AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS 137 



had as much as 38,194,210 acres in green crops (turnips, 

 etc., for sheep food), clover and pasturage, we had only 

 1,799,484 in wheat. In other words, of the total area 

 under cultivation to-day in the United Kingdom 80 per 

 cent, is under sheep feed and less than 4 per cent, under 

 man feed. 



We also know that even a worse thing has befallen us 

 in that, owing to an inept fiscal system, vast areas have 

 been withdrawn altogether from cultivation and laid 

 down in large deer forests and sporting estates; vast 

 tracts of splendid land that, under other conditions, 

 would be available as a source of wealth and employ- 

 ment ; a national asset of considerable value. 



We have seen in the preceding chapters that we 

 import annually from foreign countries £171,000,000 

 worth of food-stuffs, and we will now show how practi- 

 cally the whole of this could be produced in our own 

 country. 



Let us first take the most important item — wheat. 



It is computed that we require about 285,000,000 

 bushels of wheat for our own consumption. Can we pro- 

 duce this quantity? The Government returns show that, 

 on an average, our wheat lands produce thirty-two 

 bushels per acre. We then require roughly 8,590,000 

 acres to produce the 285,000,000 bushels. 



We have over 63,000,000 acres of land in the United 

 Kingdom, most of which is capable of tillage. 48,000,000 

 acres of this large area are already under cultivation 

 (chiefly grass and sheep feed crops), but bring every acre 

 of this vast tract that is capable of being tilled under 

 the plough ; cre3.te millions of agricultural holdings where 



