THE POSSIBILITIES OF AGRICULTURE. 73 



country of imported food it must be so : the grower who 

 himself sells his own produce disappears from its 

 markets, and in his place appears the middleman.* 

 If we move, however, towards the East, and* go to 

 Belgium, Germany, and Russia, we find that the cost of 

 living is more and more reduced, so that finally we find 

 that in Russia, which remains still agricultural, wheat 

 costs one-half or two-thirds of its London prices, and 

 meat is sold throughout the provinces at from five to 

 ten farthings (kopecks) the pound. And we may there- 

 fore hold that it is not yet proved at all that it is cheaper 

 to live on imported food than to grow it ourselves. 



But if we analyse price, and make a distinction 

 between its different elements, the disadvantage becomes 

 still more apparent. If we compare, for instance, the 

 costs of growing wheat in this country and in Russia, 

 we are told that in the United Kingdom the hundred- 

 weight of wheat cannot be grown at less than 8s. /d ; 

 while in Russia the costs of production of the same 

 hundredweight are estimated at from 33. 6d. to 43. pd.t 

 The difference is enormous, and it would still remain 

 very great even if we admit that there is some exag- 

 geration in the former figure. But why this difference ? 

 Are the Russian labourers paid so much less for their 



* A few winters ago, a friend of mine, who lived in a London suburb, 

 used to get his butter from Bavaria per parcel post. It cost him los. the 

 eleven pounds in Bavaria, parcel post inclusive (as. ad.), 6d. the money 

 order, and 2$d. the letter; total, less than us. Butter of an inferior 

 quality (out of comparison), with 10 to 15 per cent, of water inclusive, 

 was sold in London at is. 6d. the Ib. at the same time. 



t The data for the calculation of the cost of production of wheat in 

 this country are those given by the Mark Lane Express ; they will be 

 found in a digestible form in an article on wheat-growing in the Quarterly 

 Review for April, 1887, and in W. E. Bear's book, The British Farmer 

 and his Competitors, London (Casseli), 1888. Although they are a little 

 above the average, the crop taken for the calculations is also above the 

 average. A similar inquiry has been made on a large scale by the 

 Russian Provincial Assemblies, and the whole is summed up in an elabo- 

 rate paper, in the Vyestnik Promyshlennosti, No. 49, 1887. To compare 

 ihe paper kopecks with pence I took the rouble at fa of its nominal 

 value: such was its average quotation during the year 1886. I took 475 

 English Ib. in the quarter of wheat. 



