THE M IN PMH
SiR,—Your article " Rational Farming " states: " Labour is only another aspect of the same problem." Though born in London, I have spent, for over 5o years, all available holidays in the country-side, mostly in the Eastern Counties, and have now lived for several years near the Dorset border. Evidence collected in villages during this period shows only too plainly that the more intelligent young people have no wish to work on the land. Even high wages do not tempt them, if I art to believe what farmers and labourers tell me in my own locality. • The reasons are not far to seek. Education has given a broader outlook and aroused resentment against the trumpery snobbery which segregates village life into a series of pretentious strata. The coming higher educa- tional standards will make matters worse, for the rising generation in- evitably will seek an environment wherein they can enjoy a fuller social scope than is offered by the narrow, soul-deadening conventions of the villages.
The labourer's wife also has a powerful influence. Hearing of the amenities enjoyed by relations and friends in towns, who have main drainage, piped water, electricity, shopping facilities, amusements, easy transport and other advantages, she bitterly resents the drudgery of rear- ing a family in what is often little better than a squalid hovel devoid of up to date conveniences. The fact that her children in many cases have to walk two or three miles a day to and from school in all weathers, often to the detriment of their health, also arouses her indignation. To her falls the task of drying their wet clothes, and dealing with any ailments thus incurred. No wonder she presses her man to find a job in or near a town.
When I have put the point-blank question to both farmers and labourers as to what will happen if they fail to provide food for the nation, they seem too nonplussed to formulate an intelligent answer. What is worse, some do not seem to care. Many writers on agricultural matters ignore these aspects of the question. Some even endeavour to invest the country- side with a sentimental romanticism due entirely to .imagination.—Yours
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