70 FIELDS, FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS. 



for that. The resources of science, both in enlarging 

 the circle of our production and in new discoveries, are 

 inexhaustible. And each new branch of activity calls 

 into existence more and more new branches, which 

 steadily increase the power of man over the forces of 

 nature. If we take all into consideration ; if we realise 

 the progress made of late in the gardening culture, and 

 the tendency towards spreading its methods to the open 

 field ; if we watch the cultural experiments which are 

 being made now experiments to-day and realities to- 

 morrow and ponder over the resources kept in store 

 by science, we are bound to say that it is utterly im- 

 possible to foresee at the present moment the limits 

 as to the maximum number of human beings who could 

 draw their means of subsistence from a given area of 

 land, or as to what a variety of produce they could 

 advantageously grow in any latitude. Each day widens 

 former limits, and opens new and wide horizons. All 

 we can say now is, that 600 persons could easily live 

 on a square mile; and that, with cultural methods 

 already used on a large scale, 1000 human beings not 

 idlers living on 1000 acres could easily, without any 

 kind of overwork, obtain from that area a luxurious 

 vegetable and animal food, as well as the flax, wool, silk, 

 and hides necessary for their clothing. As to what may 

 be obtained under still more perfect methods also 

 known but not yet tested on a large scale it is better 

 to abstain from any forecast : so unexpected are the 

 recent achievements of intensive culture. 



We thus see that the over-population fallacy does 

 not stand the very first attempt at submitting it to a 

 closer examination. Those only can be horror-stricken 

 at seeing the population of this country increase by one 

 individual every 1000 seconds who think of a human 

 being as a mere claimant upon the stock of material 

 wealth of mankind, without being at the same time a 

 contributor to that stock But we, who see in each new- 



