v] RAISING OF THE FERTILITY LIMIT 85 



considerable tract of land is being treated with city 

 refuse at Murieston, Midcalder, by the Edinburgh 

 Distress Committee and a marked improvement in 

 productiveness has resulted. 



Thus the land that we cultivate to-day is far 

 removed from virgin land; it has been cleared, en- 

 closed, levelled, often embanked, drained, chalked 

 and marled by successive generations of cultivators. 

 Xo small part of the difficulty of dealing with eco- 

 nomic land problems arises from the great amount of 

 capital that has been expended in the past in effecting 

 the necessary improvements. In many cases the rent 

 now received for agricultural land affords no adequate 

 return for the outlay incurred even during the past 

 sixty years. On the other hand it is arguable that 

 improvements in land are a condition of national 

 existence and therefore lie outside the scope of 

 investments made for profit. We cannot now go 

 into a discussion of these social and economic prob- 

 lems. The important conclusion is that our land 

 owes much of its fertility to the labours of those who 

 have gone before us. The improvements they effected 

 are not wholly permanent but have to be maintained 

 and renewed by each generation ; any neglect of this 

 duty may result in marked deterioration of the land 

 and may necessitate considerable expenditure of time 

 and money to bring back the fertility to the level at 

 which it had formerly stood. 



