THE POSSIBILITIES OF AGRICULTURE. 119 



already foresee that the growers under glass will be 

 forced to accept the methods of the French maraichers, 

 so as to have five and six crops every year, so far as it 

 can be done without spoiling the present high quality 

 of the produce. 



All this industry is of very recent origin. One may 

 see it still working out its methods. And yet the 

 exports from Guernsey alone are already represented 

 by quite extraordinary figures. It was estimated 

 a few years ago that they were as follows : Grapes, 

 502 tons, 37,500 worth at the average price of gd. 

 the pound ; tomatoes, 1000 tons, about 30,000 ; early 

 potatoes (chiefly in the fields), 20,000 ; radishes and 

 broccoli, 9250 ; cut flowers, 3000 ; mushrooms, 200 ; 

 total, 99,950 to which total the local consumption in 

 the houses and hotels, which have to feed nearly 30,000 

 tourists, must be added. But now these figures must 

 have grown considerably. In June, 1896," I saw the 

 Southampton steamers taking every day from 9000 to 

 12,000, and occasionally more, baskets of fruit (grapes, 

 tomatoes, French beans and peas), each basket represent- 

 ing from twelve to fourteen pounds of fruit Taking 

 into account what was sent by other channels, we may 

 thus say that from 400 to 500 tons of tomatoes, grapes, 

 beans and peas, worth from 20,000 to 25,000, are 

 exported every week in June. 



All this is obtained from an island whose total area, 

 rocks and barren hill-tops included, is only 16,000 acres, 

 of which only 9884 acres are under culture, and 5189 

 acres are given to green crops and meadows. An island, 

 moreover, on which 1480 horses, 7260 head of cattle 

 and 900 sheep find their existence. How many men's 

 food is, then, grown on these 10,000 acres? 



Belgium has also made, within the last few years, 

 an immense progress in the same direction. While no 

 more than 250 acres, all taken, were covered with glass 

 some twenty years ago, more than 800 acres are under 



