ESSAY-REVIEWS 147 



agriculture could scarcely have come at a more opportune time, and this is even 

 more the case than it was when the scheme was initiated some little time before 

 the outbreak of war in 1914. Even then agriculture, after half a century of 

 indifference and neglect at the hands of most Englishmen, had become a matter 

 of interest to others besides those engaged in it ; but now, after the experiences 

 of war, the realisation of the extremely vital importance of the agricultural in- 

 dustry has been brought home to every one. The first results of the proposed 

 survey of English Agriculture are therefore of far more than specialised or local 

 interest. Mr. Fiber's work, as its title implies, deals especially with the history 

 and development of the co-operative movement in Danish Agriculture. It is thus 

 written from a different point of view from Mr. Orr's Agriculture in Oxfordshire, 

 yet both books give clear pictures of the present position of agriculture in the 

 regions with which they deal. 



In his first five chapters Mr. Orr surveys the agriculture of Oxfordshire in five 

 sections, these being based as nearly as possible on the natural divisions. By 

 visiting as many landowners, agents and farmers as possible the material was 

 collected which enabled the author to describe the various styles of farming, the 

 crops and stock, and any special developments in different departments of 

 agriculture, such as market gardening, potato-growing, and especially dairying. 

 For each section of the county questions of transport, housing, and other matters 

 are discussed. 



The most interesting part of Mr. Orr's work is that which follows the de- 

 scriptive survey, and deals with the more general questions of land-tenure and the 

 relationship of landowner to farmer, and of farmer to labourer, and with the 

 administration and management of land. It is also this part of the work which 

 affords a most interesting and important comparison with the Danish conditions 

 described in Mr. Faber's book. 



To appreciate the position, it is necessary to recall in outline the general trend 

 of agricultural history in the last century. 



After the system of joint tenure of land was brought to an end by the 

 wholesale enclosures at the end of the eighteenth century, the principal feature of 

 agriculture, both in England and Denmark, was increasing production of corn 

 brought about by increasing the corn-growing area and improving the yield on 

 the same area. Corn-growing was combined with the keeping of cattle, but the 

 latter was quite subsidiary to the growing of crops, the cattle being badly fed, 

 especially during the winter. However, to get the best 1 results from the system, it 

 was found necessary to keep more livestock and feed it more liberally. "A 

 considerable difference in the corn crops," says Mr. Faber, "was observed 

 between the ordinary farms and the better managed estates where the im- 

 poverishment of the soil was compensated by the greater quantities of more 

 valuable farmyard manure resulting from keeping more stock and feeding them 

 more liberally." Hence, it came about that both in England and Denmark a 

 system of corn-growing combined with the keeping of livestock was evolved. 

 But there was this important difference between the English and Danish systems : 

 in England cattle were kept chiefly for meat production, in Denmark for dairy 

 produce. 



This change in agricultural practice came about in the decade 1860-70— 

 that is, just before the period of agricultural depression which set in during the 

 seventies. Owing to development in means of transport corn was brought from 

 America, India, and Australia, and flooded the European markets, and corn was 

 soon followed by animal produce. The resulting competition was felt in all 



