PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 



THE first edition of English Fanning : Past and Present was exhausted 

 last year. It was then intended not to reprint the book in its 

 original form, but to shorten it and re-issue it in an abridged shape. 

 Circumstances have compelled the abandonment of that plan for 

 the present. The book is, therefore, now reprinted as it was origin- 

 ally written. The Tables of wheat prices and agricultural statistics 

 have been brought up to date ; otherwise there are practically no 

 alterations. 



Written in times of peace, and published in 1912, the book, as 

 its title indicates, is either historical or descriptive of the conditions 

 then existing. In the last chapter some of the problems of the 

 future are indicated. But no policy of reconstruction is sketched. 

 The difficulties which hinder agricultural revival are great. They 

 can only be overcome by the fusion of political parties, acting 

 together in the interests of the nation. In that spirit it may be 

 possible to promote agricultural progress, to improve the conditions 

 of agricultural labour, to restore life to the village, and to realise 

 some of the hopes which are expressed in the concluding pages of 

 the book. 



ROWLAND E. PROTHERO. 



January, 1917. 



