Arable Land 
ditches, and of course to begin and finish every agri- 
cultural operation at exactly the right moment. But 
he must return to the land those salts of nitrate, phos- 
phates, and the like which he removes in the shape of 
corn and potatoes or root crops, The great work of 
Lawes and Gilbert is still carried on at Rothamsted and 
in other experimental stations, But the study of agri- 
cultural manures has become a special science, for which 
we have no space in this work. 
In spite of these experiments and the extraordinary 
skill and science expended on our arable land, there are 
two truths which ought to be mentioned. 
No country in the world, neither France with its 
sunny climate nor Germany with its applied science, 
not even the virgin soil of our Colonies and the United 
States, can produce so much per acre as Great Britain. 
The average number of bushels per acre of wheat, 
oats, and barley, the tons of turnips, mangolds, and 
potatoes raised per acre in Britain are almost in every 
single case the very best for any country which has 
reliable statistics. Denmark is the only exception, and 
that only for certain crops and occasionally. This of 
course is just as it should be, and ought to make us 
extremely careful about any interference with our system 
of agriculture. Any one who thinks and studies about 
the food-supply of Britain in time of war will assuredly 
pass a sleepless night or two, for even the large supply 
per acre which our well-tended arable produces is not 
nearly enough for 44,000,000 people. In 1908 we got 
5,820,600 cwts. from Australia, 2,948,000 cwts. from 
India, 16,810,984 from Canada, which makes in all 
about 234 per cent. of our imports (109,147,808 cwts.). 
Our own home-grown wheat amounts to about 68 lbs. 
per head of population, and the imported wheat is 
284 lbs, per head.® 
259 
