ITS LESSONS AND ITS WARNINGS 69 



An eminent writer states : 



" In England as much land in every parish is lying 

 useless in wastes, wayside commons, neglected patches 

 and other uncultivated spots as would keep all the poor 

 in the parish." (Laing's " Observations on the Social 

 State of the European People.") 



This could not be seen in Continental countries 

 where, as already stated, almost every yard of 

 land is put to some use. 



The time has come for the people of this 

 country to be aroused from their apathy with 

 regard to agriculture, in which apathy they have 

 been nurtured for so many years, and for them 

 to be taught the paramount value and impor- 

 tance of the land. They should be educated in 

 this respect up to a point whence they would look 

 upon a piece of waste land with the same feeling 

 as they would look on a piece of good food thrown 

 into the dust-bin. 



If any reader of these pages should happen to 

 be travelling by rail through the country, he 

 would, if he chose, see that for mile after mile 

 there is nothing but grass, the wheat fields being 

 few and far between. He should realize that this 

 means national waste. Every 1000 acres of grass 

 land he passes (a very small area), if cultivated, 



