Weeds 



graver need of foresight amongst those who till 

 the soil. If we look abroad we find our competitors 

 active, and their Governments assiduous in help- 

 ing them, so that they flourish faster than we, 

 getting in some cases an average yield two or three 

 times greater per acre than is obtained in England. 

 But here the State is slow to act, and when it 

 moves (tardily enough) is met by such obtuseness 

 as the sample given. 



The State should do for agriculture what it 

 cannot do for itself. The great aid is Protection, 

 denied our farmers. Next ranks the nationalization 

 of railways, for they press more heavily upon him 

 than the manufacturer, his goods being so cheap 

 and heavy that freight bears a large share of the 

 final cost. What is already accomplished, as the 

 various Cake and Fertilizers Adulteration, and 

 the Diseases of Animals, Acts, is excellent, and it is 

 on these lines that we must look for an advance. 

 There must be a general attack on insect pests 

 and crop diseases, especially potato blight, which 

 should come at once under the Infectious Diseases 

 Act, instead of being left to farmers to either 

 spray or let spread as they will. 



But of all troubles — low prices, bad weather, 

 poor yields — weeds are the most irritating and 

 alarming. Others vary, but these are always with 

 us, so that we consider them a natural and neces- 



75 



