DIVISION AND SPECIALIZATION 167 



in the Teutonic countries of Europe, presup- 

 poses intelligence on the part of the farmers 

 and valuable land justifying a large outlay of 

 capital. These conditions are much more 

 favorable to the growth of crops requiring in- 

 tensive cultivation than to grain crops which 

 give the highest profit when grown on new 

 land on a large scale." 



Thus, it is profitable to grow wheat in 

 western Europe only on the land most highly 

 specialized by nature for its production, be- 

 cause of the high capitalization of land due 

 to the excessive population. It resolves itself 

 into a purely commercial proposition that 

 western Europe looks to the rest of the world 

 for its bread while Russia, struggling with 

 medieval laws and customs, presents an enor- 

 mous area, its Black Earth Belt, for extensive 

 wheat growing. 



Mr. Rutter was able to collect statistics in 

 France to illustrate strikingly this very point. 

 He shows that the returns from an acre in 

 France during the few years preceding 1905 

 were $153 for hops; tobacco, $93; flax, $72; 

 fresh beans and peas, $62 ; and hemp $54. The 

 various grains on the other hand averaged only 

 $18, ranging from $21 for wheat to $12 for 



