136 THE POSSIBILITIES 



cultural experiments which are being made 

 now experiments to-day and realities to- 

 morrow and ponder over the resources kept 

 in store by science, we are bound to say that 

 it is utterly impossible to foresee at the present 

 moment the limits as to the maximum number 

 of human beings who could draw their means of 

 subsistence from a given area of land, or as to 

 what a variety of produce they could advan- 

 tageously grow in any latitude. Each day widens 

 former limits, and opens new and wide horizons. 

 All we can say now is, that, even now, 600 

 persons could easily live on a square mile ; 

 and that, with cultural methods already used 

 on a large scale, 1,000 human beings not 

 idlers living on 1,000 acres could easily, 

 without any kind of overwork, obtain from 

 that area a luxurious vegetable and animal 

 food, as well as the flax, wool, silk, and hides 

 necessary for their clothing. As to what may 

 be obtained under still more perfect methods 

 also known but not yet tested on a large scale 

 it is better to abstain from any forecast : 

 so unexpected are the recent achievements of 

 intensive culture. 



We thus see that the over-population fallacy 

 does not stand the very first attempt at sub- 

 mitting it to a closer examination. Those only 

 can be horror-stricken at seeing the population 



