ROYAL COMMISSION ON AORICULTUBK. 



16 StpUmlxr. 1919.] 



PKOFESSOR B. G. WHITE. 



[Continued. 



tb* matter. The stock of tho farm Mid this is 

 T*ry largely a stock farm are taken at practically 

 the same figure per head, year after year. 



10,011. But to far as hay and corn are concerned, 

 except in quantities, these account* do show, and we 

 can pick them out? Yes. 



10,019. The same thing applies to last year too. 

 Tho land that you fanned cannot bo very heavy clay 

 if you plough it all with two horses? It is heavy for 

 our district. 



10,013. That is what I think you meant. It is not 

 what we call heavy clay in England, which takes three 

 horses and sometimes four? It is not heavy in that 



10,014. But you do plough with two horses:- Yes, 

 sometimes we use three. If we are deep ploughing for 

 roots, we put in throe. 



10,01o. Have you ever considered whether institu- 

 tions like yours could not usefully send out what I 

 would call travelling advisers, to advise farmers on 

 their own farms? We have a large staff engaged 

 there largely on that work. 



10.016. That is being done, is it? Yes, in associa- 

 tion with various County Councils. 



10.017. Do they charge the farmer for their ser- 

 vices? No. 



10.018. Is it open in North Wales for any farmer 

 to send to you and ask you to send one of your men 

 down to advise him as to what fertilisers to use and 

 what the soil requires? Yes, it is open to them, and 

 they do it constantly. 



10.019. Is that done in any other Agricultural 

 College that you know of? I hope we are not behind 

 other Agricultural Colleges. 



10,030. I think you are in advance, if I may say so? 

 That certainly is the case in North Wales, and wo 

 are constantly having requests from farmers. 



10.021. Mr. Edwards, for instance, & member of 

 this Commission, does not need advice; but assume 

 he did in Wales, if he sent to you, would you send 

 somebody down? Certainly. 



10.022. And if he were to say, " I have this field 

 here which is only growing me 4 quarters of wheat. I 

 m not farming it in the right way," would you sug- 

 gest what the land required? We are constantly 

 doing that. 



10.023. And that is increasing, is it? Yes, it has 

 increased very markedly during the war years. 



10.024. And the expense of those men you send is 

 paid for by the College? By the College and by the 

 various County Councils. 



10,036. That is a form of subsidy to agriculture, is 

 it not P Yes. 



10.026. But would you agree with me that that is 

 a most desirable way of improving the fertility of tho 

 land and getting a greater result from it? Yes. 



10.027. How many men have you engaged on that 

 sort of work? You would not want to hear the 

 details ; but I should nay that every member of our 

 staff, it does not matter what his subject is, does un- 

 dertake that as part of his ordinary work. Whether 

 ho in a lecturer in Agricultural Chemistry, or she is 

 a dairy instructress, or whatever the position may be, 

 it M clearly understood that that is part of the work 

 <>{ ovary member of the staff, and altogether our staff 

 including dairy and poultry instructresses number at 

 thn present time I should say from 20 to 24. That 

 in in the four counties. 



10.028. Are they constantly employed? Yes; ex- 

 -ome instructresses who are only employed during 



tho mimtner months. I might say that we regard 

 Ir-rtures in tin-nisei vo* an moat useful in bringing the 

 <tff into touch with the farmer*. It is easily possible, 

 I think, to overrate tho, value, of the lectures them- 

 olre ; l.ut the mnin thing is to get the staff into 

 onrh with tbe fnrmnrs. The real work is done by 

 visiting *nd tho ndvico given. 



10.029. That i bnt I personally wnnt to see done 

 .:>( them nil ; but ilo these lecturer* travel about 



and lift ure in the various townships and villages? 



10.030. Are the lectures well attended? I think as 

 a rule in North Wales we about hold a record. The' 

 returns are published by the Hoard of Agriculture 



year, or they used to be, and I think tin- North 

 Wales attendance is at least as large as in any other 

 aie.i. I am now speaking purely from memory, but 

 I think the average in all subjects would run from 

 30 to 40. 



10.031. Mv experience in Kngland is that tho farmer 

 does not like unending lectures, but ho would be glad 

 of advice? Welsh farmers arc rather different. 



10.032. You find they an dilferent anil will come to 

 the lectures? They art much more easily get-at-able. 



10.033. They will turn out at night and come to the 

 lectures? Yes. 



10.034. Is it your experience that the 1 land, at any 

 rate so far as you know it. needs lime; 1 A good dial 

 of it undoubtedly does ; but at the same time I may 

 say we are finding that though many North Wales 

 soils are totally deficient in lime, the response to lime 

 is not very great. The same thing applies to 

 fertile soils of Scotland which are equally deficient in 

 lime. But that is a question for future research, and 

 I do not want to go into it. It sounds rather 

 heterodox, to put it mildly. 



10,036. What you are saying is news to me? As a 

 matter of fact I think the explanation is that most 

 of the soil research has been done in the Eastern 

 Counties of England, where undoubtedly lime is very 

 often quite a determining factor. In some of our 

 North Wales soils the conditions seem to be altogether 

 different, and we do nob get anything like the same 

 response from lime that they do in many parts of 

 England. 



10.036. Important as Wales is, my question was 

 rather directed to the larger part of England. I 

 know from my own experience and observation that 

 in many areas of England lime is absolutely essential ; 

 but the conditions are totally different in Wales. 



10.037. What I wanted to know was whether you 

 thought the necessity of lime in the bulk of the soils 

 in England was sufficiently groat to make it ad- 

 visable for the Government of the country to provide 

 facilities for lime being delivered at various village 

 stations? England is a comparatively big country. 

 I know certain types of soil where lime is so essential 

 that something of the kind would be necessary; but 

 again there are other types of soil where it would not. 



10.038. Have you really considered this area? Of 

 course it is part of my business to consider this and 

 such questions ; but rather from the scientific point 

 of view than the economic point of view. 



10.039. Would the facility of having lime supplied 

 to certain soils have the effect of increasing the 

 national food? Undoubtedly. 



10.040. But to a really substantial degree is what 

 I want? Yes. For instance, the fertility of certain 

 soils on the millstone grit appears to depend almost 

 primarily on the presence or absence of lime. But 

 after all they are a comparatively small area of the 

 whole country. 



10.041. Take tho heavy clay lands in England. 

 Would not the application of lime he of immense 

 \alue '-It would, certainly be of immense value. I 

 cannot say from my own knowledge or experience 

 whether it would lie of sufficient value to justify the 

 Government taking such measures as you suggest. It 

 would be better to ask someone who is more familiar 

 with those soils. 



10.042. I remember the time when it was part of the 

 terms of tho lease of all lands in many districts that 

 so much lime was to be supplied, and the landlord 

 would supply it. That has all gone out now. You 

 told mi- that a Government guarantee of prices for 



I- would not prevent tho Welsh land going back 

 to grass? No. 



10.043. Is not the Welshman rather fond of making 

 money ? Yes. 



10.044. If it were profitable to the Welshman to 

 grow corn, would he not grow corn? It depends how 

 much trouble he is going to be put to in order to get 

 the money. I still stick to the opinion I gave, that 



