THE STATE AS FARMER 139 



the cows he uses, and these should when dry 

 be very carefully selected either for the 

 butcher or for continuing the race of heavy 

 milkers. No doubt he would consent to 

 institute a series of milk records, and perhaps 

 would come 'gradually to recognise that our 

 future in this direction depends upon our 

 breeding only from the best, and preserving 

 such with every effort, sympathy, and care. 



Our system of land tenure, then, has led 

 to a type of farming which can only result in 

 ruin when the stress comes. As we are able 

 to receive so much from other countries, 

 and seeing that so many country seats can be 

 kept up by Stock Exchange winners rather 

 than by the produce of the land in the midst 

 of which they are set, we have lost account of 

 the real doings of those to whom the land is 

 entrusted, and we have ignored the ordinary 

 business needs of those who want to connect 

 their products with the markets that are 

 the best in the world. Are we to allow this 

 system to continue ? The magic of property 

 is simply and solely the magic of pride. To 

 the real workers on the land the fact that they 

 need not be burdened with this magic has a 



