of the country through livestock improvement schemes. In recent years considerable advance has been made in this direction through the schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, and what is now required is an intensification of this work. It is, however, deserving of careful consideration whether the State should not take further powers, such as have been in operation in many other countries, requiring the registration and inspection of breeding stock with a view to the elimination of scrub stock. It is interesting to observe that recently the Government of Northern Ireland has extended its powers for the compulsory registration of certain classes of breeding stock. Extended provisions of premium stock at different centres for breeding purposes, as under the livestock schemes in Ireland and in this country, can do much to raise the general class of animals. The great improvement which has taken place since 1900 in the livestock of Ireland is an example of the aid which State livestock schemes can give to the farming community, and particularly to the small farmers.

219. Similarly, the schemes for milk recording have been of great benefit and every effort should be made to encourage the growth in number and efficiency of milk recording societies. The increase in the wealth of the community through the selection of stock based on records offers a permanent and progressive line of economy. In every branch of the livestock industry the organisation of grading and recording is an important function which the State can assist. It is evident that this is a field. in which progress can be made effectively only with the active co-operation of the farming community and societies for this purpose should be steadily developed.

220. (b) Improvement of Crops.-An important advance has been made in other countries by the extended use of good strains of seed, and the work of the seed-testing and plant-breeding stations has been highly remunerative. The history of Svalöf in Sweden and of the Plant Research Station in Copenhagen shows how valuable these institutions can be. The establishment in recent years of the National Institute of Agricultural botany at Cambridge, and the growth of seed-testing work in other parts of the country, mark the progress of the movement in this country, but it is desirable that there should be yet further extension; so as, in the first place, to secure thoroughly reliable data from all classes of soil in different parts of the country, as to the varieties which are most prolific and of the highest quality, and in the second place, to put the information in the hands of the farmers. There is room for great improvement in the selection of varieties. The interest in the subject in farming circles has certainly increased but much more could be done. towards increasing yields through a wider use of the best varieties and strains. It is also very desirable that some organisation should be devised for enabling seed supplies to reach the farmer at reasonable rates.

221. (c) Standardisation of Produce.-We have been impressed with the rapid extension which has been made by the Department of Agriculture in the United States and in the British Dominions in fixing grades or standards for many of the staple agricultural products. We recognise the difference between conditions in these countries and in Britain, but it is evident that our home producers will have to face increasing competition from carefully graded supplies, and we therefore consider that the methods of official grading and standardisation in other countries should be carefully examined with a view to such action as may be desirable in this country.*

222. (d) Control of Weeds and Vermin.-The increase of production is also to be secured through the prevention of waste. Two of the great sources of waste and loss to agriculture are weeds and vermin. A stricter enforcement is necessary of regulations requiring the cutting of weeds and the proper maintenance of ditches, hedges, &c. In particular the owner of land which is left unoccupied and uncultivated, should be required to keep it clear of weeds. It is discouraging to good farming when, in adjoining lands, weeds are allowed to grow and seed the countryside. More effective steps are required to deal with this evil, and also with land which is allowed to become bushed over through neglect. Agriculturists generally have a strong dislike of control, but a clear distinction should be made between controls. There should be a general public opinion in favour of controls which deal with such matters as weeds and the neglect of land. Controls which require farmers to plough up land or to carry out cultivation orders on particular lines are very different, and against them there are weighty grounds of objection.

223. The second great source of loss is vermin. Much stricter action is required. Great loss is incurred by the depredations of rabbits, and the expense to the farmer of maintaining rabbitproof wiring for the safeguarding of his crops is a serious consideration. Persons who have property on which they allow rabbits to increase, for one reason or another, should be required to provide effective rabbit-proof fences around their land, that the neighbouring farmer is secured against loss and has not himself to undertake the heavy expenditure of wiring. We have derived the impression from observation that the farmers of Denmark and other North-Western European countries, suffer much less loss from rabbits than do our farmers.

SO

224. No less serious is the loss from rats and other small vermin, and the campaigns carried out in recent years should be prosecuted with increasing vigour. Any centres which are infested with vermin should be dealt with, in the event of the failure of the occupier to take adequate steps to cope with the evil. The farmer who is endeavouring to clear his own holding

* See Report of the Secretary, Year Book 1922, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1923.

from vermin suffers considerably from invasion of these pests from adjoining properties, and it is probable that only community action on compulsory lines can effectively deal with the evil. Each year many millions of pounds worth of agricultural produce is destroyed by vermin; and the danger to the community is by no means measured by the monetary loss, for there is a constant menace to the health, not only of the stock but of the community itself.

F.-Transport and Power and Rural Industries.

225. Transport.-Foreign countries have assisted agriculture on State Railways by giving favourable terms to certain classes of agricultural produce, and in the case of Belgium in particular, transport has been helped by a network of light road railways. We wish, however, to direct attention particularly to one aspect of the transport problem, namely road transport. The economy in the marketing of agricultural produce by means of a system which can pick up goods at the farm and deliver them at the final destination makes road motor and steam transport a factor of very great importance for agriculture; and one of the most effective safeguards against undue railway rates will lie in the extension of competition from road transport. We believe that the organisation of services of road transport to meet agricultural requirements deserves special attention. In the case of the marketing of perishable produce and of livestock there is a great advantage in the speed and economy in handling which motor transport provides. Here also we must look ultimately to the principles of co-operation amongst farmers as providing the most effective. means of dealing with this problem. We would urge that the State should examine carefully the developments of road transport for agricultural produce both in this country and in foreign countries and that experiments in organisation should be carried out. The Development Commission some years ago made a limited investigation, but there is room for much more inquiry and for the dissemination and publication of infor

mation.

226. Power. We wish to direct attention also to the striking extension which has been taking place in the use of power in foreign agricultural communities. Power is now widely used throughout the Scandinavian countries and in many parts of France, Germany, Italy and other States. It is noteworthy that in 1922 no less than 1,400 rural co-operative societies for the use of electric power were established in Germany and there are now over 4,000 of these societies in Germany alone. The most interesting case, however, is that of Denmark, because, unlike Germany on the one hand and Norway and Sweden on the other, that country has neither coal nor water available for the cheap manufacture of power. Yet despite these handicaps there have been established all over Denmark large societies for the manufacture and distribution of power, which is now widely used by the larger farmers and is gradually being extended to the small

farms. It is not uncommon to find electric power on a farm of even less than fifty acres. With power there is the further advantage of the supply of light which greatly facilitates farm work, especially in the winter, and adds greatly to the amenity of farm life. Still more common, in fact almost universal, except on the very smallest farms, is the telephone. The Danish farmer is thus to an increasing extent supplied with power, light and telephone, all of them most valuable aids to the business of the farm. It should be stated that the supply of power is provided by private companies without State subsidy in Denmark and yet at rates which the Danish farmer can pay, and that the telephone service is not only cheap but exceedingly efficient. In all these respects England is far behind the organisation of Denmark and has much to learn from it. It is a striking fact that in a country like England, with power resources both of water and coal, and with a much denser population to the square mile, lighting, power and telephone facilities should have remained so very limited in their development in rural areas. In this connection it should be pointed out that the growth of subsidiary rural industries would also be greatly facilitated by a wide extension of the supply of power.

227. Wireless.-Cognate to this aspect of power is the question of wireless, which has a special value in the service of agriculture and country life generally. The greatest progress in the use of wireless for agricultural purposes is to be found in the United States, where the Federal Department has for some time past organised a wireless system, with stations over the country which are used for broadcasting weather reports, market news, and other information which the up-to-date farmer requires. But apart from this, wireless can be of high value in lessening the isolation of country life and particularly of the more remote homesteads. The economic aspects of the problem of agriculture and rural life can never be kept apart from the social question. Standards of comfort and amenity in the rural districts, housing, water supply, roads, educational facilities and opportunities for social recreation are an important part of the rural problem, and whether we consider Denmark or the United States, we find an increasing attention being paid to the problem of "better living," as well as of "better farming " and "better business."

228. Subsidiary Rural Industries.-Much greater attention has been given, particularly in Germany, Austria and some of the smaller European States, to subsidiary rural industries. We do not propose to deal with this question, except to say that the work which has been organised within recent years under the Development Commission, in the field of rural industries at home, and in the development of the Rural Industries Intelligence Bureau and the Central Co-operative Association to assist the provision of supplies and the sale of produce, and the attention paid particularly by the National Federation of Women's Institutes to the establishment of rural industries, are steps in the

direction of the extension of this minor side of rural economy which deserve steady support. The appointment of County Council Sub-Committees on Rural Industries has also in certain counties proved a useful step, but the work of these sub-committees has been checked by lack of funds. This matter, however, is not unimportant, for there is closely related to agriculture a considerable range of crafts, and the supply of men with manual and mechanical training is an economy to the farm and to the rural community. At the present time there is difficulty in getting service in the supervision and repair of the increasing amount of farm machinery, oil engines, tractors and other forms of power, which are part of the equipment of modern farming. There is often a lack of proper use and care for machinery on the farm, but undoubtedly the willingness of farmers to take up new types of machinery is checked by the experience of the difficulties which they have found in getting the maintenance and repair of machinery attended to with expedition and at reasonable cost. This affects all, but especially arable, farming. We urge, therefore, the active resumption of the policy which was entered on at the end of the war, but which has been largely abandoned for financial reasons, namely, the re-establishment of Rural Industries sub-committees to assist the maintenance and development of the minor industries which form part of rural economy. There is no reason why a steady if small increase in employment should not thereby be secured in the country districts. The value, moreover, of such a development cannot be measured only in terms of the numbers employed; its value also consists in the greater self-sufficiency of the rural areas, and it is thus a not unimportant aspect of rural community organisation.

229. Forestry. We have also given attention to Forestry in its relation to our Terms of Reference, i.e., so far as employment on the land and the prosperity of agriculture are concerned. It has not been possible, owing to the wide nature of our Reference, to give adequate consideration to this problem, but in noting the main lines of evidence as to the relation between forestry and agricultural employment in other countries, and the several reports which have been presented on the subject of forestry in this country within recent years, we would direct attention to the following points. First, that while, relatively to agriculture, the number of persons employed in forestry is small, forestry is a valuable auxiliary to agricultural employment. In certain areas of France and. Germany, the peasants or small-holders find in forestry a useful supplementary source of winter employment. Secondly, the provision of timber supplies is always a valuable asset to agriculture, because of the large amount of timber which is required in farm work for fencing, buildings and other purposes; nor should the importance of the supply of fuel, which is afforded locally, be overlooked. A further consideration is the shelter which is provided by woodlands, and the fact that