THE STATE AS FARMER 9 



generous treatment is equally generous, even 

 unstinting, and that if we want more produce 

 from a farm we have only to put more labour 

 and nutriment into it. In the case of stock, 

 the land will carry more or less in proportion 

 to the direct encouragement it receives from 

 fertilisers and the indirect benefit it gets 

 from the stock itself. There again the feeding 

 of stock affects the result, and thus we 

 promptly come face to face with the need 

 for a little arable beside the grass. There 

 are few streams in England that do not 

 flow by a suitable acreage for such grain- 

 crops and turnips as will help the cattle to 

 be well fed. The straw, too, is good for 

 food, and what is not can at least help the 

 heather to supply bedding and then return 

 to the land as manure. There are none of 

 these points now crudely mentioned that 

 will not be returned to. What I want to 

 emphasise here is, however, that we may 

 produce much more from our remote farms 

 than we do by putting more labour and 

 money into the land. We may cause these 

 farms to yield milk as well as meat, pigs 

 as well as sheep, poultry and eggs for the 



