FOOD WASTAGE
Snt,—The arguments put forward by Sir Wm. Beach Thomas and Lord Northbrook are not borne out by the facts. There are practically no unthreshed stacks left, whereas in peace-time nearly all farmers of any size would have a wheatstack or two left at this time of the year. Pre- war, millers and merchants could be sure of a few fresh-threshed wheats coming along right up to harvest.
It is surely in the greatest national interest that the threshing should be spread over the longest possible period. The safest place to keep corn is in the stack. It remains in its natural condition, provided it is properly thatched, for any length of time. It is dispersed in the least vulnerable areas, and forms the nation's iron ration whilst spread over the countryside. It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the enormous increase of arable acreage and the fact that many threshing sets we re storm-stayed for weeks during the past winter, practically every grain has now been knocked out. The corn has been transferred from the safety of the farmyard to the risk of the warehouse and mill.
If your farmer cannot get threshed during the season one might infer 1. That his yard is down some bad road across fields where the machine owner dare not go for fear of getting bogged should the weather break.
2. That he has not paid his last season's threshing bill.
3. That he cannot get sacks.
One of the best tell-tales of the corn position is the sack question. If the railway companies and the sack-hiring combines have no sacks at their depots, it is a sure sign that more corn is being threshed than can be dealt with. When the sacks get emptied and return to the depots it is proof that there is room for more threshing. The authorities would do well to watch this " pressure gauge " more closely.
Again, if your south country farmer could not get threshed the least he could have done would be to have had his stacks poisoned. His War Agricultural Executive would no doubt have helped him to have had this done. Incidentally, it is most rare to find both rats and mice in the same stack, and a stoat found living in a stack should never be killed.—Yours
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