HOW TO CONQUER THE CLIMATE 59 



the farmers of to-day. Anyone whose association 

 has been of a rural character is familiar with the 

 stories which the old type of farmer tells regarding 

 the number of hours of work, and the amount of 

 work, that the agricultural labourer of forty or even 

 twenty years ago could accomplish. 



One listens frequently to such stories, and if, like 

 the writer, they are familiar with the day when, in 

 certain districts at least, a scythe was considered far 

 superior to mowing machine, the old swing plough 

 superior to the modern chill-digging plough, and a 

 wooden mattock and spade superior to the disc 

 harrow; when hay elevators were unknown and the 

 corn binders were only in their infancy, — one 

 fervently thanks heaven that they were born so late. 



It is a digression, but it is well to bear in mind 

 that much of the slavery on the land, even of the 

 past generation, has, apart from low wages, had 

 the effect of driving not only the labourer and the 

 labourer's family, but also the farmers' sons, from 

 the country into the towns. In the writer's own 

 case, he can say with conviction, that whilst his own 

 present-day agricultural connection is a perpetual 

 and profitable holiday, he can admit that, had he 

 been compelled to continue working, or slaving, as 

 was customary in his boyhood, he would have long 

 ago abandoned anything in the nature of rural 

 occupation. It is only a mule that can continue 

 doing the work of a mule. 



RAINFALL AND TILLAGE 



Apart from the altered labour conditions, it is 

 necessary to bear in mind that the Norfolk system 

 and its modifications were started in the Eastern 



