50 FARMING ON FACTORY LINES 



and on days when it is too wet for fencing, ditching, 

 etc., the percentage of ineffective days is very low, 

 and under such conditions small also is the amount 

 of labour employed. The practical farmer long ago 

 recognised the truth of the foregoing, and he solved 

 the problem by turning his land into a prairie, 

 depending upon the importation of foreign feeding 

 stuffs for the supplementary feeding of his flocks and 

 herds, and, to a large extent, even of himself and 

 his family. 



CHEAP POLITICAL NOSTRUMS 



Talk to a farmer of these matters, and invariably 

 the only solution he can offer is Tariff Reform, or 

 something to check the importation of foreign goods. 

 Considering that the farmer himself uses such a large 

 amount of foreign food in the manner referred to 

 above, the solution he suggests seems very contra- 

 dictory. Whatever policy the political gods may 

 have in store for us in the future we may rest 

 assured that there can be no Tariff Reform, no 

 guarantee of prices for home-grown products without 

 a concomitant guaranteed minimum farm wage for 

 the farm labourer, so that eventually the margin of 

 difference between the cost of production and the 

 sale price of farm products may be no greater than 

 it has been in the past.* 



The writer owes no allegiance to any political 

 party, and, it must be added, has little faith in any 

 brand of political nostrums, so far as land is con- 

 cerned, unless it provides for a far greater output per 



♦Since this book was written the " Corn Production Bill," which 

 provides a minimum wage for farm workers, has been passed by 

 Parliament and received the King's assent. 



