GAIN OF CATTLE FOOD WITH ARABLE 95 



process it is probable that better use can be made of 

 straw in feeding by chaffing it, mixing it with some 

 succulent green crop and converting the mixture into 

 silage. 



The barley imports would not be affected, and though 

 the additional oats grown very nearly equal the amount 

 imported from foreign sources, we are assuming that 

 they are not to be regarded as replacing these imports, 

 but as part of the cattle food required to make up for 

 the grazing and hay that has been lost by the extension 

 of the arable land. 



It may be argued that the redistribution suggested 

 would upset the proper rotation of crops and therefore 

 could not be realized in practice ; but taking round 

 numbers it only represents 10 acres of corn crops to 1 

 of beans or peas, 3 of roots and potatoes, and 3 of clover 

 and rotation grasses. There is plenty of experience to 

 show that under modern conditions as to the supply of 

 fertilizers and machinery for cultivation, corn cro^s 

 can be grown continuously on land of average quali y 

 with perhaps a break of one year in six for some clean- 

 ing crop. The proportion of corn actually suggested, 

 ten years out of seventeen, is exceeded in many existing 

 rotations ; in Norfolk, for example, it is customary to 

 grow three corn crops in a five-year rotation, and four 

 in a six years' shift is not uncommon in some districts. 

 The programme suggested involves the breaking up of 

 about 4 million acres of grass land ; assuming that 

 every advantage was taken of labour-saving machinery, 

 we can expect that at least two additional labourers 

 will be required per 100 acres of new arable land. There 

 would thus be an addition to the population now sup- 

 ported upon the land of from 80 to 100 thousand men, 



