146 THE POSSIBILITIES 



" For a time the Belgian agriculturist was hardly hit, but 

 gradually he adjusted himself to the new conditions. His 

 cultivation became more intensive, he made more and more 

 use of co-operation in various directions, and he devoted him- 

 self to new branches of agriculture, especially the raising of live 

 stock and garden produce. He began to realise the value of 

 artificial manures, and to acknowledge that science could help 

 him." Land and Labour, p. 147. 



These words by Mr. Bowntree are fully con- 

 firmed by the change in the general aspects of 

 the Belgian agriculture, as they appear from 

 the official statistical data. The same must 

 be said of France. The above-mentioned fall 

 in prices induced agriculturists to intensify their 

 methods of culture. I have mentioned already 

 the rapid spreading of agricultural machinery 

 among the French peasants during the last 

 twenty years ; and I must mention also the 

 equally remarkable increase in the amounts of 

 chemical manure used by the peasants ; the 

 sudden development of agricultural syndicates 

 since 1884 ; the extension taken by co-oper- 

 ation ; the new organisation of transport with 

 cool storage, or in heated cars, for the export 

 of fruit and flowers ; the development taken 

 by special industrial cultures ; and still more so 

 the immense development of gardening in the 

 South of France and market-gardening in the 

 North. All these adaptations were introduced 

 on such a scale that one is bound to recognise 

 that the crisis has had the effect of giving quite 



