219 



rated our railway stations but also the pages of the 

 j tress and even the walls of our city houses and inte- 

 riors of the trams. 



PRACTICAL VERSUS IMPRACTICAL COUNSELS 



But to the practical mind would it not have been 

 just as profitable to have counselled the reverse, to sow 

 less and reap better, to risk less and gain more, to har- 

 vest little but good grain, and for what one does har- 

 vest to get full value? This is the side of the question 

 which our farmers are beginning to ponder now that 

 they are counting up their gains and losses, expecta- 

 tions and realisations. 



When counselling the farmer to launch out on a 

 mighty scheme of production, would it have not been 

 wise to add that the same propaganda was being made 

 all over the world, but with the difference that it was 

 being made in countries amply prepared to deal \vith 

 increased crops? 



Would it not have been more practical still to add 

 what measures the Government was taking to make the 

 plans of extended cultivation a practical success? 



W!hat preparations were in view to defraud spe- 

 culators ? What was intended in the way of facilitating 

 the necessary finance? What was being provided in the 

 way of sacks? How the farmer was to get rid of his 

 crops? What the State was prepared to undertake in 

 the matter of guaranteeing that none of the old lime 

 difficulties cropped up? etc., etc. 



I am sure all farmers would have liked to see a 

 list of what the Government was going to do to help 

 them to realise the prognosticated prosperity. 



And this is the crux of the situation ; what does the 

 State do towards helping our Agriculture, and what 

 are its plans for the future, since it is essential to know 

 what we are going to do before we can proceed further! 



Of course I do not pretend that the mere announce- 

 ment of a definite plan of Agriciiltural reform will help 

 the farmer out of the hole he is in to-day. 



There is every reason, however, to suppose that if 

 a determined stand were made and a serious endeavour 

 attempted to get out of the rut of routine into which 

 the Ministry has fallen, much could be achieved prac- 

 tically, which at present has only an academic interest; 

 more often than not merely the copying of some other 

 country's doings without reference to local necessities, 

 or even the intention to persist in the experiment till it 



