METHODS OF PRODUCTION 97 



home. Very often the farmer has little idea what he is 

 applying ; the mixed manure may be good or it may be 

 bad : in any case it is generally far more expensive, at all 

 events per unit value. I have also pointed out that a 

 less amount of farm-vard manure is used ; the net result 

 being that our farmers do not put into the land any- 

 thing like the amount of nourishment for the crops 

 that is given in countries with a highly developed 

 agriculture. 



WHEAT 



Now, in regard to the position of wheat in the four- 

 year rotation, one-half of the arable land is under corn, 

 and one-half of this again should be wheat. But for 

 some decades past the area under wheat has been 

 gradually lessened, oats and barley taking its place, 

 until in the years before the war we find much less than 

 25 per cent of the ploughed land under wheat. Yet 

 wheat is a basic crop ; I shall presently give the financial 

 results when good wheat crops have been grown. It 

 cannot and should not pay to grow crops which come 

 out at 3 quarters to the acre. The average for the 

 country should be 5 quarters. This average would 

 bring us up to the Danish pre-war yield, and it is not 

 advocating the impossible. In many districts where 

 3 quarters to the acre is the rule, the really good farmer 

 will be found producing 5 quarters. And this yield 

 should become easier to obtain, with the new and heavy 

 yielding varieties of wheat which are now being produced. 



Even at its best, under the four-year rotation, only 

 one-half of the land was under cereals ; whereas under a 

 three-year rotation, in which several successive crops 

 of corn are grown, it is possible to have two-thirds of 

 the land under corn. However, when more than one crop 

 7 



