14 



I 



CHAPTER III 



The Sacrifice of Agriculture — Some of the 



Cost 



N a work like this it is impossible to do more than 



glance at one or two aspects of a question that has so 

 many features, any one of which might well form the 

 basis of a ponderous academical work. All that we can 

 do, therefore, is to show, as briefly as possible, the 

 enormous loss the country has sustained, and how 

 materially the neglect of our land industry has helped in 

 building up the poverty of the country — poverty so 

 widespread and phenomenal as to stand apart from that 

 of all other countries in the Western world with the 

 single exception, perhaps, of Russia — and then point 

 out how heavily the burden of poverty falls on all 

 classes. 



The total area of the United Kingdom is given as 

 77,684,000 acres, of which 43,673,000 are returned as 

 " cultivated." 



There are 12,789,000 acres of mountain, heath and 

 grazing land, nearly all of which could be brought under 

 the plough and profitably tilled. 



Then there are 3,070,000 acres of woods and planta- 

 tion, largely consisting of what are called " sporting " 

 estates. 



We are here dealing with a cultivable area of about 



