection.

If these measures are to be successful and a career
on the land is to attract large numbers to it, the con-
ditions of life in the country and the organization of the
agricultural industry will have to be much better than
they have been, or even now are, in the British Empire.
Above all, the cultivators must be confident that they
have the good-will of the nation behind them ; and
that the needed measures will be taken to secure them
against loss. If the production of food entails a loss to
the producer, the inevitable result is a reduction in the
number of producers. The importance of this is
beginning to be realized ; but we have a long way to
travel before we can catch up the nations which have
given careful and ordered thought to the development
of their land during the past fifty years.

And here we come to the root of the whole matter ;
things are as they are with us, because we have not
given thought (let alone ordered or careful thought) to
the development of the land.

We have given our thought to the development of
urban civilization, with what success is open to question,
and we have neglected our rural civilization. We have
failed in development ; for no nation can be said to be
fully developed if one important side is left in only a
partially developed state, and no degree of development
of the other sides can compensate for this.

180 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

This machine-made attitude of mind is fundamentally
wrong ; it has caused the neglect of the land, and the
failure to understand its importance. This attitude has
influenced the course of events in the vast Britains over-
seas, still mainly dependent upon agriculture, nearly as
much as in the home country with its highly developed
urban industrialism.

So that in our new countries oversea, in spite of the
fact that they are still mainly in the " agricultural stage "
(i.e. dependent upon agriculture), we see the over-rapid
development of great cities and the neglect of the rural
side. Instead of making every effort to develop the
land and increase its production, much energy has been
diverted to create and foster urban industries on a more
or less artificial basis, and to this end tariffs have been
imposed in an unscientific manner, with the resultant
evil that the population is thereby encouraged to con-
gregate in towns ; capital also is invested in urban
industries, which, from the national and imperial points
of view, could have been much more soundly employed
in the main industry — Agriculture.

Again, taking the last sixty years, we have had no
migration policy and so have lost thousands of possible
cultivators who have settled in countries outside the
Empire. And during the same period we have had no
organized policy of settlement ; so that the large majority
of men who sought a career on the land were not placed
or used to the best advantage — either in their own interest
or in that of the nation. We must realize that the root
evil has been that we have had no migration policy and
no land settlement in the past.

Further, it is necessary to recognize that for lack of
this policy we have suffered incalculable loss in man-
power owing to the thousands who have gone to foreign

1

IMPERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 181

countries ; and in wealth because we have not striven to
organize and settle our migrants under the best possible
conditions. We left them to shift for themselves, un-
organized and unassisted, and we have paid the penalty
in the present under-developed condition of the land of
our Empire.

Fortunately there are now signs that the importance
of organized and scientific settlement is beginning to
be realized.

But the crucial question is -do the people and the
Governments of the Empire understand that this is
the greatest problem that confronts us, and that the
rmh/ solution is for the Imperial Government —
acting in unison with the Dominion Governments —
to concentrate upon the creation of a great Imperial
Land Policy V I have dealt at length with these general
considerations ; for it is necessary to bear in mind the
question of developing the land of the whole Empire, and
the relation it bears to production from the soil of the
United Kingdom.

In June, 1920, Sir Herbert Matthews, the Secretary
of the Central Chamber of Agriculture and a man who
has worked heart and soul for the cause of agriculture,
put forward the suggestion that the time was ripe for the
formation of an Imperial Chamber of Agriculture.

And I agree with him that this would be desirable if
it can be achieved ; there is an Imperial Chamber of
Commerce — why not an Imperial Chamber of Agri-
culture ?

Such a Chamber would help to bind together the
agricultural interests of the whole Empire, and prevent
clashing ; it would enable our agriculturists to present
a united front to the Wf)rld, and it could do much to
hasten the ilay of a self-supporting Empire.

182 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

It would be a clearing-house for agronomic information,
and could help in checking the over-development of
this or that branch of agriculture within the Empire ;
equally it could draw attention to the need of developing
the under-developed branches of the industry.

It could do useful work without any overlapping with
the official departments suggested later in this chapter.
It should be a source of inspiration, and provide that
vision which is so lacking in official bodies.

The most pressing need, however, is for an Imperial
land conference ; not a conference at which the land
problem would be discussed as a side issue, but one
whose main subject would be the development of the
land resources of the Empire. This conference should
have been convened long ago — so pressing is the necessity
for a clear inter- Governmental understanding on this
subject : but the different Governments concerned fail
to see that this is indeed the greatest problem of all the
great problems with which they are faced to-day.

In the last chapter it was urged that it is essential
that such developments in our agriculture at home shall
take place, as will put the United Kingdom beyond the
danger of absolute starvation in time of war. In this
the Premiers of the oversea Governments strongly
concur ; no one realizes more clearly than they that the
weakest point in Imperial defence is England's depend-
ence upon sea-borne food, especially wheat.

We could have this security by growing more farin-
aceous food at home ; and yet, at the same time, greatly
increase our purchases of food from the Dominions.
With an Empire comprising one quarter of the land surface
of the globe, it is regrettable — to put it mildly — that we
should be buying millions of pounds' worth of meat,
butter, fruit, cotton and other raw material from

IMPERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 183

foreign countries ; and in our present linancial crisis
it is disastrous.

For example, and taking one case alone, in 1914 we
bought /]^o,ooo,ooo worth of tropical products from
countries outside the Empire ; we have vast areas of
land within the tropics from which these products could
come if a little thought were given to the matter. I am
not pleading for a Zollvercin, but rather for the wise and
patriotic investment of British capital, and for some
organization of the sources of supply.

\\'hy invest millions in developing foreign countries,
when the land of our own Empire stands in such need
of development and would repay the outlay a
thousandfold ?

Why provide the capital which enables foreign
countries — often countries in which there is much sweated
labour — to compete with our own citizens, when that
capital could be used in placing our own people upon
our own land, thus increasing the production thereof
and strengthening the Empire ?

In spite of the war, there are still people who say that
we must have cheap food, and cheap raw material, from
whatever source it may come. Agreed, that we must
have cheap food ; but, if we make up our mind to do so,
we can produce as cheaply within the Empire as in any
other part of the globe. Unless, indeed, these people
deliberately wish us to be fed by sweated labour, and
from countries where the present producer may be pro-
ducing cheaply by means of robbery — robbing the soil,
and robbing the next generation, because they take all
from the soil and put back nothing !

If one considers the question of our sources of supply
there is only one conclusion that can be arrived at, viz. :
the fact that we are not self-supporting as an Empire

184 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

in all the main necessaries of life constitutes the
gravest indictment of the policy (or rather want of
policy) of the Imperial and Dominion Governments
in regard to the development of our land and our
agricultural resources.

A tour of the Empire must impress the traveller
vi^ith the boundless natural resources of our land, also
alas, if he uses his powers of observation, with the
criminal waste on all sides. The area of land is so limit-
less ! consequently little thought of, and wasted. Our
forests were so vast — why conserve the timber ? And so
it was wasted ; yet in many cases it cannot be replaced,
for it was the growth of centuries. All this natural wealth
and no comprehensive policy to develop it ; milHons
of pounds spent in developing other countries, that should
have been used to build up our own goodly heritage !

The fact is that few politicians in the Empire are
qualified to deal with great questions of national and
imperial economics ; and the capable few are over-
whelmed with the routine work of their office and have
no time for these problems.

Our home officials have not sufficient knowledge to
be of much assistance ; how few of them personally
know anything of the Empire save the part they live in }
This criticism applies to the officials in the Dominion
Governments just as much as to those at home. These
men may be capable of carrying out a policy, but not of
devising one. They lack breadth of knowledge.

So that we come to this — our politicians can do little,
and our Government departments can do even less, in
the way of formulating the land development policy
which is so essential. Every month of ' ' drift " without
the needed policy means incalculable loss to the
Empire ; a present loss and a still greater future loss.

IMPERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 185

Ten years ago, in my book entitled Land Problems and
National Welfare, I urged the need for an " Imperial
Land Conservation and Development Board," and the
need for it is greater still to-day.

There are manv people who would like to see a full-
fledged Imperial Parliament, but personally I do not
think it feasible ; the Dominion representatives would
find it almost impossible to keep in close touch with their
respective countries, and the Dominion legislatures would
be very jealous of any super-Legislature.

And even if an Imperial Parliament were an accom-
plished fact, in all probability it would be in no way
better qualified to deal with economic problems than
the various existing Parliaments.

An Imperial Conservation and Development Board
would be in an entirely diff"erent category ; its two main
functions would be to guide the flow of wealth, in the
form of human beings, to those parts of the Empire stand-
ing in greatest need of population ; and to guide wealth,
in the form of capital, into the channels which would
most benefit the Empire. It would in the widest sense
secure " patriotic finance," instead of the German Jew
system of finance which has held sway for so many
years and which has been often actually anti-imperial.

This Board would have to possess certain executive
powers which would need to be carefully thought out ;
but as it would be the means of bringing further capital
for the development of their resources to the Dominions,
it is hardly likely that they would object to the proposal
were it put to them properly.

The strongest objection to a new board or department
is, that wc are so overdone with departments, that there
would be at this moment the strongest opposition to the
formation of any new oflici.il Board. No doubt it woukl

186 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

take considerable time to make the public miderstand
the potential value of such a Board ; nevertheless I feel
that it is an objective to keep in mind and bring
before the country ; and definite efforts should be made
to educate public opinion in this direction.

Shortly after the signing of the armistice an official
Oversea Settlement Committee, under the Colonial
Office, was set up. A certain proportion of the migration
leaving this country is under the segis of this committee,
but it has not adequate powers. An Act is required to
give greater powers to this committee and so further to
organize migration ; but the Act is hanging fire — other
and more important (?) legislation must take precedence,
and there is no time for it in the present session ! I
understand that the Government has such an Act in
mind, and that it would be much on the fines of the
Oversea Settlement Bill which was introduced in 1919
and dropped. And although the 1919 Bill in no way
attempted to formulate a migration and settlement policy,
nevertheless such a Bill, if passed, would confirm and
strengthen the position of the existing Committee,
which at present is only a departmental committee.
Nominally it would be the Official Central Migration
and Settlement Authority, and if it becomes so in fact
and really does guide migration to the best Imperial
advantage, it would not require much alteration to turn
it into the Board for which I am pleading. But so long as
it remains merely an Oversea Settlement Authority, large
economic questions of development and conservation
will be clearly outside its sphere.

If we accept the fact that, at the present moment,
public opinion will not brook the formation of such a
department as an Imperial Conservation and Develop-
ment Board — of which Settlement would be an important

IMPERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 187

branch — how are the pressing economic problems to
be considered and solved ?

Let me repeat, at the present moment we have no men
of official status giving proper consideration to these
problems ; and therefore we are living an absolutely
hand-to-mouth existence. Can anything be more
dangerous to our Empire and Kingdom ?

From this want of thought and guidance in economic
questions a further danger arises. Great industrial,
commercial and financial groups bring pressure to bear
upon the Government, and often their case is stated so
forcibly that they carry their point. It may be a sound
development that is advocated, or it may be one that
clashes with other and more sound developments ; or it
may be a scheme which, while beneficial to the group,
is far from being so to the Empire.

It is all a lottery, and bad, because it is piecemeal.

We require, to meet the needs of the present situation,
an Economic Council which would act as advisory to
the Government, which would consider the different
economic questions not only on their own merits but
from the Imperial and National points of view.

And it should not be like the advisory committees
which were rife during the war, which only considered
tjuestions (often superficial) as they were submitted by
the Departments concerned.

This Economic Council should be composed of a
small group of leading economists and patriotic financiers,
and should have the power to formulate economic /wlicy
and submit it to the Cabinet. This Council would really
be the " thinking department " for the Empire and
Kingdom. It would confine itself to the consideration
of ftindamental problems.

We must have an economic policy without delay if

188 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

we are to consolidate the Empire and if we are to
develop it and retain it for the English-speaking race.

Without the needed policy we shall suffer each year
an ever-increasing loss, and — it is not putting it too
strongly — we shall imperil the very future of the Empire.
And to give effect to such an economic policy I maintain
that some form of Conservation and Development Board
is essential. It is impossible to work effectively through
the medium of half a dozen different departments.

The guiding principle of this economic policy must
be the need of developing the rural side of our
civilisation.

The great mistake of the past century has been that
all attention was concentrated on urban development ;
our civiHzation was based upon industrialism, and upon a
school of economy as hard and inhuman as the metal
machinery which made the industrial development
possible, and brought in its train overcrowding in our
towns, with their congested slums and high per-
centage of unemployment and families living on the
verge of starvation !

These are not achievements to be proud of, if regarded
impartially, and all the time with the millions and millions
of acres of undeveloped land lying under smiling skies
and calling aloud for cultivators ! And we must not
think solely of the material side, of the importance of
increasing primary wealth ; there is the mental and
moral side as well.

The value of living on and by the land is great in
the building up of character, and in giving soundness of
judgment.

The most healthy hfe for the human being, bodily,
mentally and spiritually, is the hfe on the land under
the direct influence of Nature ; all else is, in a greater

IMPERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 189

or less degree, artificial and therefore in a corresponding

degree unhealthy.

Even in our young sister countries overseas we already
see the evils of the over-large urban populations be-
coming a menace to their future ; yet we have done
and still do nothing to counteract the overgrowth of
the towns by building up the countr\'side.

Other nations for years past have perceived this
danger and have taken measures, largely successful,
to increase the rural population, and to improve the
conditions under which it lives.

We, too, must reverse our evil policy of the past and
concentrate upon the rural side, if our Empire is to
survive the century.

Finallv, we must have a carefully thought-out economic
policy if we are to achieve a " self-supporting " Empire
— an ideal by no means beyond attainment, which should
stir the heart of every patriotic citizen.

APPENDIX I

RENT

IT may be useful here briefly to describe the nature of
rent in agriculture. Some land pays higher rent than
other. Such rent marks a superiority and greater pro-
ductiveness.

Rent of land in agricultural cases is simply the price paid
for the service and hire of land, and it measures some advan-
tage over other land with which it is contrasted as regards
utility. The amount varies on different plots for several
reasons, mainly (i) superior quality or productiveness, (2)
accessibility and convenience or some other economic advan-
tage which renders it relatively more profitable.

In the simplest case the rent will be the lowest rate as
determined by supply and demand.

Superior fertility (productiveness) will command a higher
rate of rental in proportion to its higher yield. This superiority
of soil may be natural or it may be the result of outlay upon the
soil as in fertilizing, draining, etc. In the first case a higher
rent will arise from natural advantages, and in other cases it
may be due to expenditure upon the soil in order to render
it more productive : the higher rent is then regarded as
interest on capital sunk in the soil, and it is properly a return
on outlay of capital.

Thus we have land which is more productive by nature's
gift of high fertility, and also from advantage of site or access,
water supply and other incidental advantages ; sometimes
from mineral wealth. These cases yield extra rent, but this

190

APPENDIX I 101

does not arise from outlay of capital or labour, but is due to
endowments of nature.

These advantages produce higher rent to the owner above
the rent which is derived from poorer or less richly endowed
soil.

In the above paragraphs 1 have been dealing with the
theory of rent. Our great economists, from Ricardo onwards,
have dealt at length with this problem, but very generally
from the academic and theoretic side.

Sufficient attention has never been paid in this country to
the human element as a factor in determining rent, and the
general result of the teaching of our economists has been an
exaggerated belief in the rent value inherent in the soil.
Even in the case of the richest soil it has become available
for agricultural use only after the expenditure of capital.

It was this belief in ihe inherent or prairie value of the soil
that led to the Land Value legislation, which failctl because
it was based on a fallacy. Investigation shows that in practice
the inherent or prairie value of the land is non-existent.

The effect of the teaching of our economists has been far-
reaching, and has undoubtedly led to the attitude of mind
amongst our practical agriculturists who hold that for
market gardening, for instance, you must have good rich
land ; the idea of making the soil hardly exists in this country
as it does in others. As an example, the wonderful market
gardeixing near Paris is on land that was of the poorest possible
quality ; but the cultivators " built up " that land to such an
extent that each year they have surplus soil which they sell,
and the writer has talked to men who pay their rent by
selling surplus soil !

As a side issue in the problem it is interesting to note the
difference between the rural and urban landowner in regard
to rent. The urban owner as a rule does not expend his capital
in developing his land ; another man generally builds the house
upon it, a public authority docs the drainage work and lays
on the water supply.

In the case of agricultural land it is the owner who effects

192 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

all improvements out of his capital, and generally speaking
these improvements, houses, roads, fences, drains, etc,
which have been effected, say, within the period of the last
fifty or sixty years represent an amount of capital equal to
the selling value of the land. If a man buys a farm he is
either paying for the value of the improvements and nothing
for the land, or if he likes to say he is paying for the land
itself, then he is paying nothing for the improvements.

In fairness to the agricultural landowner this distinction
between himself and the urban landowner should be borne
in mind when questions of rent are discussed.

In the writer's book, The Land and the Empire, published
in 1917, he attempted, with much diffidence, to give a defini-
tion of rent from the purely practical point of view : this was
as follows : —

" The price of land and the rate of rent is fixed by the value
of the land to the cultivator, influenced by the consideration :
Can he make his living oft' land bought or rented at a given
price ? And although the law of supply and demand un-
doubtedly affects the price of land, it is much more affected
by other considerations, for example, the standard of skill,
intelligence and energy of the race of cultivators, the presence
of conditions favourable to the industry and the state of
organization of the industry."

Some two years later the writer read List's National
System of Political Economy, in which the question of rent
is dealt with in an interesting way, and from the practical
rather than the theoretic point of view he says :

" Ricardo, and after him Mill, M'Culloch and others, are
of opinion that rent is paid on account of the natural produc-
tive fertility inherent in the land itself. Ricardo has based a
whole system on this notion. If he had made an excursion
to Canada he would have been able to make observations
there in every valley, on every hill, which would have con-
vinced him that his theory is based on sand. As he, however,
only took into account the circumstances of England he fell
into the erroneous idea that the English fields and meadows

APPENDIX I 193

for whose pretended natural productive capability such hand-
some rents are now paid, have at all times been the same
fields and meadows. The original natural productive capa-
bility of land is evidently so unimportant, and affords to the
person using it so small an excess of products, that the rent
derivable from it alone is not worth mentioning. All Canada
in its original state (inhabited merely by hunters) would yield
in meat and skins scarcely enough income to pay the salary
of a single Oxonian professor of political economy.

" The national productive capability of the soil in Malta
consists of rocks, which would scarcely have yielded a rent
at any time. If we follow up with the mind's eye the course
of the civilization of whole nations, and of their conversion
from the condition of hunters to the pastoral condition, and
from this to that of agriculture, etc., we may easily convince
ourselves that the rent everywhere was originally nil, and
that it rose everywhere with the progress of civilization, of
p(jpulation, and with the increase of mental and material
capital.

" The basis of rent is the exclusive benefit or advantage
which the ground yields to that individual at whose exclusive
disposal it is placed ; and the greatness of this benefit is
determined especially according to the amount of available
mental and material capital in the community in which he is
placed, and also according to the opportunity which the special
situation and peculiar character of the property, and the
utilization of capital previously invested therein, affords to the
person exclusively possessing the property for obtaining
material values, or for satisfying mental and bodily require-
ments and enjoyments."

'3

APPENDIX II

NEW MOVEMENTS IN RURAL EDUCATION

{A Paper written by the Author in 1916 before the Fisher Act

was introduced)

IN this paper I propose to discuss certain new movements
which have already been started to a certain extent in our
elementary schools and in Farm Institutes, etc., or which
during the past few years have been suggested by such bodies
as the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education
and the Rural Education Conference. But before discussing
these movements I would like to make certain general obser-
vations in regard to Education, particularly in view of the
conditions which the great war we are waging either has
created or will create.

It is almost impossible to forecast what the condition of
the country will be in another year's time, so that anything
approaching prophecy should clearly be avoided. But this
at all events is clear, no matter what measure of victory is
vouchsafed to our arms, the period of recuperation must be
a lengthy one. Indeed, if we are to recuperate at all, every
individual citizen must do his very utmost and must be as
effective and efficient as possible ; therefore it will be neces-
sary for us to leave no stone unturned in our effort to train
the rising generation to become the most effective citizens
and the most efficient workers possible.

I want to lay great stress on the point that the basis of
efficiency lies in sound education. From the national point
of view nothing will be more disastrous than to adopt a policy

194

APPENDIX II 195

of false economy in regard to education. Let us make drastic
changes if they be necessary, let us stop expenditure on the
non-essentials in education and see that every penny is well
spent, but let us remember that it is only by spending sufficient
to secure sound and practical education that we can hope
to recuperate after this disastrous war— that we can hope to
make head against the increased competition of the United
States and Germany itself. Germany is a highly organized
industrial countr)', and after this war its incentives to increase
production will be greater than ever.

In the past we have spent large sums on our elementary
education. Much of this money has been wasted because
instruction has been too " bookish," in the bad sense of the
word, and not sufficiently practical. Secondly, because of
the scant provision for continuation instruction, much in-
struction that has been so costly to provide has been entirely
lost. We see children going in for technical courses at the
age of sixteen who cannot benefit to the full by these courses
because their general education is bad — because they have
forgotten so much of what has been taught them. Other
countries are far better provided with continuation instruction
than we are, and even in the case of the children of labourers
it is very generally carried on to the age of sixteen and even
eighteen.

To consider the case of the countryside, this war has still
further depleted our rural population. A strong and flourish-
ing rural population is the first essential for the welfare of a
country, so that henceforth our chief aim in education must
be to teach the importance of country life from the national
point of view, and to instil more and more a love of it in the
rising generation both in town and country schools. I admit
that from the labouring man's point of view country condi-
tions have in the past been most unsatisfactory and the
opportunities for betterment too few. These conditions must
be changed, and I am convinced that they will be changed
ere long to such an extent that the teachers themselves will
feci justified in using their influence to direct the inclination

196 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

of their pupils in favour of a country life ; many teachers are
already doing this. It is very largely in the hands of the
teachers to guide the future development of the rising genera-
tion. This is a power which they should use to the full, but
they should carefully study what is necessary and desirable in
that development from the national point of view.

Before coming to details concerning Rural Education I
would like to make the following points clear so that there
may be no misunderstanding of the point of view from which
I am approaching the problem : —

1 . I do not want to see our rural elementary schools turned
into agricultural schools, but rather that one day our rural
children should have educational facilities equal to those
enjoyed by town children.

2. I do not want general education to be narrowed, but
rather to see it made more full and more effective than it is
to-day.

3. Nothing should be done that would lessen the oppor-
tunities of the children at school or check them in the free
choice of their future career.

4. Though I advocate a great development of manual in-
struction, this must not be at the cost of the literary side.
The most priceless boon that education can give is a real love
of books — a boon which, alas, has not been effectively given
by our text-book education in the past.

In reorganizing any system of education the great point to
bear in mind is what type of citizen the country stands in
greatest need of, and the qualities of mind with which he should
be endowed, and then deliberately to set out to obtain that end.

First of all we want citizens who have the fear of God
within their hearts, and a lively sense of their duty to their
country and to their neighbours.

Secondly, we want citizens who can think ; and

Thirdly, we want citizens who can use their hands intelli-
gently. Nothing gives a greater grasp and understanding of
the conditions of life than being able to do things well.

J

APPENDIX II 197

In the past our education has tended too much to turn out
a disproportionately large number of clerks and unskilled
workers.

When the fact is recognized that our present system of
education turns out a larger proportion of unskilled workers
than any other system of education, I think it will be granted
that to reduce in the future the number of unskilled workers
and to increase the number of skilled cultivators of the soil
will be to the national advantage. When, further, it is realized
that the total white agricultural population of the whole
British Empire is seven millions less than the agricultural
population of European Germany, it will be admitted that the
type of citizen, above all others, that we need, to secure the
future development of the Empire and the Homeland, is the
tiller of the soil. It must not be forgotten that fifty years ago
the land of the United Kingdom carried a far larger popula-
tion than it docs to-day, and that there is, therefore, ample
room for a large increase in our rural population.

Of the new movements in education that have already been
put on foot, the most striking is the development of manual
instruction in the elementary school. Much has been done
during the past decade, but still in the vast majority of
elementary schools the manual method h;is yet to be intro-
duced. In theory it is admitted that instruction is only full
and complete w hich appeals to the manual as well as the mental
activities of the child, but it still remains to put this axiom into
practice in all our elementary schools. Too much lip service
is rendered : there is not sufficient whole-hearted effort
directed towards giving the rising generation that type of
instruction which we believe will turn out the most effective
citizen in whatever career in life he may choose. Simple
manual instruction could and should be given in nearly all
elementary schools under existing conditions and at a very
small cost. We must not wait for perfect equipment, we must
not wait for special manual in.struction rooms. Every local
education authority should concentrate on developing manual
instruction for boys and girls in all the schools within its

198 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

area. Five years' experience in the Lindsey division of
Lincolnshire has proved that three afternoons in the week can
be given up to manual instruction with the greatest benefit
to the general education of the child. It has been proved
that the literary side of the child's education itself derives
benefit from this arrangement, and there is no doubt that the
child leaves school with his faculties and capacities better
developed than was the case before the introduction of the
manual method. The term " Manual Method " is used to
show that more is meant than merely the addition of one or
two manual subjects to an already overcrowded curriculum.

The " Manual Method " means the utilization of hand-
work in an educational rather than a vocational manner. It
means making handwork part and parcel of the very life of
the school, not merely the tacking on of a handicraft subject
taught perchance by some outside craftsman unable to give
it educational value. Hence the importance of a handicraft
being introduced only into schools where the staff itself can
teach it. Ordinary text-book instruction appeals only to
one side of the child's brain^ — and in the case of dull children
often fails to appeal at all ; but handwork appeals to all chil-
dren. Through it the idea of form, colour, quantity, number,
become realities, so that the bookwork acquires reality also.
Through it the ideas forming in the child's mind, as the result
of what he has seen, heard, and read, find actual and concrete
expression.

Thus bookwork of the right type and manual instruction
woven together form the " Manual Method " and appeal to
the whole child, to all his activities, mental and manual ; and
in the case of dull children it has proved the means of stirring
their mental activities by teaching them to use their hands.

There are loo schools in Lincolnshire where this method
has been developed. The cost to the county is only some
^250 a year. The chief danger to be guarded against is that
of a teacher giving manual instruction who is not qualified
to do so. The number of teachers so qualified is much larger
than is generally supposed, and the number can be rapidly

APPENDIX II 199

increased by the proper use of Saturday and holiday courses
of instruction for teachers.

The county of Cambridge gives a brilliant example of the
full development of these courses, with the result that in
every school in the county all practical processes of home
management are admirably taught ; in most counties the ten-
dency is to concentrate more attention upon giving boys this
manual instruction, and the girls in this respect are sometimes
overlooked ; but in Cambridge it is rather the reverse. This
county is doing most valuable work in showing what can be
done in manual instruction for girls. It is essential that our
future housewives and mothers should be taught the elements
of home management at school, for they can as a rule learn
it nowhere else.

I will not go into detail as to subjects and methods. But
the guiding principle should be that the manual instruction
must be given by a member of the actual school staff, and here
I would like to refer you to the leaflets published by the
National Scheme of Handwork Committee.

From what has been said, it is evident that the personality
and qualifications of the teacher are matters of supreme
importance. In the past the curriculum of the training college
has been far from satisfactory ; in theory the importance of
manual work was admitted, but at the training college manual
subjects have been more or less optional, and in no way have
received the attention that their importance demands. There
is little doubt that manual subjects will become more and more
an inherent part of the training college curriculum. But we
must remember that even to-day a large number of future
teachers do not go through any college. It is therefore most
important to develop the other methods of training teachers.
All teachers ought to go through a college or university
course ; but the training they are to receive after they leave
school and before they go U> the college is a matter deserving
of the clrwest attention. A few years ago the effort was made
to induce all would-be teachers, on leaving the elementary
school, to go on to a secondary school, but in country districts

200 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

this proved to have a deterrent effect and the numbers going
in for the profession decreased to an alarming extent. The
Board of Education then revived the pupil-teacher system in
a modified form, and at once an increase in numbers was
observed.

Still the situation is serious ; to keep up the supply every
local authority ought to have a number of students training
to become teachers equal to 6 per cent of the teachers it em-
ploys. Unfortunately, few authorities are maintaining any-
thing like that ratio, 2 or 3 per cent being the most common
average. It is sad to have to say it, but the large and rich
urban authorities such as London, county authorities such as
Lancashire — are the worst delinquents ; they are deliberately
keeping up their supply of teachers at the cost of other authori-
ties, often much poorer than themselves, who are doing their
duty in the way of training teachers. It is most important to
keep up the proportion of rural boy and girl students ; if we
are to have the right atmosphere in our country schools we
must have the full proportion of country-bred teachers.

Wherever there is an exceptionally good rural school in
which the manual method is fully developed it should be
utilized as a training centre for pupils destined to be teachers.
They enter this centre on leaving the elementary school, and
one great advantage is that, at the end of, say, two years, the
head master can judge whether or not this or that pupil has
really in him the making of a good teacher, and if he has not
he can be withdrawn without waste of time or money.

To come now to suggested new developments, the first and
most important is undoubtedly that of continuation instruc-
tion. A certain amount has been done in this direction in
towns by evening schools and technical classes ; but in many
towns, particularly those of medium size, the ground is by
no means covered. In rural districts there is very little con-
tinuation instruction, and what exists is chiefly in the form
of evening schools that do not meet the need of the labourers'
sons who have been at work all day in the fields and who live
perhaps at a considerable distance from the school.

APPENDIX n 201

To bring the standard of technical skill up to that which
exists in Germany or Denmark, for instance, it will be neccB-
sarv that a larger percentage of the rising generation go in for
technical classes ; but there is little use in providing technical
and scientific classes entirely detached and divorced from the
instruction given in the elementary school, and that is why
the connecting link must be forged. The present gap in our
svstem of national education must be filled by a system of
continuation instruction which will carry on and complement
the work done in the elementary school, which, though it
might be more definitely vocational, must still not overlook
the need for general instruction and particularly must keep in
view the fostering of a real love of reading. It is one of the
saddest things to see how little books are appreciated in the
rural districts ; yet how much could they add to the life of
the cultivator of the soil.

There is on foot an agitation for raising the school-leaving
age to sixteen. I fear the exigencies of the time will cause
this to be indefinitely postponed. It would be too costly.
But if a proper system of continuation instruction is provided
the delay need not be so much regretted. And in the case of
children going in for a career on the land I think that leaving
school at fourteen, with continuation instruction, is the ideal
to aim at. It has been pointed out that as the evening school
does not provide a suitable means of continuation instruction
in the case of rural children, a system of centralized continua-
tion day schools must be devised to which the children, boys
and girls, must be brought for one morning or one afternoon
in the week. A first-class master is essential ; and even with
classes not exceeding twenty in number he could instruct
some lOO or 120 pupils in the course of the week. The em-
ployers of labour would have to give facilities for this arrange-
ment. They do so willingly in countries where this system
has been established, and there is no valid reason why they
should not do the same here. The trouble is, alas, that most
employers in England so little understand the value of educa-
tion tliat they undoubtedly will make diflirulties, and comp\il-

202 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

sion may have to be resorted to. It is extraordinary that em-
ployers do not generally recognize what an advantage it would
be to themselves to raise the standard of intelligence of those
who work for them. We have brilliant examples of certain
clear-sighted manufacturers who have established schools
actually in their own factories, and who insist upon all youths
under seventeen attending for so many hours a week. We
badly want to see the same spirit actuating all employers of
labour.

This system of centralized continuation day schools has
been recommended by the Consultative Committee of the
Board of Education and the Rural Education Conference,
and it has been in operation for some time in Canada and
other countries.

To come next to instruction of a more purely agricultural
character and available for boys and girls after the age of
sixteen is reached : three years ago Mr. Runciman brought
in various changes and developments, the result of which has
been to give us a system of agricultural education. Before
that there was no system at all ; and although there is much
room for future development, we may well be thankful that
at last a beginning has been made.

England was divided for the purposes of this agricultural
education into twelve provinces, with an Agricultural College
situated in each ; this college forms the centre of agricultural
education for the province.

Further, the county councils (though by no means all) have
appointed agricultural organizers, and these, with their as-
sistant lecturers on the county staff, control what may best
be termed the intermediary agricultural education of the
county. The results are clearly good ; the farmers' interest
is being aroused and their sons are becoming anxious to go in
for courses of instruction. Instruction is being brought to
the farmers.

But the grave defect is that so far it is not reaching the
children of the labourers ; and they must be reached if we
are to have more efficient workmen on the land in the future.

APPENDIX II 208

I do not think it will ever be possible for many sons of labourers
to go on to the Agricultural College ; still the exceptionally
clever youth should have the opportunity of doing so, but in
the past we have been too apt to think of the exceptional cases
and to neglect the importance of raising the general standard.
And the continuation day school will prove the easiest way
of reaching the sons of labourers ; and when this is once
attained, I am convinced we shall see a very great improve-
ment in the standard of our agricultural labourers.

In the main, labourers' sons will continue to learn the tech-
nical processes on the farms on which they work — or rather
they should do so ; but unfortunately the farmer, as a rule,
is a very bad teacher, so that it may prove necessary to develop
low-grade centres for agricultural instruction where short
courses on the care of animals and the rudiments of agriculture
could be given.

To provide continuation instruction for girls these low-
grade centres would be most valuable. They have been
started within recent years in Germany, and they do in a
measure for the daughters of labourers what the " licoles
Menageres Agricoles " do in Belgium for the daughters of
the better class of farmers. Supposing the elements of prac-
tical home management to be taught in all elementary schools,
girls on leaving would go on to the low-grade centre for a
three-months' course in what might be described as " Agri-
culturized Home Management."

I. The Housewife.

{a) Duties of the housewife — moral, social ; principles

of domestic economy.
{b) Instruction relating to infants and children.
(c) Hygiene, care of invalids.

{d) The care of the house — furniture, utensils, etc.
{e) Feeding the family, comparative values of foods,

using the produce of the farm and garden.
(/) Cutting out, making, repairing clothes and linen.
(g) Washing.

204 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

2. The Woman in relation to the Farm.

{a) The domestic animals, dairying, rabbits, bees, etc.
{b) Agriculture (a few underlying principles), the soil,

manures,
(c) The housewife and the garden.

3. The Country-Woman and Society.

Clubs, Women's Institutes, Co-operation, etc.

This course would really follow up and amplify the prac-
tical work done in the elementary schools. Particularly in
the case of girls, we have made a great mistake in specializing
in this or that subject. Too often a girl goes out to the Colonies
or to settle on a farm at home, who perhaps has been taught
to make butter, but who knows nothing at all about the feeding
of cows, or the causes of butter having a bad taste, or the ways
of handling and keeping butter.

The first object should be to turn out women who know
how to use their hands intelligently, and who know how to
manage their homes well ; afterwards it will be time enough
to add proficiency in special subjects.

If we are to attract the rising generation to a life on the
land, we must resort to such associations for the brightening
of social life as Farm Lads' Clubs, and Women's Institutes,
which have played such a part in the brightening of life in
the country districts of Canada. Co-operation must be en-
couraged ; for at present we are far from possessing an
organized rural society, we have not even a society inchoate.

Mr. Russell, the Irish poet, seer, and practical reformer,
puts this so well that I must quote his words :

" Our rural populations are no more closely connected for
the most part than the shifting sands on the seashore. There
are personal friendships, of course, but few economic or social
partnerships. Every one pursues his own occupation without
regard to the occupation of his neighbours. If a man emigrate
it does not aflFect the occupation of those who farm land about
him. They go on ploughing and digging, buying and selling,
just as before. They suffer no perceptible economic loss by

APPENDIX IT 205

the departure of half a dozen men from the district. A true
community would, of course, be affected by the loss of its mem-
bers. A co-operative society that loses a dozen members, the
milk of their cows, their orders for fertilizers, seeds, and feeding
stuffs, receives serious injury to its prosperity. ThatistheditTer-
ence between a community and an unorganized population."

Local Education Authorities must actively develop these
things ; they must understand that they are responsible for
the standard of the people living within their areas ; they
must realize that deep down in every heart exists a love of the
land and a desire to work upon the land if conditions are
reasonably favourable, and this is not merely for material
reasons but for spiritual ones also.

Rural land means the material object through which certain
fundamental spiritual needs of man can find satisfaction. We
want to foster and develop that call of the land, not only for
the physical and spiritual development of the people, but for
the very consolidation of our country and our Empire.

I have shown how disproportioned is our agricultural
population compared with the vast land area of the British
Empire ; we must encourage more of those now being
educated to go in for a career on the land at home and over-
seas. To this end all industrial schools and reformatories
should have farms attached to them ; some of these are
already turning out excellently trained agriculturists, but the
proportion of these should be greater. Again, I think that
much more should be done to influence the children under
the control of the Poor Law Authorities to go in for a career
on the land. In Austria, where the boarding-out system is
universal, practically all the Poor Law children become
agriculturists. We have here been occupying ourselves with
the elementary schools and the children of the worker. But
equally I feel that the science instruction in our great public
schools and secondary schools stands in need of revision, so
that every one who will ever be connected with the land
should know about land ; and this, ahus, is very far from being
the case at prc»ent. 1 have only been able to throw out certain

206 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

suggestions and to nnake a cursory review of certain sections
of the education problem.

To sum up the main headings —

1. Much greater attention should be paid to developing as
speedily as possible manual instruction in the elementary
schools,

2. An effective system of continuation instruction must be
devised without further loss of time if we are to render the
other parts of our present system of education effective,

3. Lower-grade centres for agricultural instruction should
be established,

4. Farm Lads' Clubs, and Women's Institutes should be
created,

5. Agricultural instruction in Reformatories and Industrial
Schools should be developed,

6. The science in our secondary schools should be revised,
and Botany and the Chemistry of living things substituted for
Inorganic Chemistry.

I am not suggesting that these developments could take
place all at once throughout the United Kingdom, but I do
urge that the time for experiment has more than come ; some
of these experiments will undoubtedly cost money, but par-
ticularly in regard to elementary education much can be done
by alteration and organization, and at a comparatively small
expenditure. The great thing is for us to be determined to
get a sound and practical education for the money we expend,
and we must never for one moment forget that money spent
on the right type of education is the soundest and most re-
munerative investment into which a nation can put its money.

THE FISHER ACT

Since the above was written Mr, Fisher's Bill has been
introduced and is now an Act of Parliament,

It is one of the greatest and most comprehensive enact-
ments ever passed by any Government,

Under it there is the opportunity for developing nearly
every suggestion contained in the foregoing paper. Eight
hours weekly of continued instruction is provided for.

APPENDIX II 207

It is true that many ardent educationists consider this to
be insufficient and advocate twenty hours weekly. But it
must be remembered that even eight hours per week is
more than is given in most countries where day continuation
schools have been in existence for some years ; that it will
require vast effort on the part of Central and Local y\uthori-
ties to make adequate provision for eight hours' continuation
instruction a week ; and that finally, when we have the new
machine working smoothl\ , it will ahvaNS be possible to
incre:ise the number of hours.

Not for one moment must we lose sight of the fact that if
the new developments are to be successful the first essential
is to concentrate attention on the training of the future teacher.
Two years' training in a college is not suflicient — three years
should be the rule and not the exception.

And more and more the training colleges should be given
a university character and atmosphere.

In regard to the actual creation of the continuation day
school, a perfectly possible procedure in any county would
be to select so many of the best and largest of the elementary
schools, add a cheap wooden class-room, and appoint either
a " continuation master " or put the elementary school head
master, if suitable, in charge of the continuation school as
well, increasing his staff as necessary. This would be the
continuation centre to which children within a three-mile
radius would come. My own county is not thickly populated,
but study of the Ordnance Map and of the population between
the ages of fourteen and eighteen shows that a good continua-
tion attendance could be secured at a good many centres.

In the early stages of the movement the object should be
quality rather than quantity. One centre properly run, full
of intellectual life and educational activity, will be worth half
a dozen inditierent centres. We must do more than simply
create continuation day schools : we must call into existence
centres of intellectual activity that will permeate the life of
the whole neighbourhood. The best elementary schools
would provide a good nucleus, also the small rural secondary

208 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

schools, and later on, where necessary, the formation of con-
tinuation schools, independent of any existing school.

The head master of a continuation centre should be highly
paid, so that these schools would be regarded as prizes in the
teaching profession, and attract good teachers. Further, op-
portunity should be taken of the educational reorganization
to improve the social status of the teachers — higher salaries
will help — but more is needed. Every county should have a
system of social gatherings for teachers. These might take
place in the summer holidays, and in country houses lent for
the purpose. They might last for three or four days, and while
chiefly recreational, a few conferences and lectures on educa-
tional subjects could be fitted in.

It is now time to consider what is to be done in the remoter
areas lying out of easy reach of the centres.

{a) Much could be done by conveying pupils in motor-
lorries, which presumably will be plentiful after the war.

{b) By establishing a system of peripatetic teachers, who
would take continuation classes wherever ten to twenty pupils
could be got together.

At the outset little should be spent upon buildings. Any
existing room, or cheaply erected wooden room, should be
used until experience indicates exactly what is wanted.

There is no getting away from the fact that the provision
of properly quaUfied teachers will prove to be the great
difficulty — but not an unsurmountable difficulty. The supply
will come with the demand just as it did in the early " seven-
ties " of the nineteenth century — that other great period of
educational change and reorganization. Further, every L.E.A.
must concentrate attention on training teachers.

The next question is that of the curriculum. Here great
eliisticity will be needed. The curricula must vary with the
varying conditions of surrounding life. In general terms, in
rural districts instruction will have to be more general in its
character than in the town continuation school ; there will be
less opportunity for specialization or for a wide range of
vocational work.

APPENDIX II 209

Of the eight hours a week, one hour should be given up to
physical instruction. This should include teaching the pupils
how to lift weights. There is a right and a wrong way of
attempting to lift a weight ; to lift it wrongly may entail
serious physical injury. For example, the larger proportion
of agricultural labourers sufTer from rupture because they
were never taught how to lift. Also many labourers arc
hammer-toed, because it is very generally assumed that after
eighteen the foot does not increase in size ! These may seem
small points, but they are of great importance in securing the
physical fitness of the rising generation.

Of the remaining seven hours, three and a half, if not four,
should be given up to literary work. It is essential to raise
the general standard of knowledge ; it is essential to instil a
real love of books, for nothing would add a greater interest to
the lives of those living in country districts than a keen and
intelligent interest in books.

The last three or three and a half hours should be given up
to manual work. Here such specialization as circumstances
permit might come in. From the age of fourteen to sixteen
the educational aspect of the instruction might still dominate
— from sixteen to eighteen the work might become more and
more vocational.

Even in the elementary schools we must get away from the
idea that education must be confined within the four walls of
the school-house. " All the world's a school." Ever^'day
life outside the school should definitely be made to play its
part in educating the child. If this is true of elementary
education, much more is it true of continuation instruction.

The teacher should bear in mind the work and manner of
life of each pupil, and relate the instruction given thereto.
For instance, in the case of a lad on the farm, somehow or
other we should make him understand the simple principles
underlying every process he performs. Rarely can the farmers
teach this — they have little aptitude for teaching. It will be
said that the ordinary teacher would know nothing about the
underlying principles. True ; but we must have teachers

210 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

who do. In France the rural elementary school children very
commonly lunch with their parents in the fields, and do a
little work with them during the midday break ; on returning
to school they have to talk about what they saw done, and
the teacher tells them the Why and Wherefore.

Every Christian, every Churchman, should do his utmost
to forward the movement, for it is the duty of every Christian
to see to it, as far as he is able, that each and every future
citizen has opportunity to develop to the highest point in
body and soul. Religious instruction clearly should not stop
at fourteen — it must continue, too, but it is hard to see how
it can be fitted in to the eight hours of compulsory attendance.
Other means must be found. Under whatever system is
devised, the opportunity should be taken of simplifying the
religious teaching given to children under fourteen. I fear
very often the clergy do not understand what is suitable " for
babes and sucklings."

There will be undoubtedly much opposition on the part of
employers to giving up their youths for two afternoons in the
week ; farmers particularly will complain. The clergy could
do much in getting them to take the right view — in making
them realize that the standard of labour will improve. In
no country in the world, where continuation instruction is
in force, have employers really suffered, once they have made
the necessary adjustments. In Scotland farm lads have one
afternoon off, and in Denmark their education goes on to
eighteen. Far from ruining agriculture, the farmers in these
two countries are the most prosperous in the world.

We have a great Education Act, but this alone is not
sufficient ; we must have a public opinion and the will behind
it to make it truly effective. Where necessary, Local Education
Authorities must be stirred to take action under the Act,
obeying rather its spirit than its letter.

And when necessary this pressure should be brought to
bear upon the Local Education Authorities by local people,
keen to see the needed development, rather than by the inter-
vention of Central Authority.

APPENDIX III

ARABLE DAIRY FARMING

A paper read by Mr. James C. Broivn at the Farmers' Club,

December, 1920

HISTORY

STOCK-RAISING on arable land is a practice probably
as ancient as agriculture itself, and methods of manage-
ment early engaged the attention of writers on farming
matters.

Much interest was shown in the subject in England in the
eighteenth century, but during the nineteenth century it is
but little written about. The records of the methods practised
show that no logical system was ever established, the cropping
being haphazard, except in the case of the arable land sheep-
farming of the South of England. With the general applica-
tion of the four-course system during the last hundred years
the special cropping of arable land for the maintenance of
cattle seems almost to have died out in this country. There
docs not appear to have been worked out a system of keeping
cattle entirely on arable land throughout the whole year ;
even in Denmark a proportion of grass is retained. In England
arable stock-farming has been confined to arable sheep farm-
ing, and the occasional production of arable crops for feeding
cattle to supplement the produce of grassland, which is prac-
tised to a limited extent in isolated cases in many districts.
It must, however, be borne in mind that in the four-course
system of farming the winter keep of all kinds ot stock is
drawn largely from the arable land.

311

212 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

DEVELOPMENT

The abundance of grass produced in this country, together
with the tendency towards an extensive system of farming,
which was one of the chief characteristics of British farming
during the second half of the nineteenth century, is no doubt
largely responsible for the neglect of this branch of husbandry ;
for while Denmark was making rapid progress in the develop-
ment of this department of farming, and the dairying districts
of America were more and more turning to forage crops as a
means of feeding dairy cattle, the subject was almost entirely
neglected in this country. An examination of the agricultural
literature of the nineteenth century reveals surprisingly little
information on the subject. The success of the Danes,
however, invites the attention of farmers in this country,
especially as in Denmark an increase in the yield per acre of
cereals has accompanied the growth of arable stock farming.

POSSIBILITIES

In spite of the excellent climatic conditions for the produc-
tion of grass existing in this country, the grassland is the
weakest link in the farming system, and it is generally admitted
that large tracts are making only a small contribution to the
national food supply ; especially is the average yield of hay
per acre from the permanent grass small. It has been proved
beyond question that on average land a much larger head of
stock can be maintained when it is under the plough than
when it is in grass, the debatable question being whether an
equal profit can be obtained from the capital involved, in view
of the greater expenditure on labour involved and the greater
risk attendant on arable farming operations. If it be possible
to secure a reasonable return on the capital outlay, it would
obviously be a great national advantage to increase the stock-
earrying capacity of the country, and, at the same time, make
possible an increase in the average yield per acre of the

APPENDIX III 218

cereals. The dependence of cereal crops on the stock of the
farm is not sufficiently recognized, yield per acre being
dependent mainly on the fertility accumulated from the
application of farmyard manure ; thus an increase in the
quantity of dung produced on the farm would almost certainly
result in the raising of the average yields of important cereal
crops. The condition of food shortage throughout the world
and the changed economic standing of this country render it
desirable that a new period of intensification of the funda-
mental industry should be inaugurated.

HARPER-AD.\MS EXPERIMENTS

To test the possibilities of stock farming on arable land,
experiments were commenced at the Harper-Adams College
in 1909, but owing to the lack of available information on the
subject it was not until 191 5 that a system had been worked
out which would give a sequence of fodder throughout the
summer months, and even then the succession suffered from
many imperfections, which, however, have since been
removed. The experiment at first aimed only at substituting
for grass feeding for dairy cows during the summer months
the produce of arable land. The cows were kept indoors, the
fodder being carted to the cowshed and fed in specially
designed racks, the cows being allowed out for water only.
This system of management proved successful, and has been
followed in succeeding years with equal success. The cows
maintained perfect health and condition, and the yield of
milk obtained was quite satisfactory. The success of the
summer feeding on arable crops resulted in the experiment
being extended so as to embrace the whole year. The system
adopted has now stood the test of four years, and may be
regarded as sound and reliable as far as the conditions of soil
and climate existing in Shropshire are concerned. The
system of cropping practised is shown in the following
diagrams, eight years being taken U) complete the course
of cropping : —

214 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

I

The Soiling Rotation.
1st Crops.

Crop.

1 . Giant Rye
Winter Vetches

2. Giant Rye
Field Peas

3. Winter Oats
Winter Barley
Winter Vetches

4. Wheat .
Winter Vetches

5. Oats
Field Peas

6. Barley .
Field Peas
Vetches .
Field Beans
Oats

7. Buckwheat
Peas
Rape

8. Maize

Seed per
Acre.

2 bush.

I

2
I

I
I

I

2
I

2
I

2

i
\
I

I

I
I

4 lbs.
i^ bush.

Time of
Sowing.

i 20 Sept.
I 4th Feb.

1 28th Sept.

i 4th Dec.
j- 15th April

4th May

\ 20th May
20th May

Time of Cutting.

8th-3ist May.
ist-i2th June.

i3th-3oth June.
ist-i6th July.
17th July-ist Aug.

2nd-i6th Aug.

i7th-3ist Aug.
ist-3oth Sept.

T-nd Crops.

Crop.

Time of Planting.

Time of Using.

9-

Cabbage .

1 8th June

>.

10.

Cabbage .

26th June

II.

Cabbage .

6th July

- ist Oct.-i6th Feb.

12.

Cabbage .

20th July

13-

Cabbage .

5th Aug.

.

APPENDIX III

215

I St yeax.

14

2nd yeax.

15

3rd year.

14

4th yeax.

16

Winter Keep Rotation.

Peas and Oats for Hay.

Wheat and Vetches or Oats and Vetches
for Hay, planted immediately the crop
is off the ground with cabbage.

Peas and Oats for Hay.

Mangels and Marrow Stem Kale.

1920.

1921.

0

Summer Keep

0

Winter Keep

0

Summer

Keep

0

Winter Keep

^

ITota

1 Area.

0.

iT<

)tal .\rea.

o.

i Total

Area.

a,

iTot

al Area.

A
B

I
2

(9)
(10)

I

14

A
B

4
5

(12)
(13)

I

15

C
D

3
4

(II)

J

15

C
D

0

7

J

14

E
F

5

6

(13)

K

14

E
F

8
I

(9)

K

16

G
H

7
8

L

16

G
H

2
3

(10)
(II)

L

14

1922.

1923.

0

.Summer Keep

0

Winter Keep

0

Summer Keep

0

Winter Keep

a.

1 Total Area.

a,

iT

utal Area.

0.

i Tota

1 Area.

a.

} Total Area.

A
B

7

8

I

14

A
B

2

3

(10)
(II)

I

16

C
D

I

2

(9)

(10)

J

16

C
D

4
5

(12)
(13)

J

14

E
F

3

4

(11)
(12)

K

14

E

6

7

K

15

G
H

5
6

(13)

L

15

G
H

8

I

(9)

L

14

216 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

1924.

1925.

o

Summer Keep

o

Winter Keep

0

Summer Keep

4-»
0

Winter Keep

Ph

i Tola

1 Area.

dn

i Total Area.

D^

iTotJ

il Area.

Ah

J Total Area.

A

5

(13)

I

14

A

8

I

15

B

6

B

I

(9)

C
D

7
8

J

15

C
D

2

3

(10)
(II)

J

14

E
F

I

2

(9)

(lO)

K

14

E
F

4
5

(12)
(13)

K

16

G

3

(II)

T,

16

G

6

T.

14

H

4

(12)

H

7

1926.

1927.

0

Summer Keep

4.J
0

Winter Keep

0

Summer

Keep

0

w

nter Keep

Pi

i Tola

1 Area.

0,

iTol

a! Area.

Ph

J Total Area.

a.

i Total Area.

A
B

3
4

(II)
(12)

I

14

A
B

6

7

I

16

C
D

5
6

(13)

J

16

C
D

8

I

(9)

J

14

E
F

7
8

K

14

E
F

2
3

(10)
(II)

K

15

G

H

I
2

(9)
(10)

L

15

G

H

4
5

(12)
(13)

L

14

1928.

0

Summer

Keep

0

winter Keep

0,

i Total

Area.

a.

J Total Area.

A
B

I

2

(9)
(10)

I

14

C
D

3

4

(II)

(12)

J

15

E
F

5
6

(13)

K

14

G

7

T,

16

H

8

4

APPENDIX III 217

The land is divided into two equal parts, one of which is
used for producing the summer fodder, the other half pro-
vides the winter keep. The half providing the summer fodder
also produces fodder in the form of the cabbage second crops,
which is fed throughout the winter months.

The land used for the soiling rotation, which supplies the
fodder during the summer, is divided into eight plots of equal
size, each plot producing sutHcient fodder for approximately
eighteen days. The land from which the first five crops have
been cut is immediately ploughed up and planted w ith cabbage,
the remaining three plots being sown with crops for the
following year. The rotation is designed to separate crops
of similar character as much as possible in point of time,
which has up to the present prevented any signs of crop sick-
ness, while the land has steadily increased in productiveness.
The soiling rotation detailed in the tables provides a complete
and safe succession of fodder throughout the summer, when
the dates of sowing named are adhered to, and the only failure
to be recorded up to the present time is the maize crop. It
has been decided to abandon this crop because of its uncer-
tainty in Shropshire — very heavy crops have been obtained
from time to time, but in a season such as the one through
which we have just passed, maize, in Shropshire, is almost
useless. The Mixture No. 7 in the Table will in future be
substituted, when it is claimed the cropping is at least as re-
liable as anything can be in arable land cultivation. The
rotation which provides the fodder for the winter months is,
like the soiling rotation, designed to alternate the crops as far
as possible, thus avoiding crop sickness in the soil.

The system now practised embodies the experience gained
by a continuous scries of experiments carried out since 1909,
during which time the chief weaknesses have been eliminated.
It has been the aim to discard all crops which do not give
maximum yields, and it will be seen from the Table that only
heavy yielding crops have been retained. The mangel is the
only root crop included, as it must always remain one of the
chief succulent crops of the dairy farmer. It is the most

218 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

productive fodder crop available to British farming, and where
an average of over 25 tons per acre is obtained it is not an
expensive crop to grow. The combination of mangels with
pea and oat hay adopted is probably more economical than
feeding ensilage during the winter. It has proved remarkably
successful in the experiments, and practical farmers who have
tried the mixture speak well of it. Where heavy crops of
mangel can be obtained they should be included in any
scheme for intensive arable dairy farming.

METHODS OF CULTIVATION

The land on which the arable dairy farming at the Harper-
Adams College is being carried on is a strong loam tailing off
to a red clay on one side and a sandy loam on the other. Part
of it works freely, but one field is difficult to manage in wet
weather ; on the whole it is very well suited to the purpose.
The plough is the most important implement of cultivation
on a soiling farm, a type with concave mould-board being
used for all work. Another implement of cultivation of great
value is the Massey Harris spring-tined harrow, which gives
exactly the soil tilth most suitable for forage crops. For the
mixtures the land is ploughed seven inches deep with a well-
broken furrow, on which the seed is broadcasted, the spring-
tined harrow following. No further cultivation is given, as
the crops thrive better when the earth is left rough, and fewer
weed seeds germinate. Rain water passes through such a
seed-bed, thus consolidation of the surface is avoided. One
drawback to having the land in this rough condition must be
mentioned, i.e. the choking of the knives of the reaper during
cutting.

The second crops are planted immediately after the first
crops have been removed, the plants being raised in seed-beds
in the same field and as near as possible to the place where
they will be required. The practice of ploughing in the cab-
bage or kale plant has been adopted, after experimenting with
a planting machine, and dibbling. Where skilled labour is

APPENDIX III 219

available ploughing in has no advantages over dibbling, but
where no skilled labour can be obtained results can be
achieved which would be impossible by any other method. It
is not cheaper than dibbling, but the work is less monotonous.
In planting cabbage after fodder crops, it is very im-
portant that the plants be large and thick-stemmed. Such
plants will live through almost any condition of adversity.
The second crops are horse-hoed once only, and receive no
hand weeding ; this is sufficient to keep the crop quite clean.
The small amount of labour involved in the production of
the crops is worthy of note — Crop No. 3 in the Table, a
mixture of winter barley, winter oats and vetches, followed
bv cabbage, mav be taken as an example. The whole of the
labour involved in producing the two crops is : —

Twice ploughing.

Sowing seed mixture broadcast.

Harrowing once.

Planting cabbage.

Horse-hoeing cabbage once.

Carting and spreading farmyard manure.

The cultivations are not costly, owing to the small number of
operations involved, but the cutting and carting absorbs a
good deal of labour.

One of the most interesting results of the experiment is the
improvement of the texture of the soil as the result of the
frequent growing of fodder crops. The effect of these crops
on the mechanical condition of the soil is noted by many early
writers, but appears to have been lost sight of in more modern
times.

CUTTING AND HANDLING THE CROPS

Cutting with the scythe is expensive, but it is the only
possible means of cutting badly laid crops, such :is have been
experienced in the pa-st season. Since the commencement of
the experiment, in no previous year have the crops been so
completely twisted and beaten down, and it was clearly shown

220 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

that, in future, the mixture must, if possible, be so designed
as to be capable of remaining erect under all seasonal con-
ditions. Crop No. 6, although it yielded nearly 20 tons of
forage per acre, remained perfectly erect, while most of the
other mixtures were quite flat, and, because of this, was much
more productive, quite half of the fodder from the other plots
being left on the ground. This year Crop No. 6 mixture
contained i| bushels of beans per acre, which provided the
necessary strength to keep the crop erect. In view of this
experience it is intended to add i bushel of beans to each
mixture for the purpose of giving strength, so that the crops
may be cut with a machine. The machine used for cutting
the crops is an obsolete Hornsby manual delivery reaper, with
which it is possible to bunch the crop as it is cut in quantities
suitable for lifting with a fork on to a cart. When the crop
is upright this method is very satisfactory, and the cost of
cutting is very little. A hay bogey, with a low platform, has
been used for carrying the fodder, but is not quite satisfactory,
because of the low wheels which sink into the ground when
wet, and make the draught too heavy. In dry weather the
carriage is quite satisfactory, but a more perfect form of
conveyor is required. It would seem that an open-sided wagon
with high wheels and cranked axles to keep the platform low
might be designed which would have all the advantages of
the hay bogey without its drawbacks. Further, if the sides
were made like ordinary hay racks the wagon might be drawn
into the cattle-yard and the fodder consumed from the wagon,
thus saving labour. The forage is heavy to handle, and should
be lifted as little as possible, all feeding racks being placed
on the ground.

EFFECT OF THE SYSTEM OF CROPPING ON WEEDS

Perhaps the most interesting information gained from the
experiments under examination is the discovery that practi-
cally all weeds can be destroyed without special weeding, the
crops themselves performing the weeding process. One field
which contained a considerable quantity of docks, thistles

APPENDIX Til 221

and coltsfoot and some couch grass has been completely
cleaned in four years, the only cultivation given being plough-
ing and horse-hoeing. The land is much cleaner than that
farmed in the usual way, and resembles a garden in its freedom
from weeds. This result was not hoped for when the cropping
was commenced, the opinion of practical men being that the
land would soon be choked with weeds. The reasons for
this desirable result, however, become obvious when the
process is examined. In the first place the crops make an
extremely dense growth, and have an advantage over the weeds
in growing with greater rapidity. Through being deprived of
light and air the weeds are weakened, and when inverted by
the plough immediately the crop is off the ground and planted
over with large cabbage plants nearly all weeds are destroyed
the first year. Couch grass is the most tenacious of life and
the most difficult to destroy ; it can, however, be killed by
being persistently placed at a disadvantage compared with the
fodder crop. This method of killing weeds would seem to
have great possibilities applied to general farming practice.
Crop No. 6 might be employed on a large scale for cleaning
of foul land, and there appears to be no reason why this crop
should not be used instead of a bare fallow. Couch grass —
the worst enemy of the arable farmer — resists the smothering
effect to a greater degree than other perennial weeds, because
its roots g.-ow horizontally and fill the earth, whereas the roots
of other weeds assume a vertical position in the ground. To
sow weeds of agricultural plants into ground choked with the
roots of couch grass is to court certain failure, and must be
avoided. The roots of this grass, however, penetrate only to
a depth of about 5 inches, and if the land be ploughed to a
depth of 8 inches a seed-bed 2 inches deep and free from
weeds will be secured, and the crop will have the necessary
start. Couch grass buried deeply is usually killed. This fact
is clearly shown where a load of couch grass roots has been
left in a heap for some time— only the outside layer of roots
survive. The essential conditicms for smothering out weeds
arc : I. A close -growing crop mixture is required ; pure cereal

222 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

crops allow the light to penetrate to the ground, and thus the
weeds obtain the means of growth. It is interesting to note
the difference in varieties of cereals themselves in their ability
to keep down weeds — for example, land which has carried a
crop of Clemrotheray oats will be much cleaner after harvest
than land on which Record or Leader oats have been grown.
n. Deep-ploughing, to bury deeply the roots of couch grass,
and to cut the roots of such weeds as docks and thistles below
the range of dormant buds, IIL The turning of the furrow
slice almost completely over in conjunction with a skim coulter,
to avoid weed growth on the furrow brows. IV. It is of the
greatest importance that the crop be sown immediately after
the plough and before the perennial weeds have time to
commence growth. V. Dressings of manures are valuable,
particularly farmyard manure.

PEA AND OAT HAY

The dry fodder given during the winter months is hay
made from a mixture of peas and oats. This crop gives very
heavy yields — 4 tons per acre having been obtained — is not
difficult to make, and gives excellent results in feeding. To
obtain the heaviest yields Clemrotheray or Dunn's oats should
be sown. The crop should be cut when the peas have formed
pods, but before they are filled with seeds, and it is necessary
to leave the hay in large cocks for a considerable time, as it
should not heat at all in the stack, and the stacks should be
thatched as soon as possible, as water easily penetrates. Pea
and oat hay has proved more effective in the production of
milk than the best meadow hay.

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE STOCK

It has long been known that cows can be maintained in
perfect health when kept entirely indoors, provided their treat-
ment is correct. The plan adopted in the Harper-Adams
system is to keep the cows tied up all the year, allowing about
half an hour out of doors each day for exercise. The cows
kept in this way have maintained their health and condition,

APPENDIX III 223

and have milked well, the calves produced being healthy and
normal in everv way. All fodder is given without cutting or
pulping, to save labour, a method which is quite equal to the
usual practice when the stock have become accustomed to it ;
however, aged cows which have been fed on pulped fodder
do not thrive well during the first year, neither do cows taken
indoors from grass. The soiling should commence im-
mediately after the winter season. Cows taken in from grass
mav not settle down fur some time, when the milk yield will
rapidly fall. It is much better to place the cows under the
system before calving rather than during the lactation period.
The green fodder is given in racks, three times daily, the
amount to be given is judged from the fullness of the animal,
and no definite weights can be given, as cows diff'er in their
requirements, and certain crops fill the animals more readily
than others. The weight of green fodder given has varied
from 70 lbs. to 120 lbs. per day, the latter amount being the
greatest weight fed. When more than 90 lbs. per day is given
a considerable waste occurs. It appears to be quite impossible
to injure cows by overfeeding with green fodder, providing
they do not scour. If they begin to scour, dry pea and oat
hay should be fed with the green fodder, and the quantity
reduced. Cattle can only safely take a limited quantity of
water, and when the fodder is wet they may be forced to take
too much, and scour will result. Milk yield depends on a
generous allowance of green fodder ; in all cases when the
green fodder allowance was reduced below 80 lbs. per head
per day a sharp fall in yield was noticed. Concentrated foods
are always given to the cows in milk ; it is an error to suppose
heavy yielding cows can be maintained in condition and yield
on the fodder crops only, in spite of their rich composition.
Frosted cabbage or kale can be fed safely, if tiiey do not cause
the animals to scour, but mangels that have been frozen are
most harmful, and cause serious injury when given to stock.
Of the green fodder used, the pea is the most effective in milk
production. Pea mi.xtures have given consi.stently the best
results since the commencement of the experiment. An

224 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

example may be quoted : Twelve cows when changed from
rye and vetches fodder to rye and pea fodder gave an increased
yield of i8 gallons per week, although there should have been
a fall due to the advancing period of lactation. When the
fodder was changed to barley and vetches there was a sharp
fall in the yield. Cows kept on the soiling system milk much
better during the late summer, autumn and winter months
than cows kept in the ordinary way, but the system cannot
compare in milk production with grass feeding during the
months of May and June.

ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS

When the experiment was commenced at the Harper-
Adams College there was practically no information available
as to the most suitable methods of management of arable land
having the maintenance of stock as its main object. Since
the commencement of this experiment improvements have
been made in the methods practised, and the scheme now in
operation can be relied on to provide the necessary succession
of forage, and is not more risky than other forms of arable
farming ; but experience has shown that to make the arable
dairy farm a commercial success the produce must be put on
the market during the period of high prices. It must be
admitted that the arable dairy farmer cannot produce milk
during May and June so cheaply as the grassland farmer, but
he can produce it at a lower cost during the winter months.
The arable dairy farmer who produced his maximum output
during the glut period would not make a big profit. No
system can compete with grass during May and June. The
system of management outlined above is proved to be sound,
but it would seem desirable in the light of experience to
introduce modifications for general application. A very great
increase in the national agricultural output could be secured
by adopting the plan outlined in the diagram. Natural grass,
mown for hay, is one of the weakest links in our farming, and
might profitably be eliminated ; the hay required being pro-
duced on the arable land, where three times the weight can

APPENDIX ITT

225

be obtained, the grass of the farm being entirely used for
grazing, and made to carry three times the usual head of stock.
The cattle would not be turned out until June, when the
pastures would be well stocked with grass. At this period —
the time of cheapest milk — the cows would be dry. During
June and July they would receive pasture grass only, in
August, September and October they would feed on the
pastures in part and in part on forage crops ; during the
winter they would be fed on the crops described above. By
this method it is claimed the output of agricultural produce
could be at least doubled without greatly increasing working
costs.

DiAORAM Rnowixn Rklation or Feediso. Production anp Puce.

»5

APPENDIX IV

THE SETTLEMENT OF BRITISH EX-SERVICE MEN
ON THE LAND IN THE DOMINIONS

I. Introduction

THE Empire Land Settlement Committee of the Royal
Colonial Institute requested me to investigate and
report upon the measures actually being taken by the
Overseas Governments to place ex-service men on the land ;
what they were prepared to do for British ex-Service men ;
and how the pledges given to Sir Rider Haggard were being
redeemed.

In making this enquiry I have ever kept clearly before my
mind the system of settlement which the Royal Colonial
Institute has consistently advocated since the formation of its
Land Settlement Committee in 191 5. And as I am convinced
personally, that the principles of settlement laid down by that
committee are not only sound but essential, the criticisms I
make and the conclusions I arrive at are all based upon these
principles.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

For the sake of completeness, I here state again the prin-
ciples which, in the opinion of the Land Settlement Com-
mittee, must be observed in order to secure sound and
effective settlement.

I. That settlers shall be placed on the land in groups or
communities rather than as isolated units ;^ and experience

^ The group system in no way implies communism.

226

APPENDIX IV 227

has shown that in general terms the group should consist of
at least 200 holders if the full economic advantages are to be
secured.

2. That the settlers should own their farms rather than hold
them as tenants.

3. That access to capital should be provided.

4. That complete arrangements should be made to provide
the settler with expert guidance from the outset.

5. That co-operation should be encouraged.

6. That a system of organized transport is essential to the
success of the community.

7. That the community spirit should be encouraged so that
the settlers can buiJd up for themselves a strong community
life.

In the main it will be found that in whatever countries
organized settlement has been effected, these principles have
been obser\^ed. And now, more than ever before, it is of
Imperial importance that every man placed on the land should
become an effective producer of food with the least possible
delay. The following quotation from a report of Mr. Elwood
Mead, who is perhaps the greatest authority on scientific land
settlement in the United States, not only puts the case in a
nutshell, but I believe explains in a few words the attitude of
the Royal Colonial Institute towards land settlement.

" The California Land Settlement Act provides for a
demonstration in planned rural development. Instead of
leaving things to happen and then correcting conditions when
they happen badly, this State seeks through this Act to
create organized rural neighbourhoods in accordance with
carefully thought-out plans.

" The chief effort in private colonization of land has been
to find purchasers rather than to create the kind of agriculture
best suited to a region, to insure the success of settlers with the
least waste of money and effort.

" The neglect to provide intelligent direction and needed
credit created a migratory and speculative spirit in pioneer
communities."

228 THE LAND AND ITS PROBIvEMS

It is to be noted with satisfaction that in the leaflet addressed
to ex- Service men who desire to settle upon the land in the
United Kingdom, and which is issued by the Board of Agri-
cuhure, most of the principles of settlement as set out above
are recognized.

ADVANCE OF CAPITAL

Unfortunately and regrettably, the advances for establishing
the ex- Service men upon home land are much less generous
than the provisions made by the Oversea Governments. It
is strange that the provisions in the recent Act for equipping
the ex- Service settler with the necessary working capital are
not at all as good as those contained in the Small Holdings
Act of 1908. In the latter the civilian settler could borrow
up to 80 per cent of his needed working capital ; under the
present Act the ex-Service man can only borrow 50 per cent
of the working capital he requires ; in other words, he has
to be in possession of one-half instead of one-fifth of the needed
capital.

The Land Settlement Authorities in the State of New South
Wales have adopted a policy in regard to advances to settlers
which is so sound that it should be regarded as one of the best
interpretations of principle No. 3. The Department's object
is "to afford such assistance as may be necessary to give the
settler an advantageous start in life, and so provide him with
the basic requirements of his occupation as to enable him to
make the farm productive of income as early as possible."

CORRECT CONDITIONS
(a) OPPORTUNITIES OF SUCCESS

The importance of settlement being effected under the best
possible conditions, and, on the other hand, the disaster that
results from placing men upon the land under wrong con-
ditions, must outweigh all other considerations.

There is a world of difference between " exploitation " and

I!

APPENDIX TV 229

" development," a difference uhich I fear is not always under-
stood ; there is a danger of using new settlers to develop a
certain area of land — land that in due course should be de-
veloped, but which at the present moment docs not offer the
best prospects of success to the settlers ; and therefore it is
wrong to send them there.

The success of the settlers must be the one aim and object,
and it is the quickest and surest road to sound development
of the land. It is clearly the duty of the Imperial Government
to see that no such exploitation takes place.

(b) IMPERIAL STRATEGY

So much for the agricultural side of settlement ; but there
is another side of the problem of guiding the flow of popu-
lation which is of supreme importance ; I refer to what may
be termed the strategic side. From the Imperial (and also
national) point of view, what portions of the Empire stand in
the most immediate need of filling up with settlers of English
stock ?

All the Dominions stand in need of population, but it does
not require a lengthy study of the problem to come to the
definite conclusion that it is Australia that stands in the
supremest need of increasing its population.

In the case of Canada, following the same line of reasoning,
British Columbia has the first claim upon the immigrants to
that Dominion. It will be necessary for years to come to en-
courage migration to parts of the Empire where population
is of most vital importance.

We have only a limited white population within our vast
Empire ; it must be carefully husbanded, and above all every
effort must be made to check emigration to foreign countries.
We cannot in the present acute crisis afford to lose a single
citizen.

In regard to agriculturists, the situation is even more serious.
The Empire comprises over one-c|uartcr of the land surface
of the globe. Yet our agricultural population (i.e. all white

230 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

men, women and children living on or by the land) is only
13,400,000, compared with the agricultural population of
20,000,000 in Germany, with its area only one sixty-fourth
that of our Empire ; or with 18,000,000 in France on an area
one-seventieth the size of our possessions, and a smaller total
population than that of the United Kingdom. The gravest
indictment of our policy (or want thereof) in regard to land
and population lies in the fact that although we possess one-
quarter of the land of the world, our Empire is not self-
supporting. If these facts are once thoroughly understood,
they constitute the strongest plea for a degree of organization
and guidance of migration far beyond anything hitherto
attempted.

The Royal Colonial Institute has done its best during the
past four years to urge this plea, and unless the needed degree
of organization and guidance is achieved, it is quite useless
to talk about the white population of the British Empire
reaching the grand figure of 200,000,000 by the end of the
present century. The best of our population will continue
to stream into foreign countries and be lost to the Empire
for ever.

NEED OF CENTRAL AUTHORITY

The question of the relation of the Imperial Government
to the Overseas Governments in regard to settlement is one
of great importance.

Having just completed a tour in Canada, New Zealand and
Australia, and having studied the conditions prevailing in
those countries, I state unhesitatingly that it is essential for
the Imperial Government itself to take the initiative in
organizing a settlement policy. We are parting with man
power — our greatest asset — we are transferring it to other
parts of the Empire : not only so, but the Imperial Govern-
ment will have to provide large loans if effective settlement
on a large scale is to be achieved. Therefore the Imperial
Government has an indisputable right to guide population

APPENDIX IV 231

into those parts of the Empire which from the strategic point
of view stand in greatest need of population ; and further,
it is its clear duty to see that the population so guided is
settled under the best and most scientific conditions that can
be devised.

It would not be difficult for the Home Migration Authority
to induence the intending migrants in the right direction ; in
many cases they have no definite idea of the part of the
Empire they wish to settle in. Sound advice would be wel-
comed and would be sufficient to turn the scale, it would in
no way be a case of using " undue influence."

The first step must be the creation of a central and Imperial
migration authority with requisite power to deal with this
great problem as a whole.

The second step is for the Imperial Government, through
the medium of the above authority, to enter into close con-
sultation with the Overseas Governments in regard to migra-
tion. Time is passing, yet comparatively little has been done
in this direction.

The third step should be the appointment of Imperial land
settlement representatives in each Dominion.

As 1 have already stated, from the strategic point of view,
Australia should be regarded as having the first claim to
settlers from the United Kingdom. Fortunately it is the
Dominion which offers the best opportunities for the settlers
themselves ; further the system of settlement in organized
groups is more generally accepted than elsewhere in the
Empire. But Australia is remote, and therefore special effort
must be made to induce settlers to go to that country, other-
wise many will simply drift to Canada because it is the
nearest land to go to.

It is the time for frank discussion of the problem, and local
views and susceptibilities must not be allowed to stand in the
way of Imperial considerations, or of sending out migrants to
the country in which they will succeed best and become most
rapidly producers of new wealth. Two features which are
noticeable in all the Dominions are the great sliorlage of

232 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

agricultural labour for hire, and the tendency to give the new
settler too large an area of land.

Therefore the British settler should not be given more land
than he and his family can handle effectively v^^ithout recourse
to outside labour, and it should be remembered that the
settler's economic position would be far sounder if he were
to concentrate his capital upon a smaller area, and so secure
a higher rate of working capital per acre than is customary
with the Anglo-Saxon small farmer.

EDUCATION

As a corollary it would be a good plan for the Imperial
authorities to organize an " educational " campaign amongst
prospective settlers, possibly sending lecturers on emigrant
ships as well. The object would be to give them some under-
standing of the unwisdom of taking up too much land, and
the advantage of having a comparatively high rate of working
capital per acre ; also the advantage of settling on improved
and partially improved land, even if they have to pay more

for it.

Further, the lecturer could discuss the different branches
of agriculture which the settler could most profitably go in
for, in the country of his selection.

TRAINING

The question of the training of the immigrant will have to
be carefully arranged for. In general terms the feeling in the
Dominions is that the English settler should do a year's work
on the land before taking up his holding. If the number of
settlers annually is large the training colleges would only have
room for a small proportion ; the remainder would have to
work for a wage on a farm.

With the shortage of agricultural labour little difficulty will
be experienced in placing the men. The difficulty will be in

APPENDIX TV 288

finding suitable farmers — farmers who would be capable of
training the men for their work on small farms.

It must be remembered that the majority of farmers who
would employ immigrants would have farms of considerable
size, and the methods of cultivation employed, far from assist-
ing the small settler, might often put him on quite the wrong
track. So that somehow or other he should be enabled to
go through a course at a college, if only a short course.

In some ways, however, the ideal training is the training a
man receives on his own holding, when this is situated in a
properly organized colony with a first-rate superintendent.
This is the method adopted by the Australian Farms, Ltd., in
their Settlement at Tresco, Victoria.

In all dealing with immigrants the " human touch " is
of great importance, and it is difficult for Government Depart-
ments to provide this.

It would be of much assistance if in each Dominion there
existed a strong voluntary association, one of whose duties
would be to " follow up " the new arrival ; it seems probable
that some such body will be started in Australia.

The foundation of a successful settlement must ever rest
upon the wise and careful selection of the settler, his women
folk not being overlooked if he has any,

Canada has appointed its selection authority in the United
Kingdom ; New Zealand and Australia will sooner or later
do the same.

In the case of Australia it seems probable that each State
will want to have its own selection committee, and we shall
be overdone with selection committees !

Throughout my tour the need of a strong central and
Imperial migration authority increasingly enforced itself
upon me.

There is the newly created Oversea Settlement Committee,
a step in the right direction, but it is not sufficient ; an
authority with much greater powers is needed. The Com-
mittee itself recognizes this, vide their Report (Cmd. 573).

Such an authority would exercise all its powers to keep our

284 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

citizens within the Empire ; next it would guide them to that
part of the Empire where, from the strategic point of view,
an EngUsh-speaking population is most essential.

It would see that in the first instance the settlers were
placed upon land under such conditions that they would
become successful producers of food in the shortest possible
time.

The important fact to seize upon is that the Imperial
Government must take the initiative, if there is to be organized
migration and settlement. If the required amount of organi-
zation is not forthcoming, we shall lose thousands of our best
citizens as in the past.

It is only logical that this central authority should be in the
United Kingdom where lies the source of all English migration.

Loans will have to be advanced to Oversea Governments
if settlement on a large scale is to be effected, and it will
require an authority with the powers of a ministry if we are
to have a real system of migration and settlement.

FINANCE

The question of financing settlement is a serious one ; there
is abundant precedent for the Imperial Government to assist
in finding the necessary money. It did so after the South
African War, it did so in the early decades of the nineteenth
century when it assisted the Wakefield Schemes of organized
settlement in New Zealand and South Australia.

The need for this assistance is greater now than it was then.

With the work of placing their own men upon the land
most of the Oversea Governments will not have the where-
withal to develop large schemes for the settlement of English
ex-Service men, without the support and co-operation of the
Imperial Government.

It is said that we are at the end of our financial tether and
the outlook is most serious ; however, the fact remains that
we are finding large sums of money for reconstruction and for
organizing our material wealth, but it is of vastly greater im-

APPENDIX IV 235

portance to organize our producers of wealth, and so to place
potential producers that they may become effective producers
of wealth in the shortest possible time.

Pronded the principles of sound settlement are observed,
no investment of public money can be more sound or more
remunerative ; but of greater importance — the Empire itself
can be consolidated and built up only if we deal with the
migration problem on right lines. The land and the men
who cultivate it are the Empire's two greatest assets ; they
must be brought together and organized if we are to recuperate
from the effects of the war.

Another great advantage that will accrue to the Imperial
Government, if it is the medium through which loans for
settlement oversea are effected, is that tliis will give it the right
to assure itself that settlement is being carried out under
sound conditions.

This is simply a business question : if the conditions of
settlement are sound, money could be advanced under no
better security ; if the conditions are not sound, the money
will be lost.

This would not necessitate any interference on the part of
the Imperial Government — simply the discussion and agree-
ment upon the conditions of settlement — all subsequent
administration of that settlement would as a matter of course
be in the hands of the Oversea Governments concerned.

UNDERTAKINGS BY SETTLERS

A further principle which should be observed is that,
wherever our ex-Service men are placed upon the land and
provided with working capital, they on their side should sign
two reasonable conditions in regard to their holding.

Firstly, that they agree to buy no live stock for their holding,
except with the approval of the settlement authority.

Secondly, that they undertake to follow the directions of
the expert superintendent in regard to cropping and the use
of artificials.

236 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

From what I have seen myself, I am convinced that these
two stipulations are essential. They are insisted upon by
the State of California,

I have felt it advisable to lay stress upon these different
points, as it will help to indicate the spirit in which I approach
the problem of settlement in the Dominions.^

^ From the report to the Royal Colonial Institute, by Christopher
Turner, published by W. H, Smith at u. bd.

APPENDIX V

FORM OF AGREEMENT FOR FARMING
PARTNERSHIP

Memorandum of Agreement between AB of
on the one part, described as the owner, and CB of
described as Manager, on the other part.

The said CB agrees to act as manager of the Farm for the
said AB from the Sixth day of April, 19 to the Sixth day
of April, 19 and so on from year to year, unless this
agreement be terminated by six months' Notice in writing
on either side.

It is agreed that the said CB shall be remunerated as
follows : —

1. Thirty Shillings per week, being 20s. a week as wage
and I OS. as board allowance, together with the use of the
farm-house.

2. A half share in the net profits of the farms as certified
by an accountant ; the net profits shall be the excess of the
current receipts of the year over the current expenditure, in
which shall be included —

(a) Rent.

(A) Five per cent on the working capital provided by

the said AH.
(c) All other outgoings whatsoever, including the fixed

allowance to the said CB.

3. The first ffio of the net profit and a half share in the
remainder in any year in which the jirofits do not exceed
/^200 : when the net profit excccd.s £200, then the said CB
shall receive a half share as blaicd above.

^37

288 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

The said CB is to be entirely responsible for the manage-
ment of the farm.

It is agreed between the said AB and CB that the working
capital shall be £ per acre, or a total of ^ and the

said CB undertakes not to reduce this capital sum or to write
off any portion thereof save with the full consent of the
said AB.

At the termination of this agreement the said CB shall
receive one half of any increase in the total capital as ascer-
tained by an outgoing valuation.

Should the said CB from any cause whatsoever neglect or
cease to perform his duties, or should the said AB at any
time decide to sell or let the Farm, then the said

CB agrees to accept six months' Notice to Quit, and upon
the payment of such wages and other payments due to the
said CB this agreement shall be void.

Signed AB.
CB.

The great advantage to the owner who goes in for
partnership farming is, that he secures the services of a
highly trained manager, whose whole interest it is to make
the farm pay.

So that, under this system, the owner gets not only the
rental for his land, and interest on his working capital, but he
receives in addition a proportion of the farmer's profits.

The advantage to the partner manager is, that although he
may possess no capital, yet he gets his chance ; he starts on
a farm of a size which it would otherwise have required
years of saving on his part to take and capitalize.

On account of his participating in the profits, he is enabled
to put by money, and in turn become a capitalist himself in
the shortest possible time.

APPENDIX VI

A NEW LAND POLICY ^
(A speech by a Cabinet Minister during the zvar)

PLEA FOR A REVOLUTION

LORD SELEORNE, President of the Board of Agri-
culture, speaking at the first of a series of lectures by
Mr. Christopher Turnor, at the London School of
Economics, on " The Land and the Empire," said that after
the war the whole attitude of Parliament towards agriculture
would have to be changed. The land question must be con-
sidered solely from the point of view of the security of the
nation and national defence.

In the course of his speech Lord Selborne said that when
the Anti-Corn Law League was a great political institution
the Tories, headed by Mr. Disraeli, prophesied that Free
Trade would be the ruin of agriculture. Mr. Cobden and
Mr. Bright always denied that statement. For more than a
generation they were absolutely right ; but it was no exag-
geration to say that in 1880 a catastrophe fell upon British
agriculture. From 1880 to 1900 was a time of dire distress
for all connected with the cultivation of the soil. Our political
economists had not studied that period carefully enough.
Thousands of farmers were absolutely ruined during it. The
8cr\ices of the landowner during that period had not been
anything like properly acknowledged, because, had it not
been for the landowner, the agricultural depression would

» Times Kcport, March 11, 1916.
239

240 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

have been greater still, and many more acres would have
fallen out of cultivation. The landlord farmed the land
himself and farmed it unsuccessfully, but he kept the land in
cultivation and the labourers employed. The result to him
was the loss of half the capital the family had previously
possessed. Another result was that brains and money were
no longer attracted to farming. A change also took place in
the ownership of land. Land again became a luxury for the
rich and that was a great misfortune for the country.

These national calamities, land that ought to be cultivated
lying uncultivated and the over-production of game, were
not causes but effects. They were the result of the fact that
land was owned by men who did not care what it produced,
they had bought it for amusement, just as in the old days it
was bought for political power.

THE FUTURE

We had all learnt much from the war. We had learnt the
immense strength which was gained by a country if it could
feed its own people. We had learnt the great value of a rural
population. We had learnt the anxieties that were caused to
a nation at war which had to import a large proportion of
essential products from overseas during the war. Please God,
this country should never have to undergo that experience
again. But to secure that end we must so frame all our
agricultural laws as to obtain the greatest possible national
security.

I think (Lord Selborne went on) there ought to be nothing
less than a revolution. We want to see the greatest possible
number living on the land. We want to see the agricultural
labourer assured of a good wage, a good house, and a good
garden. More than that, we want to see him assured of the
prospect of becoming a cultivator of the land himself and
eventually an owner. We want, in fact, an agricultural ladder
which will enable a man to rise on the land just as he can
rise in any other walk of life. Then we want the farmer to

APPENDIX VI 241

be other than a man who chooses farming because he hkcs its
outdoor life and the sport that is in it. We want all the brains
we can get into agriculture as well as capital. We want men
to go into farming not because it is a pleasant, healthy life,
but because they can make money out of it. Lastly, we want
landowning to be regarded, not as a luxury, but as a business
requiring as much study and energy as any other profession.
In conclusion, Lord Selborne appealed to all political
parties, whatever their views on the land question previous
to the war might have been, to study the question afresh in
the light of the experience obtained from the war, so that
when the war was over, while it was hopeless to expect that
we should all be agreed what the attitude of the State towards
agriculture must be as to particular measures, we should at
least be all agreed that there must be a complete recasting of
agricultural life.

l6

APPENDIX VII

NATIONALIZATION OF LAND

ONE of the chief arguments put forward by land
nationalizers is that the landowner asks exorbitant
prices for land and so checks development in many
directions.

Here we have a clear and definite statement, and it is quite
as definitely an untruth.

It is agricultural land — not urban building or factory
sites — which is here discussed ; and what are the facts .'*

Firstly, that the agricultural land of Great Britain realizes
less than its economic value when it comes into the market.
It is the cheapest land in Europe, and it is cheaper than the
land in the more settled parts of our Dominions,

Secondly, that although the value of land appreciated some-
what during the war, the increase was far less than that of
any other commodity that was bought or sold. Taking average
agricultural land that had a selling value of j^20 per acre in
1 9 14, that value rose to about ^25 in 1917 or 191 8, which
means — if the purchasing value of money be taken into
account — that during the war, and since the war, average
land was selling at less than its pre-war value.

A few cases of rich fen land may be quoted where ^£140 per
acre was realized, but similar land in New Zealand, 12,000
miles from our great markets, is selling at ^^150 per acre and
more !

It is of fundamental importance to understand the truth in
this matter, because very many untruths are told about the
abnormal value of land by people who are either hopelessly
ignorant of the subject, or wilful perverters of the truth.

242

APPENDIX VII 243

One would almost have thought that the experience we
have just had of industries run by the State would have some-
what discouraged our nationalizers, but it docs not seem to
have had that effect !

However, there are indications of their shifting their
ground ; the nationalization of the industry, rather than of
the land itself, seems to be increasingly the objective.

This suggestion is in no way less mischievous and dangerous
than that of taking the land itself, for it would involve the
running by the State of the biggest industry of all, and the
one hardest of all to manage.

Most of the people who advocate this are the very first to
cry out against any suggestion of guaranteed prices or subsidy
for the cultivators of the soil ; if they could give effect to
their scheme, three things are certain —

1. That the land would yield less than ever.

2. That the cost of management would greatly increase.

3. That the subsidy that would have to be paid to the cul-
tivator under this regime would far exceed the wildest limits
ever dreamed of by any " vampire " agriculturist of to-day !

It is either a question of that or of the agricultural worker
sweating, at a poor remuneration, to fill the bellies of the
townsmen.

There is an idea abroad that every citizen should have the
right of access to land, and that every labourer should be a
manager of a farm : the ignorance of it all !

In an old and thickly settled country it is quite impossible
for every citizen to have access to the land. We certainly
should and could see a very much larger number working on
the land ; but after every effort in this direction it is doubtful
if, even with the assistance of allotments, we could get more
than half our population into direct touch with the land, and
no system can be devised under which all the cultivators can
act as managers.

In conclusion, it may be well to set out the aims and objects
of the moderate nationalizers of land (as distinct from the
extremists who would advocate conHscation).

244 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

They claim that the results of nationalizing the land would
be:—

1. That the community would thus be able to secure to
itself any increased value of the land arising from State action,
and so to prevent any benefit accruing to the individual from
an increased value brought about by the community itself.

2. That speculation in land would be stopped.

3. That the community would benefit socially if the land
were nationalized, for then it would be readily available for
all future development.

4. That the proper control of cultivation would be secured.

5. That if farmers held their land under the State, fixity of
tenure would be secured.

6. That it is essential to nationalize the land before railways
and mines can be nationalized.

7. That it would secure easy access to the land for the
largest possible number of people.

8. That the single tax system could be introduced.

The question is, Is it necessary to nationalize the land
to secure these objects ? Are there not other methods by
which to secure them — methods that would prove simpler,
and which would not entail the risk of entirely upsetting the
agricultural industry ? And this risk is a real one. The great
mass of farmers are opposed to State-ownership ; it could
only be carried out in the face of their strongest opposition,
and a lessened production over a lengthy period would be
the inevitable result.

As a matter of fact, some of the aims as stated above have
been achieved already by methods other than that of nationali-
zation, and others are in process of achievement.

I. Increment duty is in existence, and it could be so applied
that all increased value would go to the community wherever
it was not due to the activity of the owner or expenditure of
capital on his part.

f" 2. Speculation will be stopped if increase in value is re-
moved by taxation.

APPENDIX VII 245

3. In Germany methods were adopted for providing towns
with the hind they required for housing and public use without
nationahzing all rural land. A really comprehensive Acquisi-
tion of Lands Act would remove the existing difficulties.

4. Occupying ownership gives absolute security and, when
accompanied with the provision of a sound system of credit,
the most \\holesome security.

5. Railways have been nationalized without nationalizing the
land.

6. A proper Acquisition of Lands Act, along with a properly
devised Land Settlement Act, would secure easy access to the
land.

7. The point in regard to single tax is hardly worth replying
to, in \-iew of the fact that for some years the National Budget
will require a revenue of at least ^(^700,000,000, and the total
annual value of all land and houses in the United Kingdom
does not amount to half that sum.

APPENDIX VIII

THIS diagram is taken from the writer's book, " The
Land and the Empire," pubUshed in 1917. It shows
the development in and the extension of the Board of
Agriculture he advocated ; much of which has since taken place.

AS IT IS

Jnielllgena^

FLsJveries

\.

I

laruJi

•

.Arumjods

StwdsticaLy
Tithe^Jnjclosnr&

Board
of .Apiculture

AS IT SHOULD BE

jtJchuxitCoTv
JSxperiment Stadow

Animals

LaruL Seid/ement

Soil/

Qiemistry

Tlants

V/bods andFoT'ests

Statistics

jBiological
Survey

APPENDIX IX

Diagram showing thb Proposed Organization of

Agriculture

(Taken from " The l.anil and the Empire.")

Central
Chamber of
Agriculture.

Central
Landowners'
Association.

Land Agents'
Society.

Executive
Committee :

The

Agricultural

Cabinet.

t

<-

►

Central Agricultural Council

consisting of

I Delegate from each County Agii-
cultural Committee.

6 Representative Members.

6 Co-opted Members.

forming

The Agricultural Parliament.

Farmers'
Union.

->

Farmers'
Club.

->

Agricultural

Organisation

Socii-ty.

Counter
Council.

— ^

The
County Agricultural Council

consisting of
I Delegate from each District

Agricultural Committee.
6 Representative Members.
6 Co-opted Members.

-

Representative

Board of

Agriculture.

Farmers'
Union.

<-

Chamber of
Agriculture.

County

Agricultural

Society.

-^

<-

Central
Landowners'
Association.

^

District
Agricultural Committee.
I Delegate from each

Local Agricultural

Committee.

3 Co-opted Members.

^

Local
Agricultural
Committee.

/f X

Societies which might he cliKible :

Agricultural Sociclies proper,

Breeders' Societies (including small

ttock), Cow and Fig Clu >s, Village

Societies, Agricultural Coopaiative

Societies, Industrial Co-op«'ralive

Societies, All Show Societies.

One Local Agricultural Committee in

each parish or group of parishes.

To consist of Farmers, Small Holders,

and Labourers.

-•f advaiiuce of this v.hcmc is that it ik entirely uifflTicial, and .-i.i .i volimt«ry
it avoids the demcriu which arc aliaady appcarinK in our pic»enl semi-oRicial

APPENDIX X

ON MACHINERY

MACHINERY is not used in England to anything like
the extent it could be used, or that it is used in other
countries with a highly developed agriculture.

But we must not fall into the error of thinking that every-
thing can be done by machinery, or that the solution of all
our agricultural difficulties lies in the full use of machinery ;
some townsmen are inclined to think this.

On the other side undoubtedly many agriculturists think
that a full use of machinery would make possible a great
reduction in the number of landworkers employed, and a
consequent lower wage bill per week.

It is necessary to be clear on this point ; machinery only
reduces the number of men employed if it is deliberately used
with a view to develop extensive cultivation. But our object
is to increase the production from our soil, to develop inten-
sive cultivation ; machinery can play an important part in
securing this development without reducing the number of
men employed, for, properly used, it will make each indi-
vidual man more effective.

In Denmark, for example, much more machinery is used
than in this country, and yet the number of men employed
per 1000 acres is much higher.

It simply means that under more intensive cultivation,
more labour, whether mechanical or manual, is used.

Undoubtedly there will be an increased use of tractors on
certain soils, and other new machines, achieving efficiency
and lessening cost of production, will be invented from time
to time,

248

APPENDIX X 249

But I believe that the greatest results would he efTectcd
rather by altering the type of implements now in common
use ; each implement should be put to the test : " Is this really
economic ? "

Take for example the question of wagons and carts ; in
most countries these are two foot six inches lower than ours,
that means a saving of a two foot six inch lift on every
spadeful thrown into the wagon, and from careful observation
I am convinced that this means an extra 50 per cent efficiency
for the worker engaged in wagon filling.

Again, the up-to-date drill for seeds or artificial manures
can be worked entirely by one man, whereas most of our drills
take a man and a boy, and some require two men and a boy,
and yet do not cover half the ground that the one-man drill
doe?.

There is no doubt room for great economies in these and
other directions, in fact it is essential that we should study
scientifically the question of the output of the individual
worker, both from the purely mechanical point of view and
from the combined manual cum mechanical point of view as
well.

INDEX

Access to Land Act, 165

" Accommodation " land holder,
119

Accounts, Farm, 132 et seq.

Administration, 164

Ad visor>' Committee, 169

Afforestation, 1 19

Agreement for farming partner-
ship. 2}7

Agricultural College, 203

— Costings Committee, 104, 133,

134

— Council of England and Wales,
168

— depression, 17, 43, 50, 72, 104

— education, 65, 196, 202, 232,

233

— labourer, 45, 58

— progress, 33

Agriculture Act, 40, 155, 165,
166 et seq.

— Chinese, 12

— Committee, 167

— -Modem, dating frcrni 1837, 10

— Roman, 12

— Spanish, 1 3
Alfalfa. See Lucerne
Antwerp dock labourers, 85
Arable dairy farming, 21 1

— land, 99 cl seq., i 58
Artificial manures, 17, 96
Australia, iX, 233
Australian I'arms, Ltd., 233
Austria, 205

Bacon factories, 120

Bakcwcll, 16

Balance Sheet, for partnership

purposes, i 37
Bank, .\gricultural, H4
Banks, Land, 164

Barley, 92, 125

Bathurst, Charles. Sec Bledisloe

Belgium, 84-86, 117, 203

Black Death, 23

Bledisloe of Lydncy, Lord

(Charles Bathurst), 49
Board of Agriculture, Extension

of, 246
Book-keeping, Scientific, 133
Bran, 94

Britain, Great, Production of, 70
British Columbia, 229
Brown, Mr. James C, 111,211
Building, 121, 126

California Land Settlement Act,

227
Cambridge, 199
Campbell, Colin, 53
Canada, 204, 229, 233
Capital, 143

— for ex-Service men, 228

— organized access to, 115
Career, Agricultural, 141

Inexperienced man with

capital, 141
the man with small capital,

145
Catherine, Queen, 1 3
Cattle versKS sheep, 1 3
Central Chamber of Agriculture,

5^. 57 "•

— Landowners' Association, 49,

S3. «74
Cereals, 75, 76, 77
Cheap food, 73
Chemical or artificial manures,

17.96
Cheshire, 131

Christians and the land, 210
Church as landowner, 27

251

252 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

Climate, loo
Clover, 12, 91, 93, 94
Clover sickness, 94
Coke of Norfolk, 1 6
Commercial farming, 155
Common rights, 20, 44
Commune, 19
Company farming, 129
Competition of the New World,

88-90
Continuous wheat-growing, 98
Control, Government, 157
Co-operative farming, 39, 116

— Societies, 81
Co-partnership farming, 156
Country-woman and Society, the

204
County Agent or Organiser, 149

— Agricultural Committees, 54

— Councils, 113, 123, 146, 147,
169

Administration of Small

Holdings, 1 1 3
Cows, 109, 119, 125, 213

— food for, 92
Creameries, 120

Credit, Landschaft system in
Germany, 48

— Societies, 164

Denmark, 82

Cropping, 153

Crops, Cutting and handling, 2 1 9
Cultivation Committees, 172
Cultivator, the, 1 9

Dairy farming, Arable, 211
Demonstration farms, 1395^ seq.
Denmark, 28, 31, 52, 65, 80-84,

119, 125, 134, 146, 201, 210,

21 1
Development of the land, 1 79

Ecoles Menageres Agricoles, 203
Economic Council suggested, 1 87
Edge, Mr., his Sussex farms, 160
Education, 232

— Board of, 196, 202

— Fisher Act, 65

— New movements in rural, 1 96
Elizabeth, Queen, 14

Empire Land Settlement Com-
mittee, 226
Enclosure, 20, 44

— Acts, 2 1
Equipment, 121
Essex, 124
Evesham, 124
Ex-Service men, 147
Settlement of, 226

Facilities Act, 1 1 7, 1 49, 1 67

Farm accounts, 1 32 et seq.

— the Fruit, 1 1 7

— the Industrial, 129

— the medium sized, 126
■ — the Poultry, 1 5 1

— the small, 1 1 8

— Lads' Clubs, 204
Farmer, the, 49 et seq.
Farmer's Union, 53, SS
Financial results, 106, 107, 123,

124, 125, 127
Fodder or soiling crops, 92, 109,

158, 214
Food, cheap, 183
France, 86-88, 117, 210
Franco-German War, 87
Friendly Societies, 46, 64
Fruit farm, 1 1 7

Germany, 29, 48, 52, 75-80, 100,

104, 128, 159, 177. 195. 201,

203, 230, 244
Grass land, 79
Grass versus arable land, 14, 99

et seq.
Great War, 18, 30, 39,43. 56, 88,

157, 163
Guaranteed minimum, price, 68

Haggard, Sir Rider, 226

Hall, Sir A. Daniel, K.C.B., M.A.,

135

Harper-Adams Agricultural Col-
lege, 109, 213, 218, 224

system, 158, 163

Henry VIH, 13, 27

Hours of work for agricultural
labourer, 63

Housewife, the, 203

Housing, 22, 83

INDEX

25.3

Imperial Chamber of Agriculture
suggested, I Si

— considerations, 177

— Land Conference suggested,
181

Insurance, 64, 65

Jersey, 124

Lanarkshire, i iS, 124, 200
Land Banks, 164

— Union, 49
Landowner, the, 41

— Farmer, 47
Landowners* Union. See Central

Landowners' Association
Lawes and Gilbert, of Roham-

sted, 96
Lee, Lord, of Farnham, 104
Leguminous crops, 93
Liebig, 96

Lincolnshire, 64, 79, 127, 199
List's National System of Political

Economy, 192
Live stock, 76, 79, 102, 103
London, Urban Authorities, 200
Lowitz, von Schwerin, 77
Lucerne, 12, 16, 94, 95, 125, 158,

162, 163

Machiner\', 248

Mackenzie, K. H., on Cattle, 162

Manager, the Expert, 121, 139

— Partner, 129
Mangolds, 91, 92, 125
Manures, Artificial, 17, 96, 164

— Farmyard, 17, 93, 95, 96
Market garden holdings, 1 1 7
Marketing, Organized, 1 1 5
Matthews, Sir Herbert, 181
Mead, Mr. Llwood, 226
Metayer sjsteni, 26
Middleton, Sir Thomas, K.C.B.,

M.A., 77 n., 98, 102, 103
Milk, 57, 83, 109, 125, 160
Ministry of Agriculture, 37, 146,

147. 169
" Mir." 19
Mortgage, 48

Napoleonic Wars, 32, 39, 104

National Insurance Act, 46, 64
Nationalization of land, 242
New Zealand, 8t>, zn, 242
Nitrogen, 17

Oats, 92, 125

Objective in production, 1 53
Onslow, Lord, 49
Organization, 115, 164

— of griculture, proposed, 247
Overseas settlement, 147, 156
Bill, 186

Committee, 186

Ownership, occupying, 38
Oxfordshire, 64

Partnership system, 155

form of balance sheet, i ij

Peas, 12, 94

Phosphates, 1 7

Pig-feeding, 159

Pig-keeping, 160

Pliny, 12

Poor Law Authorities, 205

Population, Agricultural, 177

Posidonious, 1 1

Potash, 17, 164

Potatoes, 75, 76, 77, 96, 102, 11 9,

158, 159
Potato spirit, 159
Poultry, 162

— Farm, 151

— and egg depots, 120
Production, 70 et scq.

Profits from farming in Den-
mark, 82

arable and grass land

(Strutt's report), 106

milk producing smallhold-
ing, 125

medium-sized farm, 127

— Partnership, 144
Prout, Mr., 98
Pytheas, 10

" Reformers," 1 14
Rents, 42, 113, 191
Richardson, Mr., Agricultural
Adviserof Victoria (.Vustralia).

75
Roman occupation, 1 1 et seq.

254 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS

Root crop, 92

Rotation, Four-year, 91, 99

— Six-^ear, 98

— Variation in, 98

— Winter keep, 215
Royal Colonial Institute, 226
Rumker, Professor von, 79
Rural education, 196 et seq.

— Worker's Insurance Society,

65
Russell, Mr., 204
Russia, 19
Rye grass, 92

Scotland, 64, 98, 156, 210
Scott, Leslie, Agricttltuml Oppor-
tunity, 176
Seeds, ley, 94
Selborne, Lord, 239

Reconstruction Report, 176

Settlers, Undertakings by, 235
Sheep, 92, 93, 119

— versus cattle, 1 3
Shropshire, 213,217
Smallholders, 84, 145, 155

— capital required, 143

— income, 120
Smallholder, Continental, 125
Small Holdings Act, 1908,22, 113
Colonies (Cheshire C.C).

131
Small and large holdmgs, 112 et

seq.

Social status, 25

Soiling system, 92, 109, 214

Spalding, 125

State control, 165

— interference, 27
Statutory Wage Board, 59, 167

Stock-breeding, 162

Strutt, Mr. Edward, 105, 135

Suffolk, 25

Sugar, Home-grown, 159

Sugar-beet, 77, 79, 83, 158, 160

et seq.
Supervision, Organized, 1 1 5
Sweden, 114
Swedes, 91, 92

Tenure, 30 et seq.

Trade Unions, 62

Training, 147

Training of immigrants, 232

Transport, Organized, 115, 164

Treasury, Imperial, 1 39

Tull, Jethro, 15

Turnips, 15, 91, 92

Urban Insurance Societies, 64

Verney Committee, 1916, 117

Wage Boards, 67
W^ages, 23, 24, 60

— Board Act, 167

Weeds, Effect of cropping on,

220
Wheat, 18, 57, 83, 92, 97, 102
Whitley Councils, 60, 69
Winchelsea, Lord, 22
Winter keep rotation, 2 1 5
Woman in relation to the farm,

204
Women's institutes, 204

Yorkshire, 64

— the North Riding, 127

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