146 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



demonetization of silver. The whole tone of that investigation and 

 of a large part of the treatment of the wheat question in Great 

 Britain has been one of complaint and of alleged wrong to British 

 agriculture because the United States had succeeded in supplying 

 the masses of the people of the United Kingdom with cheap bread, 

 with sufficient profit to themselves to keep up the supply. 



Now comes what may be called a cry of alarm from a scientist 

 of highest repute lest England may be deprived even of an adequate 

 supply of wheat, and lest the price should be forced to an exorbitant 

 point. This view of the case was stated at great length by Sir Wil- 

 liam Crookes when assuming the presidency of the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science at the recent meeting in Bristol. 

 This address is published in full in the Times of September 8th, the 

 portion devoted to the wheat question filling three out of six columns 

 of closely printed text; the other three are devoted to a complete re- 

 view of the existing conditions of science. I venture to give a few 

 extracts which will convey to the reader the aspect of the wheat' 

 question from this essentially British point of view. Sir William 

 Crookes begins with a sort of apology, which the writer can fully 

 appreciate. He says: 



" Statistics are rarely attractive to a listening audience, but they 

 are necessary evils, and those of this evening are unusually doleful. 

 ... I am constrained to show that our wheat-producing soil is 

 totally unequal to the strain put upon it. After wearying you 

 with a survey of the universal dearth to be expected, I hope to 

 point a way out of the colossal dilemma. It is the chemist who 

 must come to the rescue of the threatened communities. It is 

 through the laboratory that starvation may ultimately be turned 

 into plenty." 



One of the singular facts which becomes quickly apparent to any 

 one who deals with this subject in Great Britain is the inability of 

 the English farmer to think about agriculture except in terms of 

 wheat. JSTow we have an example of our English scientist of the 

 highest repute who seems to ignore all other grain and to predict 

 future starvation on an expected deficiency in the supply of 

 wheat. Sir William Crookes proceeds : 



" The consumption of wheat per head of the population (unit con- 

 sumption) is over six bushels per annum; and, taking the popula- 

 tion at 40,000,000, we require no less than 240,000,000 bushels 

 of wheat, increasing annually by 2,000,000 bushels to supply the 

 increase of population. Of the total amount of wheat consumed 

 in the United Kingdom we grow twenty -five and import seventy-five 

 per cent." 



He then deals with the impending scarcity, saying: 



