A small exhibit of the Ministry of Agriculture was shown
last week at one of the agricultural institutes ; and, in spite of its small proportions, was more interesting—at any rate to the consumer—than most of the more ambitious but also more specialized displays at agricultural shows. It illustrated all or almost all the products to which the national mark can now be affixed, including flour and beef.. The influence of the national mark on marketing has this advantage over any fiscal device, that it continuously grades up the various products. Though progress will be slow, as it is steady, the improvement in quality is very remarkable in fruit and eggs, and in the packing of both. Higher prices have automatically followed higher quality. In respect of grain, especially wheat and barley, the unkindest cut of all has been that high quality has not meant higher price ; and the malady in this form of produce, which was the backbone of farming, is not curable by any marketing device whatever.
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