The Farmer 



and-So has reached an entirely different plane 

 of farming, and that it is useless to compete 

 with him or to emulate him ; his beasts 

 always take the prizes at the local shows, and 

 this does not encourage the average man to 

 exhibit his animals. We have what really 

 amounts to a class of professional breeders of 

 professional prize-winning stock. 



And it is this handful of men, in each county, 

 exporting first-class stock to all parts of the 

 world, who have earned the reputation for the 

 English stockbreeder. 



English stock has improved much during the 

 past hundred years ; but, although the average 

 run of beasts throughout our land is probably 

 superior to that in any continental country 

 there is still great room for improvement. The 

 system of shows and the original efforts of Coke 

 of Norfolk and the like, which had so great an 

 effect in the first half of the igth century, seem 

 now to have lost nearly all power to reach the 

 ordinary farmer and to improve the ordinary 

 stock on the ordinary mixed farm. 



It is to my mind regrettable that farm statistics 

 are not given in terms of so much per acre, as 

 this method affords the best and clearest basis 

 for comparison. 



The total amount of foodstuff produced 

 annually in Great Britain is in value about 

 ;f 200,000,000 ; this, divided by the total area 



57 



