THE POLICY OF GUARANTEED PRICES 75 



production of corn. I do not wish to set up a 

 discussion as to the rival merits of wheat and 

 milk policies, for it is more or less common 

 knowledge that under tillage we could keep — 

 as they do in Denmark — a greater number of 

 cows than we can on grass. There was, how- 

 ever, a tendency to reduce herds of cows during 

 war-time under our plough-policy, and this was 

 due to one or two reasons. 



The cow-keeping, grass farmer had, to a 

 large extent, lost the skill which may have 

 been possessed by his father or grandfather 

 in tillage operations. He often had neither 

 the implements nor the horses necessary for 

 continuous cultivation. He looked upon the 

 plough-policy as a kind of panic legislation 

 which would cease when the War ceased. 

 He had an eye always on sowing grass 

 across the upspringing corn. Farm buildings 

 were often insufficient or unsuitable for the 

 keeping of horned cattle and horses at one 

 and the same time, and certainly to increase 

 the number of his cows was an impracticable 

 proposition where buildings were altogether 

 inadequate. 



We have known what it is to suffer from 

 a shortage of milk, due amongst other causes 

 to a curtailment of imported linseed and cotton, 

 and we may suffer again. In fact, the poor 

 are suffering from an insufficient supply of milk 

 at a price within their means. There is not 



