442 



Ageicultural Executive Committees. [Aug., 



efforts to persuade the owner to let the farm to a capable tenant, 

 and finally, with the approval of the Ministry, took possession of 

 the land and began to cultivate it, the owner and occupier being 

 left in possession of the farmhouse. The owner and occupier 

 obstructed the Committee and threatened violence, and for this 

 they were summoned and each fined £25 and „£10 costs. The 

 land has now been let by the Committee to a tenant who has 

 made good progress with the cultivation. 



A farm of 216 acres in Kent was taken over early in 1917 in 

 a deplorable condition, having been occupied by a tenant with 

 no knowledge of farming. The tenant was allowed to remain on 

 the farm as foreman under the instructions of a supervisor 

 appointed by the Committee, and the Ministry's technical expert 

 reported in August, 1918, that a "marvellous transformation" 

 had taken place in the cultivation, in spite of the handicap of an 

 inefficient foreman. The tenancy was subsequently determined, 

 and the farm is still in the hands of the Committee. 



In Warwickshire a farm of about 450 acres was taken m hand 

 in 1917. 800 acres had not been farmed for thirty years, and 

 the land was overgrown with thorn bushes and infested with 

 rabbits. Prisoner of war labour was obtained, and nnder the 

 efficient management of a member of the Executive Committee 

 the whole farm was brought into a good state of cultivation. It 

 has recently been sold, and out of the purchase money the 

 Ministry has by arrangement been paid the sura of .i^2,400, 

 which will go to recoup the money expended in reclaiming and 

 cultivating the land. 



Very successful results have attended the cultivation of a large 

 area of derelict glebe land in Cambridgeshire. The proper treat- 

 ment of this land was rendered very difficult by the absence of 

 buildings, and the land was overgrown with bushes and required 

 a great deal of labour to bring it into cultivation. This has now 

 been accompHshed, and excellent crops of corn have been grown. 



In this and other cases where Agricultural Executive 

 Committees have cultivated derehct land, the value of their work 

 has consisted in a large degree in exemplifying the practical 

 apphcation of scientific and up-to-date principles to the manage- 

 ment of neglected and naturally poor land. 



Members and officers of Agricultural Executive Committees 

 have given much time, as well as practical knowledge and abihty, 

 to the task of making a success of what has been, in many cases, 

 a somewhat hazardous experiment, and it is confidently hoped 



