THE SACRIFICE OF AGRICULTURE 173 



primest of our arable land, would be relegated to their j^roper 

 demesnes — the low hill-sides and mountain slopes. 



In agriculture as in every other industry, there must be 

 experience, thrift and common-sense, and if we fail to apply 

 these essentials to success, what can we expect other than 

 failure ? A woollen manufacturer does not use his finest 

 angora fleeces in making coarse homespuns, nor does the cotton 

 weaver use his finest counts of yarn in the manufacture of 

 coarse calico ; but the suicidal system under which agriculture 

 is run in this country fo7xes the farmer to use up his finest land 

 in shecfi-fccch, and for this reason — among other things — the 

 agricultural industry fails, as it is bound to fail. 



Agricultuhe testp:d by its Capabilities 



Now let us test the capability of our land to produce all 

 our own food supplies. 



We will first take the most important item — wheat. 



It is computed that we require annually about 285,000,000 

 bushels of wheat for our own consumption. Can we produce 

 this quantity ? The Government returns * show that, on an 

 average, our wheat lands produce thirty-two bushels per acre. 

 We then require roughly 8,590,000 acres to produce the 

 285,000,000 bushels. 



We have over 64,000,000 acres of land in tlie United 

 Kingdom, most of which is capable of. tillage, 48,000,000 

 acres of this large area are already under " cultivation " 

 (chiefly grass and sheep-feed crops), but bring every acre of 

 this vast tract that is capable of being tilled under the plough ; 

 create millions of agricultural holdings where there are now 

 but thousands ; give the country a sensible, practical fiscal 

 system; a system that will lend itself to agricultural needs, 

 among other things : and wdio shall say that, apart from all 

 party bias and political bunkum, 8,500,000 acres cannot be 

 devoted each year to the growing of wheat ? 



Occupying Ownerships 



Many well-known authorities on matters agricultural con- 

 sider that nothing like this area would be required if the land 

 were properly tilled under a system of " Occupying Ownerships," 

 that is to say, under a system best calculated to produce the 

 maximum instead of the minimum results from the soil. Good 

 husbandry, such as would inevitably result if the man owned 

 the Ig-nd lie tilled, would produce a minimum yield of five 



* Cd. 4i45. Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 



