1918] EDITORIAL. 109 



reported that of all the belligerent nations (except the United 

 States), the United Kingdom alone in the third year of the war pro- 

 duced more grain than in 1916, in spite of the overwhelming diffi- 

 culties under which the farmers labored. It was also announced as 

 certain at the close of last year that a greater area of wheat had been 

 sown in England than in any season during the past twenty years. 



Still greater efforts are being made for the current year, for " we 

 can no longer expect to obtain from abroad the quantities of bread 

 and meat by which we have been accustomed to sustain life at home. 

 If we do not feed ourselves no other country can or will. To what 

 extent we shall be short of food depends on the extent of our success 

 or failure in increasing our home-grown supplies." Evidently deter- 

 mination is nowhere more pronounced than in relation to agriculture. 

 Its prosecution has become a war measure of highest importance, and 

 the country is straining every nerve and resource to meet the necessity 

 as now clearly seen. 



These high purposes and splendid efforts command admiration. 

 The determination to rise above the handicaps and difficulties which 

 surround the industry furnishes an evidence of what may be accom- 

 plished under cooperation and effective leadership. Time-honored 

 customs and long-established systems have been swept aside, in a 

 country proverbially conservative and among a class slow to make 

 radical change. 



The British farmer has had to meet harsh criticism and charges 

 from sources unreasoning and uninformed as to the real situation 

 and its difficulties. These have been an added burden, but the Brit- 

 ish Premier, himself born on the land, has urged the farmer to think 

 only of one thing — his country's need, and has confidently predicted 

 that this will enable him to win a great triumph for British agri- 

 culture and for the Empire. 



Such an example ought to prove an inspiration to us in this coun- 

 try, where the aims are similar and the obstacles less pronounced. 

 We have reached the stage for adjustment in many matters and the 

 necessity for a larger measure of cooperation in realizing the desired 

 result. The employment of every resource is necessary. To help in 

 this accomplishment is the opportunity of the colleges, the stations, 

 and the vast army of agricultural extension throughout the land. 



