110 THE POSSIBILITIES 



94,000 head of cattle, from 42,000 to 70,000 

 sheep, and from 60,000 to 108,600 swine. In 

 1890 these exports suddenly came to an end 

 probably in consequence of a prohibition of 

 such imports into Germany. Only horses con- 

 tinue to be exported to the amount of about 

 25,000 horses and foals every year. 



Large portions of the land are given besides 

 to the culture of industrial plants, potatoes for 

 spirit, beet for sugar, and so on. 



However, it must not be believed that the soil 

 of Belgium is more fertile than the soil of this 

 country. On the contrary, to use the words of 

 Laveleye, " only one half, or less, of the territory 

 offers natural conditions which are favourable 

 for agriculture " ; the other half consists of a 

 gravelly soil, or sands, " the natural sterility of 

 which could be overpowered only by heavy 

 manuring." Man, not nature, has given to the 

 Belgium soil its present productivity. With this 

 soil and labour, Belgium succeeds in supplying 

 nearly all the food of a population which is 

 denser than that of England and Wales, and 

 numbers 589 inhabitants to the square mile. 



If the exports and imports of agricultural 

 produce from and into Belgium be taken into 

 account, we can ask ourselves whether Laveleye's 

 conclusions are not still good, and whether only 

 one inhabitant out of each ten to twenty requires 



