STORE CATTLE n 



country is so crumpled and diverse, that more often than not 

 it is found wise not to have too many eggs in one basket; and 

 so it will nearly always be found that a good homeland husbandry 

 will justify a moderate proportion of permanent grass on the 

 farms in districts where the soil favours an arable holding 

 even at times when cereals are selling at moderately high prices. 

 This is probably the explanation of such a large proportion of 

 grass being found in England in the days before corn-growing 

 became a ruinous undertaking on most of our farms. 



Without wearying ourselves with the innumerable dates and 

 figures, it may be said that the store-stock trade became para- 

 mount in our agricultural economy for four reasons : 



(1) The continuous fall in the prices of cereals which led 

 to the "stop the plough" policy 1 . 



(2) The continuous downhill grade of values for mutton and 

 wool in the last quarter of the last century which led to a great 

 reduction in our flocks of sheep. The number of sheep in the 

 United Kingdom was 32,246,000 in 1872 but had fallen to 

 27,629,000 by 1913. 



(3) The recurrence of outbreaks of contagious disease among 

 cattle, caused, as it was held, by imported store and other cattle. 

 These animals of store-stock grade came to us from the vast 

 wild plains of the Xew Worlds overseas; their bodies were, 

 frankly, the produce of simple robbery of the herbage on virgin 

 soil. Whether these cattle did, or did not, import disease is a 

 matter of controversy, but the point need not be argued; for, 

 as long as they were freely imported, it was found impossible 

 to control disease, and so, after many temporary periods of 

 exclusion, they were finally excluded for good and all by the 

 Diseases of Animals Act of 1896. 



(4) This exclusion led to the fourth and final reason for the 

 great development of the store-stock industry, though it is realry 

 involved in the other three. 



We have seen that the area under the plough had greatly 



1 The arable area in England fefl from 13.800,000 acres in 18731 to 

 10,800,000 in 1913. But this does not exhaust the loss of bread-growing 



wheat in 1913 than was the case in 1872. 



