52 THE STATE AS FARMER 



Our present system is far too coarse and 

 gross. We need oilcake only as a medicine, 

 and maize as an occasional pleasant change, 

 as I have already said. The food we require 

 for our stock is that grown at home under 

 better conditions and upon the best advice. 

 But this advice can only be obtained in 

 perfection when we employ our scientific men 

 to experiment and test, not towards cheapness, 

 which will never pay anyone, but towards 

 purity of food and the consequent eradication 

 of the weed idea from every department of 

 farming. 



The toll which insects and fungi of every 

 description exact from animal and vegetable 

 life is extraordinarily heavy. It is difficult 

 to know exactly where to begin in referring 

 to these pests, for they prey upon each other 

 as well as upon our stock and crops. Many 

 of them are so difficult to exterminate that 

 it is necessary to destroy their hosts with 

 them, and to leave the ground free from the 

 diseased or infested trees or shrubs for years. 

 I have already mentioned two facts which 

 bear upon this troublesome question. Weeds 



