322 GERMAN VIEW OF ENGLISH AGRICULTURE 



improving on the old ones, success has "not 

 been far off." 



But, granting that the British farmers are 

 willing to turn their attention to particular 

 forms of agricultural produce, other than corn, 

 for which there is a large demand ; and granting, 

 also, that the soil can be adapted to the achieve- 

 ment of this purpose, how is it that the British 

 cultivator has to encounter an increasing competi- 

 tion from the foreigner in regard to the produce in 

 question ? Why has not the British farmer been 

 able to keep in his own hands the entire supply of 

 those enhanced quantities of butter, eggs, poultry, 

 fruit, and vegetables which his markets require? 



This is the next point to which Dr. Levy 

 addresses himself, and he declares with emphasis 

 that the reply to the question is not to be found 

 in any special advantages conferred by Nature 

 on foreign countries as compared with Great 

 Britain. He attributes the conditions in ques- 

 tion mainly to two causes. The first of these is 

 that " alike in the production of his supplies and 

 in his method of disposing of them, the British 

 farmer has a less perfect system than that of the 

 countries which compete with him " ; and this 

 double superiority on the part of the foreigner 

 is mainly due, Dr. Levy adds, to his application 

 of the principle of co-operation. 



