96 LAND FOR FOOD PRODUCTION 



even if the general character of the farming was not 

 intensified. 



This extra acreage of arable land cropped as indi- 

 cated would raise the proportion of wheat grown in the 

 country from 20 per cent, to 59 per cent, of our require- 

 ments. Now we should not wish to displace the im- 

 portations of wheat from India, Canada, Australia and 

 other British Dominions, which amount to about 30 

 per cent, of our requirements. We can assume that 

 imports to that extent would always reach the country, 

 however stringent the blockade, and as they are paid 

 for within the Empire the bill does not depreciate the 

 national credit. There would, therefore, remain a 

 further 10 per cent, of our consumption still to be 

 derived from foreign sources, to replace which would 

 require another 880,000 acres under wheat. 



As the situation with regard to wheat is the crux of 

 the question from the point of view of national security 

 in time of war, the following table sets out the facts, 

 taking averages for the five years 1909-13 : 



TABLE IX 



Total imports of wheat, grain and 



equivalent of flour in grain . . . . =118.1 million cwts. 

 Inports of wheat and flour as above : 



From British Possessions .. ..= 55.0 

 From foreign countries . . . . = 63.1 

 Production of wheat in the United 



Kingdom = 59.64 million bushels = 31.9 

 Average consumption of wheat in 



United Kingdom = 118.1 -f- 31.9 =150 

 Arable land required to grow the t 

 foreign imports at 32 bushels or 



17 cwt. per acre = 3.71 acres. 



