124 



PRODUCTION 



losses by emigration ; the agricultural population has actually 

 declined in recent years owing to the attraction of other industries. 

 It is probable that emigration, especially of agricultural workers, 

 will be resumed after the close of the war, and no great increase in 

 the population in the near future is to be anticipated. 



The surplus of animal foodstuffs from Sweden has not been ver}> 

 great in the past, and, though it has expanded noticeably in recent 

 years, is not likely to increase rapidly in the future, without greatly 

 increased imports of concentrated feedstuffs. There has, however, 

 been a considerable development in the organisation and technique 

 of the dairy industry in recent times, which may be expected to 

 continue and to have a favourable influence upon the output and 

 exportable surplus of dairy products. Unless non-agricultural 

 industries expand rapidly in the future, it is probable that there 

 will be a gradually increasing surplus of dairy produce and possibly 

 also of live and dead meat from Sweden for some years, when pre- 

 war conditions of trade have been restored. 



(d) IRELAND. 



The importance of Ireland as a source of supplies of animal 

 foodstuffs is apt to be obscured owing to the customary inclusion 

 of Irish trade statistics with those of the United Kingdom. When 

 the Irish statistics relating to animal foodstuffs are considered 

 separately, the deficiency position of Great Britain becomes more 

 conspicuous ; needless to say, the exports of such foodstuffs from 

 Ireland are almost exclusively to Great Britain. 



Ireland in recent years has specialised more and more in animal 

 industries, the productiveness of which has increased owing to 

 improved organisation and to technical progress, while the popula- 

 tion has remained almost stationar} 7 . The following table shows 

 the numbers of the various kinds of food-producing animals and 

 of "cattle units" per 100 of the population in the years 1901 and 1913. 



As compared with Denmark, which has the highest per capita 

 and per acre ratio of " cattle units " among European countries, 

 Ireland shows higher per capita ratios of cattle and sheep, but a 

 much lower one of pigs. The increase in the ratio of pigs to the 

 population has been much more rapid in Denmark than in Ireland, 

 where pig-raising recently received a check owing to the increasing 

 price of feedstuffs and the greater profitableness of the poultry 

 industry. 1 It will be observed from the above table that Ireland is 



1 Departmental Committee on the Irish Pig-breeding Industry. Minutes 

 of Evidence (Cd. 8004), p. 7. 



