494 



NA TURE 



[October 6, 1923 



wasteful. It takes 48 lb. of cereals fit for human use 

 to raise one pound of l)eef ; even the pig, by far the 

 most economical converter, consumes 3,000,000 tons 

 cf " human " food to produce 250,000 tons of pork, 

 li.iin, and bacon. The saving of time and money 

 and ships, if we imported the meat instead of the food 

 for cattle, would almost pay our whole unemployment 

 dole ; and even the bacon, equal in quality to that for 

 which we paid Denmark about 30,000,000/. last year, 

 could be imported from our own tropical dominions, 

 for tropical bacon is as " firm " as English bacon, 

 if the pigs are given coconut in their food. 



The British Empire, unlike other big empires, is 

 an epitome of the world, so that we have naturally 

 a climatic base for classifying natural regions ; and 

 we can distinguish half-a-dozen broad types. Each of 

 them has its appropriate products, and should be en- 

 couraged to produce these ; and the various areas, being 

 scattered over the whole world, have complementary 

 seasons. Of these broad types the most important 

 are the temperate, the Trade-wind, and the monsoon. 



The temperate type, as seen in Canada, has marine 

 margins and continental interior ; and these marine 

 margins, whether dominated by snow, as in the east, or 

 by rain, as in the west, are specially timber areas and 

 should grow and market forest products. In 1922, 

 Canada produced very nearly 3,000,000 cords of pulp- 

 wood and more than 1,000,000 tons of newsprint ; and 

 yet just before the War we were importing from Germany 

 more than twice as much wood-pulp as we imported 

 from Canada, and more than ten times as much paper. 

 The cleared forest is not suited either by soil or by 

 climate to the growing of grain, but makes admirable 

 pasture ; and exports should be in small, solid, and 

 imperishable form, e.g. butter and cheese. Canada 

 and New Zealand already send us 80 per cent, of all 

 our imported cheese, and Canada alone could supply all 

 our needs. Off each margin, a cold sea current is 

 exceedingly favourable to fishing, and on each margin 

 orchard trees flourish almost as well as forest trees. 

 Fish, fruit, forest, and dairy products are, therefore, 

 natural exports. The dry continental interior is 

 natural grassland with early summer rain, which is just 

 as favourable to grain-growing as the perennial rain of 

 the margin is to forest. Canada is now the largest 

 producer of wheat in the world — capable of producing 

 400,000,000 bushels a year. 



Our Trade-wind areas are partly insular and partly 

 continental. The islands already produce the finest 

 sugar and coffee in the world, and have almost 

 unlimited possibilities in the way of raising fruit and 

 tobacco. They could easily produce all the sugar and all 

 the coffee that we need, and yet, in 1913, 90 per cent, of 

 our sugar and 85 per cent, of our coffee came from 

 outside the Empire. 



NO. 2814, VOL. I 12] 



The continental part of the Trade-wind region is 

 mainly savana, capable of producing almost unlin.iitd 

 supplies of cattle and maize and tobaco), and in 

 areas already raising large quantities of cotton, to 

 which the slaw changes of Trade-wind climate are very 

 favourable, as they are also to tobacco. For example, 

 Nya.saland raises excellent " Egyptian " cotton on its 

 heavy soil, and equally good tobacco on its light soil. 

 If every native on this African savana was guaranteed .1 

 supply of " Salisbury White " maize, and was excused 

 his hut tax if he planted a certain area under cotton, the 

 British Empire would become the greatest producer "f 

 maize in the world, and in two years the African 

 savana would be sending us 2,000,000 bales of 

 cotton. 



This question of cotton, however, is more important 

 in the monsoon region. India already rules the market 

 of the world for jute, tea, oil-seeds, and rice ; and her 

 population is of a very different type from that in 

 Africa. India is, therefore, the only area where thtf 

 can be an immediate increase of any product which 

 requires a great deal of labour ; but, uniortunately, 

 India, like Nigeria, being a monsoon area, gets its heat 

 before its rain — which greatly handicaps the quality of 

 many crops, especially cotton. In the meantime, India 

 raises the worst cotton in the world, so far as length of 

 staple is concerned, and \txy nearly the worst in the 

 world for yield per acre (85 lb.). But wherever cotton 

 can be grown entirely by irrigation, as in the north- 

 west, or where the rain comes before the heat, as in the 

 extreme south-east, there could be a very great increase 

 of " calico " cotton — our greatest need ; and India i- 

 not troubled, as Nigeria is, with a short growing-season, 

 which involves the natives in the necessity of providing 

 all food crops before thinking of growing cotton. 



These scattered examples may illustrate the sort of 

 lines on which a geographical survey of the Empire 

 would proceed. Such a survey has been already 

 roughly made, and its results may be summarised as 

 follows : — The Empire can produce : (1) all the wheat 

 and oats, maize and rice, that we need, and most of the 

 barley ; (2) all the tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, and oil- 

 seeds (margarine) ; (3) all the beef, mutton, pig, and 

 rabbit products that we need, and most of the leather ; 

 (4) all the wool, rubber, jute, and sisal, and fully half the 

 cotton ; and (5) all the most important constructional 

 and industrial timber. In some of these cases, the 

 Empire is already absolutely supreme ; e.g. tea, cocoa, 

 wool, rubber, and palm oil. All of them could be pro- 

 duced without a raising of price, probably with an 

 actual lowering of it ; and it is obvious that an adequate 

 minimum of all should be produced. Only in this way 

 can we get rid of a foreign monopoly, as in cotton, and 

 foreign control, as in maize and meat. 



L. W. LVDE. 



