While the Scandinavian element is regarded by modern writers as the predominating feature in the composition of Englishmen, the Danish has been the pre-eminent force in forming the character of the race which dominates the Lancashire people of to-day. In our survey of the progress of the race, from the earliest settlement of the Danes, we find the impression of their footprints in the place-names of the county, which are our oldest and most enduring monuments. Following their character of daring and venture, we have established a maritime power which is the envy of the world. The same spirit which formed our early settlements in Lancashire has founded colonies in every quarter of the globe. The enterprise of the early "copemen" has developed into our mercantile fleet, which controls the carrying trade of the seas. The voice of their language still resounds in the names of our laws, the "hundreds" of the county, and in our system of administration, and also in the political freedom which has established the saying that "What Lancashire says to-day, England will say to-morrow." In the earliest record of agricultural progress we find the Danes have given us the name of "husbandry," and the modern implement called the "plough." Therefore, in forming an estimate of the benefits which have resulted from our intercourse with the Danes, the primary industry of agriculture and dairy produce must not be omitted. In all other branches of commercial activity, by the application of scientific methods, unbounded progress has been achieved. Has the oldest industry of the county had a share in this attainment of wealth, or its rural population derived advancement? For a period of half-a-century our agricultural leaders have held competitions known as agricultural shows, where valuable prizes have been given for live stock of all descriptions, and rewards for every design of mechanical appliance for agriculture. To a stranger visiting these shows, it would appear that we brooked no rival in the production of dairy produce. What are the facts disclosed by the figures for the past 25 or 50 years? In the "Year Book of the Lancashire Past Agricultural Students' Association" we are told that Parliament handed over, in the year 1890, to local authorities, large sums of money for purposes of technical instruction, and that "this marks the really substantial beginning of agricultural education in Lancashire."

With this statement, made at the opening of the twentieth century, it may be interesting to notice the increase of our imports of Danish dairy produce for a period of eleven years:—

Danish Agriculture.

During the past ten years, says Mr. Consul L. C. Liddell in his report for 1908, Denmark has witnessed a considerable increase.

The exports of agricultural produce, which in 1904 were worth £18,400,000, reached £22,400,000 in 1908. The amount of butter exported to the United Kingdom reaches 96.1 per cent. of the total; of bacon, 97.5 per cent.; and of eggs, 98.8 per cent. The remainder of the butter and bacon goes principally to Germany. Nearly the entire export of horses and cattle is absorbed by the German market, whilst three-fifths of the beef also finds its way thither, the remainder going to Norway.

The labour question has, as in other years, attracted much attention. The number of Swedish and Finnish labourers is decreasing, and it is from Galicia that Denmark would now appear to recruit her farm hands. The number of Galician "season" labourers in 1908 reached 8,000, or about 1,000 more than in 1907. The co-operative organisations approached the Prime Minister with the proposal that free passes should be granted on the State railway system to any unemployed at Copenhagen having a knowledge of field work to help in farming. This attempt to organise a "back to the land" movement is not expected to be attended with success.

These figures show an increase of nearly double in eleven years, or an increase of eight millions, and an increase of two millions from 1906 to 1907.

It must be remembered that the bulk of Danish produce comes to the Manchester market, and is distributed from that centre. An analysis of the 1907 imports from Denmark gives the following details:—Butter £10,192,587, eggs £1,774,319, fish £91,031, lard £17,723, bacon £5,385,275, pork £200,000. The item of bacon for 1907 shows an increase of one million pounds over the year 1906.

The import of Danish produce began in the early sixties of last century, and the quality was so indifferent that we are told it was fortunate if two casks of butter were good out of every five. Even then the quality was superior to Irish butter in its taste and appearance. The population of Denmark is two and a half millions, and the cultivated area of land is seven million acres. The yield of crops to the acre is 28 bushels of wheat, while in England it is 33 bushels. In barley the yield is 30 bushels to our 35 bushels, and in oats it is 33 bushels to our 42. These figures show the comparative fruitfulness of the land to be in favour of England. The live stock per 1,000 population in Denmark is 711 cattle to our 267, and pigs 563 to our 82. The total imports for twenty years show that our dairy produce from abroad has doubled, and is increasing at a rapid rate.

Comparisons of Danish methods of farming to-day cannot be made with the present conditions existing in Lancashire or Yorkshire, but can only be made by the modern conditions now obtaining in Essex under Lord Rayleigh.

Crops Diminishing.

What has been the course of our agriculture for the past sixty years? Mr. Cobden maintained that Free Trade would do no injury to agriculture. The following is a comparison of prices in the years 1845 and 1907:—

Sixty years ago home-grown wheat produced flour for twenty-four millions of our population.G To-day it produces flour for four and a half millions. The acreage under wheat has been reduced in the last thirty years to one-half in England, to one-third in Scotland, and to one-fifth in Ireland. The same is true of green crops. Nine hundred thousand acres less are under crops than were thirty years ago. The same may be said of the area under hop cultivation, which has been reduced every year. The only bright spot in the review of our agricultural position, extending over many years, is to be found in the growth of fruit, although this has not increased as rapidly as foreign importations.

The result of these changes during the last thirty years has been an increase of imports of agricultural produce of eighty millions. Our imports of wheat have increased by thirty-two millions, our imports of dairy produce have increased by twenty-one millions, and eggs alone have increased by four millions sterling a year; while fruit and vegetables have increased by ten and a half millions. The effect of this must be the increased dependence of our population on foreign supplies. Agriculture finds employment for a million less than it did sixty years ago. These are facts and not opinions, and we are compelled to use the figures of the general national imports, as the details of the counties are not available.

National Savings.

Statesmen tell us that the Post Office Savings Bank deposits are a fair indication of the industrial prosperity. In the report of these Post Office Savings Banks we find that Denmark heads the list with £15 11s. per head of the population, while the United Kingdom comes ninth in the list with a sum of £4 11s. per head of the population.

The economy of waste has been the keynote of wealth to many industries, and the adaptability of labour to changed conditions has marked the survival of more than one centre of commercial activity. Individual cases are not wanting to prove that men who have been found unfit to follow their work in mills and town employments through weak health or the effect of accidents, have succeeded, by the aid of a small capital, in becoming model farmers, and have demonstrated the variety of crops and stock which can be raised on a single farm. The bye-products of the manufacturers are often the source of success, and these are the most neglected in the itinerary of the farmer.

The greatest problem which confronts our municipal authorities is the profitable disposal of sewage. Where sewage farms are maintained they are invariably conducted at a heavy loss to the ratepayers, while the adjoining farm tenants often succeed in making profits. To reclaim the land which has gone out of cultivation, by the application of unemployed labour and the disposal of waste and sewage, provides the solution of a difficulty which may become a source of wealth, and restore the prosperity of a lost industry.

Cost of Agricultural Education.

A White paper just issued by the Board of Education gives particulars as to the amount spent by County Councils in England and Wales on agricultural education.

The amounts vary considerably in the different counties for the year ending March, 1908. In England, Lancashire takes the lead with £7,485, and in Wales the county of Carmarthen is prominent with £597.

The gross total amounted to £79,915, of which £21,662 was in grants to schools and colleges, £9,876 for scholarships, and £12,433 for dairy instruction.

The figures are approximate owing to the difficulty of analysing education accounts.

There are not wanting those who say that farming cannot be made to pay in England. Essex has quite a different experience. For here farms, varying in size from 250 acres to 5,000 and over, have been made to return very good profits. The whole secret lies in the work being conducted on scientific principles, and the careful watching of every penny expended, as well as giving the labourers a direct interest in getting good results. On Lord Rayleigh's estate, Terling, which comprises about 5,000 acres, striking results have been obtained during the past twenty years, his successes being attributed to the use of business and scientific methods. For many years past his lordship's brother, the Hon. E.G. Strutt—probably one of the most experienced practical farmers in England—has had the management of the property, and has shown that farming can be carried on with a profit in this country.

Essex is described as flat, but in the neighbourhood of Terling, which abuts on the Great Eastern Railway line at Witham, there are numerous gently undulating plains, and even at this time of the year a stroll along the lanes in the neighbourhood reveals many pleasant surprises. Here and there the hedgerows are already bursting into delicate green buds, and in some places the crops sown during the early winter for spring are showing above the rich dark brow soil. And many are the birds which are already, as it were, getting into voice for the spring. The county hereabouts is heavily wooded, the chief trees being oak, ash, and elm. Many of these are veritable giants and monarchs of the forest, now standing out alone on the sky-line in all their nakedness of winter outline, then in small groups, again in such numbers as to become forests. On every hand are signs of activity. Ploughing for the moment is all over, though there are still fields of stubble which have to be turned over and prepared for crops in the near future. Fields which have already been ploughed are being heavily manured in readiness for sowing. And herein lies one of the secrets of the successful farming prevailing in this favoured neighbourhood. Everyone knows, but not everyone acts upon the knowledge, that as the fertility of the soil is exhausted fresh nutriment must be given. The observance of this rule brings its own reward, as many have learned to their advantage. Hedging and ditching are in progress, and by the time that all hands will be required on the land for ploughing, scarifying, harrowing, and sowing, hedges will have been trimmed and ditches cleaned.

Some eighteen or twenty years ago Lord Rayleigh decided to offer all his farm labourers, who number about 250, bonuses on the profits of their industry. This scheme proved eminently successful; so much so, indeed, that Lord Rayleigh has now gone a step further and offered to give every man who cares to invest his savings in his farms 4 per cent. interest on such money, and a share in any profits which may accrue after that dividend has been paid. A very large proportion of the men employed have taken advantage of this offer, which gives them close upon 2 per cent. more than they were getting from the Post Office Savings Bank, where they had been in the habit of putting their money, for they are a thoroughly respectable, self-respecting, and frugal community. It is now just a year since this offer was first made, and the employees put up over £1,000, in sums ranging from £1 to £100, the latter sum coming from a man who had banked all the bonuses he earned, along with savings from twenty-five years' earnings.

Lord Rayleigh's idea was to get the men not only to study thrift, but to take a keener interest in their daily work. It has been said that that man is a public benefactor who gets two blades of grass to flourish where but one grew before. His lordship has a far higher satisfaction in advancing the position of the men in his employment. In effect this is what he said to them: "My farms represent so much money to me; now for every £1 which you put in I will guarantee you 4 per cent. After we have all had our 4 per cent., such surplus profit as may be left, if any, will be divided between us pro rata." The result of the first year's farming under this form of co-partnership has been very satisfactory. Everyone has not only been paid the guaranteed 4 per cent., which was distributed recently, but each labourer has also received a share in the sum which was over after paying out that amount. While Mr. Strutt declined to disclose the exact amount of the remaining profit, he hinted that the extra interest might quite possibly be as much as a further 4 per cent. Whatever it is, every labourer who put his savings into Lord Rayleigh's hands is congratulating himself upon his good fortune, and, as saving begets saving, there is a prospect that none of these beneficiaries will ever need the old age pension.

Lord Rayleigh has made only two stipulations with his men, both aimed at unity of administration. One is that they cannot have any voice in the management of the estate, which Mr. Strutt naturally works to the best advantage, and the other is that only the savings of the labourer himself and his wife may be offered for investment in the farms.

Probably there is no farm where such intricate or such useful books are kept as on the Terling estates. Practically every field is treated as a separate farm in itself. Say, for instance, a field is to be sown with wheat. It has to be ploughed, the cost of which is charged in the book against that field, as also the value of the manure used, the price of the seeds sown, and all the time occupied in preparing the land, and, later on, in cutting the wheat, threshing, and sending it to market. On the opposite page of the ledger is put the amount obtained for the grain, and the value of the straw, whether sold or used on the farms. A balance can then be struck, and the profit or loss shown at a glance. On the profit shown, those who did the various necessary labours receive their bonus. So with every field. But the system does not end here. A most careful record is kept, for example, of every cow—the original cost, if bought, the amount of milk she yields per year, of her calves, and what they fetch when sold, or their value if retained on the estate. Every Friday, the morning and evening milkings are accurately measured, and at the end of the year these figures are added up and multiplied by seven for the seven days of the week. In this way it is known exactly how much milk each cow gives. The annual average should be about 800 gallons, which is regarded as a very fair amount. There is, however, one cow, Lilac by name, which seems to despise that average. Last year her yield of milk was no less than 1,457 gallons, which is a big record, even on the Terling estates.

Mr. Strutt reckons that a cow should give on an average 650 gallons of milk per year, and the cowmen get a bonus when the yield of the cows in their charge average that amount. The advantage of such records are enormous. If a cow does not give 650 gallons of milk per annum, she is at once sold, as she does not pay for her keep. As there are no less than 800 cows on the estate, the keeping of such records involves an enormous amount of work, but it is work which has a profitable result, facilitating, as it does, the weeding out of poor dairy stock.

The same attention is paid to other departments. Records are kept of the sheep, of which there are considerable flocks scattered over the fifteen farms comprised in the estate. It is the same with poultry, of which there are thousands roaming about the farms, grubbing much of their food, but, of course, some is thrown down for them in the various poultry yards. No hens are penned up on the estate. While that course is necessary where prize-show birds are reared, in the case of table poultry and poultry kept for eggs pens are neither essential nor profitable. With freedom the birds lay more regularly, and are generally in better condition for the table.

Asked as to whether eggs were not lost owing to the hens laying in the hedges, Mr. Isted, who is in charge of the office where all the various books of record are kept, said that few, indeed, if any, are overlooked by those responsible, because of the system of bonuses given by Lord Rayleigh, to which reference has already been made. Those in charge of the hens receive a reward on every score of eggs brought in. Every head of poultry reared also means a monetary benefit to the workers.

Daily between 60 and 80 17-gallon churns of milk are despatched to London. It is said that from no station along the Great Eastern Railway line is more milk sent to the Metropolis than from Witham. At present about 100 of these churns leave the station every day, all the milk coming from the immediate neighbourhood. Eggs are also sent to the Rayleigh Dairies in vast quantities. Every egg is carefully tested before it leaves the estate. The poultry is disposed of through middlemen. Other produce is sold in the Essex markets—at Chelmsford, Colchester, Witham, and Braintree. This would include all the cereals not used on the farm, and such hay as was not required for the stock during winter.

Down in Essex wages are regarded as generally good by the farm labourers. At least there is a distinct tendency on the part of the men to remain on the soil. Horsemen receive 14s. a week, cowmen 14s. and 15s., the head cowmen getting generally 18s. and 20s., while other farm hands earn from 13s. to 15s. Living is very cheap, and rents are low. A good, comfortable cottage, with a decent bit of garden, where vegetables can be grown, can be had for £4 or £5 a year. Should a man require more ground he can get it at a nominal annual rent of 3d. per rod—that is, a piece of ground measuring 5½ yards each way. Quite a number of men avail themselves of this offer, and as they knock off work at five p.m., they put in their evenings on their own "estate."

It is true that Lord Rayleigh has only tried his new system of investment, as well as interest in the farms, for a year, but the results amply justify the experiment. So satisfied are the men themselves that many have asked to be allowed to invest their share of the interest earned and their new bonuses in the estate. It would seem that here, at least, is a possible project for checking the ever-increasing rush of young men to the towns, where, while wages may be higher, the conditions are not conducive to either personal or patriotic well-being. The great feature of Lord Rayleigh's plan is that it is a distinctly profit-sharing one, for no reform, however attractive, can be economically good unless it is financially sound.

With wheat in a rising market at 50s. a quarter, the granaries of the world holding back supplies a considerable proportion of which are already cornered in America—and bread dearer than it has been for many years, the question of the moment is, Can England become her own wheat grower?

Fourteen weeks after harvest the home supplies are exhausted. Britain needs altogether, both home and foreign, 30,000,000 quarters of wheat per annum to provide her people with bread. Out of the total area of 32,000,000 acres under crops of all sorts in the country only 1,625,000 acres are devoted to the growth of wheat. English climatic conditions can be relied upon to allow an average production of three and a half quarters per acre.

The solution of the problem, therefore, is simplicity itself. A matter of 8,000,000 acres taken from those devoted meantime to other crops, to pasturage (to say nothing of deer forests, grouse moors, golf links), or even lying waste, and developed for wheat growing would produce, roughly speaking, the extra 28,000,000 necessary to our annual national food supply.

Millions of acres of the land at present in other crops has grown wheat at a profit in the past. In the sixties and seventies the staple commodity was at its most remunerative price. In 1867 it touched the enormous average of 64s. 5d. per quarter, while later, in 1871 and 1873, it stood at 56s. 8d. and 58s. 8d. per quarter.

With the countries of the East—India, China, Japan—awakening to the potentialities of wheat as a food in place of rice, with America's prairies becoming used up and her teeming millions multiplying, and with Canada, Australia, and Argentina remaining at a standstill as regards wheat production, it is clear that England ought to become self-sufficing.

To attain the desired end the vast possibilities of the agricultural science of to-day must be appreciated and developed by every possible means.

What can be done within England's own borders is the chief point to be considered, and some experiments and experiences may point the way.

The first question is, would home produced wheat pay? Farmers tell us that at 30s. a quarter wheat is just worth growing, but that each shilling over 30s. means about 5s. clear profit. Would not wheat at 40s. an acre be worth cultivating?

As to the practical ways and means of obtaining this sum out of the soil, I must detail some of the more modern scientific methods in agriculture.

I have said that 8,000,000 acres of the present area under crops could make us independent of foreign supplies. By applying certain simple rules of selection regarding seeds, a much smaller area of land would give the same result.

Instead of 3½ quarters per acre—the present average—the yield could be doubled, or even trebled. Thirty years ago, in France, three quarters an acre was considered a good crop, but the same soil with improved methods of cultivation nowadays yields at least four quarters per acre; while in the best soils the crop is only considered good when it yields five quarters to six quarters an acre.

The work of the Garton brothers and of Professor Biffen, of Cambridge University, has clearly shown that by careful selection and crossing of the best breeds of wheat the yield can be actually quadrupled.

Hallet's famous experiments in selection demonstrate that the length of the wheat ear can be doubled, and the number of ears per stalk nearly trebled. The finest ear he developed produced 123 grains, as against 47 in the original ear, and 52 ears to one plant, as against ten in the original.

In agriculture, as in other matters in which England claims to take a leading part, we have something to learn from the Continent. France, Belgium, and Germany have adopted a system of co-operation which has reduced the cost of farming to the smallest possible limit. From a fund supplied partly by the Governments of these countries and partly by the farmers themselves, small farms, manures, seeds, machinery, etc., are provided on a co-operative basis. Would not a system on similar lines have far-reaching results in this country?

Perhaps the most interesting suggestion, the newest in the fields of scientific agriculture research, is the inoculation of the soil with bacteria. Through these wonder-working germs which live in the nodules of plant roots multiplication of the free nitrogen in the air goes on with great rapidity, and this, united with other elements, forms valuable plant food.

Recent experiments, the results of which have not yet been made public, show that good crops of wheat may be grown in the poorest soil; indeed, the Scriptural injunction about sowing seeds in waste places no longer bears scientific examination. On an area which was little more than common sand crops inoculated with bacteria gave an increased yield of 18 per cent.

Wheat grown on the lines I have touched upon within the United Kingdom, and paying the grower 40s. per quarter, would go far to solve every social and economic problem known. There would be work for all in the country districts, and consequently less poverty in the towns, and to the nation's resources would be conserved the enormous annual expenditure on foreign wheat of £67,000,000.

Earl Carrington, President of the Board of Agriculture, presided at a meeting of the Society of Arts, when a paper upon the production of wheat was read by Mr. A.E. Humphries. His lordship gave some very interesting jottings from family history, showing the great advance that had taken place in the scale of living. The subject of the lecture, he said, reminded him that over 100 years ago his grandfather, who was President of the Board of Agriculture, made a speech in which he said that one of the most important subjects with which the Board had to deal was the scarcity of wheat. It was curious that they were discussing the same subject to-day. His father, who was born 103 years ago, had often told him that in the early part of last century they did not have white bread at every meal, as it was so scarce. If that happened at the table of old Robert Smith, the banker, at Whitehall, what must the bread of the working classes have been like!

In the five years from 1878 to 1882, said Mr. Humphries in his lecture, we produced 117 lb. of wheat per head per annum, and imported 238 lb., while in the years from 1903 to 1907 we produced only 68 lb. per head, and imported 284 lb. For many years British wheat had been sold at substantially lower prices than the best foreign, and in the capacity of making large, shapely, well-aerated and digestible loaves the home-grown grain was notably deficient. It was commonly attributed to our climate, and people said that Great Britain was not a wheat producing country. The real reason was that farmer did not grow the right kind of wheat. It was not a matter of climate or of soil, but of catering for the particular kind of soil in which the grain was to be grown. The crux of the whole question was to obtain a variety of seed that would suit the environment. Farmers, instead of aiming at quality, had striven to get as large a yield per acre as possible.

The Hon. J.W. Taverner, Agent-General for Victoria, said that he had heard a lot of talk about the efficiency of the Territorial Army and the safety of the country. If only the men were fed on bread baked from Australian wheat England had nothing to fear, for the men would be equal to anything.