Sir Thomas Middleton's able new book, in the Carnegie Endowment
series, is at once an account of what was done during the War to increase the production of food at home and an examination of the fundamental question of Grass versus Tillage which is always with us. Sir Thomas Middleton, who was Deputy Director of the Food Production Department, estimates that the campaign of 1917-19 cost about £8,000,000 gross, which, as he says, was but a modest premium to insure us against the risk of semi-starvation. He sums up the permanent problem as relating to about 6,000,000 acres on the margin " of tillage ; there will always be 28,000,000 acres of grass and 12,000,000 acres of amble, but the balance may or may not be tilled, according to circumstances. lie suggests that the cultivator might be relieved of part of the burden of rates and taxes which deters him from using the plough.
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