CONDITION OF THE PEASANTEY 5 



such imports and exports for various decades should 

 give information, but a consideration of such figures 

 will show that the seasonal factor entirely outweighs 

 all others, and makes it impossible to compute any 

 steady and general tendency in crop outturns. 



Closely connected with this comes an important 

 consideration of how far a country provides sufficient 

 food for its own population, both in normal times and 

 in abnormal periods of famine or war. The fact that 

 Germany could support 70 to 75 persons per 100 

 acres of cultivated land, while England, with physical 

 conditions certainly not inferior, could support only 

 45 to 50, was of great importance during the recent 

 war ; and the dependence of Bombay Presidency for 

 food on Burma and northern India was made un- 

 pleasantly evident during the famine of 1918-19. 



Then there is another obvious criterion. Has the 

 general condition of the cultivators improved ? Prob- 

 ably every one will agree that it is largely on the 

 answer to this question that we must judge the agri- 

 cultural progress of a country. But by such un- 

 animity the difficulty is only shifted a step further, 

 and few will agree as to whether the condition of the 

 cultivator has improved or not. In discussing this 

 we can only make use of the opinion of competent 

 observers and such statistics as indicate the consump- 

 tion of articles which tend to the comfort and con- 

 venience of the people in general. Land values also 

 will be considered for what they are worth. 



So far, the tests mentioned have been those of 



