466 



Agriculture Abroad. 



[AUG.y 



AGRICULTURE ABROAD. 



POSITION AND PEOSPECTS OF ITALIAN AGKICUL- 

 TUKE— AGKICULTUEAL BOOK-KEEPING IN 

 DENMAKK— AGKICULTUEAL CO-OPEEATION IN 

 SAXONY— IMPOETATION OF SEEDS INTO 

 SWEDEN— PEUSSIAN PEOGEAMME OF AGEI- 

 CULTUEE. 



According to a report issued by the CoDimercial Counsellor 



and the Commercial Secretary to H.M. Embassy at Eome.* 



... , Italian amculture, by reason of the in- 



Position and - ,^ \ i 



Prospects of c^^^se m the population, has almost 



Agriculture in ^^^^^^^ territorial limits, and any in- 

 , crease in the cultivable area will depend 



upon the reclamation of land by drainage. 

 Already the agricultural and forestal productive areas repre- 

 sent 91.1 per cent, of the geographical area of the country. 



According to the report, the War temporarily arrested the 

 development of agriculture,! but a significant recovery in the 

 yield of some of the products for export took place in 1920. 

 Being at the outset of the War less well equipped than other 

 countries to bear the strain, Italy suffered in a special degree 

 from exhaustion, disorganisation and impoverishment. Before 

 the War her economic position was sound. Agriculture was, 

 and still is, her greatest industry: it gave occupation to more 

 than one-third of the population: agricultural products formed 

 the biggest item in her exports. At the present moment the 

 cost of imported agricultural produce is the heaviest item in 

 national expenditure. 



Owing to the great density of the population (332 per 

 square mile) , wheat has been cultivated on land which is more 

 adapted for woods and pastures, and the wheat cultivated area 

 has reached 16 per cent, of the territorial surfa.ce. A pam- 

 phlet published recently by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture 

 states that, during the twelve years 1909-1920, the wheat crop 

 has varied from a maximum of 27 million quarters in 1913 

 to a minimum of 17 million quarters in 1917, with an average 

 of 21 million. It has been deduced that Italy is not particu- 



* General Report on the Commercial, Industrial and Economic Situation of 

 Italy in December, 1920, obtainable for H.M. Stationery Office, Kingsway, 

 W.C.2. Price Is. net. 



-|- Italy differs greatly in this respect from some of the other combatant 

 countries, in which phenomenal development in agriculture took place and 

 greater quantities of foodstuffs than ever before were raised. The success 

 attending the war efforts of Great Britain are well known, while this Journal; 

 for May told biiefly what had been done in Canada. 



