236 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



produce 20 per cent, of the wheat, 63 per cent, of 

 the barley, and 81 per cent, of the oats we 

 consume. So great is the proportion of wheat 

 in the national dietary that the wheat figures 

 may be taken alone as representing the source 

 of bread supply. For four-fifths of our bread 

 we depend on outside sources. To double the 

 wheat lands would give a vastly better margin 

 of security of food supply in time of war, lifting 

 as it would our probable lowest storage from 

 seven weeks to fourteen weeks. But if it were 

 trebled or quadrupled, the gain would still 

 leave us in an inferior position compared with 

 any rival, for no country of importance trusts 

 to foreign supplies for a greater proportion of 

 its grain than 15 per cent. Thus France, con- 

 suming 330,000,000 bushels, produces within 

 her own borders 322,000,000 bushels. Ger- 

 many (counting in all grains consumed as human 

 food) grows 1,295,000,000 bushels out of the 

 1,504,000,000 she consumes. And both countries 

 have land frontiers to other great food-produc- 

 ing territories. But in dealing with a derelict 

 industry it is necessary to consider what is prac- 

 ticable as well as what is expedient. An im- 



