SOME QUESTIONS ON AGRICULTURE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Six,--The writer of the article "Some Questions en Agri! culture" may have sonic knowledge of the business and its economics, but surely he is in error when in discussing gross income per acre, he says, " the protection which will keep the £400 per 100 acre man alive will be to bestow a wholly gratuitous endowment on his £1,000 colleague." I should have thought it just the other way round, at low prices the £400 man may be doing quite well and the £1,000 man very badly.
I farm just over 3,000 acres of good amble land, partly in Norfolk and partly in Aberdeenshire, and for years have been running the whole on a 11,200 per 100-acre scale of pm- duction, and till recently have been doing fairly well, but three successive indifferent harvests in Norfolk, together with low prices, have convinced me that a lower scale is advisable and I have decided to reorganize the Norfolk part of the business on a £400 to £500 per 100-acre basis of pro- duction, a figure at which I can budget to make ends meet and have some return for my capital and industry. The national interest I must overlook. The Government must just deal with my contribution to unemployment and the adverse trade balance as best they can. I regret it very much, but I am no use to the State bankrupt.—I am, Sir, &e., Pihnedden, Udny, Aberdeenshire.
JAMES KEITII,
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