OF AGRICULTURE. 145 



energy. Society at large remains indifferent to 

 the needs of British agriculture. 



It must not be forgotten that the competition 

 of American wheat has made the same havoc 

 in the agriculture of most European countries 

 especially in France and Belgium ; but in the 

 last two countries the adaptations which were 

 necessary to resist the effects of the competition 

 have already taken place to a great extent. 

 Both in Belgium and in France the American 

 imports gave a new impetus toward a more 

 intensive utilisation of the soil, and this impetus 

 was strongest in Belgium, where no attempt was 

 made to protect agriculture by an increase of the 

 import duties, as was the case in France. On the 

 contrary, the duties upon imported wheat were 

 abolished in Belgium precisely at the time when 

 the American competition began to be felt 

 that is, between 1870 and 1880. 



It was not only in England that the fall in the 

 prices of wheat was felt acutely by the farmers. 

 In France, the hectolitre of wheat (very nearly 

 three bushels), which was sold at 18s. lOd. in 

 1871-1876, fell to 15s. 5d. in 1881-1885, and to 

 12s. 6d. in 1893 ; and the same must have been 

 in Belgium, the more so as the protective duties 

 were abolished. But here is what Mr. Seebohm 

 Rowntree says about the effect of the prices in his 

 admirable book on land and labour in Belgium : 



