20 OCTOBER 1928, Page 17

SIC VOS, NON VOBIS.

The Scandinavian thinks (on the other hand) that they ought to be, not proud, but modest, and knows that they are not prosperous but depressed. Now it is perfectly true that the sale of pure bred stock for export is a bagatelle. The total sum is of next to no account in the nation's bill. It does not reach a million pounds at the height of a boom. It does not represent the half of a half per cent. of the money we spend annually on imported agricultural produce. On the other hand if we could raise the yield of our cows, say to the Dutch level of 700 to 800 gallons a year, or breed a pig that is standardized and suited to the factory, we should add millions a year to the national wealth. While we sell an occasional bull worth £10,000 to the Argentine, a great number of our West Country farmers use so-called " scrub bulls" that, are unlikely to get a 200 gallon cow. This argument is irrefutable. Grading up the quality of the ordinary farmer's stock is a much more economic ambition than winning an odd prize in the export market. We sell the best bulls and use the very worst.

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