PRODUCTION 5 



problem of production — there has recently 

 been a comprehensive official inquiry into the 

 agricultural output of Great Britain. Valua- 

 ble as it may be, it throws little or no light on 

 the situation for lack of a standard of com- 

 parison which would show whether agricul- 

 ture is advancing or receding in this respect. 

 More can be learnt from the returns of what 

 we do not produce but obtain from elsewhere, 

 which go back for many years ; and also 

 from those which show the amount of land 

 cultivated and the kind of crops grown. An 

 analogous subject on which full information 

 is available is the number and size of holdings. 

 At the present time productivity is usually 

 regarded as dependent on population. It is 

 assumed as a broad and easy generalisation 

 that if more people lived on and by the land 

 it would produce more. Hence the impor- 

 tance attached to small holdings and inten- 

 sive cultivation, which would, it is thought, 

 solve both problems at once. It is not easy 

 to say how far this holds good under actual 

 conditions. As a general proposition it is 

 true that production varies with the amount 

 of work put into anything, but the amount 

 of work does not necessarily correspond with 

 the number of persons engaged in it, because 

 the term " work " covers many things besides 

 the main d'oenvrc. It cannot be assumed that 

 the productivity of any given piece of land 



