454 



COBBETT ON THE CROPS. 



[Aug., 



The illustrations and principles discussed above demonstrate 

 why proposals for radical changes in agricultural methods are 

 slow to take hold. The principal point to remember in labour 

 organisation is to preserve a proper balance as between the 

 crops and pasture and the stock. Ploughing-up of pasture, or 

 alternatively laying down land to grass, increasing the areas 

 under certain crops, and reducing or increasing the stock, have 

 all to be carefully considered not only in themselves but also in 

 relation to the farm as a whole, and to the capital, equipment, 

 and labour supply at the farmer's disposal. 



Good wages are necessary to attract and retain good labour, 

 but good wages can only be paid if the farmer can organize and 

 direct it well, and at times when the margin of profit cn farming 

 capital cannot be great, even under the best conditions, success 

 is dependent more upon the farmer's capacity as an organizer 

 of labour than on his standard of knowledge of agricultural science 

 and farming technique. 



* * * * * * * 



COBBETT ON THE CROPS. 



Sir Henry Eew, K.C.B. 



About midsummer, a hundred years ago, William Cobbett 

 set forth, after an interval of six months, on his Eural Eides. 

 He spent two days in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire and 

 his description of the crops reads as familiarly as an extract from 

 an agricultural journal of to-day. He notes that near " the 

 Wen," by which epithet he persistently speaks of London, the 

 hay was all in rick, because the farmers had the " first haul 

 of the Irish and other perambulating labourers," but that far- 

 ther out, about Stanmore and Watford, a third of the grass 

 still remained to be cut. He reports a very large hay-crop, 

 which would be sold in London at £3 per load, i.e., 18 cwt. 

 The price of meadow hay in London now is from £5 to £6 per 

 ton. Cobbett interjects the remark, which had a political point 

 long since blunted : ' 1 here the evil of ' over production ' will 

 be great indeed ! " 



When he comes to the corn-growing districts of Hertfordshire 

 his observations reveal the mind of the practical farmer. The 

 crops, and especially the barley, are very fine and very for- 

 ward, although the wheat in general does not appear to be a 

 heavy crop, " the ears seem as if they would be full from 



