24 WAGES AND EMPIRE 



of the land surface of the United Kingdom affords sands 

 and clays whose conversion into arable land has proved 

 practicable. 



In addition there is rather more than a quarter of 

 the United Kingdom which, while not suitable for 

 growing crops for men, will bear grass and pasturage 

 for animals. Some part of this can, with the outlay 

 of an unusual amount of labour, be made to bear crops 

 for human food, and on the Continent of Europe a 

 great quantity of land of this nature is so used. 



In the United Kingdom, even after a great deal of 

 the inferior land has been taken into service, only a 

 half to two-thirds of the land surface can be used for 

 food-making ; and this area is divided equally between 

 men and beasts. The rest of the British Islands con- 

 sists of rock which will not yield a living, and of sands 

 and clays whose reclamation is too expensive, and 

 which is allowed to go waste. 



Table No. V. shows the actual extent to which it 

 has been practicable to use the land of the United 

 Kingdom for making food. 



The facts that have been given in detail of the 

 United Kingdom are true generally of the Continent of 

 Europe and of the rest of the world. All countries 

 have some land naturally suited for cultivation, 

 other areas that with more or less difficulty can be 

 turned to the use of cultivation, an expanse of land 

 of utility only for feeding beasts, and finally tracts of 

 land of greater or less extent that are quite useless for 

 the support of men or domestic animals. 



The extent to which the land surface of the 

 principal countries of the world is used for making food 

 is shown in Table No. VI. In no case does the 

 amount exceed 63 per cent, of their land areas, and 

 only in the case of the nations most favoured by nature 

 is so high a percentage attained. Commonly not the 



