116 THE MINORITY REPORT 



produce of arable land is, in normal times, more than 

 twice as great as the produce of grass land, and the food 

 value which, in time of war, may be a matter of serious 

 importance, is from three to five times as great. Mr. 

 T. H. Middleton, who dealt with this matter exhaus- 

 tively in a paper' before the British Association last 

 year, stated in his evidence before us that, " on a mixed 

 arable farm, an acre should feed a man for about 

 290 days, as against a medium grazing farm, 58 days 

 — ^about five times as much human food. The same 

 idea was expressed by Mr. Hall, who stated that an 

 acre of arable land produced ** 600 lb. of wheat and 

 300 lb. of barley over and above the same amount 

 of meat as the acre of grass land produced." 



65. The fear is sometimes expressed that a reduction 

 in the area of land under permanent grass would 

 seriously affect the production of meat and milk. This 

 fear is not, however, shared by leading agricultural 

 authorities. For instance. Lord Milner's Committee, 

 who examined several witnesses on this subject, such 

 as Mr. M. J. R. Dunstan and Professor T. B. Wood, 

 stated in their Report : " We accept the opinion, which 

 was confirmed by all the witnesses examined on the 

 point, that an increase in the area under arable cultiva- 

 tion will, with proper farming, add to the production 

 of wheat and other crops for human consumption with- 

 out diminishing the capacity of the country to main- 

 tain its existing live stock and its output of meat and 

 milk." Similar opinions have been expressed by Mr. 



1 Systems of Farming and the Production of Food — The Need for 

 More Tillage, by T. H. Middleton, C.B.— Journal of the Board of 

 Agriculture, September 1916. 



