42 THE GREAT WAR 



is melancholy to compare our present position 

 with theirs, or with what it might be under a 

 proper system of cultivation. 



EANCHING 



Large farmers are laying down land to grass, 

 rather than pay an increase of wages, though 

 they can well afford to do so. 



Farmers of the old school are slow to adopt 

 new ideas, and probably they are hoping that 

 the end of the war will see the old scale of wages 

 restored. That scale and former state of affairs 

 will not come. Most of the able-bodied men have 

 gone to the War, and by mixing with other men 

 have learnt to compare their position as agricul- 

 tural labourers with the position of workmen in 

 other industries. They are finding that by compari- 

 son they are the worst paid, work longer hours, and 

 have fewer enjoyments than any other class of 

 workers. When they come back it will be found 

 that their experiences have made them different 

 men, and that they will not return to the old 

 routine and the old rate of pay. 



A " ranching " farmer holding we cannot 

 say farming 600 acres can run his farm with 



