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practice gives an enormous advantage to the butcher, who can test his 

 judgment by the scales ; and in one market in the Eastern Counties 

 butter is still sold by the yard. Again, we find that in most parts of 

 England the size of farms and of fields is such as to render the use of 

 machinery difficult, if not impossible. Holdings are too small to 

 warrant the investment of capital in labour-saving appliances, which 

 would stand idle for the greater part of the year, and the sub-division 

 of the farms themselves into small enclosures makes the employment 

 of steam or petrol-driven machinery both troublesome and expensive.* 



Lastly, under the present organisation of the agricultural industry 

 we find that the position of the farm worker in most parts of the country 

 compares very unfavourably with that of men engaged in other indus- 

 tries. His hours are long, his wages are low, his housing is often bad, 

 his opportunities are very few, and the consequent difficulty of attracting 

 men to the land, or even of retaining those already working on it, has 

 become notorious. 



In emphasising these weaknesses in agricultural organisation no slur 

 is intended upon those engaged in the industry. Farming has been 

 hampered by tradition to an extent unknown in other and newer forms 

 of industry, and progress has been hindered by the difficulty of bringing 

 together men whose occupations tend to keep them always apart, so 

 that any form of combination either by the farmers or their men for 

 the sake of their mutual protection or advancement is less easily 

 accomplished than in urban industries, where all the parties concerned 

 may be living within an area comprised in a few square miles. 



Now there is a tendency to regard these weaknesses in agricultural 

 organisation as being inherent to the industry, and most of the measures 

 which have been attempted or proposed for their alleviation are based 

 on a recognition of them as being something inevitable, only to be 

 palliated so far as may be. Most County Councils maintain an official 

 known as the County Agricultural Organiser, whose duty it is to 

 bring to the farmer results of scientific discovery by telling him how to 

 feed his stock and Crops, and how to combat plant and animal diseases. 

 The Board of Agriculture has put in motion machinery for the creation 

 of live-stock societies, which bring the services of high-class deeding 

 stock within the reach of small farmers ; it has also made attempts, 

 at various times, to establish State banking institutions for giving 

 to the industry the financial assistance which farmers alone amongst 

 producers have difficulty in obtaining. Lastly, the needs of the worker 

 have been recognised, and attempts have been made to increase his 

 income and provide him with the opportunity of rising in his calling 

 by the statutory provision of allotments and small holdings. 



All this work is very valuable, and much more of it is called for, 

 but at the same time it is important to bear in mind that such work 



* Few people realise the waste of land in this country caused by unnecessary 

 fences. In Oxfordshire alone the roadside hedges occupy an area of 1,500 acres. 



