72 THE GREAT WAR 



It is obvious that these countries, with the pos- 

 sible exception of Eussia, will, both this and 

 next year, be unable to produce more food than 

 is sufficient for the ordinary needs of their own 

 population, while if the war is much further pro- 

 longed, in order to save themselves from semi- 

 starvation, they will have (again excepting 

 Russia) to import food instead of export it. 



In France the area sown in grain is already 

 considerably reduced. An official statement has 

 just been published giving the results of an 

 enquiry into the agricultural situation in that 

 country on May 1st, 1915, and comparing it 

 with that on May 1st, 1914. That statement 

 shows that the area sown with wheat in the 

 whole of France, including the invaded terri- 

 tories, is over 14,000,000 acres, or about 2,000,000 

 acres less than in 1914 ; rye, about 2,500,000 

 acres, compared with nearly 3,000,000 acres ; 

 barley, about 1,700,000 acres, compared with 

 over 1,800,000 acres ; and oats, nearly 8,500,000 

 acres, compared with about 10,000,000 acres. 



Much of the year's harvest in Belgium, 

 Northern France, Russian Poland and Galicia 

 has been destroyed. Existing stocks of food, 

 whe e^er they could be obtained, have been 



