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THE SACEIFICE OF AGRICULTURE 185 



world's markets, and notably so in our own country ; and that, 

 although we are likely to continue for an indefinite period 

 — which no living man may presume to predetermine — to be 

 a great factor in tlie world's trade, our sv,premacy as the 

 dictator of commerce and the supreme ruler of manufactures 

 is already a thing of tlie past. A brief half century of 

 industrial glory and then — the Dies irse and the Nunc d'uiiittis. 



Fundamental Simplicity of Agriculture 



There has, indeed, one way and another, been cast around 

 agriculture — which is, per se, fundamental in its simplicity — 

 such a net-work of professional platitudes, scientific quips, and 

 party polemics, that it is now enmeshed in an absolutely 

 unnatural environment. The resultant bewilderment and 

 general confusion is such that tliere is no wonder " the man in 

 the street " fails to understand the question. 



Instead of regarding agriculture as a rara avis requiring an 

 especial environment and exceptional treatment, it should be 

 regarded as a perfectly natural condition requiring but natural 

 manipulation. If we admit the errors of past treatment, give 

 agriculture natural scope for development, and help it onwards 

 with our sympathy and support, all difficulties will disappear, 

 the intricate knot will be unravelled, and matters will naturally 

 adjust themselves. To the people will come the time of the 

 Dies fesii, and the Nunc dimittis will give place to the 

 Magnificat. 



The point that here claims our earnest consideration is 

 this — have we a sufficiently broad and solid basis upon which 

 to build up our great national agricultural industry ? The 

 answer is unequivocally and unreservedly — Yes, In this 

 splendid inheritance of 48 million acres of the most productive 

 land in the world — to which 16 million acres more could easily 

 be added — together with several million acres which might be 

 gradually reclaimed from mountain slopes and remote wastes, 

 we have an unrivalled possession pregnant with tremendous 

 possibilities. Therefore, let us now have done with possibilities 

 and deal with everyday practicalities. 



Any country that s(|uanders its agricultural wealth by 

 allowing the greater part of its best soil to be converted into 

 sheep-runs, and " sporting " estates, cultivates the other part for 

 sheep-feed, and then allows all the rest of the land to run to 

 waste, fails to turn potential energy into an active living force. 



In other words, no country in the world can afford to allow 

 48 million acres of the finest land on earth to he used with so 

 complete a disregard of all the laws of domestic economy, and 



