122 THE POSSIBILITIES 



but 100 worth of vegetables, of the plainest 

 description, cabbage and carrots, and more 

 than 200 worth under intensive horticultural 

 treatment. This is where agriculture is going now. 



We know that the dearest of all varieties of 

 our staple food is meat ; and those who are 

 not vegetarians, either by persuasion or by 

 necessity, consume on the average 225 Ib. of 

 meat that is, roughly speaking, a little less 

 than the third part of an ox every year. 

 And we have seen that, even in this country, 

 and Belgium, two to three acres are wanted for 

 keeping one head of horned cattle ; so that a 

 community of, say, 1,000,000 inhabitants would 

 have to reserve somewhere about 1,000,000 

 acres of land for supplying it with meat. But 

 if we go to the farm of M. Goppart one of the 

 promoters of ensilage in France we shall see 

 him growing, on a drained and well-manured 

 field, no less than an average of 120,000 Ib. of 

 corn-grass to the acre, which gives 30,000 Ib. of 

 dry hay that is, the food of one horned beast 

 per acre. The produce is thus trebled. 



As to beetroot, which is used also for feeding 

 cattle, Mr. Champion, at Whitby, succeeded, 

 with the help of sewage, in growing 100,000 Ib. 

 of beet on each acre, and occasionally 150,000 

 and 200,000 Ib. He thus grew on each acre 

 the food of, at least, two or three head of cattle. 



