88 POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE 



farming. As to those who may be forced to turn to the robbery 

 of the land as a means of getting a living, experience of the 

 25 years preceding the war tells us that they know how to 

 steal as well as may be. 



One would like, however, to assume that the British public 

 has learnt the folly of relying on the produce of foreign soil 

 for its sustenance while the larger part of its own land is un- 

 cultivated or even derelict. I will suppose that my country- 

 men demand that every acre of these islands shall produce the 

 greatest amount of human food consistent with reasonable 

 economy and that the populace engaged in agriculture shall be 

 enabled to earn sufficient reward for its labour and enterprise 

 to ensure a reasonable number of the best citizens devoting their 

 lives to the industry. Assuming that this happy state of affairs 

 is in prospect, we may consider how cattle breeding (and beef- 

 production) may best be used for the advancement of really 

 productive husbandry in Great Britain. 



The first problem to be taken in hand is the systematic 

 sifting-out of all unprofitable stock, so as to secure for the British 

 farmer's service those animals which are most useful in the 

 successful working of his holding. The cattle wanted for export 

 are already well catered for, and the overseas market is a re- 

 munerative one; the prices obtained in the past show that the 

 breeders of this class of stock have been eminently successful, 

 and their work is quite likely to go on concurrently with a 

 grading-up of all the commercial herds wanted for home pro- 

 duction. To make a proper division between the useful and 

 the useless, we must have a clear idea of what is actually de- 

 manded. The almighty dollar has fixed this point for the export 

 trade. The buyer on this market is very emphatic as to his 

 requirements; if the pedigree, the shape, the colour, the hair 

 and the flesh he demands are not forthcoming, he refuses to 

 buy. In this country we have no such guidance from the English 

 buyer. In previous chapters an attempt has been made to show 

 how this state of affairs has come about, so we may here proceed 

 at once to show how a standard suitable for the home demand 

 could be set up. 



The general husbandry of an intensively cultivated country 



