4 . Agriculture Our Most Important Industry 



the Corn Laws. By this Act the duty on corn was at 

 once greatly reduced, and was to cease altogether in 

 1849. The repeal of the Corn Laws did not lead, as 

 was expected, to a very great fall in the price of corn, 

 nor did it result in the ruin of farmers and landlords. 

 Indeed for a long time after the abolition of the Corn 

 Laws it paid farmers to grow corn in Britain. 



There came, however, a great change about 1881, 

 and year by year since then the land of England has 

 been going out of cultivation, and the villages are 

 being deserted in favour of the towns. This change 

 has been largely due to foreign competition, for wheat 

 can be grown in Canada, Australia, India, the United 

 States, Russia, and Argentina, shipped to our ports, 

 and then sold in our country, at a cheaper rate than it 

 can be cultivated by our own farmers. And now we 

 buy from abroad not only the greater portion of our 

 corn, but most of our meat, and a good deal of our 

 fruit, butter, and cheese. 



The number of people that any country can support 

 depends on its agricultural and commercial resources. 

 Food is man's first necessity, and it is therefore 

 imperative that we, in Britain, should supplement our 

 insufficient food resources by foreign supplies, for if 

 we did not our people would starve. Especially would 

 this be the case if we were defeated in a great war, and 

 to avoid this calamity we keep our navy strong and 

 efficient. Our big steamers carrying the products of 

 all countries to our shores are guarded on their routes 

 by our warships, and so long as this is done we feel 

 that the abundant resources of other countries will 

 supplement our own stock, so that our people may have 

 a plentiful supply of cheap food. 



