THE POSSIBILITIES OF AGRICULTURE. 8/ 



which are satisfied only when the average crop attains 

 thirty-seven bushels ; while the experimental farms of 

 Central France produce from year to year, over large 

 areas, forty-one bushels to the acre, and a number of 

 farms in Northern France regularly yield, year after 

 year, from fifty-five to sixty-eight bushels to the acre. 

 Occasionally even so much as eighty bushels have been 

 obtained upon limited areas under special care.* In 

 fact, Prof. Grandeau considers it proved that by com- 

 bining a series of such operations as the selection of 

 seeds, sowing in rows, and proper manuring, the crops 

 can be largely increased over the best present average, 

 while the cost of production can be reduced by 50 per 

 cent, by the use of inexpensive machinery ; to say 

 nothing of costly machines like the steam digger, or the 

 pulverisers which make the soil required for each special 

 culture. They are now occasionally resorted to here 

 and there, and they surely will come into general use as 

 soon as humanity feels the need of largely increasing its 

 agricultural product. 



When we bear in mind the very unfavourable con- 

 ditions in which agriculture stands now all over the 

 world, we must not expect to find considerable progress 

 in its methods realised over wide regions ; we must be 

 satisfied with noting the advance accomplished in sepa- 

 rate, especially favoured spots, where, for one cause or 

 another, the tribute levied upon the agriculturist was 

 not so heavy as to stop all possibility of progress. 



One such example may be seen in the district of Saf- 

 felare in East Flanders. On a territory of 37,000 acres, 

 all taken, a population of 30,000 inhabitants, all peasants, 

 not only finds its food, but manages, moreover, to keep 



* Risler, Physiologie et Culture du Ble. Paris, 1886. Taking the 

 whole of the wheat crop in France, we see that the following progress 

 has been realised. In 1872-1881 the average crop was 14-8 quintaux per 

 hectare. In 1882-1890 it attained 16-9 quintaux per hectare. Increase 

 by 14 per cent, in ten years (Prof. C. V. Garola, Les Cereales Y p. 70 seq.\. 



