Mr. Hosier's success in Wiltshire, a county very heavily depressed,
has been notable ; and, as in all good farming, he has been improving the quality of the ground at the same time that he has made his annual profit. It is difficult to believe In a thing so un-English, so contrary to experience, as the huge hedgeless mechanized farm producing one product ; but the tale of Mr. Hosier's success confirms a phenomenon that struck me more than any other in farming overseas. The successful men were the engineers ; and they were and are successful, in Britain as in South Australia, not because they dislike hedgerows or rotations of crops or mixed farming, but because they can save labour and, what is more, save waste. How many farmers ruin within a short space the few machines they use ; and it is an unhappy fact that even tractors, those invaluable time savers, are being given up on scores of farms
solely because of the formidable bills for repairs often very badly done. * * *
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