4 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



money, but no such willing or efficient labour is now to be 

 got. 



Some political economists compare the laying down of land 

 to grass with the action of Scotch landowners in amalgamating 

 poor sheep-runs yielding little rent, and forming them into 

 enormous deer- forests which bring handsome sporting rentals. 

 Thej'^ tell us that the creation of pastures is bad for the nation, 

 not only because the land does not produce so much food when 

 in grass as it does under the plough or under spade cultivation, 

 but because there is less scope for the employment of labour on 

 grass than on arable land. 



Unfortunately, the question which agriculturists have to 

 consider is neither the most productive method of cultivating 

 land nor the system which will employ the largest number 

 of labourers, but the most certain way of farming land at a 

 profit. Surely landowners and farmers cannot be expected to 

 till the soil at a ruinous loss unless the nation is prepared to pay 

 for this supposed benefit out of the public purse. Until it is 

 considered reasonable that men should beggar themselves for the 

 national good, cultivators must be free to farm in the way that 

 promises the best return for the capital and skill devoted to the 

 business. I do not suggest that an extension of permanent or 

 temporary pastures in every part of the country will confer the 

 highest social and economic benefits upon England ; but it will 

 certainly save many farmers from conducting their business at a 

 loss, by enabling them to manage their holdings with a reduced 

 capital, and by cutting down a labour bill that is now too heavy 

 for their income. 



The successful farmer of the future will be the man who is 

 quick to apprehend and prompt to supply the public require- 

 ments of the day, and who' is wilHng to take advantage of every 

 invention that will help to render him independent of the agri- 

 cultural labourer. Enormous strides have already been made 

 in this direction. Threshing-machines, steam-ploughs, and self- 

 binders have irevolutionised the conditions of agriculture. Indeed 



