* 



16 INTRODUCTION 



consequently left on its shattered foundations 

 for a considerable number of years. The 

 industry was generally expected to emerge 

 somehow of itself from the series of disasters 

 which had OA^ertaken it. This has not 

 happened. 



Essential as it is for the welfare of a nation 

 that the land should grow all that it can pro- 

 duce, increased areas were thrown out of crop 

 cultivation. Statistics have been published 

 refuting the wisdom of this practice — intensive 

 cultivation has been urged as more productive 

 and profitable. Finally, Mr. Edward Strutt, 

 one of the greatest practical farmers in the 

 country, reads a paper in November, 1912, in 

 which he analyzes in an able manner the 

 accounts of his own farming operations con- 

 ducted in the east of England "on land of 

 mixed quality erring rather on the heavy side." 

 A period of eighteen years, from 1894 to 1911, 

 is taken, and the figures contrasted over some 

 2,000 acres. The following is an extract from 

 his paper : 



"The net annual profit from the arable 

 land over the whole eighteen years has been 



* Presidential Address to the Surveyors' Institution, 

 1912. 



