"TALK 'ABOUT THE LAND"
SIR,—In writing a brief reply to Mr. Bates's remarks on my sym- posium, England and the Farmer, I am concerned as editor, not contributor. It is not the first time that Mr. Bates has scoffed at my "sentimental " old-fashionedness : let it pass. But, so far as I can gather from Mr. Bates's covert and ambiguous belittlement of most of the contributors without in a single instance informing the reader what it is they have to say, and, in the case of Mr. Rolf Gardiner, quite shamefully distorting his presentation of a most original set of ideas, he suggests in his evasive manner (a) that the farmer is not epresented in it, (2) the small-holder is not, (3) that the book recom- nds a return to the conditions of 1830, (4) that it is anti-conserva- ve and (5) that it is an attack upon the townsman. There is no substance whatever in any of these innuendos, for that is what they e rather than definite charges. Of the seven authors, three are or ave been farmers. Mr. Adrian Bell's essay is specifically concerned th the small-owner. The book advocates certain principles of mixed lf-sufficient farming without selecting any particular period. It is no sense political, and the first essay is by an extremely well-known nservative. Lastly, it criticises our present economic system in its epercussions upon farming conditions without in any way or in any lace " stigmatising " the townsman. I think these instances are suffi- eat to reveal the disingenuous character of Mr. Bates's review, and t is my business as editor to point them out.—I am, Sir, &c., H. J. MASSINGHAM.
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