92 



KNOWLEDGE 



[JoLY 7, 1882. 



mpriiliiuis (wbich grow closer to each other as they approach 

 tlio north) would represent about 137,4 14 square Enjjlish 

 miles ; each zone would therefore contain about 2l',907 

 square Englislj miles. The distances between the parallels 

 of latitude are longer than at the equator. The average, 

 however, of G9i Engli.sh miles has been taken, and this 

 would give in round niiuiV>ers 23,000 square English miles 

 to each zone. We shall now be able to estimate the pro- 

 portion of land and wator within each zonal area. 



* SootUnd 6,900 and BngUod 1,830 B.m. t Bcotlud 730 and EngUnd 6, 130 s.m. 



The above figures will demonstrate the remarkable 

 difference that e.xists between the several zones into 

 which the area has been divided. The percentage columns 

 show that the whole area has more sea than land ; that 

 l>ctween the IV. and V. zones there is to be found the 

 greatest amount of land; that the most southern (VI.), 

 and one of the most northern (II.) have the most perfect 

 insular character, and that the four central zones difTcr 

 widely ; for instance, the two northern zones II. and III. 

 have an immediate sea area of 29,450 square n)iles, whilst 

 the two below them, IV. and V., have only an immediate 

 sea area of 11,900 square miles. This large additional 

 amount of sea suiface, close to the north-eastern and north- 

 ■western coasts, which, between these parallels, are nearer to 

 i-ach other than at any part of the east and west coa.st 

 lines, has a powerful influence not only on the climate of 

 the coast, but on that of the interior ; this influence is more 

 evident during the periods of extreme heat and cold, as in 

 January and July, when the weak most require it. In the 

 winter, when the Gulf Stream tempers our climate, the.se, 

 as it were, extra 1 7, •").')0 square miles of sea, bring closer 

 home its warmth, and in tliis way reduce the daily range 

 of temperature. In the summer, the small area of land 

 lying between tlio two seas has its sun heat cooled by them, 

 80 that an insular climate becomes as perfect in the north 

 as it is found to be in the south. 



Many of the above facts, now that they have been given 

 in detail, may bo rendered still more evident to the eye by 

 means of chart diagrams, with one of which we hope to 

 illustrate, next week, some of the points dwelt upon in 

 former pages. The six zonal areas we have thus de.scribed 

 will serve our purpose admirably for grouping together our 

 Hc;aside Health Resorts ; for each belt of land and .sea has 

 its characteristic climate factors, and each its physical 

 peculiarities; each its distinctive surroundings; and we 

 sliall see how these operatf; in producing that variety in our 

 climate which has rendered it so diflfi .ult a study. 



We shall have, in the next place, to consider the position 

 of the Seaside IlealthResorts on the seaboard, and point 

 out how their climates are affected by the Gulf Stream, 

 the North Sea, and the Continent of Europe. 



Ki.Fi.TKir Ur.m IN A Salt Mink.— Thr; Witton ITiill Salt Minoir 

 WamDjftonroad, Northwlcli, in now lij^hlcl up by Brunh lf»mp« ir 

 p\hre of tho candlos gcnerftll/ luxxl. Thero are Bixtoon Uri^n on 

 lamjiii ciDjiloyod. 



FUTURE SOURCKS OF OUR FOOD 

 SUPPLY. 



By Percy IIussei.l. 

 AUSTRALASIA. 



AT a time when, as a nation, we are becoming increas- 

 ingly dependent on foreign supplies for our " daily 

 bread," and when there seems no prospect whatever of the 

 home producer again meeting in any adequate degree the 

 ■wants of the home consumer, it is surely equally profitable 

 and interesting to inquire into the nature and extent of 

 the resources beyond the seas which exist for the due pro- 

 visioning of these over-peopled isl.ands. 



In truth, the national commis.^ariat has important social 

 and even political bearings which appear to bo unduly 

 slighted by many among us, while in its industrial and 

 commercial aspects it is obviously of transcendant impor- 

 tance. 



Most persons are aware, as a mere matter of general 

 information, that we now draw a great portion of our bread 

 stud's from the Ignited States, and it is known, too, that 

 many items of dairy produce reach us from the same source, 

 while France furnishes us with no inconsiderable part of 

 the fruit and vegetables which might, in a great many cases, 

 b(! grown by ourselves. 



In ed'ect the British islands are now, to a certain extent, 

 regularly victualled from extraneous sources, and as the 

 requirements of a people who are ever becoming more 

 and more concentrated in towns and cities, constantly 

 augment, the food importer is over on the look out for new 

 fields whence he may draw his enormous supplies, and thus, 

 by introducing fresli factors into the commercial calcula- 

 tion, defeat the designs of those who look to monopoly for 

 forcing up prices. 



Enough has been written about the vast wheat-fields of 

 America, and the great resources of Canada and the west 

 of our North-American dominions, but I do not think 

 that persons hero not directly connected with our Austral- 

 asian colonies have any adequate notion of their real capa- 

 bilities for provisioning this country, or of the happy and 

 mutually beneficial result that must ensue from a more 

 complete interdependence of these islands and the great 

 Austral continents. 



I propose in this paper to give a rapid sketch of Austral- 

 asia as a sufficient source in the future for all such food 

 staples as we may need, and to show by facts and figures 

 that in settling these remote regions of the southern hemi- 

 sphere, we have unconsciously obtained a safeguard against 

 the very possible and appalling peril of any combination 

 that might bo efl'ccted in the United States for the purpose 

 of extorting ruinous rates on account of our evident 

 inability to supply our own people with food. 



On the one hand we have within tlic; contracted area of 

 these islands a population of soiiu'tliing like 40,000,000 

 all told, cultivating about 3,000,000 acn^s for wheat, and 

 ownini:, in round numbers, 10,000,000 head of cattle, 

 27,000,000 of sheep, and 3,000,000 of pigs, and having 

 a trade valued at about £097,000,000. On the other 

 hand we have an area, some 3,000,000 square miles, i.e., 

 twenty-six times the size of (ireat Britain, occupied by a 

 (lopulation of le.ss than 3,000,000, raising, on an average, 

 nearly 40,000,000 bu.shels of wheat, possessing over 

 8,000,000 of cattle, 7.^),000,000 of Kheej., and 1,000,000 of 

 pigs, while the aggregate trade of this community — rich in 

 corn and cattle up to scriptural standards — amounts to 

 close on £100,000,000 per annum! If we carefully 

 compare, then, the outcome in material w(!ll-being and in 

 diffused general wealth, of the scanty Australasian com- 



