204 



NA TURE 



[August 12, 1922 



him during his life. Of late years there has been a 

 tendency to seek to do him fuller justice and to put a 

 more liberal and more kindly interpretation upon his 

 conduct and actions, and to place him in what is to 

 be regarded as his true relation to his epoch. Prof. 

 Stillman's book is the latest attempt at his rehabilita- 

 tion. It is a scholarly contribution to a subject which 

 has still its perplexities and difficulties. The story 

 of his life is here told without bias, dispassion- 

 ately, and in the light of all available information, 

 and the result is an eminently readable monograph 

 written in the true spirit of history. 



T. E. Thorpe. 



The History of British Agriculture. 



(1) English Farming : Past and Present. By the 

 Rt. Hon. Lord Ernie. Third edition. Pp. xvi + 504. 

 (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1922.) 12s. 6d. 

 net. 



(2) A Short History of British Agriculture. By John 

 Orr. Pp. 96. (London : Oxford University Press, 

 1922.) 25. 6d. net. 



(1) ' I "" HE story of Britishagricultureis for the greater 

 _L part of its course the story of the life of the 

 ordinary Briton, for until the industrial and commercial 

 era began a century ago the country was in the main 

 agricultural. Several histories have appeared, but 

 none is more attractive than the volume written by 

 Lord Ernie, which has now reached its third edition. 

 There are few records of actual farming prior to the 

 Norman invasion, and the account here given begins 

 practically in the thirteenth century, though there 

 is no reason to suppose that any great change had been 

 brought about in agricultural methods for a long while 

 previously. From that time onwards, however, the 

 story is continuous, though it has had to be pieced 

 together from manorial records, old country sayings, 

 illuminated MSS., and many other sources. Lord 

 Ernie has done his work remarkably well, and he traces 

 with great clearness the changes from the old open field 

 system, through the enclosures of the sixteenth, seven- 

 teenth, and eighteenth centuries, to the great changes 

 introduced in the nineteenth century, and finally to 

 our own times. 



The edition before us differs from the previous one 

 in that it contains a chapter on war farming in 1914- 

 1918. This was an essay in State control, and the 

 measure of its unpopularity in the countryside was 

 seen in the almost savage joy with which the wholesale 

 retrenchment of the numerous inspecting officials after 

 the war was hailed, and in the irresistible demand for 

 the removal of all restrictions on freedom of cropping 

 and of farm management. Whatever the urban 

 NO. 2754, VOL. I 10] 



voter may elect to bear in the way of State control 

 of industry, it is perfectly certain that the countryman 

 will have none of it : he is an incorrigible individualist. 

 Space does not allow of an adequate quotation from 

 the account of the history of those eventful days. 

 Lord Ernie has the double advantage of inside know- 

 ledge and of freedom from any restriction in relating 

 the course of events, and he tells the story vividly. 

 The real agricultural difficulty began in 1917, alter the 

 harvest of 1916. The Board of Agriculture had fore- 

 seen this and had prepared a scheme, but the Cabinet 

 had not put it into operation. The winter 1916-17 

 was very unfavourable to the agriculturist ; the supply 

 of men, of feeding-stuffs and of fertilisers was short, 

 and was diminishing, and farmers generally were losing 

 heart. State control became imperative. The method 

 adopted was probably as good as could be devised, 

 and very full powers were given to the large body of 

 experts brought in for the purpose. In spite of all its 

 disadvantages and the increasing difficulties in regard 

 to labour and materials, the system was successful in 

 producing certain items of human food, as the following 

 table pro\ es 



The present writer can testify, however, that the 

 machine was kept going only by constantly reminding 

 the rural community of the men in the trenches, and 

 had it not been for the poignant sorrow and bitter 

 tragedy of the war no power on earth would have kept 

 the farmers to the programme. It is not that they are 

 less patriotic than others, quite the contrary. But 

 the system is not suited to the conditions of the country- 

 side and so it lacks permanency. Post-war agriculture 

 is adjusting itself to post-war economic conditions. 



The volume is full of interest and will certainly 

 appeal to a large body of readers. 



(2) Teachers of agriculture generally will welcome 

 the appearance of a little book on the history of the 

 subject which they can place in the hands of their 

 students, in the first instance to stimulate their interest, 

 and afterwards as an introduction to larger works. 



* Mixed corn is shown separately i 

 under wheat, barley, or oats. 



In previous years it is shown 



