THE PROBLEM 13 



it is the desire to improve rather than limit 

 the increase in population. The answer to the 

 problem seems to rest, therefore, in increased 

 production from the available areas; in other 

 words, more intensive methods of farming 

 must be adopted in order that the growing 

 population may be properly fed and clothed. 



The present movement," back to the land," 

 will to a limited extent delay the time when the 

 problem of supply and demand will become 

 acute, but come it surely will in this country as 

 it has in the Orient. While there is a decided 

 movement landward our statistics of population 

 clearly show the tremendous increase in town 

 and city population as compared with that of 

 the rural community. If this ratio is main- 

 tained the time when demand will outrun sup- 

 ply will be greatly hastened. But the problems 

 of supplying bread and meat are not the only 

 problems in feeding a nation. Grains and 

 meats, under present conditions, can be trans- 

 ported great distances and kept to serve the 

 needs of months and even years. 



Not so with vegetables and fruits. The excel- 

 lence of these products is rapidly lost if stored, 

 and many do not lend themselves to modern cold 

 storage methods, while all that can be stored 

 emphatically determine the length of the period 



