TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 149, 23 June 1906, Page 10

TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE.

j {By _dwia A. Pratt. John Murray, i London.) j xhe main ptirpose of this book, as j explained by its author, is (1) to show j . t_e substantial development which has: 1 taken place in various subsidiary branch- j es of agriculture and kindred pursuits ia j Great Britain, owing to the decline in ; j cereals; i 2) to give some idea of what j 'is ac-tuairy proceeding in the wa-r of an 1 ! increased acceptance of the principles and j ;practice or agTieuitural combination; : j 1 0; Tc discuss some of the principles : upon which the advent of the "small ; ; holder" can be encouxased. i In dealing with the first-named propo- j 1 srtion. the author gives an account of eDOrinoas <3e " re i°ptnent of the milk tratnc along the great lines of railway, j I The Great v~esfcera alone carried 31.0?0.- ' 000 gallons in 1904. of which more than one-half was sent to London, being borne a distance of from SO to 130 miles. Tne London and North-western carried 22.------,0.&-»} 4 galicns an average distance of SO mile*-, although some of it was carried 430 miles. The charge for 150 miles and upwards was a uniform price of 1 Wiper gallon. Mr. Pratt from the experience of tic Stascrdshire Farmers' A*sociatir.n that the producers could secure much better returns for their pro- ' duce if they would combine. Although the facilities for such co-operative associations are much greater "in the United Kingdom thanjn New Zealand, the Mother Country is a lonz way behind us in this respect. Tne butter factory there is almost unknown, and great "loss result* tnrongh the want of uniform e>:•'e s e!:en' v in production and costliness in handling farmers' butter. Put it is pointed out that. whi:e milk and cream yield such high prioe* when farms are aTe-ssit'.e to towns, there is nor. mucQ inducement for butter-making. A quart or" cream, which could b- sold for '26 in Bradford, would only make one pound of butter, wcrh 'rem 11 tr- 1/5. Still, ' there ate many rnral district; where the disposal of milt dai.y is attended with duricultie-. so thi. out of 1.723.----000.000 ga'lons of milk produced in the Lcited Kingdom, only 620.00^1.000 .rallons are consumed as milk, the balant-e bf-ii-,2 ihiefly T-ir-n-d into butter and fhee-e. Thi fo Tory «y«t(em could be proftal e--ab:iihe,i in such localitie*. i'"'-'stry whi.a oper.? ud a r— """ rati-.- licl..' tc the producer is .r.':t-grov ..-g. It :» mcitioEeJ that c Scotch grower of made £4?2 -"•id: ... nine years from a single acre c: ra.-pberries. In i:>o4 there --as imported into the United Kingdom £ 10.- ' u,4.]:V> worth of fruit and vegetables, of which a considerable proportion might , have b»--n produced in i;,e Kingdom. The culture of llowers. bulb*, an-1 vegetables jor profit :s al---> discussed in the 1 lisht of carefully oompiied statistics. ■ dealing with tr.e market prices and im- ■ portations of these products. The climate of the South of England is specisllv favourable for tliese branches of tillage. lh» fact that the United Kingdom in imp""rted £«i.7J".0j>76 worth of arid poultry indicatss plenty of room for exparsion in this department of rural enterprise. A Lick of *y*t c— < and organisation appears to be tic chief obstacle to *t;,-ce** ?r. British competition w-jthin ita , own mart-etsi. Mr. Pratt cea's very effectively with j the problems of marketing produce to the best advantage: alio with the housing nt i'arm labourers and the measures - necessary to check the drift of popula- ] tion from the country to the towns. Perhaps the interesting chanters in '> the book are those devoted to the Cfsition ol a peasant propnrtary. The an- ' thor strongly combats the theory that r he /ranting oi treehoids is the best mc ■ thc»i of promoting proftibie occupation in small hokangs. The tacts he adduces with regard to the condition of p.i.saiit i proprietors m r ranee and Denmark cer- I tatnly place the case oi the small free- ! holder in a very unfavourable light. He I quotes irom French authorities j i-t-jtemer.ts showing that ;he small Dr.- I pr.fror ia that count'T' has tn do work j w.-iich ougL- t b. dene by a-.ir.iiis or , mcch.nes. ird tba.t h j is net 50 widl fed , or ro—ifortaoiy h* the Er-gl:?h j f.i-m labourer. M:c-i '.-t. d - scribing the '.ire of the French peasant, says: "Fol- ! low him before daylight, you will find j your man at work. -Ith hi* children and j his wife, who has ;e*.:'n f ly been conrined. ; v i:o drags berseif alon» on the wet i earth. At midday, when the heat is suf- ! ti-ient to split the very rocks, when t!ie slave-owner would permit his slave to j rest, the voluntary slave tnust keep on ! working." The book is full of informa- I tion upon one of the most important i subjects that the political economist can turn hi* attention to.