THE POSITION AT HOME 



57 



" transition in agriculture " — to other commodities ; and it 

 is materially owing to this cause that the agricultural 

 industry has maintained the aforesaid standard, notwith- 

 standing the substantial nature of the foreign imports. 



This last-mentioned fact is deserving of detailed 

 consideration. 



Farm Crops. 



In the Board of Agriculture Report on the agricultural 



output, the gross value, at market prices, of the wheat 



produced in Great Britain in 1908 is given as £10,370,000. 



The value of wheat imported into the United Kingdom in 



the same year was £38,296,000. Here, therefore, the 



foreigner had the advantage. But in regard to the two 



other chief corn crops we get the following values : — 



Barley. Oats. 



i £ 



Output in Great Britain . . 9,177,000 13,264,000 



Imported into U.K. .. .. 6,114,000 4,163,000 



Excess of output over imports . . 3,063,000 9,101,000 



The British farmer, again, held his own in respect to the 

 following crops, the chief among those that are used for 

 fodder : — 



Market Garden Produce. 



Then we have the fact that in recent years there has been 

 a great increase in the growing of market garden produce on 

 both a large and a small scale. 



The growing of vegetables, partly for fodder but mainly 

 for human consumption, is a development of modern 

 farming of which due account must needs be taken, though 

 there is a lack of exact figures as to quantities and values 



