106 THE POSSIBILITIES 



crops, industrial crops, vine, fruit and vege- 

 tables. 



Taking everything into consideration, although 

 the Frenchman keeps less cattle, and especially 

 grazes less sheep than the Briton, he nevertheless 

 obtains from his soil nearly all the food that he 

 and his cattle consume. He imports, in an aver- 

 age year, but one-tenth only of what the nation 

 consumes, and he exports to this country con- 

 siderable quantities of food produce (10,000,000 

 worth), not only from the south, but also, and 

 especially, from the shores of the Channel (Brit- 

 tany butter and vegetables ; fruit and vegetables 

 from the suburbs of Paris, and so on).* 



The net result is that, although one-third part 

 of the territory is also treated as " uncultivable," 

 the soil of France yields the food for 170 inhabi- 

 tants per square mile (out of 188), that is, for 

 forty persons more, per square mile, than this 

 country.f 



* The exports from France in 1910 (average year] attained : 

 Wine, 222,804,000 f r. ; spirits, 54,000,000 fr. ;" cheese, butter 

 and sugar, 114,000,000 fr. To this country France Bent, same 

 year, 2,163,200 worth of wine, 1,013,200 worth of refined 

 sugar, 2,116,000 worth of butter, and 400,000 worth of 

 eggs, all of French origin only, in addition to 12,206,700 

 worth of manufactured silks, woollens, and cottons. The 

 exports from Algeria are not taken in the above figures. 



t Each 1,000 acres of French territory are disposed of as 

 follows : 379 acres are under woods and coppices (176), build- 

 ings, communal grazing grounds, mountains, etc., and 621 acres 

 are considered as " cultivable." Out of the latter, 130 are under 

 meadows, now irrigated to a great extent, 257 acres under 



