ii6 THE FUTURE 



It is only in recent years that our Board of Agri- 

 culture has been voted an income of even ;^5oo,ooo 

 a year, and on the whole it is astonishing how much 

 they succeed in doing with this sum — which, by the 

 way, is less than half of what the French Board of 

 Agriculture receives. 



A really efficient Board of Agriculture is the first 

 essential, but no matter how excellent the Central 

 Department may be it must not remain a Central 

 Department only. It must be in close touch with 

 agriculturalists throughout the country and have 

 their complete confidence, and this would be secured 

 by the official and unofficial organisations working 

 harmoniously together. 



Once the Board of Agriculture is reorganised and 

 a perfect system of administration for agriculture 

 devised, the Government should turn its attention 

 to the creation of conditions favourable to agri- 

 culture as a whole, weaving into a comprehensive 

 whole the following measures essential to secure 

 agricultural conditions : — 



(1) The organisation of markets. The dissemina- 

 tion of reliable and up-to-date price lists and informa- 

 tion in regard to the supply and demand in the 

 different markets. 



_ In all this range of work the Agricultural Organisa- 

 tion Society has the requisite knowledge and is 

 admirably fitted to play the leading role, but 

 it would have to be very much enlarged and 

 strengthened and receive a great deal more Govern- 

 ment support than it does at present. 



(2) The development of co-operation. For this 

 purpose the Agricultural Organisation Society 



