NOTES ON THE NATURAL LIMITS TO OCCUPATION 



ON THE LAND. 



By K M. Johnston, F.L.S. 



The Dumber of persons that may be employed upon the 

 land varies with the country, with the form of cultivation, 

 and with the degree of civilisation. But whatever the civili- 

 sation may be, there are natural limits to occupation on the 

 land which bar the introduction of more than a certain 

 number. The natural conditions which principally determine 

 these limits are: — (a.) The total extent of land surface of 

 the particular country, (b.) The degree of fertility and the 

 extent of land open to hunting wild animals, or gathering 

 natural vegetable roots or fruits ; cultivation for pasturage 

 only ; cultivation for either crops or pasturage, (c.) Know- 

 ledge and capital as factors in determining and emj^loying 

 the best methods for extracting the greatest amount of 

 produce from a definite area, (d.) The absolute number of 

 hands necessary to cultivate a given area in any form, beyond 

 which limit human labour is wasted in fruitless effort or in 

 positive idleness. (e.) The proportion of cultivable area 

 already occupied. If, in addition, we employ the indices 

 m, e, and n as indicating maximum, medium, and minimum 

 of each condition, we may express by simple formulae the 

 conditions which determine the largest (1)°') and smallest 

 (jy^) number of hands which can find occupation on the laud ; 

 always assuming that their time is wholly occupied within 

 the field of their own division of labour. 



We are now able to express definitely the conditions which 

 determine the maximum (D™), medium, and minimum (D*^) 

 number of hands that it would be necessary to employ upon 

 the land according to the existing conditions under which 

 agricultural and pastoral pursuits are carried on in the 

 United Kingdom. 



The Maximum number of hands employed upon the land 

 could only occur under the following conditions : — 



A'" X B°^ X C° = D^ 



The Minimum number could alone be employed under the 

 opposite of this condition, viz.: — 



A° X B^ X C°^ = D'^ 

 But it never happens that a country as a whole can devote 

 all its cultivable lauds to one form of cultivation, say, crops 



A 



