396 The Future of British Agriculture. [Aug., 



pact enough to keep the seed in contact with the soil, yet suffi- 

 ciently broken to enable the infant roots to travel in pursuit of 

 food, is obviously dependent on weather. So, also, is the right 

 moment for sowing, on which hangs so much of the success of 

 the crop. Few days in the winter months are favourable for 

 either operation, and protracted harvests necessarily drive farmers 

 into a corner. To be well forward with the autumn cultivations 

 is an immense advantage. It gives the farmer the benefit of 

 weathering his land by a partial fallow; it widens his choice of 

 the best opportunity of getting in his seed. Time is of the 

 essence and it is often lacking. It is here that mechanical science 

 has already given valuable help. Tractors may not be cheaper 

 than horse-ploughs. With the present prices of fuel and repairs 

 they may be at least as costly. But they are as effectual, and 

 far speedier in their working. They are also still in their 

 infancy. Improvements in their mechanism may be confidently 

 expected, as well as the application of their principle to other 

 agricultural operations. Every step in these directions means 

 greater control over the natural limitation of climate. 



Another natural limitation is the character of the soil. Heavy 

 land is favourable to leaf production, land of lighter texture to 

 grain production. But soil conditions are much more amenable 

 to human control than climatic conditions. Drainage, for in- 

 stance, is a powerful controlling agent, by no means adequately 

 employed. The natural limitations may, also, be profoundly 

 modified by cultivation. In this direction great advances may 

 be expected. The results of cultivation leap to the eye; but the 

 precise nature of the effects produced are not yet scientifically 

 ascertained. Cultivation is still rather an art than a science. 

 Knowledge is control. Progress has already been made in the 

 study of the physics of the soil. We stand on the threshold of 

 great discoveries. We know that the soil is not a dead mass of 

 mineral particles. It is teeming with life. In the multitudinous 

 struggle for existence which goes on beneath the surface, each 

 living organism influences the changes which affect the growth 

 of plants. Science is making a determined effort to master this 

 subterranean chemical laboratory and to direct its operations. 

 If it succeeds — and it will — the effects may be far reaching. 



Let me give you one simple illustration. Clover is already one 

 of the most valuable of our crops. It is so not merely because 

 of the fodder that it supplies to cattle. It is so, also, because 

 of its peculiar power of enriching the soil with nitrogenous 



