DECEMBER 455 



weather has been all that could be desired, enabling us to get 

 more forward with the ploughing than might have been expected. 

 Such of next year's crops as are above the ground, wheat, winter 

 beans, tares, &c., all look well and vigorous, but a spell of frost 

 would now be welcome if only to kill the grubs and make the 

 heavy lands tender and friable. Perhaps we shall have it yet, 

 since even in my own day the English climate has changed 

 very greatly now it is common for autumn to stretch almost up 

 to Christmas, while winter often prevails from February to June. 



But if the difficulties and variableness of our weather and 

 climate were all which he had to face, the farmer might wish his 

 neighbour a happy New Year after church to-morrow with a reason- 

 able belief that, the decrees of Fate apart, his invocation would be 

 fulfilled. The facts, however, point another way, for it cannot be 

 denied that, taking the country through, the farming outlook has 

 seldom been more gloomy than it will be at the beginning of 

 1899. Wheat, our staple product, has fallen again to a figure at 

 which it is not remunerative to grow ; meat does not, and some 

 think will not rise, while wool is, I understand, lower in price 

 than it has ever been before. 1 What then is the farmer to do and 

 where is he to turn for aid ? Protection, at any rate upon wheat 

 and meat, is at present but a dream, and he will be wise if he 

 dismisses the hope of it from his mind. A bounty on corn might 

 help, but will there ever be a bounty unless some great war has 

 first taught the people how necessary it is that a certain proportion 

 of our acreage should be kept under wheat ? I doubt it. 



What remains then? In addition to considerable and very 

 necessary changes of the system and subject matter of elementary 

 education in country districts I can only suggest : help from the 

 State in the shape of (i) monetary aid advanced on the security of 

 the property to persons of approved character who wish to purchase 

 small holdings, thus fostering the growth of a new yeoman class, 



1 Since the above was written, owing to a shortage, probably temporary, 

 of the foreign supply, meat has risen a little, while corn has fallen still further 

 in price. April 1899. 



