174 THE POSSIBILITIES 



same thirty tons grown on one acre or two ? If 

 labour is of no consideration, while every penny 

 spent in seeds and manure is of great importance, 

 as is unhappily very often the case with the 

 peasant he will perforce choose the first method. 

 But is it the most economic ? 



Again, I just mentioned that hi the Saffelare 

 district and Jersey they succeed in keeping one 

 head of horned cattle to each acre of green crops, 

 meadows and pasture land, while elsewhere two 

 or three acres are required for the same purpose. 

 But better results still can be obtained by means 

 of irrigation, either with sewage or even with 

 pure water. In England, farmers are contented 

 with one and a half and two tons of hay per acre, 

 and in the part of Flanders just mentioned, 

 two and a half tons of hay to the acre are con- 

 sidered a fair crop. But on the irrigated fields of 

 the Vosges, the Vaucluse, etc., in France, six 

 tons of dry hay become the rule, even upon un- 

 grateful soil ; and this means considerably more 

 than the annual food of one milch cow (which 

 can be taken at a little less than five tons) 

 grown on each acre. All taken, the results of 

 irrigation have proved so satisfactory in France 

 that during the years 1862-1882 no less than 

 1,355,000 acres of meadows have been irrigated,* 



*. Barral in Journal d" Agriculture pratique, 2 fdvrier, 1889 ; 

 Boitel, Herbages et Prairies naturelles, Paris, 1887. 



