160 AN AGRICULTURAL FAGGOT. 



Britain. A recent visit to the north of France, in the 

 course of which I traversed a good deal of country by 

 road, and had an opportunity of visiting several typical 

 farms, led me to put together some of the facts relating 

 to the agriculture of both countries which may, perhaps, 

 be of interest to those who are not familiar with 

 them. 



The total area of France is nearly double that of the 

 United Kingdom — 131,000,000 acres as compared with 

 78,000,000. Nearly one-fifth of the whole of France is 

 covered by woods and forests, and nearly 10,000,000 

 acres are returned as moor and heath land. Whether 

 any portion, and if so, how much, of this large expanse 

 of woodland and moorland should be considered as 

 contributing to agricultural production, by affording 

 partial maintenance for stock, cannot be determined, but 

 the cultivated area, including therein all returned as 

 under crops and grass, amounts to almost precisely 

 two-thirds of the whole country. In the United Kingdom, 

 the cultivated area slightly exceeds three-fifths of the 

 total surface ; but, in Great Britain alone, 13,000,000 

 acres of mountain and heath land, in addition, are 

 specifically returned as being utilised for stock grazing. 

 If we were to reckon this (as it fairly may be reckoned) 

 as forming part of the agricultural area, and if we were 

 to assume that the moor and heath land in France were 

 equally productive, we should find that a larger proportion 

 of the surface of the United Kingdom than of France 

 is utilised for agriculture. On the other hand, of the 

 non-agricultural land it must be allowed that the 

 advantage probably lies with our neighbours. We have 

 no woodland wealth comparable to theirs, the latest 

 return (in 1895) which we have of woodland in Great 

 Britain, showing that we possess only 2,750,000 acres, 

 while if Ireland be added, the total is only 3,000,000 

 acres, or 4 per cent, of the whole surface of the United 

 Kingdom. 



