ITS LESSONS AND ITS WARNINGS 27 



There is not the remotest doubt that if the 

 land of this country were properly utilized, every 

 pennyworth of these immense food imports 

 could be produced at home. 



Besides the articles enumerated in the preceding 

 Tables, there are others which could and would 

 be produced by Peasant Proprietors. There is 

 a good market for English tomatoes, which we 

 import to the value of 1,348,682. The English 

 tomatoes, being plucked fresh from the vine, 

 are, as regards nutrition, juice and flavour, far 

 superior to the foreign grown, which, in order 

 to bear the transit, are gathered in an unripe 

 condition. The same remarks apply to all 

 foreign vegetables with which our markets are 

 flooded. Again, there is the industry of bee- 

 keeping, which if developed would produce a 

 large portion, at least, of the honey a valuable 

 food which we import annually to the value of 

 above 50,000 from countries where the system 

 of small occupying ownerships prevails. 



There is another large industry that could be 

 developed in this country, under a system of 

 peasant proprietary, but which cannot be secured 

 so well by any other system, namely, that of 

 goat-keeping. The goat has been called the 



