34 ARABLE LAND VERSUS GRASS 



How large the profits may be upon grass land, with 

 its low rate of employment, may be judged from the 

 following abstract from the accounts of a large dairy 

 farm : 



Area — about 700 acres, 60 acres arable. 



Men employed — five. 



Capital per acre — £$. 



Return on capital without charging for manage- 

 ment — 27.5 per cent. 

 There is still a very substantial profit on arable land 

 with wheat and barley at the prices assumed above ; but 

 the trend of the agricultural returns for the last few years 

 prove the majority of farmers do not consider that this 

 profit makes up for the greater capital required and 

 the constant labour, anxiety and risk attending arable 

 farming. In fact, as long as considerable areas of grazing 

 land are to be hired cheaply the farmer considers that 

 he obtains an easier and safer return on his available 

 capital by grazing than by putting the land under the 

 plough. His personal profit does not coincide with the 

 national interest, either in the direction of the produc- 

 tion of food or in the maintenance of men upon the land. 

 The real limitation, however, lies in the lack of skill and 

 enterprise among the farmers of the country taken 

 collectively ; in order to obtain a given income a higher 

 measure of these qualities is required by the arable 

 farmer than by the grazier possessed of an equal amount 

 of capital. To the really enterprising arable farmer 

 are open many opportunities for profit that are not 

 available to the grazier ; with due skill his farming can 

 be intensified, whereas little speeding up is possible 

 in the output from grass. For example, in many 

 districts we find the arable farmer growing special 



