THE OBJECTIVE IX PRODUCTION 171 



right direction — to the benefit of the nation and of the 

 industr}-. 



It can now spend far hirger sums of money upon 

 research, which is the first step in acquiring the requisite 

 knowledge for subsequent developments. And we have 

 seventy' highly trained experts at work at Rothamsted, 

 which is the oldest and greatest research station in the 

 world. It is now under the able chairmanship of Lord 

 Bledisloe, one of our hardest workers in the cause of 

 agriculture.^ 



The closest relationship should exist between the 

 Ministry- of Agriculture and the Agricultural Council ; 

 between them they should map out the routes of progress. 

 Each Agricultural Committee also must keep the Council 

 advised of its own local needs ; and when the main lines 

 are laid down it is through the Agricultural Committees 

 and their sub-committees that the changes should be 

 effected. Centralization would be disastrous ; we now 

 have the means at hand for decentralization, and the 

 Ministry must show itself willing to decentralize if 

 it wishes to attain to its fullest sphere of usefulness. 



If these committees are to be efltective, they must 

 have adequate powers to guide the changes in methods 

 of cultivation devised by the higher authorities. They 

 must have power to deal with the considerable areas of 

 grass land which, from the national point of view, should 

 be permanently under the plough ; again, there are large 

 areas of grass in such bad condition that the only effective 

 treatment is to plough them up, even if they are to be 

 re-laid to grass in a few years' time. 



Here we have the crux of the whole matter. The 

 provisions of the Agriculture Bill on this head were very 



» \ .iluablf n- 'Ml' li wji k i. Iji-ing done at Cambridge, Reading 

 Univereity and other places. 



