CHAPTER III 

 NOBLESSE OBLIGE 



I HAVE quoted somewhat lengthily from 

 the official Reports of the County Agri- 

 cultural Executive Committees, 19 17— 

 20, because they give us a penetrating insight 

 into the condition of English farming, and at 

 the same time because I wanted to give them 

 every credit for what they have done when they 

 went forth on to the untilled fields to use that 

 powerful weapon, D.O.R.A. 2 m. 



It is through the operations of these Com- 

 mittees we have now a survey made by farmers 

 themselves of practically all the cultivated area 

 of Great Britain. True, it has taken a European 

 War to produce such a survey. Nevertheless, 

 we now have enduring documentary proof 

 which neither landowners nor farmers can re- 

 fute, for it has been graven by their own hands. 

 What they have done to rectify matters, even 

 in a small way, is an earnest of the things 

 they might do if they would act in co-operation 

 with the whole community. 



These Reports show us how it is possible for 



occupiers and owners to remain in business 



43 



