THE STATE AS FARMER 31 



State is suffering so severely, but it is possible 

 that something like double our present ton- 

 nage might be obtained if we made a deter- 

 mined effort under skilled direction to bring 

 our poorest up to our richest yield. 



The oat and barley crops also would well 

 repay this larger effort. The live stock of 

 the country, as well as man himself, depends 

 to a large extent on these, and there are 

 vast quantities of minor but nutritious goods, 

 made up for convenient use, of which the 

 manufacture might be largely increased. In 

 fact, if we were once to begin to try to help 

 ourselves, we should find quite a busy semi- 

 rural world making packets of food of all 

 kinds out of milk and cereals, and using 

 waste fats, straws, timber refuse, and a hun- 

 dred and one products for some commodity 

 which is in demand. 



To return to wheat. It has always been 

 something of a mystery why wheat growing 

 has been the constant theme of a certain kind 

 of politician since the Repeal of the Corn 

 Laws. The eternal iteration of this cry for 

 wheat has been the cause of the backward- 

 ness of farming generally. The matter is, of 



