528 TKAN.SACTJONS OF SECTlOK M 



Section M.— AGEIC ULTUEE. 



pKKSlDJiNT OF THE SECTION : E. J. Eus'sELL, iJ.Sc. 



WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6. 



Tlie Pieskleiit delivered the following Address :— 



We are met this year under peculiar conditions such as may never recur in 

 our history. We have had a demonstration, more striking than ever before, of 

 the vital part that agriculture playe in the life of the coniinunityj we have seen 

 how in time of war the supply of food might easily become the factor deter- 

 mining the issue, and it is already clear that in time of peace a vigorous rural 

 Livilisation is indispensable to the stability of the social structure of the nation. 



I am going to deal to-day with the possibilities and the prospects of increased 

 crop production, which, both in its narrow aspect as a source of national 

 wealth, and in its wider significance as the material basis of rural civilisation, 

 must always remain one of the most important of human activities. 



We may take it as an axiom that the developments of the future will in the 

 main grow out of those of the past. There are no breaks in the continuity of 

 progress in agriculture ; the farmer's unit of time — the four- or five-year rota- 

 tion — is too big to allow of sudden jumps and short cuts from one stage to 

 another; and so, if we want to find the most promising lines of progress for the 

 future, we must first discover the lines along which progress has been made in 

 the past. 



The rotations and methods now in use are based on those of mediaeval times, 

 which in turn go back to a high antiquity. The early system was very simple; 

 the arable land grew corn to provide food and beer for man, while the grass- 

 land, meadows, commons, &c., provided food for beasts. The arable crops were 

 wheat and rye for bread, and barley for beer; peas, oats, beans, and certain 

 mixtures of cereals were also grown for the sake of variety. For our purpose 

 we can group these simply as winter corn, chiefly wheat, rye, and some mixtures — 

 and as spring corn — barley, peas, &c. 



Agriculturists speedily discovered — what anyone can find out for himself by 

 simple trial — that it is very difficult to get winter corn to grow on the same 

 land year after year. The crop has to be sown in autumn or early winter if 

 it is to have the best chance of success; the old crop is not removed till August, 

 the land is often too dry to plough in September, and there is not enough time 

 to plough and seed it all in October. So the likeliest chance for sowing the 

 winter corn would be on land on which the preliminary preparations had been 

 made in the summer, so that the final preparations could easily be made in 

 autumn. 



On the other hand, spring-sown corn could easily follow winter corn. The 

 land could be left for ploughing at any convenient time in winter; the final 

 operations could be deferred until March without jeopardising the crop. 



But, as everyone soon learns to his cost, corn-crops harbour weeds, so that 

 after a couple of years of corn-cropping the land is pretty full of weed-seeds 

 and has to bo cleaned. 



These troubles could only be met in one way—by growing first winter corn, 



