204 Journal of Agriculture. Victoria. [25 Apkil, 1917. 



Table II. 



Showing number of live stock in Great Britain and Germany in 



1888 and 1013.* 



Cattle. 



Pigs. 



Sheep. 



* Year Book of the United States Deijartment of Agriculture 1915. 



Th&se ligures must surely be regarded as a remarkable achievement 

 for German agriculture. In addition to increasing the wheat yield by 

 68 million bushels, the oat yield by 426 million bushels, barley by 

 71 millions, rye by 219 millions, and potatoes by 1,038 million bushels, 

 Germany has enormously increased tlie stock-carrying capacity of the 

 country. We may best compare the relative stock-carrying capacity of 

 the two countries by reducing the cattle and horses to the equivalent 

 of sheep. 



Assuming a horse or a cow to be equivalent to eight sheep in graz- 

 ing requirements, and that a pig is equivalent to a sheep, w© find that 

 in twenty-five years Great Britain's stock-carrying capacity has been 

 increased by the equivalent of 14 million sheep, whilst Germany, during 

 the same period, has increased her stock by the equivalent cf 114 

 million sheep. The value of the increase in twenty-five years is equal 

 to the value of the whole of the live stock in Great Britain. 



Increase in Efficiency. 



These figures show the remarkable development in German agricul- 

 ture, both in the realm of crop production and live-stock farming. It 

 may be added that these developments have been brought about without 

 any material increase either in the acreage under crop, or in the 

 number of persons engaged in agricultural pursuits. It is due, indeed, 

 almost solely to the increased efficiency of German farming, due to the 

 introduction of improved technical methods and the systematic organiza- 

 tion of the agricultural forces of the country. 



That increased efficiency is the keynote of Germany's progress ia 

 obvious from a consideration of Table III., which summarizes the 

 average yield of corn, hay, and potatoes in Britain and Germany for- 

 five-year periods. 



