RURAL PSYCHOLOGY. 175 



the productivity of the land itself. I venture to recall some 

 words which I wrote nearly a decade ago, which are, I think, 

 still pertinent : 



" Whether its ownership remains in private lands, is 

 vested in the State or in local authorities, or is transferred 

 to the occupiers, the land must be fairly dealt by, and the 

 maintenance of its fertility should, in the national interest, 

 be the paramount consideration. Warnings are not lacking 

 from new countries that the self-interest of the occupier is 

 not always a sufficient protection for the land. Under 

 whatever conditions the land may be farmed, no system can, 

 from the national point of view, be satisfactory which allows 

 the economic exigencies of the present generation to endanger 

 the nation's wealth." * 



1 An Agricultural Faggot (P. S. King & Son). 



