146 A REVIVAL OF AGRICULTURE 



It may be said incidentally that this lecturer 

 was not dealing with his subject solely as a 

 means of creating wealth ; he dwelt much on its 

 importance in its effect on man's physical, social, 

 and moral improvement, thus taking to some 

 extent the view adopted in this book. 



It seems rather strange then that in Great 

 Britain agriculture should have been suffered to 

 decay. A certain statesman used to say that 

 what prevents the success of British agriculture 

 is the British climate. This is a very doubtful 

 proposition. Each country has climatic ills of its 

 own, as every one knows who has seen the 

 oft-recurring famines and floods of the tropics, 

 and has witnessed the loss of crops in Canada, 

 due to hailstorms, drought, and frost. Great 

 Britain was formerly in no unsound situation 

 agriculturally : her climate was just the same 

 then as now. He who doubts this might read 

 Evelyn's diary : it can be bought for two shillings. 



The decay of British agriculture appears to 

 be due to two causes — the inpouring of cheap 

 food, and the desertion of the land by able- 

 bodied labour. 



When cheap food is poured into a country 

 the least fertile land in that country is no longer 

 cultivated, as it does not pay a full profit. Then, 

 almost at once, according to the doctrine of 

 Ricardo, the rent of all land falls, and there is 

 less employment available. 



The flight from the land may have been partly 

 due to this cause, but there can be little doubt 

 it was also partly due to the conditions as to 



