mSCOURAGERR AND PRSSIMISTS 225 



and ever-increasiug vigour, can it be wondered at il' tiiey lull 

 behind in the race ? 



Is it reasonable, then, to expect other results from agricul- 

 ture than those wliich the country is familiar with ? If the 

 industry is starved for want of capital, and the soil remains 

 poor and tliin, what right has the farmer to expect good proiits 

 and rich abundant crops ? If he fails to put money into the 

 land, what hope has he of getting money out of it ? As he 

 sows, so must lie reap ! 



On the other hand, the farmer has a deep-rooted grievance 

 against past and present Governments for that sore neglect of 

 his industry which has been so often referred to in these 

 pages ; a state of affairs which, while being prejudicial to 

 complete success, does not necessarily render partial success 

 impossible. 



Moke Grotesque Beliefs 



There are, indeed, all sorts of strange misconceptions 

 abroad in regard to the land, and not one of the least of them 

 is that almost anybody is good enough for an agriculturist. 

 This idea is so prevalent that it extends probably to four-tifths 

 of the people, but there is no more justilication for such a 

 belief than there would be if it were applied to any other 

 industry. 



Every occupier of a suburban villa with his narrow strip of 

 back garden, and every labouring man with his eighth of an 

 acre in "The Workman's Plots," fancies himself an agricul- 

 turist, but neither of them has more right to the title than has 

 the man, who occasionally scans the midnight heavens with a 

 pair of binoculars, to call himself an astronomer. 



Dabbling in a back garden with spade or pruning-knife, or 

 growing a few potatoes or cabbages in a town plot, certainly 

 affords one glimpse of agriculture, but it requires deeper 

 insight and wider experience than this to make a successful 

 agriculturist. 



A hundred years ago it was said by one of our great novelists 

 that all the fools of tlie family were pitchforked into the Navy ; 

 to-day the fool of the family considers himself good enough for 

 agricvdture. 



With such ])revalent misconceptions as these, there is no 

 wonder that, although most of us have been more or less 

 familiar with the land, in some form or other, all our lives, 

 either through the medium of our back garden or through some 

 other feeble connecting link, there is, nevertheless, widespread 

 ignorance among the people as to the agricultural industry and 

 its up-to-date requirements. It is, moreover, clear enough that 



Q 



