February 5, 1920] 



NATURE 



593 



themselves. The problem is not peculiar to any 

 one country : it is world-wide. 



The British problem was discussed some time 

 ago by Sir A. D. Hall in his book, " Agriculture 

 after the War," and not long since by an anony- 

 mous writer in a recent number of the Edinburgh 

 Review. One aspect of it is discussed by 

 Lt.-Col. Weigall and Mr. Castell Wrey in the 

 first volume on the list. These authors set out 

 the advantages of the large io,ooo-acre farm as 

 a business proposition. The farm of 3000 acres, 

 hitherto considered large, they regard as simply 

 inconvenient ; it is too small to be a really big 

 farm, but too large to be a satisfactory small 

 one. They suggest that the State should run 

 one large farm as a demonstration and educa- 

 tional institute, and they consider that others 

 would soon follow, with the result that the 

 method would take its proper place in British 

 agriculture. Many of the difficulties of farming 

 disappear when the scale is made sufBciently 

 large, and the authors make out a good case for 

 the 10,000-acre farm. We doubt, however, 

 whether they will induce any Government Depart- 

 ment to embark in the business. Government 

 trading being somewhat under a cloud for the 

 moment ; but a company might feel disposed to 

 take the matter up. 



(2) The American problem is discussed in the 

 second of the volumes before us by Dr. Butter- 

 field, the well-known president of the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College, who sets out his 

 views with characteristic frankness, saying exactly 

 what he thinks with the engaging candour that 

 has made him so potent a factor in American agri- 

 cultural life. One great difficulty Dr. Butterfield 

 finds is that farmers are not, and rarely have been, 

 prominent in the councils of the nation ; conse- 

 quently others have had to devise policies for them. 

 The farmers of ancient Rome and the yeomen of 

 medieval England were in a stronger position, 

 and in Germany, Denmark, and Ireland farmers 

 are a power in the land; in the main, however, 

 they have had but little influence. Some serious 

 consequences follow. The great majority of 

 American farmers are said to receive insufficient 

 return for their labours, the average labour in- 

 come being only 400 dollars per annum. The 

 middleman, on the other hand, obtains too many 

 of the consumers' dollars; the system of dis- 

 tribution is in general against the farmer's 

 interests. Still worse, there is no agricultural 

 policy. Dr. Butterfield writes sternly about this 

 deficiency in the United States, and notes with 

 surprise the same lack of policy in this country 

 and in the Labour Party's memorandum on recon- 

 struction, of which otherwise he approves. He 

 NO. 2623, VOL. 104] 



insists on the need for a strong agriculture, 

 which, however, can eventuate only if the 

 farmer conforms to the spirit of the new age. 

 This calls for a better chance for the ordinary 

 man, the intelligent planning of human progress, 

 a reconciliation between organised effectiveness in 

 human life that also leaves individuals and 

 classes truly free, and an insistence on service to 

 fellow men as the great motive in life. 



We need not follow Dr. Butterfield in the 

 elaboration of his thesis ; he discusses the 

 various agencies in American country life in their 

 relationship to these four aspects- of the new age. 

 The position is similar to that dealt with by Sir 

 Horace Plunkett in Ireland, whose famous slogan, 

 "Better farming, better business, better living," 

 has made a vivid appeal in the States also. More 

 fortunate than Sir Horace, however. Dr. Butter- 

 field has no religious problem, and is able to 

 discuss the Churches as candidly as he does the 

 schools. The author makes certain criticisms of 

 the rural education system of the United States — 

 the most remarkable scheme of educational activi- 

 ties on behalf of the farmer to be found in the 

 world. Englishmen visiting the States have mar- 

 velled at its completeness; Dr. Butterfield's criti- 

 cisms, after all, show that it is human ; while 

 sound in essentials, it is apt to go wrong in 

 details. 



(3) The two other books on the list furnish good 

 examples of the educational work done by the 

 agricultural experts of the States. Prof. Harris, 

 the director of the Utah Experimental Station, 

 describes the growth of sugar-beet in the States, 

 and brings together a good deal of material pre- 

 viously scattered through many books, journals, 

 and bulletins. The industry has developed there 

 in a remarkable manner. In the 'sixties the pro- 

 duction of beet-sugar was less than 300 tons per 

 annum ; now it is 800,000 tons. This astonishing 

 development has not been at the expense of cane- 

 sugar, for during the same period raw cane-sugar 

 has risen from 200,000 tons per annum to 2^ 

 million tons. The story of the beet-sugar industry 

 in Europe is well known, and is one of the most 

 interesting cases on record of a fostered key 

 industry growing and flourishing. The history of 

 the crop in America is not so well known, and the 

 author devotes an interesting section to it, also 

 reproducing photographs of some of the early 

 pioneers. The first factory, established in Massa- 

 chusetts in 1838, failed after two years. The second 

 was established in Utah in 1842, and had the advan- 

 tage of a considerable natural protection, imported 

 sugar having to be hauled all the way from the 

 Missouri River, and, therefore, costing no less 

 than 40 cents to i dollar a pound in Salt Lake 



