THE RURAL PROBLEM. 17 



market for cereals, and the great destruction of men and dilapida- 

 tion of farms in Enrope, together with the great indebtedness of 

 European countries to America which will follow the war, vvill 

 probably operate to raise the price of cereals. Also, if general 

 trade is good, freight rates will probably be higher than before 

 the war, because of the diminishing carrying capacitj^ of shipping.* 

 The evidence for or against the necessity of a subsidy on arable 

 land or guaranteed prices for cereals, is not complete on either 

 side, but the agitation in favour of a giiarantee has received con- 

 siderable support from the report of a Committee on Home Pro- 

 duction of Food, which sat under the chairmanship of Lord JMilner.f 

 The danger is, however, that a guarantee of 40s. or 45s. per quarter 

 for wheat would lead to satisfaction with prevailing conditions 

 amongst farmers, and a more rigid establishment of the status quo 

 in regard to production, unless it were accompanied by other 

 measures for securing the breaking-up of grass land that would be 

 more profitable under the plough. And m any case the future 

 prosperity of the industry depends upon the introduction of 

 improved methods of cultivation and efficient forms of organization. 



It is in relation to waste or uneconomically used land that it 

 may be necessary to apply the principle of compulsion. There is 

 much waste, or semi- waste, land in many parts of the country 

 which owners are not willing to improve or to allow others to 

 improve on fair terms. Not all of this land is privately owned, 

 for some belongs to the Crown and other public bodies. But 

 experiments are being made in reclamation, and where a process 

 has been devised for any type of land it would be folly to allow 

 individual rights of maintainmg it in its present state to prohibit 

 a development of greater utility. Compensation should be granted 

 on its present value, and the land be taken and developed under 

 some public authority. The types of existing waste land which 

 could be made more productive include accretions from the sea, 

 both slob-lands and sands ; low-lying moor and bog ; heath and 

 upland sheep walk ; and other land "which could be improved for 

 grazmg purposes. Much poor grazing land, which now produces 

 onlj' a few pounds of mutton per acre each year, could be improved 

 or turned into woodlands. But continued experiments are neces- 

 sary before large areas of waste can be dealt with. 



Akm to the subject of reclamation is that of afforestation. An 

 increase of woodlands is highly desirable, as a great depletion of 

 future supplies has occurred during the war -period. The prices 

 of timber have been rising for manj^ years, and, as the world's 

 visible supplies are not as large as they were, other mcreases are in 

 prospect. At present only land of low annual value can be 



* For another discussion of the probable trend of prices of agricultural produce 

 see ' The Industrial Outlook.' Ed. by H. S. Furniss, pp. 217-221, 



t The Interim Reiiort containing the recommendation for a guaranteed price 

 for wheat was not published, but see the Journal of the Board of Agriculture, 

 September, 1915 (Vol. xxii. No. 6). 



