BRITISH FARMING
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—The writer of " Women's Part in British Farming " places his (or her) finger on a vital need. The days of slip- shod farming are past. If this, our greatest industry, is again to flourish, science and organization must replace traditional methods. Of no side of farm life is this more true than of the contribution made by the farmer's wife and daughter. The study of milk records enables unprofitable cows to be replaced by others giving from two to three times the amount of milk Substitution of good-laying table strains for haphazard "keeping of hens " enormously increases profit, and with the 1 advent of grading and guaranteeing of farm produce, in this country still in its infancy, another avenue of profit is opening.
British agriculture urgently needs skilled women workers, but the provision made for this is woefully inadequate. There is only one Residential College for women in England and Wales At Studley College, Warwickshire, over 1,200 girls have taken courses and are farming their own land either here or in the Dominions, or are occupying salaried posts.
May I ask your readers to help us in placing the College on a permanent foundation, thus raising a practical memorial to the women who did such splendid work on the land during the .War ? Our first important money-making effort is a Show and 'Sale in the *Hoiticultural Hall, Westminster, kindly lent by the Royal Horticultural Society on Thursday, April 25th. This will be opened at 12.0 mid-day by H.R.H. Princess Mary, and in view of the national importance of the work done at Studley, will not each reader of the Spectator send to the Sale a contribution of flowers, fruit, eggs, butter, cream, cheese, or Poultry, or send a cheque or postal order to the Honorary Treasurer of our Fund, Mr. H. Keeling, C.A., 26 Eccleston Street, S.W. 1.—I am, Sir, &c.
E. LONDONDERRY, President. ,
Studley College, Warwickshire.
Previous page
