EXTENSION PROFESSOR OF RURAL ECONOMY, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE,
CORNELI. UNIVERSITY

B6

THE PLOUGH

From Egypt behind my oxen with their stately step and slow,
Northward and east and west I went to the desert sand and the

snow;

Down through the centuries one by one, turning the clod to the
shower,

Till there's never a land beneath the sun but has blossomed
behind my power.

I slid through the sodden rice fields with my grunting hump-
backed steers,

I turned the turf of the Tiber plain in Rome's imperial years,
I was left in the half-drawn furrow when Coriolanus came
Giving his farm for the forum's stir to save his nation's name.

Over the seas to the north I went; white cliffs and a seaboard
blue;

And my path was glad in the English grass as my stout red
Devons drew;

My path was glad in the English grass, for behind me rippled
and curled,

The corn that was life to the sailor men that sailed the ships of
the world.

And later I went to the north again, and day by day drew down
A little more of the purple hills to join to my kingdom brown;
And the whaups wheeled out to the moorland, but the gray gulls
stayed with me,

Where the Clydesdales drummed a marching song with their
feathered feet on the lea.

Then the new lands called me westward; I found on the prairies
wide

A toll to my stoutest daring, and a foe to test my pride;
But I stooped my strength to the stiff black loam, and I found

my labor sweet,

As I loosened the soil that was trampled firm by a million
buffaloes' feet.

Then further away to the northward; outward and outward still
(But idle I crossed the Rockies for there no plough will till!),
Till I won to the plains unending, and there on the edge of the

snow

I ribbed them the fenceless wheat fields, and taught them to
reap and sow.

The sun of the southland called me; I turned her the rich brown
lines,

Where her Parramatta peach trees grow and her green Mildura
vines;

I drove her cattle before me, her dust and her dying sheep,
I painted her rich plains golden, and taught her to sow and reap.

From Egypt behind my oxen, with stately step and slow,

I have carried your weightiest burden, ye toilers that reap and
sow!

I am the ruler, the King, and I hold the world in fee;

Sword upon sword may ring, but the triumph shall rest with me!

WILL OGILVIE.

(Reprinted from "The Australian and Other Verses," through the courtesy of the publishers, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, N. S. W., Australia).

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PREFACE

AMONG the newer subjects which are claiming the attention of the thoughtful citizen are Agricultural Economics and Farm Management. Both are mere subdivisions of political economy. Farm management has to do with the farmer's relation to his individual farm, the central principle being the economic question of how he can secure the highest net returns. Agricultural Economics, however, is concerned with the social aspects of agriculture, and has for its first consideration the welfare of the Republic, and for its second consideration the welfare of agriculture as one component part of that Republic. Farm Management may be said to look on the farmer as practicing a trade: Agricultural Economics looks on the farmer as a citizen. The question of rural credit, for instance, is, to the teacher of Farm Management, the very concrete problem of where and how can farmer Jones borrow money at the lowest rate of interest: while this same question is, to the teacher of Agricultural Economics, the broad economic problem which recognizes the intimate and vital relation of sound credit to both the individual and community prosperity.

This book does not pretend to be a work of original research. It is a bringing together of some new and some old information which is scattered over a wide area of books, papers, reports, and other sources. The book is not written for the expert or specialist, but for the average student of agricultural problems.

My aim in writing this book is threefold: (1) to interest the reader in the subject of Agricultural Economics; (2) to point out by a few simple illustrations the most significant problems in this field; (3) and finally to stimulate thinking and discussion which may help towards the solution of these problems. Conversely, I have not tried to offer ready-made remedies for the problems discussed, or to formulate a set of "laws and principles," or, indeed, to present a large number of entirely new facts to the reader. The facts and illustrations given are believed to have real significance in interpreting the deeper movements in agriculture.

In peace or in war, the food supply of the nation is a question of fundamental importance. And the food supply is primarily a question of agriculture. In brief, agriculture is an industry which is fundamental in the political economy of our Republic. It is