BEST USE OF THE LAND
SIR,—The writer of the article Farming Revolution in the Spectator of August 12th makes a very true statement when he says that, "The successful farmer is not he who grows the best crops, but he who has been able to work out a rotation which brings in a cash return from the greatest number of acres on the farm." Unfortunately this is what an enormous number of farmers are doing in a half-hearted sort of way, wherever one goes away from the very best land.
If the country is as badly in want of food as is said, one is driven to the conclusion that only the very best farming will be any use ; every acre should produce the maximum of whatever crop it can. This may not in every case he the best-paying crop, but prices will have to be fixed to enable most farmers to grow maximum crops without incurring losses.
I fully appreciate the necessity of rotations to enable good crops to be grown without risk of disease, but that can safely be left to the individual farmer. The main thing is to get enough grown to enable the country to do without so much help from America. There is no doubt that this could be done, not easily, but with an effort. One quite understands the difference between the present time and wartime. Then manures were so scarce that only part of area could get the quantity required, but now manures are plentiful and every effort should be made to get the maximum crop from every acre of land. Travelling by train, one is astonished at the immense area which is only half-farmed.—Yours faithfully, The Wickert, Castleacre, King's Lynn. JAMES KEITH.
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