British Farming.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17608, 10 November 1922, Page 8

British Farming.

One of the. most valuable papers read before the British Association at its annual conference in September was that bj Lord Bledisloe on "The Proper "Position of the Landowner in Re!a- ---" tionship tb the Agricultural Indus'i try," Lord Bledisloe can speak with authority on such a question, for besides being Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food during the latter" half of the war, he has held prominent office in numeious official and unofficial organisations connected with farming, and is President of the Central Landowners' Association, and of the Agriculture Section of the British Association. His position.and experience enabled him to spea.ki.very plainly to his brother-land-owners; against whom he levelled the charge that they have ceased to lead, though the. agricultural community today needed, above all else, enlightened leadership, just sis agriculture needed proper organisation. Unfortunately, it appears, many, possibly a majority of, landowners have not the ■knowledge "necessary to enable them to afford.their tenants the requisite guidance. The landowner, said Lord Bledisloe, if he farmed at all, did so indifferently, and generally at a loss, being untrained to the task. "Often his farmoperations were based upon- his : 'ambition to gain public distinction ' :t by excelling as a professional exhibi- ■;'" (i 'tar of prize stock At the leading agri.'cultural shows, 5 without any .effort-on. -•.bis part to make such stock a, medium the •improvement of tfoe ordinary

"commercial stock of the country, or "even of his own locality. One re"sult of this was a marked and' grow"ing gap between the finest British live " stock, wliich might be reckoned as the "best in the world, and the average "live stock of the ordinary commercial " farmer, which was probably lagging "behind the average standard' now at- •'' tained in many Continental coun- " triee." As remedies for the troubles from which British agriculture suffers, Lord Bledislo© urged tho adoption of methods, tho identification of the landowner's interests with thoseof the rural employees on his estate, the adequate training of every agricultural landowner, the utilisation oi water-power for generating electricity for use. on the farm, co-operative ptirehiidng and selling by fanners, the establishment of central dairies and bacon l'noiones, and, above all, the elimination of superfluous middlemen. His final word to the landowners was that iboy muet cease to be rent-receivers, but must take a leadingp'.rt in building up «i well organised and mutually helpful agricultural community. Strong support was given to Lord Bledisloe's arguments on the following day when Sir John Russell, head of the Hothamsted Agricultural Experimental Station, addressed a joint meeting of the Agriculture and Economics sections of the. Association on tho possibility of increasing the food supply of the nation. At present, according to the figures he quoted, the Old Country produces 20 per cent, of the wheat it consumes, 30 per cent, of the fruit, 40 per cent, of the butter, U0 per cent, of the meat and eggs, 70 to 80 per cent, of the barley and poultry, and 90 to 95 per cent, of the oats, milk, potatoes, and other vegetables. He pointed out that the yield per acre for wheat, oats, potatoes, and swedes varied greatly, even in the same county, and that by the application of science the productive capacity of land might be levelled up. "A more " intelligent and judicious use "should be made of artificial fertilisers, '' and something could also be done by "the introduction of new varieties of " cvope." The mere fact that an expert should deem it necessary to make such a suggestion indicates the backwardness of British fanners in main-*: use of the, varied results of scienrifb investigation as applied to the problems of farming and the discoveries that have been made in almost every branch of agricultural research in the past twenty or thirty years. Some years ago a comparison was drawn between production in England and in Germany, greatly to the disadvantage of the former, and a London paper assorts that the comparison holds rood to-day. The British farmer, it is said, feeds from 45 to w persons from each 100 acres of cultivated land, and tho German from 70 to 75; he gets 15 tons of corn comparod with 33 tons, 11 tons of potatoes compared with 55 tons, 174 tons of mini oompared with 28 tons, and 4 tons of meat compared with 4j tons. In spite, however, of the "host of small farmers "with no ideas in their heads beyond " their accustomed daily job," who are described as the drag upon Britain's farming machine, Sir John Russell is not unhopeful of the future, mainly because the young farmers are keen and alert and take great interest in the work being carried oh in experimental stations and cojlege farms. That is undoubtedly a good omen, but it remains to be seen haw far economic conditions will permit of fanning at Home being developed and becoming more profitable, or whether, as foreseen by one gloomy speaker, " in the last resort "shepherds and a few sheep'dogs might " alone be left on what were once the " productive lands of England."