PRODUCTION 77 



bushels — their production was more than six times 

 that of ours. 



Whilst British crop production has actually declined 

 during the past 25 years, that of Germany shows an 

 annual increase of ^(^ 120,000,000 in value by the end of 

 the period. Von Scherwin Lowitz^ estimates that the 

 annual value of Germany's agricultural produce approx- 

 imates ^700,000,000, made up as follows : Corn, 

 £140,000,000 ; meat, ^^200,000,000 ; dairy produce, 

 ;{^ 1 37,000,000 ; potatoes and sugar beet, £80,000,000 ; 

 the balance being made up of fruit, vegetables, oil, fibre 

 crops, viticulture and poultry products. That is : 



£700,000,000 worth of produce ofT 80,000,000 acres. 



Turning to our 50,000,000 acres under cultivation, we 

 find the production for the 5-year period, 1909-13, as 

 follows : — - 



The sale of live stock and stock products . £151,000,000 

 \\ heat and potatoes .... 27,000,000 



Total .... £178,000,000 



If we add another £22,000,000 for other produce, we 

 get a round sum of about £200,000,000 as the annual 

 value of the produce of our soil. And it has remained 

 at about this figure for several generations. 



To reduce these large figures to small ones easily 

 grasped, it means that our gross yield from the land comes 

 out at about £4 sterling per acre. 



The German return per acre is much higher than this ; 

 but there is little to be gained by working it out in detail, 

 because elaborate calculations would have to be made 



* Deutschland unter h'aitcr Wilhelm II. 



* Sir Thomas Middlrton's address to the Agricultural SuLittv, 

 University College of Wales, December ly, lyiy. 



