The Farmer 



oats in England and in other countries, and 

 the results are all in favour of our own. This 

 is misleading, and causes superficial observers 

 to assume that we are producing more than any 

 other country — that there is no farming like 

 ours, and that all is well with us; whereas careful 

 study of the conditions under which cereals are 

 grown in England and on the continent makes 

 it clear that the main reason why continental 

 yields do not show a higher average is because 

 the thrifty foreign peasant farmers grow oats and 

 barley, and especially wheat, on land that we 

 should scarcely cultivate at all. And if the 

 yields of our average wheat land were com- 

 pared with that of similar land in France or 

 Germany the result would not be in our favour. 

 I have one more grievance against the " star" 

 farmer : not only does he tend to discourage 

 other and less advanced farmers, but he blinds 

 the eyes of the public and even of agriculturists 

 themselves to the true standard of average 

 farming in England. And I fear that he is not 

 infrequently guilty of to some extent blocking 

 general progress for fear of its causing a diminu- 

 tion in his own personal profit. I do not for 

 one moment suggest that our splendid farmers, 

 the cynosure of all the world, should be abol- 

 ished or reduced in number : a levelling up 

 is what is required and not a levelling down. 

 But it is necessary that the present state of 



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