New Britain herald., 1916-08-03

l to be devoted to it by almost as much 1 again as is specified in the bill. 8. The importation of natives from
 South Africa for agricultural labor l during the remainder of the war, 1 though so mary objections have been
 raised to this that there is little like
 lihood of its being adopted.
 It is believed that the plan for ' bringing back soldiers from the front
 will have the effect of providing farm labor practically immediately. Tn announcing the War Offices consent | to the transfers, an expert told the Agricultural Society that in England and Scotland, as well as in Ireland, 1 the farms in many districts had fallen far below their minimum needs in the matter of labor.
 The tendency to regard more seri-
 ously the country's capacity for grow
 ing larger crops is illustrated by the figures of the wheat, barley and oats
 crops in England and Wales. Wheat
 and oats were grown in larger quan-
 titles, though the barley crops were much smaller There were 5,4S9,939
 acres devoted to the three cereals in England and Wales in 1915, an in crease of 248,O44 acres as compared
 
 acreage was devoted to wheat, or ?, 2,17O,17O acres in all, the figure repre- senting an increase of 362,672 acres (20 per cent.) greater than in 1914, and 25 per cent. greater than during any of the years between 1905 and 1915. Every country returned lrT- creased areas, the total for Wales of II ,263 acres (31 per cent.) being the greatest.
 The returns for 1915 give 2,08S.047 acres under oats, an increase of l5S,- 421 acres as compared with 1914, but only 24,869 acres above the average for the past ten years. The whole of this increase was in England. The reduction of the areas under barley to 15S, ,421 acres, the total acreage of 1,231,722 being the low est yet recorded. Perhaps to no in. dividual as much as to the Earl oH 1 Selbourne is due the credit of bring 1 ing home to the people of all classes the importance of taking prompt | means of making the country more l nearly self-supporting in food stuffs | Tn all of his addresses in recent years 1 he has laid stress on the point A practical farmer and enthusiast on his large and fertile tract in Hampshire ne has been able to meet the objec- lions of opponents of expert knowl- edge to the great advantage of his crusade.
 As under-secretary for the colonies between 1895 and 1900 as we'll as dur ng his term of office as high commits 'ioner of South Africa immediately after the war he had further opportu- nity of enlarging his nowledge as % agriculture.
 Just before resigning as president 'f the board of agriculture the other lay as a matter of principle due to lis views on the Irish question, Lord 'elbOrne consented to review briefly he situation as to agriculture in an in erVieW with a representative of the associated Press
 T have been highly gratified by the eady response of the people general y to the idea of making the country 1ore nearly self-supporting from the oil,' he said. T have made my plea pr the cultivation of the soil on the rounds of patriotism; the farmers nd labOrers came forward first to neet the emergency, an then the girls nd women from the villages and even ities-some of the best type of wo- nen, including many of independent neans, answering my call out of pure patriotism.
 "These women have taken to the oil enthusiastically and with intel gence that seems to characterize verything they are undertaking. They re living like labOrers and are doing well all of the farm labor rs' work-milking and feeding and OOking after the stock like veterans. Iany of these even have mastered the york of handling horses and can get s much work out of a team as any nan.
 Because of the splendid manner In which the women have risen to the oc- asion in this respect al a time when arm work is of vital importance to he nation we feel justified In the be- ief that we are going to pull agri- ulture through this crisis in spite of many apparently insuperable difficult ies.
 we realize that the problem of making as much progress as we should n war time presents it's handfcaps. Among these in addition to the short .ge of farm labor already indicated,