FARM v. FACTORY: THE RURAL EXODUS 51 



acre of land and more economical production. It is 

 well, also, for farmers to keep in mind the simple 

 truth that the man in the street will rule the man on 

 the land, and in the absence of a crisis, as in the 

 past, will demand cheap food. 



NO WEATHER GUARANTEE 



There is just one point, however, that ought to be 

 mentioned in connection with guaranteed prices, 

 and that is, that such prices are concerned with crops 

 only when they are safely garnered. There is no 

 guarantee for suitable weather for the cultivation of 

 the land and the sowing and harvesting of the crops. 

 A guaranteed price of 60/- per quarter for wheat is 

 not of much use to a farmer when his crops are 

 rotten on the ground ! 



Guaranteed prices, or no guaranteed prices, whether 

 in future a policy of Free Trade, Tariff Reform, or 

 a Bounty System of Agriculture is adopted, there is 

 no doubt that we must adopt a far more intensive 

 system and a less risky one, — a system aiming at a 

 lower cost of production, — in short, a Continuous 

 Cropping system, when- once the value of the features 

 of the system have been grasped. 



TILLAGE V. GRAZING 



Just as we, as a nation, have, in many respects, 

 copied the German system in the art of war, it is to 

 be hoped we shall also copy some of the German 

 methods in the greater arts of peace, especially so as 

 regards agriculture. That there is need for such may 

 be gleaned from Mr. Middleton's book on " Recent 

 Development of German Agriculture."* 



*Price 4d. Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 3 St. James Sq., 

 Westminster. 



