208 PLANT PRODUCTS 



flour and that of rice flour differ by as much as 40 on the 

 Fahrenheit scale, and it is, therefore, a practical impossibility 

 to cook any mixture of potato flour and rice flour. Home 

 efforts at making bread by first boiling the rice, oats, etc., 

 independently, and then mixing with wheat flour, are satis- 

 factory enough, because in this case each part of the flour 

 can be given its own proper cooking (see p. 118). In any 

 case, one may say that the 20 per cent, of home-produced 

 wheat and wheat flour can be made up to 25 per cent, 

 without any inconvenience or any inj ury . Roughly speaking, 

 the wheat crops in 1872 were about double what they are at 

 present. If, therefore, we could go back to that condition 

 of affairs, the 25 per cent, could be turned into 50 per cent., 

 that is, the British Isles could be half self-supporting in 

 the matter of wheat. We are already more than half self- 

 supporting in the matter of meat, and the proposed changes 

 in the system of agriculture should not affect these figures. 



In addition to these considerations, one must remember 

 that there are other cereals besides wheat which can be 

 consumed. The amount of barley produced in the British 

 Isles is not much behind the amount of wheat, and the 

 amount of oats is very much larger. If more motor ploughing 

 comes into force, the amount of oats necessary to maintain 

 the plough horses on the farm would be reduced, and a 

 larger quantity of oats rendered available for human con- 

 sumption, but unless motor ploughing comes into general 

 use the increase of horses for ploughing will result in the 

 increase of oats consumed by plough horses. Potatoes 

 are particularly suited for small systems of cultivation, and 

 much help could be given by town allotments, thus relieving 

 the farmer of a portion of his work, in growing potatoes. 



Experiment has shown that, with the use of more liberal 

 dressings of artificial manures, the fertility of the land can 

 be well maintained, even though white crops are grown 

 far more frequently. 



Under the present condition of high prices and urgency, 

 it would certainly be wise to employ safe manures, like 

 basic slag, with a more lavish hand, since the conditions 



