BRITISH AGRICULTURE 109 



it would not be too much to say that the increased 

 production of home-grown foodstuffs is a matter 

 of the first importance to our industrial popula- 

 tion. Perhaps the greater prominence given 

 to imported products, partly due to the fact that 

 statistics relating to them are constantly before 

 the public, have obscured the importance 

 of our own agricultural produce. True, in 

 breadstuffs the proportion is small : with meat, 

 though the exact figures cannot be ascertained, 

 home-grown supplies account for at least 60 

 per cent, of our total consumption. During 

 the hard times through which agriculture has 

 passed, the industry has followed the line of the 

 least resistance : Milk production, the only rural 

 industry free from foreign competition, has 

 enormously increased. The necessity of cur- 

 tailing the labour bill, together with the un- 

 remunerative nature of cereal cultivation, have 

 resulted in a large increase of land under grass. 



The urgent demand for the increased produc- 

 tion of foodstuffs from our own agriculture can 

 only be considered with the present position as the 

 starting point. As at present conducted, the 

 milk trade is often in direct antagonism to the 

 production of meat : many calves are slaughtered 

 practically as soon as they are born. Cows in 

 their prime are sent to the butcher by the suburban 

 cowkeeper when they have been milked dry. 



