very marked
in Great Britain during the last generation, and has aroused
misgivings in many public-spirited observers. Possibly for a variety
of reasons, these misgivings may be justified; certainly the problem
is well worthy of attention. But when in this way the issue is raised
of tillage versus pasture, it is essential, if we are to discuss it
rationally, that we should envisage it clearly as applying only to a
limited portion of agricultural land, to the portion which lies
somewhere near the margin of transference, as things are now, between
the two forms of agriculture. It might be socially desirable to bring
under the plow a field which the farmer finds it only _slightly_ more
profitable to lease under grass; but this would be highly improbable
in the case of a field where the balance of argument to the farmer in
favor of pasture is overwhelming. The position of the margin of
transference between different uses may, in other words, be somewhat
out of place from the social point of view, and it may be desirable by
appeals and propaganda, even conceivably by the devices of State
subsidy and compulsion, to push it forwards or backwards in greater or
less degree. But it will be necessarily a matter of degree, and
nothing could be more foolish than to speak as though there was, or
could be, some ideal method of cultivation equally applicable to all
lands, without regard to their climatic and other conditions. Needless
to say, none of the agricultural experts who sometimes deplore the
decline of arable farming are guilty of such foolishness. But the
sense of the diversity of nature which is very vivid to them may
sometimes be lacking in people who live in towns, and a firm grasp of
the marginal notion may serve best to keep the latter from forgetting
it.

Sec.5. _The Necessity of Rent_. Behind all such detailed applications
there lies a more general consideration which deserves attention. The
way in which the land of a country is used, the way in which it is
apportioned between the countless alternative employments that are
possible, is a most important matter, more important perhaps than any
questions as to the size of the incomes which particular landowners
receive by virtue of their rights of ownership. How is this
apportionment effected as things are now? The answer is clear: mainly
by the agency of either rent or price. The business which finds it
worth while to offer the highest rent or the highest price for an