ARABLE OR GRASS? 



side of the farmer's life in which that much-abused 

 word " capital " is mixed up. Does history relate 

 — if it does I have never been able to find even 

 a trace of it — in any period since records have 

 been handed down, when the cry has not gone 

 up that So-and-so has been brought down by lack 

 of capital ? Of course it is only human for the 

 mind to prompt one to find a way out of a dilemma 

 which has overtaken the " misfit." No doubt he 

 finds it a balm to his soul. Who is prepared to 

 rob him of it ? 



Have we not seen too the man who has had too 

 much capital ? Is it not very probably that he 

 too may be numbered amongst the " Misfits " 

 unless he be warned in time ? Of the two cases 

 I rather think there is more hope for the former, 

 i.e. the one who has too little capital. That self- 

 made capital which one has been able to get 

 together by one's own effort is worth double any 

 other. 



During the propaganda period through which 

 we have just passed for a plough-out programme, 

 voices have been raised here and there on the 

 question of capital. " Where was the farmer to 

 find the cash to pay his way until harvest ? " was 

 a common question to put up to the authorities. 

 Whilst one is conscious that here and there it was 

 a vital query, I am satisfied that the authorities 

 were right to resist up to a point any suggestion 

 that the State should find credit beyond the -£2 

 per acre. I believe that this rattle round for a 

 better response from the land during wartime will 



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