FOREIGN COMPETITION. 185 



farmers, finding that it does not pay them to grow 

 wheat to the same extent as formerly, are, as far 

 as it is possible, giving up very much of their 

 arable land and turning it into pasture. More- 

 over, so many farms are now unlet, and there is so 

 much land in the country absolutely uncultivated, 

 or at least but imperfectly worked, that our wheat- 

 growing is at a low ebb at present. Foreign com- 

 petition is of course the cause. I have read that 

 the country which has the command of corn is the 

 strongest Power, and I can readily understand the 

 writer's meaning- when he asserts such to be the 

 case. So long as we have the command of the sea, 

 so long we can retain our power ; the instant we 

 lose that, we are doomed. * Have we that com- 

 mand ?' is a question continually put before the 

 public. It seems by no means too certain that we 

 have. Goodness only knows what will become of 

 the country if, losing that command, our foreign 

 supplies are cut off from us. It is too unpleasant 

 a thought for us to dwell on here. Taking one 

 part of the country with another, the present price 

 of straw appears, as far as I can ascertain, to be 

 from 5 5s. to 60s. per ton. The latter is the better 

 price to allow for its cost. There are, of course, 

 districts where corn is not much grown, in which 

 this price is considerably exceeded. 



