THE PKODUCT OF ONE ACEE. 



THE quantity of food that an acre of land is capa- 

 ble of producing is a question of some interest to 

 society, and one that rises in importance as population 

 advances. There is a period in the growth of every 

 people when the number of inhabitants to a square 

 mile produces a demand for food that raises the ques- 

 tion of possible supply. 



It is true, the alarm at one time created by the 

 theory of Malthus has been dissipated by later and 

 sounder writers, and men are no longer terrified by 

 the apprehension that increasing population will out- 

 run the means of subsistence until the earth fails to 

 feed its inhabitants. The possibility of this event, if 

 it be a possibility, is too remote to give serious con- 

 cern to the present generation. 



Yet it cannot be denied that, in thickly-settled 

 communities, great interests are at stake on the facili- 

 ties for procuring food, and on the certainty of its 

 supply ; and the importance of preserving and increas- 

 ing the fertility of the earth becomes in every country 

 more and more apparent from year to year as popula- 

 tion accumulates. 



