1920.] 



Farming in Peace and in War. 



1197 



a deduction for imported feeding stuffs has been made we find 

 that the receipts from live stock come out at about 69s. 5d. 

 per cultivated acre (the very considerable value of the stock 

 grazing, some 15,000,000 acres of mountain and heath land, 

 has been thrown in) as against 182s. gd. per acre realised from 

 wheat and potatoes. When, further, we examine the energy 

 value of the products raised, the relative importance of stock 

 and of crop farming takes an entirely new aspect. Whereas 

 the energy value of the former is but -22 million Calories per 

 acre, the energy value of the latter amounts to 2*57 million. 

 In other words the meat, milk, etc., produced by 100 acres 

 devoted to stock farming would supply energy for 22 persons 

 for a year, while 100 acres cropped with wheat and potatoes in 

 the proportions indicated in Table I. would provide a supply 

 for 257 persons. 



A few additional figures indicating the production of energy 

 by common crops may be of interest in this connection. 



If the average yield of our crops be taken, it may be shown 

 that each 100 acres under crop would provide energy for the 

 following numbers of persons : \\Tieat about 200, potatoes 

 400, oat 150, mangolds converted into meat 40, meadow hay 

 converted into meat 12 to 14. If, further, we assume a farm 

 to be worked on a six-course rotation — wheat, potatoes, oats, 

 roots, barley, clover — it may be ehown that, per 100 acres, 

 energ3^ for about 150 persons could be produced ; on grass 

 land of average quahty, half producing meat and half milk, 

 the corresponding figure would lie somewhere between 

 15 and 20. 



Production on Ploughed Land and Crass Land. — Some years ago 

 in giving evidence before Lord Selborne's Reconstruction 

 Committee, I estimated that before the ^^'ar the ploughed land 

 of the country was feeding 84 persons per 100 acres, while the 

 grass land was probably feeding about 20. From the figures 

 in Table I. above, it would seem that this estimate of the produc- 

 tion of grass land was too high. At that time I calculated the 

 yield from grass by three meth ds, which gave the figures 17, 

 20 and 21 respectively. Table I. indicates that the joint 

 produce of some 14 million acres of arable land and some 22 

 million acres of grass provide energy for 22 persons per 100 

 acres. I have not actually calculated the respective shares of 

 the grass and arable, but if this were done it would be found 

 that the figure for the number of persons maintained by 100 

 acres of average grass land before the Wslt was nearer 17 than 

 20. 



