The Farmer 



which reduces Mr. Crawford's total by nearly 

 7,000,000 acres, leaving some 16,000,000 acres as 

 the amount required. I further suggest that we 

 should continue to buy foodstuffs from our own 

 possessions to the extent of some ^70,000,000 

 annually. This will still further reduce Mr. 

 Crawford's 16,000,000 acres. 



Finally, we have the 12,000,000 acres of poor 

 grass land to which I have already referred, 

 and this area would go far towards producing 

 the extra foodstuff which I maintain that we 

 could provide. 



At present this area is giving a first-class 

 example of the law of diminishing returns ! I 

 do not advocate universal " spade cultivation " 

 but I deprecate the widespread waste of land. 



It is said that " Every bushel yielded be- 

 yond a certain limit is unprofitable." This is 

 quite true, but uncertainty reigns supreme 

 amongst average farmers as to where that 

 limit is, and if the margin cannot be profitably 

 extended in one way, this might quite possibly 

 be done in another. In Denmark the yield 

 of wheat has been raised some 25% during the 

 past few years ! I rather believe in the law of 

 "increasing returns:" it is at any rate a healthy 

 dogma to embrace. Take, for instance, the 

 development of our milk supply : if this were 

 organised as it is in Denmark, our farmers would 

 not be forced to endure the fear of having milk 



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