CHAPTER III 



ARABLE LAND VERSUS GRASS 



Explain it or excuse it as we will, the fact remains that 

 for the last generation the cultivation of the land in 

 England has been declining : crops have been giving 

 place to grass, and the gross output in quantity, even 

 more than in value, has been diminishing. It is per- 

 haps necessary to elaborate the point that grass land is 

 less productive than arable. Many people have argued 

 that live stock form the mainstay of British agriculture, 

 which remains without rival in the way it has made 

 itself the source and origin of the high-class sires that 

 are needed to improve the ordinary country stock of 

 the whole world. Whether he breeds horses, cattle, sheep 

 or pigs, the progressive farmer in our own Dominions or 

 in foreign countries must come to England for the 

 foundations of his business, and must replenish his 

 herds and flocks from time to time from our pure stocks. 

 Apart from pedigree breeding, it is also argued that the 

 production of milk and meat is both more profitable 

 to the English farmer and more valuable to the nation 

 than the growth of corn. All this may be admitted, and 

 yet the implied corollary is not true — that live stock 

 can only be maintained upon grass land, or that an 

 equal head of stock can be kept upon grass as upon the 



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