54 FIELDS, FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS. 



ever, he sows with wheat, not only the best picked out 

 acres, but also such fields on the Central Plateau and 

 in Southern France as hardly yield ten, eight and even 

 six bushels to the acre, without irrigation ; and these 

 low crops reduce the average for the whole country. 

 The Frenchman cultivates much that is left here under 

 permanent pasture and this is what is described as 

 his "inferiority" in agriculture. In fact, although the 

 proportion between what we have named the "cultiv- 

 able area " and the total territory is very much the same 

 in France as it is in Great Britain (624 acres out of each 

 1000 acres of the territory), the area under wheat crops 

 is nearly six times as great, in proportion, as what it 

 is in Great Britain (146 acres instead of twenty-five, 

 out of each 1000 acres) ; the corn crops altogether 

 cover more than two-fifths of the cultivable area, and 

 large areas are given besides to green crops, industrial 

 crops, vine, fruit and vegetables. 



Taking everything into consideration, although the 

 Frenchman keeps less cattle, and especially grazes less 

 sheep than the Briton, he nevertheless obtains from 

 his soil nearly all the food that he and his cattle con- 

 sume. He imports, in an average year, but one-tenth 

 only of what the nation consumes, and he exports to 

 this country considerable quantities of food produce 

 (10,000,000 worth), not only from the south, but also, 

 and especially, from the shores of the Channel (Brit- 

 tany butter and vegetables ; fruit and vegetables from 

 the suburbs of Paris, and so on).* 



The net result is that, although one-third part of the 

 territory is also treated as " uncultivable/' the soil of 



*The exports from France In 1894 (average year) attained: wine 

 233,000,000 fr., spirits 54,000,000 fr., cheese, butter and sugar 114,000,000 

 fr. To this country France sent, same year, 2,744,870 worth of wine, 

 2,227,360 worth of refined sugar, 2,351,870 worth of butter, 982,800 

 worth of eggs (1,611,500 in 1893), and 1,402,300 worth of brandy, all 

 of French origin only, in addition to 14,403,040 worth of manufactured 

 silks and woollens. The exports from Algeria are not taken in the above 

 figures. 



