TIlc Country Gcntlcinniis Magazine 



and the adoption of moral arbitration in pre- 

 ference to the arbitrament of the sword. On 

 these premises, then, supposing we take a 

 place with a special limit or boundaiy, say a 

 square mile, and that the population thereof 

 is ICO. Well, twenty-five years afterwards 

 it would be 200 ; at the end of the century it 

 would be 1600; whilst at the close of the 

 second century at the same ratio — that is, 

 doubling every twenty-five years — the number 

 of inhabitants on the square mile would be 

 25,600, or more than two hundred and fifty 

 times the original population. Now, the 

 question comes to be, whether this same 

 square mile would produce the means of 

 subsistence to the number of inhabitants on 

 its surface in the same ratio as the increase 

 of its population ? Suppose, for the sake of 

 simplifying the matter, that the inhabitants 

 overhead could each live on the moderate 

 modicum of a couple of quarters of corn 

 and a cwt. of beef in the year. At 

 this rate the space of ground would 

 require to produce 3000 quarters of corn, 

 and 80 tons of beef at the end of the 

 first century, whilst at the close of the second 

 it would need 50,000 quarters of grain, and 

 128 tons of beef — equal to 500 prime oxen 

 — besides every other requisite which we have 

 not taken into account, and so on indefinitely. 

 It will be no solution of the question to say, 

 that now-a-days we can bring in supplies from 

 Avithout from all parts of the world, because 

 although, practically, it will take a long time 

 before all the world shall be similarly cir- 

 cumstanced, yet, theoretically, every place is 

 in the same position, and in process of time 

 the whole habitable globe will be absolutely 

 the same as one experimental mile. It is 

 therefore evident that unless the light of 

 science strike out some royal road to the 

 production of protein from the organic ele- 

 ments, the earth will, at some certain point 

 of time, fail to render adequate supplies. 

 Of course the overstock of population will at 

 that point be kept in check by privation, 

 disease, and accident, as well as by moral 

 misery, and all the train of irritating circum- 

 stances which tend to shorten life by render- 

 ing it uncomfortable ; and for the happiness 



of the race it should therefore be the object 

 of every one to endeavour, as much as in 

 him lies, to assist in removing that point as 

 far off as possible. 



One partial obstacle, we may remark, in 

 passing, to the means of support in Scotland,, 

 doubtless is the preference for recreation over 

 the necessaries of life. A proprietor receives, 

 an offer for a certain extent of moor and 

 heath, for sporting purposes, of a sum per- 

 haps equivalent to a fair agricultural rent for 

 the same breadth of arable land. As the 

 money is easily found, and its gain entails no- 

 expense or risk, there is really no pecuniary 

 inducement to the proprietor to encourage 

 cultivation. As it is not silver and gold that 

 constitutes wealth in the abstract, that breadth 

 of land is thus lost to the race. But this, 

 cause is only local and temporary. 



The great and main cause of deficient sup- 

 ply of food will be found in the present de- 

 fective state of agriculture. The product of 

 every kind of crop must have a limit, because, 

 cultivate as you may, the earth will produce 

 a certain amount and no more ; but as re- 

 gards cereal crops (which constitute probably 

 three-fourths of the means of support of the 

 human race) that limit, by the present 

 orthodox system of husbandry, as practised 

 in this country under the behest of authority, 

 is very soon attained. Suppose the land to 

 be in the highest state of tillage — the only re- 

 sult of manuring higher would be that the 

 crop would fall down, or lodge, as it is tech- 

 nically termed, and become deteriorated to a 

 degree greater than if the tillage had not been 

 pushed so far. 



In what mode of tillage, then, are we to 

 find adequate supplies for the increasing de- 

 mands of the population ? We shall not be 

 able by any mode of tillage to keep up inde- 

 finitely with this increasing demand, because 

 the rate of progression of the population is in 

 geometrical ratio, while the increase of the 

 earth's production is in arithmetical ; but it 

 may be possible, by the aid of proper means, 

 in making the most of what can be produced, 

 to ward oft" for a longer term the unpleasant 

 results. 



Contemporaneously with the improA'ed sys- 



