766 



TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION M. 



generally from Is. Gd. to 3s. per week. Owing to the rise in the price of com- 

 modities, this increase of wages cannot be regarded as a profit to the labourers, 

 but it is, of course, an outlay by farmers, which in England and Wales may be 

 reckoned as amounting to an aggregate of about 2,000,000/!. 



This country has never suffered from a dearth of agricultural advisers, and 

 in such a time as the present, when everyone is anxious to help the country, it 

 is natural that they should be unusually plentiful. Advice was freely offered 

 both to the Government how to deal with farmers and to farmers how to deal 

 with the land. Whether in consequence of advice or in spite of it, it may 

 fairly be said that farmers throughout the United Kingdom have done their 

 duty. They have met their difficulties doggedly and have shown an apprecia- 

 tion of the situation which does credit to their intelligence. It was not easy 

 last autumn, when farmers had to lay their plans for the agricultural year, to 

 forecast the future. We were all optimists then, and many thought that the 

 war might be over before the crops then being planted were reaped. It was 

 clear, however, that the national interest lay in maintaining and, so far as 

 possible, increasing the produce of the land. In the quiet, determined way which 

 is characteristic of them, farmers devoted themselves to the task, and the 

 returns recently issued give the measure of their achievement. They have 

 added twenty-two per cent, to the acreage of wheat and seven per cent, 

 to the acreage of oats, and they have kept the area of potatoes up to the high 

 and sufficient level of the previous year. These are the three most important 

 crops. They have also not only maintained the .^^tock of cattle, which was 

 the largest on record, but, in spite of mifavourable conditions and a bad 

 lambing season, they have increased the stock of sheep. In view of these facts, 

 I venture to say tliat British and Irish farmers have shown both patriotism 

 and intelligence, and may fairly claim to have contributed their share to the 

 national effort. 



The share of British agriculture in the food supply of the nation is more 

 considerable than is sometimes realised. When I last had the honour to address 

 the British Association I ventured to emphasise this point, and I may be 

 allowed to repeat, in a somewhat different form and for a later period, the 

 figures then given. Taking those articles of food which are more or less pro- 

 duced at home, the respective proportions contributed by the United Kingdom, 

 the rest of the Empire, and foreign countries were on the average of the five 

 years 1910-14 as follows : 



Wheat 



Meat 



Poultry 



Eggs 



Butter (including margarine) 



Cheese 



Milk (including cream) . 



Fruit 



Vegetables . . . . 



United 

 Kingdom 



Per Cent. 

 19-0 

 57-9 

 82-7 

 fi7-6 

 251 

 19-5 

 95-4 

 36-3 

 91-8 



British 



Empire 



Overseas 



Foreign 

 Countries 



Per Cent. 

 39-3 

 10-7 



0-2 



01 

 13-3 

 65-4 







8-3 



11 



Per Cent. 

 41-7 

 31-4 

 17-1 

 32-3 

 61-6 

 151 



4-6 

 55-4 



7-1 



The war has directly affected some of our food supplies by interposing 

 barriers against the exports of certain countries. Fortunately we were in no 

 way dependent for any of these foods upon our enemies, though Germany was 

 one of our main sources of supply for sugar. We received some small quantit'es 

 of wheat or flour and of eggs from Germany, Hungary, and Turkey, some 

 poultry from Austria-Hungary, and some fruit from Germany and Turkey, but 

 the whole amount was insignificant. The practical cessation of supplies from 

 Russia was the most serious loss, as we drew from thence on an average 9 per 

 cent, of our wheat, 9 per cent, of our butter, and 16 per cent, of our eggs. 



