ITS LESSONS AND ITS WARNINGS 75 



war, or with the life and death struggle in which 

 we are engaged. There was no recognition of 

 the extreme urgency of the case and of the 

 peril of delay. The debate centred around a 

 demand that the Government should make it 

 worth the farmer's while to grow wheat by 

 guaranteeing a minimum for future prices (50s. 

 a quarter was named). 



By giving the guarantee asked for, no doubt 

 more wheat would be grown, but the process would 

 be slow and the result altogether inadequate. 



In the present emergency there is no other 

 effective way but for the Government to take 

 the matter in hand themselves. This subject 

 will be treated more fully later on. 1 



Lord Selborne, the new Minister of Agriculture, 

 is a man who in former positions has shown 

 himself possessed of capacity and foresight. It 

 will require great courage on his part to break 



1 The patriotic class of farmers are responding to the 

 appeals made to them in a very satisfactory manner. 

 Since 1913 they have increased the area under wheat by 

 half a million acres. In some parts of the country, how- 

 ever, the process of laying agricultural land to grass is 

 going on. In a recent visit to the West of England the 

 present writer noticed with disgust a large arable field of 

 some 25 acres being so laid down. 



