Arable Land 



ditches, and of course to begin and finish every agri- 

 cultural operation at exactly the right moment. But 

 he must return to the land those salts of nitrate, phos- 

 phates, and the like which he removes in the shape of 

 corn and potatoes or root crops. The great work of 

 Lawes and Gilbert is still carried on at Rothamsted and 

 in other experimental stations. But the study of agri- 

 cultural manures has become a special science, for which 

 we have no space in this work. 



In spite of these experiments and the extraordinary 

 skill and science expended on our arable land, there are 

 two truths which ought to be mentioned. 



No country in the world, neither France with its 

 sunny climate nor Germany with its applied science, 

 not even the virgin soil of our Colonies and the United 

 States, can produce so much per acre as Great Britain. 



The average number of bushels per acre of wheat, 

 oats, and barley, the tons of turnips, mangolds, and 

 potatoes raised per acre in Britain are almost in every 

 single case the very best for any country which has 

 reliable statistics. Denmark is the only exception, and 

 that only for certain crops and occasionally. This of 

 course is just as it should be, and ought to make us 

 extremely careful about any interference with our system 

 of agriculture. Any one w^ho thinks and studies about 

 the food-supply of Britain in time of war will assuredly 

 pass a sleepless night or two, for even the large supply 

 per acre which our well-tended arable produces is not 

 nearly enough for 44,000,000 people. In 1908 we got 

 5,820,600 cwts. from Australia, 2,948,000 cwts. from 

 India, 16,810,984 from Canada, which makes in all 

 about 23^ per cent, of our imports (109,147,808 cwts.). 

 Our own home-grown wheat amounts to about 68 lbs. 

 per head of population, and the imported wheat is 

 284 lbs. per head.^ 



259 



