114 THE POSSIBILITIES 



Annuaire Statistique de la Belgique. for the year 

 1911, we come to the following results. The 

 annual agricultural census, which is being 

 made since 1901, gives for the year 1909 that 

 2,290,300,000 Ib. of wheat, rye, and wheat mixed 

 with rye were obtained on all the farms of 

 Belgium larger than two and a half acres 

 (2,002,000,000 Ib. in 1895). Besides, 219,200,000 

 Ib. of barley, 1,393,000,000 Ib. of oats, and a 

 considerable quantity of oleaginous grains have 

 been produced. 



It is generally accepted that the average 

 consumption of both winter and spring cereals 

 attains 502 Ib. per head of population ; and as 

 the population of Belgium was 7,000,000 on 

 January 1, 1907, it appears that no less than 

 3,524,400,000 Ib. of cereals would have been 

 required to supply the annual food of the popu- 

 lation. If we compare this figure with that of 

 the annual production just mentioned, we see 

 then that, notwithstanding the considerable 

 decrease of the area given to wheat since the 

 abolition of the entrance duties, Belgium still 

 produces at least two-thirds of the cereal food 

 required for its very dense population, which is 

 nearly 600 persons per square mile (596 in 1907). 



It must be noticed that we should have come 

 to a still higher figure if we took into account 

 the other cereals (to say nothing of the legumi- 



