CHAPTER VI. 



CHEAP AGRICULTURAL CREDIT. 



Cheap credit would be very potent to help the 

 British agricultural industry on to its feet again. 

 Experience in almost every land under the sun 

 shows that, given the possibility of profitable 

 agriculture, no single factor is more helpful to 

 the establishment of a contented rural popula- 

 tion than cheap credit. The nature of all agri- 

 cultural industries makes it necessary that a 

 great deal of value should be put into the land 

 before anything can be got out of it ; and as the 

 soil's yields, being subject to the caprice of the 

 weather, can never be calculated with certainty 

 on the basis of one year's returns, a capital 

 fund to allow the farmer to "await the average" 

 is necessary. Whether in pioneer countries, 

 where there are great expenses of clearing and 

 preparing the soil, or in long-settled countries 



