86 THE POSSIBILITIES 



are met with the remark that the character 

 of agriculture had been altered : that instead of 

 growing wheat, meat and milk were produced in 

 this country. However, the figures for 1887, 

 compared with the figures for 1860, show that 

 the same downward movement took place 

 under the heads of green crops and the like. The 

 area under potatoes was reduced by 280,000 

 acres ; under turnips by 180,000 acres ; and 

 although there was an increase under the heads 

 of mangold, carrots, etc., still the aggregate 

 area under all these crops was reduced by a 

 further 330,000 acres. An increase of area 

 was found only for permanent pasture (2,800,000 

 acres) and grass under rotation (1,600,000 

 acres) ; but we should look in vain for a cor- 

 responding increase of live stock. The increase 

 of live stock which took place during those 

 twenty-seven years was not sufficient to cover 

 even the area reclaimed from waste land.* 



Since the year 1887 affairs went, however, 

 from worse to worse. If we take Great Britain 



* There was an increase of 1,800,000 head of horned cattle, 

 and a decrease of 4J million sheep (6f millions, if we compare 

 the year 1886 with 1868), which would correspond to an in- 

 crease of 1J million of units of cattle, because eight sheep are 

 reckoned as equivalent to one head of horned cattle. But five 

 million acres having been reclaimed upon waste land since 

 1860, the above increase should hardly do for covering that 

 area, so that the 2^ million acres which were cultivated no 

 longer remained fully uncovered. They were a pure loss to 

 the nation. 



