114 THE MINORITY REPORT 



may be prolonged beyond the harvest of 1916." They 

 confined their inquiry to the period during and im- 

 mediately succeeding the present war, whereas we have 

 to consider how the future prospects of agriculture, 

 for many years after the war is over, may affect the 

 fortunes of the ex-Service men whom we wish to 

 attract to the soil. 



51. Allowing for this difference in our points of view, 

 we desire to express our concurrence with the following 

 conclusions arrived at by Lord MUner's Committee : 



(1) " That there is great need to increase the pro- 



ductivity of the soil of our country by 

 stimulating more intensive cultivation and 

 bringing under the plough a large area of 

 land at present wastefully devoted to 

 inferior pasture. 



(2) " That the only method of effecting a sub- 



stantial increase in the gross production of 

 food in England and Wales for the harvest 

 of 1916, and later, consists in restoring to 

 arable cultivation some of the poorer grass 

 land that has been laid down since the 

 seventies." 



52. We desire, however, to qualify the second of 

 these conclusions by pointing out that whilst it was 

 true if limited to the harvest of 1916, yet, given the 

 necessary time and favourable conditions, some material 

 addition may be made in the amount of foodstuffs 

 produced in this country by improved methods of 

 farming applied to both arable and grass land as they 

 exist, and even apart from ploughing up the grass. 



