FOREWORD 



ONCE again British agriculture comes into its 

 own. After the last war farmers were left to 

 their own devices, but to-day the nation realizes 

 that everything that can be grown at home is really 

 needed. Farmers are being cajoled and ordered 

 to produce more food from the land. They are 

 responding as they did in 191 7 and 191 8. So we 

 see the face of the country changing. Thousands 

 of fields, which a year ago were no better than an 

 exercise ground for cows living on imported feeding 

 stuffs, are now ploughed and cropped as they were 

 in our fathers' time. 



Through the lean years, when opportunism and 

 ranching seemed to pay, some farmers managed 

 to keep the plough going, maintain a high standard 

 of farming and make a good living. All credit to 

 them. They tempered the traditions of good 

 husbandry with business acumen, recognizing that 

 whatever happens this country provides " The 

 finest market filled with consumers possessing a 

 taste for the best that money can buy." 



Charles Whatley is one who has never been 

 afraid to take his own line. In this book he tells 

 how he has made his way. All is grist that comes 

 to his mill. Yet, wise in the art of living, he has 



vii 



