8 THE STATE AS FARMER 



a very remote and desolate region where a 

 cow will not afford her friendly help to the 

 scanty population, and where a few pigs 

 and fowls will not add interest and profit 

 to the hamlet. Sheep in many places give 

 the element of adventure to hard life upon 

 the hills. We may almost calculate, then, 

 upon the distribution of stock over the whole 

 of the British Isles ; and we may take it 

 that, if we could tap the more remote areas 

 by an adequate system of transport, we could 

 draw from them a very important addition 

 to our home food supply. Those who have 

 penetrated into our more secluded valleys 

 will have noted that they are just as well 

 able to send down their quota of milk and 

 eggs daily, their beef, mutton, and bacon at 

 regular intervals as other parts of the country. 

 In fact, the output from these regions might 

 be worked into a system even more pro- 

 ductive of these prime necessities than are 

 those convenient localities which send up 

 grapes and tomatoes to the more luxurious 

 markets. If there is one fact more notorious 

 than another in relation to agriculture, it is 

 that the response of the land to tillage and 



