Arable Land 



The other extraordinary fact is that our arable land 

 is yearly diminishing in area. It does not pay to grow 

 corn crops and roots for modern prices and with modern 

 taxes. Therefore these scientifically built up and most 

 productive fields are gradually changing into pasture 

 and the area under corn is incessantly shrinking. 



The average yield per acre is, taken all over England, 

 31 J bushels, in Australia 9.03 bushels (varying from 

 1.24 bushels to 21.86 in Tasmania, 1901-1902), in 

 India 11. 16 bushels, and in Canada 17.83 bushels. 

 Irrigated land at Ajmere Merwana in India has given 

 as much as 34 bushels per acre, and even higher yields 

 are by no means unusual in favoured districts. 



If our farmers could have foretold the sudden rise in 

 the price of wheat to 48 shillings per quarter in April 

 1909, there would have been no shrinking in the area 

 of our cornlands in 1908, but then American speculators 

 would not have been able to make £100,000 in a day 

 and ;^2,ooo,ooo in a week or two ! 



^ Dunn. ^ Resvoll. ^ Kraus. 



* Ridley, Brandis. ^ Anon. ^ Humphries. 



260 



