The last months have seen ploughs, harrows, rollers and drills hard at work, and the land in most parts of the country, mellowed by the sharp frosts, is working well and coming down to that fine friable tilth which all agriculturists are so thankful to see. Time has been taken by the forelock, and much lee-way that was quite unavoidable has been made up, writes E. Walford Lloyd in the "Field."
Undoubtedly the official promise that labour should be forthcoming to harvest the crops now sown has had a great effect upon the minds of farmers who, previously, have felt somewhat dubious about growing certain crops that needed much labour to harvest. Timely promises from one who has in the past always kept faith with those to whom he made the promises can do nothing but good, for the farming industry is only anxious to do its best for the national cause, and it only asks that it should enjoy a margin of profit over and above the costs of production, and that too much skilled labour should not be taken for the fighting Services, when, as was stated, the work of those engaged in agriculture is just as important as that of those in the fighting line.
With these assurances to hearten us, we must go forward with a stout heart to the completion of the ploughing campaign now under way, and be ready to tackle the next demand that is sure to be made on us and our ploughs.
There are plenty of difficulties to be faced, and I would just like to touch on one briefly, because it is constantly cropping up and I am so often spoken to on the subject I mean the question of the cottage on a farm where there are possibly only the bare minimum of cottages, and where perhaps one or two of these cottages are occupied by the wives of men who are serving. Náturally no humane farmer would wish to turn these women and children out; in fact, he could not do so unless he found alternative, accommodation at the same rent, but all the same I have come across some very hard cases where the cottage is absolutely essential to the proper utilization of the land for food production, and where it cannot be made use of at all A farmer cannot billet single men on a woman and children, and married men cannot be engaged because there is nowhere to house them. Don't think I am advocating action against the families of serving men, please; but I am pointing out one of the difficulties with which our farmers have to contend, and of which little is known by the general public.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.