66 THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



ready. And Mr. A. D. Hall has shown in his book, " British 

 Agriculture after the War," that, if we only have warning 

 given us by a declaration of war in August — which is late 

 in the year ; the earlier European wars, of 1864, 1866, 

 and 1870, were declared in June, allowing more time — we 

 can get ready " seven million acres " in all. That in all 

 conscience ought to be enough for an emergency. And 

 that calculation takes no account of waste lands which may 

 meanwhile be reclaimed. Having such area to depend 

 upon, our care evidently must be, to get it into fit condition 

 for producing a maximum yield of wheat when the time 

 comes. For it is not merely acreage that produces wheat. 

 The Romans had a proverb : annus producit, non ager. 

 Under our present aspect we might put it : stercus et 

 labor producunt, non ager. It is the fertilising matter, the 

 labour and care, the cleaning, digging and ploughing, 

 harrowing and hoeing, which make the good crop. Now 

 for such fertilising and cleaning and preparing for a coming 

 wheat crop the cultivation of other crops — overshadowing 

 leguminous plants, which by their roots put the soil into 

 good condition, and kill weeds ; roots, which stand a great 

 deal of manuring and require careful working of the soil, 

 which means cleaning ; and clover, which gets the soil 

 into good heart and good condition — in fact every crop 

 other than cereal — provide the best means. Cultivating 

 them you must cultivate carefully. And, if properly looked 

 after, they leave the land in good condition and clean. 

 And, as it happens, there is not one such crop — with the 

 exception of fruit trees, shrubs and hops — the land under 

 which may not on the occasion arising be at once employed 

 for sowing wheat that same autumn. 



Wheat, moreover, is, as observed, not the most paying 

 crop at our disposal. Under normal conditions we have 

 heard it called " ruinously cheap," which, of course, cannot 

 mean that it is highly profitable to grow. And is it not to 

 the interest of the Nation that we should turn the little 

 land that Providence has given us to the best money 

 account, when there is no force majeure to compel us to 

 concentrate our efforts on one particular point ? In his 



