482 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1084 



on balance (after allowing for extra cost) 

 done no better financially, and some per- 

 haps even worse, than in an average year 

 of peace. "With regard to one item of 

 extra cost, that of labor, it is possible to 

 make an approximate estimate. Agrie^^l- 

 tural laborers were among the first to re- 

 spond to the call for the new armies, and, 

 Tip to the end of January, fifteen per cent, 

 had joined the forces of the Crown. This 

 considerable depletion of labor was not 

 acutely felt by farmers during the winter, 

 but during the spring and summer serious 

 difficulty was experienced and many de- 

 vices were suggested — some of which were 

 adopted — for meeting it. Naturally the 

 wages of those agricultural laborers who 

 were left rose, the rise varying in different . 

 districts but being generally from Is 6d 

 to 3s per week. Owing to the rise in the 

 price of commodities, this increase of wages 

 can not be regarded as a profit to the 

 laborers, 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 every one is 

 anxious to help the country, it is natural 

 that they should be unusually plentiful. 

 Advice was freely offered both to the gov- 

 ernment 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 appreciation 

 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 re- 

 cently issued give the measure of their 

 achievement. They have added twenty-five 

 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 increased 

 the stock of cattle, which was already the 

 largest on record, but, in spite of unfavor- 

 able conditions and a bad lambing season, 

 they have increased the stock of sheep. In 

 view of these facts, I venture to say that 

 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 consider- 

 able than is sometimes realized. When I 

 last had the honor to address the British 

 association I ventured to emphasize 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 

 produced at home, the respective propor- 

 tions contributed by the United Kingdom, 

 the rest of the Empire, and foreign coun- 

 tries were on the average of the five years 

 1910-14 as given in the table. 



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 



