FARMING, PAST AND FUTURE 77 



leaving the enemy in possession and master once 

 again of his own domain. The difference is one of 

 degree: in the first instance the ravages of the human 

 host only entail partial destruction of the plant popu- 

 lace occupying the country. The blackberries, nuts, 

 or grasses are not captured or destroyed in large 

 enough proportion to exterminate even temporarily 

 the adult population. In the second case the adult 

 population is as far as possible temporarily exter- 

 minated; it is through their offspring, known to us as 

 seed, that repopulation proves possible. 



The third and much the more advanced class of 

 warfare farming proper consists in eradicating the 

 plant enemy known as the weed, and occupying the 

 land in perpetuity. This involves many things, 

 among which may be mentioned the thorough working 

 of the land with tillage implements, the supply of 

 manures, and the selection of the seed of friendly 

 plants farm crops which will better supply man's 

 wants than the supplanted vegetation, and, besides all 

 this, many things costing labour, money, and skill. 

 And all the time man is putting his capital and brain 

 work into the production of his own farm crop, the 

 enemy must be kept at bay. Total extermination is 

 not attainable, nature sees to it that an innumerable 

 host of weeds is always present to attack the husband- 

 man, and, if his efforts are inadequate, to regain the 

 land and the motive power from the sun for themselves 

 and their offspring. 



There are then three possible policies: pilfering, 

 theft, and production, and the strategy of farming, to 

 my mind, consists of deciding which of the three a 

 nation is to practise. 



My submission to you to-night is that in the past 

 this country, in which we live, decided between the 

 years 1850 and 1875, for good or for evil, to go in for 



