INTRODUCTION. 5 



tamed heifer which had never been haltered. I have 

 watched him fell with an axe a tree as thick as a stout 

 farmer and split it into roughly hewn posts. He has even 

 repaired the roof of the cottage he rents, as I am afraid 

 many a labourer has had to do if he wishes to sleep in a dry 

 bed. 



Many an English flock-master and breeder of shorthorns 

 owes his international fame to the skill of his head shepherd 

 or stockman, who, perhaps, has given a life-long service in 

 improving a breed of sheep or cattle on a wage of less than 

 i a week. 



To-day a new craftsman is taking his place on our large 

 arable farms ; and that is the tractor 'ploughman, who is 

 engineer and husbandman combined. It is to the plough- 

 man, perhaps, above all others, that the nation looks as the 

 supreme creative artist who will redeem it from misfortune. 

 The ploughshare drawn by the team of horses guided by the 

 clear eye of the ploughman, clarified by the illimitable spaces 

 that surround him, is to us more than the ram of a destroyer. 

 Guided by hands gnarled and toil-smitten, lie draws a strong 

 line across the seared stubble. It is the impelling vivid line 

 sought for so eagerly by every artist as he stands before the 

 canvas at the inception of his creation. The ploughman 

 marks out his broad line of perspective with that simple 

 implement which has been the agricultural ciaftsman's chief 

 tool for so many centuries, and with it he draws line after 

 line until the field of mottled green and pale yellow is trans- 

 formed into rich shining brown earth. When he has graven 

 these fructifying lines of furrow, lie holds in the hollow of his 

 hand the destiny of nations. \Yith the seed-lip slung over 

 his shoulder, with a measured tread over the kind, crumbly 

 earth, and with a superb sweep of the arm and easeful swing 

 of the body, lie distributes his largesse. There is precision 

 and beauty in the sweep of his arm and his measured stride 

 as he casts the seed, and his eye and brain work in perfect 

 harmony. He stands before us to-day as the figure of Destiny. 

 In his rhythmic stride and noble sweep of the arm lies the 

 hope of Britain. 



