TOWN AND COUNTRY 311 



for generations, they would have none of the prejudices 

 that still hamper the old-fashioned farmer, and, though 

 the latter's acquaintance with agriculture would at 

 first surpass their own, they might hope to produce 

 eventually as well as he ; while in most cases they 

 would probably resort to a better system of marketing. 

 There would, again, be less risk of their becoming 

 victims of the middleman or of the money-lender ; 

 they would respond more readily to the principle of 

 combination, and they might, altogether, well succeed 

 where others would fail. 



The increased flow of such a leaven as this into the 

 rural districts (to supplement the retention there of the 

 younger generation of agriculturists, thanks to the 

 increased facilities for land occupation) would be of the 

 greatest value alike to the people and to the land. In 

 this view I am confirmed by an authority well qualified 

 to speak on this particular subject, who said to me : 



It is difficult to deal with the men who are now on the land 

 that is to say, those who have spent on it the whole of their work- 

 ing days. Living in an isolated position, and clinging tenaciously 

 to out-of-date ways and ideas, they are full of prejudices and 

 suspicious of innovations. It is scarcely possible to bring home 

 to their minds a complete consciousness of the economic changes 

 that are proceeding in our own country, and of all that is being 

 done in those other countries which aim at supplying our markets, 

 and have already become such formidable competitors of the 

 British producer. There is not much to hope for, I fear, from the 

 present generation of agriculturists ; but there should be a better 

 chance with the rising generation, especially if we do not expect 

 them to advance at too great a speed. It is the second generation 

 that will respond more readily to new and organized methods, and, 

 again, especially if we can introduce more and more into the country 

 the intelligence of the towns. It is not the Tired Tims and Weary 

 Willies who are wanted, but men whose advent would be a real 

 acquisition. Intelligence from the towns, joining with the virile 

 strength we look to from the land, should produce a transformation 

 in men fully equivalent to, and able to cope with, the transformation 

 already effected in economic conditions. If with this new factor 

 there were combined an adequate supply of opportunities for its 

 development, I should look forward to the future of British agri- 



