Conclusion 209 



economic progress. Persons acquainted with Danish methods of 

 dairying declared in the nineties that England was twenty-five years 

 behind Denmark in her butter-making 1 . It was not more favourable 

 conditions of production, but co-operative organisation, and technical 

 perfection in production and distribution, which gave Denmark and 

 other countries their standing in the English markets. The question 

 is whether England will adopt the methods of production and 

 distribution demanded by modern conditions of international com- 

 petition. 



The outlook in regard of other branches of production is much 

 the same. The extension of fruit and vegetable-growing is also 

 hindered by difficulties of a technical description. Thus, for example, 

 Mr Morgan, the Secretary of the Fruit Growers League, told the 

 Committee of 1889 that England had the same opportunities of 

 successful apple and pear-growing as America; perhaps better. 

 English growers could in particular produce fruit of the best quality, 

 for which high prices were obtainable. Thousands of tons of fruit 

 which were yearly imported could be grown quite as well in England 

 as abroad ; the English soil and climate were excellently suited for the 

 purpose 2 . One authority wrote briefly 3 : " There are few farms that 

 do not comprise one or more fields admirably adapted for the growth 

 of such crops as table peas, French beans, celery, early cabbages, 

 turnips, small fruit, herbs, etc. ; and still fewer farms that do not 

 include an orchard capable of improvement or extension." An expert 

 reported on the fruit-culture of Gloucestershire 4 that certain parts of 

 the country " might easily have been converted into a veritable gold 

 mine." " If such grand apples," he wrote, " can be grown on the 

 brashy Cotswold soil by good cultivation, it shows what ought to be 

 possible in the more favoured districts. Soils and positions are 

 important factors in success, but the need for education is even more 

 pronounced." 



Poultry-farming is another branch of agriculture equally capable 

 of expansion. The enormous demand for fowls is by no means yet 

 met by the supply 5 , so that such an expansion is very desirable. 



1 Report^. 1894, qu. 4758. 



2 Small Holdings Report, 1889, qu. 5806, 5809-13. 



3 A. R. Cragg, Specialities in Farming, in the Journal of the Bath etc. Society, 1903, 

 pp. 4 1 f. 



4 Annual Report of the Technical Instruction Committee of the Gloucestershire County 

 Council, July, 1902, p. 34. 



5 Cp. Graham, The Revival etc. , p. 126. 



L. 14 



