PROBLEM OF INTENSIVE CULTIVATION 1 17 



the germs of discovery to which this progress is 

 due. 



In older days the problem of intensive cultiva- 

 tion appeared to be relatively simple. It was 

 stated by Swift in the famous aphorism of the 

 two blades of grass. Now it is recognised that 

 the problem is exceedingly complex. The text 

 of the aphorism must be extended. Not only 

 must two "blades" be grown in lieu of one, 

 not only must the crop be larger, it must also 

 be of better quality, more resistant to disease, 

 ripe at a suitable time, produced at the greatest 

 possible net profit without undue impoverishment 

 of the land. The problem of intensive cultivation 

 is thus seen to involve both scientific and economic 

 considerations. To solve it crop and soil and 

 population, market and labour, housing and fiscal 

 policy must all be taken into consideration. It 

 would be an invaluable piece of work if the De- 

 velopment Commissions or some other competent 

 authority were to draw up and publish an authori- 

 tative statement of the ends and means of intensive 

 cultivation ; for at present the problem is envisaged 

 piecemeal. To attempt such a task is beyond 

 both the scope of this essay and the competence of 

 the essayist. Our object is nearer, namely to 

 discover the part which pure science has played 

 in recent improvements in the art of cultivation 

 and to show that the fertile streams of ideas 

 which refresh the minds of cultivators and bring 



