20 THE ERRORS OF THE PAST 



so far its actual position has proved rather elusive, 

 seeing that scientific husbandry is for ever extending 

 the limits in food production per acre. And in any 

 case in English agriculture we are as yet so far 

 removed from that point that for many years to 

 come it should be our sole concern to deal with the 

 urgent Necessity for Increasing our Returns. 



Our economists have concerned themselves so 

 little with the land that they have no practical 

 knowledge of its potential productivity ; indeed, 

 to a certain extent this is true of the very food 

 producers themselves when compared with the food 

 producers of some other countries. The discoveries 

 of Liebig and Lawes, for instance, placed at the dis- 

 posal of agriculture means for largely, economically, 

 and profitably increasing the yield of the land, 

 but our farmers have not availed themselves of 

 these means to anything like the extent of the 

 farmers in Belgium, Denmark, Holland and other 

 countries. 



It is plain that every discovery in the science of 

 plant and animal industry, every mechanical 

 improvement, and every advance even towards a 

 more rational distribution of the output strikes 

 a blow at the doctrine of Malthus and renders 

 ever more remote the point at which the " Law 

 of Diminishing Returns " would become operative. 

 These constant checks upon the operation of this 

 law our economists have entirely failed to see, or 

 certainly failed to take into consideration. It is 

 true that to anyone not well acquainted with agri- 

 cultural history the effects of the agricultural 

 depression in the " Eighties " might seem to supply 

 a proof for the Malthusian doctrine, but the proof is 

 superficial, and without relation to the actual facts. 



