SACRIFICE OF AGRICULTURE 15 



63,500,000 acres. The following table will show the posi- 

 tion: 



Cultivable area 63,500,000 Uses of the 



Area given as under cultivation . . 43,673,000 Area 



Area actually in crops 12,992,531 



Area under grass and pasturage . . 34,078,526 



Here is disclosed the unpalatable fact that of what 

 Government calls the "cultivated" area, only 12,999,000 

 acres are actually under tillage, while all the rest — 

 34,000,000 acres — is under grass and permanent pasture. 



If we add to this enormous unfilled area the 12,789,000 

 acres of mountain, heath and grazing lands, and the 

 3,070,000 acres under Woods and Plantations, we have 

 the formidable area of 49,859,000 acres of land lying 

 untitled. 



Now it follows in logical sequence that if a country 

 allows its land to remain unfilled, and a vast extent of 

 splendid arable land to run to grass, grazing lands and 

 heath, it fails to turn potential energy into an active 

 li\4ng force. 



In other words, no country in this world can afford to 

 allow 50 millions of acres, out of a possible cultivable 

 area of 63 millions, to run to waste without suffering 

 terribly for its folly. Let us see how it has affected us. 



If we look at the question first from the point of view 

 of the people, i.e., how it affects our workers in the 

 matter of employment, we find the land industry of the 

 United Kingdom employs and supports to-day only 

 3,900,000 persons, or about one-ftfteenth of the popula- 

 tion. 



