256 ANTLERS 



ground of a selfish landowner. He would demand 

 that the ancestral oaks which enrich the vale should 

 all be felled, and the land ploughed to provide food 

 for the people. It is true that the owner might derive 

 a good profit by adopting this course. The pasture in 

 this park is very poor, as often is the case where deer 

 have long been the only stock; much of it is over- 

 shadowed by splendid trees, and more of it overrun by 

 worthless bracken. The sale of the timber when felled 

 would cover the cost of reclaiming, ploughing, fencing, 

 and building, and the rent obtained from a farmer be 

 a permanent addition to income from the estate. No 

 doubt the economist is right : the land, at present, is not 

 put to the best commercial use. At the present time 

 (1918), when maritime warfare has rendered our food 

 imports precarious, and the price of corn and meat has 

 mounted beyond the experience of this generation and 

 the foregoing one, it behoves all men to cast about for 

 means to increase the home production. But it is 

 well to look back as well as forward before precipitate 

 action is taken. It is not very long since the price of 

 corn had fallen so low as to throw many farms derelict. 

 Unless some guarantee be obtained against cultivators 

 being exposed to heavy loss through fluctuating mar- 

 kets, no prudent man will invest capital in turning old 

 pasture into arable. After all, man doth not live by 

 bread alone ; there is a real, as well as a sentimental, 

 value in beautiful scenery ; the mind stands in as con- 

 stant need of refreshment as the body does of nutrition. 

 It may be expedient to curtail the park landscapes 

 which are the glory of the English counties ; but it is 



