FARM AND FACTORY 127 



principal Colonies, shows the need of some pre- 

 liminary training. The stream of emigration 

 now taking place to countries where the cost of 

 living is considerably higher than at home, and 

 where the main agricultural exports are bulk pro- 

 ducts, is somewhat hard to explain unless it be 

 that popular movements are often " a day 

 behind the fair." 



In discussing the question of emigration we 

 have wandered somewhat from the causes which 

 account for the want of adaptability in agricul- 

 tural production. One set of causes may be 

 traced to the conditions under which agriculture 

 is carried on. As we have seen in the case of the 

 United States, over-production could not be easily 

 controlled. The unit of production in agriculture is 

 the farm, a small unit compared to the factory. 

 Each farmer is trying to work out his own salvation. 

 A shop can be locked up and machinery stopped 

 when prices are unprofitable, while in agriculture 

 adjustment to new conditions must be slow. 

 To cease cultivation entails greater loss than to 

 continue it, even though prices of produce do not 

 allow of a profit. When times change for the 

 better the farmer* s knowledge of the forces at the 

 back of market prices is not sufficiently wide- 

 reaching to enable him to estimate the extent 

 of the change. Given the will to increase pro- 

 duction by intensive farming the uncertainty 



