NOBLESSE OBLIGE 59 



trolled, failed to cultivate the land as it should 

 be cultivated. 



A manager of a farm of 3000 acres in the 

 heart of Northamptonshire, a farm which is 

 described as a rabbit warren when he took it 

 over, with trees growing through the roofs 

 of cottages, was bold enough to state in his 

 evidence in chief that one of the reasons for 

 ill-cultivation was "the ultra-conservatism and 

 lack of adaptability of the majority of the 

 farming community." This evidence was pre- 

 sented by one who had some hard things to 

 say about " Labour," which, after examination, 

 he generously retracted. We had evidence 

 that good farmers refused to take farms in 

 parts of certain counties where the owners 

 were known to be great sportsmen. 



Not all farmers are averse to game. It is 

 not the game-preserving landowner who is the 

 enemy of good cultivation only, or he who 

 hires the shooting. The sporting tenant- 

 farmer can make himself as great a nuisance, 

 if he holds the sporting rights, and Ground 

 Game Acts, and Agricultural Holdings Acts, 

 though they read very nicely in print, are in 

 actual practice no aids to good cultivation. 

 Compensation for damage done by pheasants 

 is very rarely insisted upon, and to be at liberty 

 to shoot ground game is no protection for the 

 farmer. The good farmer will not spend his 

 time with his hand upon the trigger. The 



