ABSTRACT
Agriculture is, however, a business of an exceptional kind, the successful execution of which fits in perhaps more naturally than does that of any other with a still greater aim than that of business success, namely that of increasing the national welfare. Even on political grounds, however, such an argument would probably break down, and in its connection with the health of the community, to mention no other point, agriculture easily holds an exceptional position in the industrial hierarchy of the nation. If only the right economic path can be found there are in connection with agriculture many natural instincts to ensure its being trod, over and above the desire for the physical strength that its pursuit tends to give, and the maintenance of physical vigour that it helps to secure. Experience, however, is also pointing to the pressing necessity of widening out the prevailing conception of what the unit of agricultural activity should often be.
