THE PROPER POSITION OF THE 

 LANDOWNER IN RELATION TO 

 THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY. 



ADDRESS TO SECTION M (AGRICULTURE) BY 



The Eight Hon. Lord BLEDISLOE, K.B.E., 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



At a critical period in the history of British agriculture you have 

 invited one who is not an expert scientist but an ordinary country squire, 

 intensely proud of the traditions and deeply conscious of the poten- 

 tialities of the class to which he belongs, to preside over the Agricultural 

 Section of the British Association. If in my address I fail to carry 

 persuasion, it will not be through lack of strong convictions or of a 

 sense of responsibility in giving utterance to them. This meeting 

 marks the tenth anniversary of the inauguration of this Section of the 

 Association. It may with reason be asked whether it has so far justi- 

 fied itself. It can only do so if the teachings of science not merely tinge 

 but permeate ordinary British farm practice to the commercial advan- 

 tage of the whole agricultural industry. It is not sufficient for scientists 

 to preach only to the converted. Whether in the realm of animal 

 husbandry, or in that of arable cultivation, the pursuit of scientific 

 method must not be confined to the favoured few possessing abnormal 

 wealth or an exceptional combination of intellectual zeal with business 

 aptitude, but must for its full justification result in an improved general 

 standard of farming and a largely increased output of agricultural pro- 

 duce at a reasonable margin of profit, in which the whole rural com- 

 munity participates. Considering the wealth of discovery in almost 

 every branch of agricultural research during the last quarter of a 

 century, and the greatly enlarged scope of scientific investigation as 

 applied to agricultural problems during the last few years, the absorp- 

 tion into ordinary British farm practice of the results of such investi- 

 gation is far from being commensurate with the labour or, indeed, the 

 expense of scientific effort. 



Although there is amongst farmers a growing appreciation of the 

 value of science to their industry, there is far too wide a gap between 

 the most enlightened and commercially successful farm practice and 

 that of the average farmer in this country. 



How is this gulf to be bridged? 



My immediate predecessor in the Presidency of this Section, Mr. 

 C. S. Orwin, in his carefully reasoned and suggestive address last year 

 at Edinburgh, pointed out that a study of economics and the constant 



