CHAPTER IV 

 PRODUCTION 



IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND CERTAIN FOREIGN 



COUNTRIES 



THE two great functions of the land in the 

 civilized state are to produce the economic 

 maximuiTi of food for the nation, and to give 

 employment to the largest number of cultivators. 



This statement may be regarded as an axiom, and as 

 the measure with which to gauge the development 

 and degree of prosperity of the agricukural industry 

 in any country. Unless the land is producing its 

 utmost, it will not be giving employment to the 

 maximum number of cultivators ; and conversely, 

 unless there are a sufficient number of trained 

 cultivators of the soil, the land cannot be put to 

 its fullest use. And where this is the case it means 

 that the land, the great source of new or primary 

 wealth, is not making its proper contribution to the 

 wealth of the nation. Or to put it in another way, the 

 nation's greatest asset — which is land — is not being 

 made the most of. 



The economic importance of primary wealth is not as 

 fully realized as it should be in this country ; brought 

 down to its final issue, production from the land is paid 



70 



