1 8o TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



AVAILABLE FOOD SUPPLIES 



By Professor J. F. LYMAN 



THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 



THE food problem is distinctly a modern one in the United States. 

 Two generations ago no such problem was clearly recognized. 

 Eish were plentiful; pigeons, deer, wild turkeys, water-fowl, quail and 

 buffalo were abundant; wild berries, fruits and nuts could be obtained 

 easily and in large quantities. Naturally food was cheap and there was 

 enough for all, and of a kind sufficiently varied to suit the taste of any. 

 All this has changed. Game animals have practically disappeared. 

 Wild berries, fruits and nuts are no longer of importance in our dietaries. 

 We have seen our population increase at the rate of over twenty per cent, 

 every ten years until the increase in production of food products no 

 longer keeps pace, but lags far behind, and we realize that there is such a 

 thing as a food problem. 



If the present rate of increase continues, the population of the 

 United States will approximate five hundred million at the end of the 

 present century. Is it possible to feed that number of persons on the 

 products of our three million square miles ? China and India both sup- 

 port a population as dense; but both of these countries are distinctly 

 agricultural. The mass of people live on the land and are engaged in 

 producing food. In this country the great increase in population is in 

 the cities; while the food-producing class is increasing comparatively 

 slowly. The reports on agricultural products exported from the United 

 States illuminate the food problem in an instructive way. If we compare 

 the exports in 1912 with those for 1900, we find that the amount of 

 cheese shipped abroad declined 85 per cent, in that period, beef products 

 declined 65 per cent., pork products declined 30 per cent., corn declined 

 80 per cent., wheat declined 57 per cent. What do these figures tell? 

 Simply that we have needed the food at home to supply our increasing 

 millions and hence had less to sell in the markets of the world. Can we 

 continue to feed our people by reducing the exports in food stuffs? 

 Obviously not, and in many instances they have been reduced already 

 near the vanishing point. We have even actually begun to import meat 

 and corn. It is significant also that free government land suitable for 

 agricultural purposes is no longer available; hence we can not look for 

 relief by bringing under the plow large tracts of virgin soil. 



Is there likely, then, to be a scarcity of food in this country in the 

 near future ? No, there is and will be plenty of food, but some changes 



