88 THE POSSIBILITIES 



that within the last twenty-six years another 

 2,500,000 acres went out of cultivation, without 

 any compensation whatever. It went to increase 

 that already enormous area of more than 

 17,000,000 acres (17,460,000 in 1909-1911) 

 more than one-half of the cultivable area which 

 goes under the head of " permanent pasture," 

 and hardly suffices to feed one cow on each 

 three acres ! 



Need I say, after that, that quite to the 

 contrary of what we are told about the British 

 agriculturists becoming " meat-makers " instead 

 of " wheat-growers," no corresponding increase 

 of live stock took place during the last twenty- 

 five years. Far from devoting the land freed 

 from cereals to " meat-making," the country 

 further reduced its live stock in 1885-1895, 

 and began to show a slight increase during 

 the last few years only. It had 6,597,964 

 head of horned cattle in 1885, 6,354,336 in 

 1895, and 7,057,520 in 1909-1911 ; 26,534,600 

 sheep in 1885, 25,792,200 in 1895, and from 

 26,500,000 to 27,610,000 in 1909-1911. True, 

 the number of horses increased ; every butcher 

 and greengrocer runs now a horse "to take 

 orders at the gents' doors " (in Sweden 

 and Switzerland, by the way, they do it by 

 telephone). But if we take the numbers of 

 horses used in agriculture, unbroken, and kept 



