A Farmer's Creed
Farmer's Progress. By George Henderson. (Faber. los. 6d.) HERE is another practical farmer who has decided that he is on the side of the ancients when it comes to making farming pay. Although Mr. George Henderson. stakes that this book has been written not only as a companion to his earlier work, The Farming Ladder, but to advise others in the future, it is much more than a collection of warnings and pieces of advice to those about to farm. Nor is it a mere chronicle of the achievements of a self-made man, redeemed- by the obvious sincerity at sense of dedication of the author ; it is a convincing vindication of farming methods known and practised by our grandfathers and long held in disrepute by the scientists and " moderns."
In writing of the three facets of farming, as an art, a craft and a business, he comes down to earth in no uncertain fashion, avoiding all sentimentality and pointing the way for the future development of agriculture in this country by testing the discoveries of agricul- tural scientists with the traditional craftsmanship of our farming forefathers. He says that " it never seemseto be realised that the scientist can make no allowance for whaj he does not know, and that it is the cautious practical farmer who saves the industry from the colossal blunders which would otherwise be made." In this he is right ; as many practical farmers, especially the successful ones, will agree.
Although his corn is harvested in the usual way, he keeps a flail in the barn and uses it on the threshing floor to get thatching straw from six-foot sheaves. That is the kind of wisdom which has helped to carry him through the slumps. of the past quarter of a century and change his farm from a derelict to a show-piece. It is one with his farming philosophy whist' he has acquired entirely from his contact with natural things and with those who have spent their lives in natural, yet far from humdrum. surroundings and activities. This springs in-the main from his firmly-held faith in the principle that farmers " should leave the land for which they are responsible far better than they found it," and from his love for the land, I love that is dwp indeed and which has brought him more happiness in returnVhan the majority of men can hope to know.
In these days of the frenzied search for the " efficient farming unit," which, it is fiercely advocated by agricultural economists, can only be one of broad acres farmed in the manner of the prairie and the ranch, it is a joy to find someone who is ready to quote his own practice and experience in support of the small, mixed farm— worked by the family labour of the owner—as 'by far- the most productive of all kinds of farms. Added to this " heresy " is another in which Mr. Henderson demolishes the theory that artificial fertilisers are all that is necessary for an ever-increasing agricultural production. He says simply that, although he once doubted those old farmers who, in his youth, told him that " there is nothing like muck," he has now long known them to be right, and that highest production is obtained by the use of organic and artificial manures together in the proper proportions. And to this end he is convinced that the four families of farm livestock, fed almost entirely on home- grown fodder and grazed in the traditional order, must be kept on every farm • there is no place in this pattern for " specialised farming." Whether all will agree with his intense dislike and distrust of the Agricultural Committees, the Advisory Service and all agricul- tural colleges is a question ; but many working farmers will be with him in his demand that officialdom shall leave them alone.
The author is now travelled and well-read. It is a pity that ho had not more time in early life for relaxation, for this might have softened his sense of superiority over other men. The ancients always made room in their farming for the play of pipe and tabor.
G. P. MARTIN.
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