DEFICIENT INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES & REGIONS 135 



is higher than for most other countries. When the ratios of food- 

 producing animals to the population are considered, it is found 

 that in the 18 years prior to 1914 there was some upward move- 

 ment. This appears, from a study of the numbers of " cattle 

 units " per 100 of the population, which rose from 42-6 in 1895 to 

 43-9 in 1900 and to 47-6 in 1913. The number of " cattle units " 

 per head of the population is comparatively small, but animal 

 industries are conducted on a very intensive system, and the yield 

 in meat and dairy produce per unit is probably greater than it is 

 in France or Germany, which have higher ratios. Concentrated 

 feedstuffs and fodder crops are necessarily used to a very large 

 extent in rearing animals in a country such as Belgium, where 

 the proportion of pasture lands to the total area is especially small. 

 As a matter of fact, and in consequence of this practice, Belgium 

 carries more cattle per acre than any other country. 1 It is obvious 

 that Belgium resembles the elaborating- commercial countries in 

 being dependent, to a. considerable extent, upon imported supplies 

 of concentrated feedstuffs for the maintenance of its food- producing 

 animals. 



With regard to the near future, forecasts are difficult. Much 

 depends upon the rate at which the country recovers from the 

 effects of the War. It is doubtful whether there will be any marked 

 increase in the population for some years to come, even if the 

 manufacturing industries rapidly resume their former flourishing 

 condition. It is certain that the live-stock of the country have 

 been severely depleted during the German occupation, and it is 

 probable also that the fertility of the soil will have suffered 

 impairment. When peace conditions are restored, the animal 

 industries of the country cannot therefore be equal to supplying 

 the requirements of consumption on the pre-war basis ; and unless 

 the per capita consumption of animal foodstuffs remains at a re- 

 duced rate, considerable quantities will require to be imported to 

 supplement home production. In the long run, Belgium may 

 come to be largely self-supporting in the matter of these foodstuffs, 

 though the extent of the imports will depend, in no small measure, 

 upon purchasing power in relation to supplies and prices. There 

 will always be large importations of animal feedstuffs and of food 

 cereals, owing to the existence of a large population concentrated 

 on a small area. The industry and the technical skill of the Belgian 

 peasants are noted, and these qualities may serve to restore the 

 agricultural industries of the country rapidly to a condition of high 

 productivity. 



(e) AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



This region, which lies astride of the boundary line adopted 

 above as separating Western from Eastern Europe, 2 consists in 

 reality of two distinct areas from the point of view of this enquiry ; 



1 Rowntree, Land and Labour : Lessons from Belgium, p. 180. 

 8 See Part I., Chap ii., p. 23. 



