A STABLE PRICE FOR WHEAT 29 



of the nation to place itself in security is quite strong 

 enough, as has been said, to induce the people con- 

 tentedly to put up with a rather higher price for their 

 food — on the assumption that that would be the result 

 of artificially helping the farmer. But the incentive 

 is not strong enough to induce farmers who have 

 deliberately chosen grass-farming in preference to 

 arable-farming, or have increased the proportion of 

 grass in mixed farms, to change their practice at what 

 they think is a considerable financial risk. While 

 they are all for national safety, they do not see why 

 their industry should be expected voluntarily to sacri- 

 fice itself in the interests of everybody else. Clearly 

 that is a very reasonable objection. 



As things are, we witness a supreme irony. Agri- 

 culture, failing progressively to keep the national food 

 supply near the point of safety, is said to be more 

 prosperous than it was. Plainly there is only one cure : 

 the farmer must be encouraged to plough much more 

 land, and in order that he may think it worth while 

 to do so he must be given confidence. Stability of the 

 price of wheat is his first need. He must feel that the 

 State is behind him and will by no means let him perish 

 if he honestly does his duty to the country. 



VIII 



THE PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE SOIL 



The intense productiveness of the soil is a modern dis- 

 covery. By a scientific use of agricultural chemistry 

 the land can be made to grow crops, various and 



