12 
LAND & WATER 
August 31, 191O 
is quoted as sayin-:!, *' Fortunately, however, the lov^ of 
the German farmers for their ancestral fields and their 
tenacity even in a time of greatest depression enabled 
them to withstand the economic and political views of 
the wise men of that day." Tenants would not have 
exhibited that same tenacity. In this country they fell 
back on the generous help of their landlords when the 
depression was most acute ; and Mr. Middleton only 
accords bare justice to that class when he says : " Nor 
is it possible for the tenant farmers of the country to 
reckon a second time on the assistance from landowners 
which prevented the ruin of many fariners of arable land 
between 1880 and 1900." Ownership creates an amount 
of enthusiasm and energy which is impossible under any 
other conceivable system of tenure. Would anything 
short of ownership induce the wives and other relatives 
of the French peasant farmers to begin the restoration of 
their little farms actually within reach of (ierman shells :■ 
Two other points must be mentioned, though space 
only allows a passing reference. The first is the very 
considerable rise in the wages of agricultural labourers 
that has taken place generally throughout (lernumy in 
the period under review. The second is tlio immense 
importance in the general economy of farming of the 
sugar beet crop. ''^The beet growers have been the 
pioneers of improv^ed farming in many parts of Germany ; 
animal industry has flourished where sugar beet is grown ; 
finally it is recognised as the crop which produces most 
hvmian food per unit of area. ... .Without it the 
high level to which German agriculture has attained in 
recent years would have been impossible." 
Germany's Economic Doctrine 
Between 1880 and i()00 a marked change took place 
in the doctrines tauglit at the German universities. This 
was not because of any sympathy with the policy of the 
" Party of the Plough,"' whose actions were generally 
deemed selfish ; nor was there any wish to enrich the 
agrarians. German economists, and the majority of 
the people, though well aware that Protection had disad- 
vantages, supported tariffs on agricultural produce because 
they were convinced that their first endeavour must be 
to ensure— not a cheap — but a certain supply of food. 
Having thus taken time by the forelock Germany has been 
able to feed her huge population through two years of 
war, and she is now securing the third harvest, which will 
feed her for a further period of unknown duration. 
When war broke out Britain might conceivably (owing 
to the fact that harvest was just beginning) have had 
at the utmost si.x months' food supply in hand. Had it 
not been for the mobilisation of the British fleet in July, 
iqi4 ; had the German submarine fleet been stronger ; 
or had but a few regrettable accidents occurred, and our 
imported supply of food been obstructed for only a few 
weeks between "October 1914 and February 1915, the war 
would have been endefl twelve months ago, and Germany 
would have dominated the world. 
Side Lights on a Side Show 
By Semsto 
HUN-HUNTING in Equatorial Africa is 'not to 
be recommended as a pastime. In a land where 
the bush is thick, and the bush-tracks few, where 
maps are non-existent, and intelligence in- 
accurate, the task Of pursuing, capturing, or obliterating 
a determined and desperate foe is not one to be under- 
taken with a light heart. 
The X column had been at the game for fifteen months, 
including two rainy seasons. Their base was several 
hundred miles to the rear, and for all supplies they were 
dependent on the country. Both officers and men were 
in rags, and in an extremely irritable condition, due 
as much to the climate as the actual trials of a campaign. 
On the present occasion the column had camped for the 
night in a ruined village — a mere clearing in the bush — 
through which the Huns had passed two days before, 
leaving the usual relics of " Kultur " in the shape of 
the bodies of three of the local inhabitants, festering by 
the path, and that of the unfortunate chief himself 
hanging to the cotton tree in the middle of the viUage, 
under which he and his elders had been wont to sit and 
administer justice. 
It had been raining heavily, and the forest reeked of 
damp. Water dripped from the rafters of the ruined 
houses, formed pools in the miserable village street, and 
filled the shallow trenches which had been hastily dug 
by the column over night. In these the men were sleep- 
ing while the carriers lay .huddled together in the spot 
where they had sat down the night before, too tired to 
cook their food, and careless of the rain which fell upon 
their unprotected bodies, and rose in dank malodorous 
steam. Few surroundings could have been more de- 
pressing, when at 3 a.m. the whistle blew, and one by 
one the oft^icers crept from the rough grass shelters 
beneath which they had been lying. 
The plan of operations for the day was strategically 
.quite a simple one. The main body of the Huns was 
reported to be holding, in force, a village situated in the 
bush, and on rising ground some six miles away. The 
Intelligence Officer had spent most of the night sifting 
what he imagined to be the facts from amidst the cloud 
of fiction contained in the stories of such of the local 
inhabitants as had emerged from their hiding places, 
when satisfied that it was the British and not Germans 
who were in possession of their village. It appeared that, 
contrary to all precedent, the traclcs shown on the In- 
telligence maps did undoubtedly exist : that guides 
familiar with local topography were available ; and that 
this time there was really a chance of circumventing the 
elusive Hun. 
By 4 a.m. the Subaltern was on the march with his 
Company, and by the time dawn broke had made good 
progress along the path which was shown on the sketch 
map previously handed to him by the Intelligence Officer. 
Three hours marching should have brought him to the 
village whence the path branched off ; but by 8 a.m. 
no signs of it had been seen, and the sun was getting high. 
" Village lib for front " was the only information obtain- 
able from the guide who, soon after the start, had evi- 
denced signs of extreme panic, and had made more than 
one effort to escape from the Corporal in charge of the 
point, to whose tender care he had been eritrusted. 
The advance, necessarily cautious as the proSpect of 
running into enemy posts became more likely, was still 
further delayed by the numerous streams and swamps 
A\hich necessitated frequent halts for the benefit of the 
ammunition and machine gun carriers, and to prevent 
gaps in the long file of marching men. By nine, the 
heat was intense, and "^till no sign of the village. 
It became more and more difficult to keep a sense of 
direction, owing to the constant windings of the path, now 
reduced to a mere track. Only an hour remained before 
the main attack was timed to begin, and it became 
painfully clear to the Subaltern that he hn.d lost his way, 
and had now small hope of reaching the position for 
which he was aiming. The Subaltern had decided to call 
a halt and make a last effort to elucidate his whereabouts, 
when a sudden burst of firing on his right front brought 
matters to a climax. As the bullets began to whistle 
through the trees, the point came running back along the 
path, and the whole Comjiany, throwing themselves 
prone among the undergrowth beside the track, aw-aited 
the orders of their officers. The situation was an un- 
promising one. The heaviest firing appeared to proceed 
from a thick clump of palm and plantain which lay on 
the rigiit front ; but after the original outburst, it ap- 
peared to spread along a line almost parallel to that 
on which they had been marching, and to increase in 
'volume when a few answering shots were fired. It was 
impossible to see more than a few feet into the bush, 
while the windings of the path made it equally difficult to 
tell what was happening at different parts of the line. 
The point reported that on emerging into a small clearing, 
some wo yards in front of the advance guard, they had 
