FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS 209 



to-day are totally dissimilar to those prevailing when any 

 agricultural experiment was instituted. In Great Britain 

 the land has been limited in amount, and there have been 

 very good markets, but for many years past agriculture has 

 been severely handicapped by lack of capital and lack 

 of labour (see p. 215) . 



The industrial farm is a subject of much discussion to-day. 

 By having very large farms on the industrialized scheme 

 the number of skilled managers would be reduced, and since 

 highly skilled men are scarce, there would be more avail- 

 able. In addition, such farms would be able to attract 

 capital and labour better than a small farm. labour of 

 all kinds, whether of the highest or the lowest, is always 

 attracted to a big concern. There is a better security, 

 and there is less interference with liberty. Abroad, this work 

 has been carried out for a long time on quite a large scale. 

 There are many very large estates in India and the Colonies 

 which have been managed as industrial concerns, and of 

 recent years special industries, like rubber, etc., have been 

 added to the list. Many of these concerns are so highly 

 industrialized that a portion of their capital is dealt in on 

 the stock exchanges, but for the most part such concerns 

 have been in situations where labour was plentiful, a state 

 of affairs entirely distinct from that prevailing in the British 

 Isles. Nevertheless, even in Great Britain, one may find 

 many instances of highly industrialized farms. For example, 

 some colliery companies in the northern counties manage 

 their agricultural affairs like the rest of their business. 

 Managers, with a scientific training, are appointed, with 

 several assistant managers placed under them, and the men 

 selected have, in most cases, been given an agricultural 

 education. Unfortunately, as is inevitable, the industrialized 

 farm does not advertise itself, and does not tell the public 

 all about how it manages its own affairs, and it would be 

 necessary to obtain information from the companies before 

 any other industrialized farm could copy the methods of 

 those farms which have been working on this scale for 

 many years past. In a few cases, the managers of these 



D. 14 



