160 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



Our pig policy during the war was perhaps the worst 

 feature in our production. 



(2) Pig-keeping. Another very interesting develop- 

 ment is that of keeping pigs out of doors — no styes at all, 

 just small and cheap wooden shelters in each wired-in 

 run. These runs can be on quite poor land, woodland 

 or poor grass land. Mr, Edge, on his Sussex farms, has 

 proved what can be done in this direction. Not only do 

 the pigs so kept thrive better and require 25 per cent 

 less concentrated food (meal), but they are more immune 

 from disease than pigs kept indoors ; further, they greatly 

 improve the poor grass upon which they run. It is of 

 very great importance to increase our " pig population," 

 We have only about two million pigs in the United 

 Kingdom, whereas we should have about sixteen miUion ; 

 there were twenty-nine million four-footed pigs in 

 Germany before the war. The pig should be regarded 

 in a new light as the utilizer of waste spaces. 



(3) Milk production. The supply of milk is altogether 

 inadequate to meet the hygienic needs of the population. 

 Were the supply doubled, the milk ration would still 

 be a low one per head of the population. And a good 

 milk supply is perhaps the most important single factor 

 in producing a healthy and robust people. As already 

 stated, the difficulty in regard to labour (milkers) may 

 make the further development of the large dairy farm 

 difficult, or even impossible ; attention, therefore, 

 should be turned to the small intensive arable dairy farm 

 of the Harper Adams type, the object being so to crop 

 the land that only two acres are needed to maintain a 

 cow instead of four as at present. 



(4) Sugar beet. A good deal of attention has been 

 paid to this crop of late years, and the shortage of sugar 

 during the war has been of great assistance to those who 



