1920.] Farming in Peace and in War. 1193 



the past half century has taught him that the converse motto 

 " Down Corn, Up Horn " has saved him from financial ruin. 



It would ill become me to condemn the farming policy which 

 has been adopted by British agriculturists since the " 'seventies." 

 It was a system of husbandry well adapted for a rich country 

 ready to pay for all the beef and mutton that could be produced, 

 well adapted, too, for a nation that took cheapness, not certainty 

 of supply, as the gauge of a satisfactory food policy, and 

 that regarded the soil as raw material for the creation of wealth, 

 not as a storehouse from which ample stocks of food might be 

 provided. 



Moreover, our recent system of farm management fitted in 

 with the commercial policy of the Nation ; during the past 

 50 years Britain cultivated the resources of the sea as steadily 

 as she neglected the resources of her home land. WTien, after 

 the disastrous harvests of the late 'seventies/' stock-farming 

 began to supplant corn-growing, grain was a commodity which 

 could easily be carried in ships ; but meat could not, and live 

 cattle were indifferent occupp.nts of cargo space. By t!-ans- 

 f erring our corn-growing to other lands we were not only saved 

 the necessity of tilling our own fields, but we provided valuable 

 merchandise for sea transport and a convenient commodity 

 for which our manufactured goods could be bartered. There 

 were, therefore, reasons which appealed to others than farmers 

 for abandoning tillage, for importing bread corn, and for pro- 

 ducing meat at home. 



It is true that before the outbreak of war the early position had 

 been modified by the development of the trade in chiUed and 

 frozen meat ; but meat production had secured a strong hold 

 on the British farmer and the quality of home-fed meat on the 

 British public. Thus when war broke out stock-farming was 

 universally admitted to be not only the paramount British 

 industry, but to be the only type of farming worth serious 

 consideration in most parts of the country. 



Methods used in estimating: the Food Requirements of Nations. — 

 I shall presently contrast the importance of stock-farming and 

 corn growing as it existed before the War : but let me first 

 allude to the methods used in estimating the food requirements 

 of nations and the food-producing capacity of cultivated 

 land. 



The policy specially associated with the Food Production 

 Department came as a shock to the average agriculturist. 

 He could not understand the actions of those whom he termed 



