130 Home Produce, Imports, Consumption, and 
best prospect of improvement or extension in the production of 
some of the smaller articles of which we import so much ; and 
we should desire to give every encouragement to well-directed 
effort. At the same time, we are firmly of opinion that it is 
out of the question to look for anything like such a result as a 
greatly increased production of some of the articles enumerated. 
Nor do we believe that an extensive application of the Small 
Holdings Act would bring about the changes anticipated to 
anything like the extent that seems to be assumed. County 
Councils, to whose judgment and action in the matter Mr. 
Codings looks forward so sanguinely, will, after all, have to 
face the question — will it pay ? 
But to return to the question of wheat production, which is 
our special subject on the present occasion : In our paper on 
Allotments and Small Holdings, above referred to, we showed 
that, with the rapid increase of population which had taken 
place, it would have been impossible for our own country to 
have produced all the wheat required for consumption ; and that, 
should the increase continue, it will be in a greater degree im- 
possible in the future. It was pointed out, that the area under 
wheat in the United Kingdom had during the last eight years 
averaged rather less than one-eighth of the total arable area ; 
and that to produce all the wheat required for consumption, 
more than one-third of our existing arable area would be 
required ; or that, if the area devoted to other rotation crops 
were to continue to bear about the same relation to that under 
wheat as in recent years, the total arable area would have to 
be increased nearly three-fold, making in all much more than 
our present total arable and grass areas put together ; or that, 
if wheat were to be grown on a larger proportion of the exist- 
ing arable area, it could only be by the exclusion of the growth 
of other grain crops and stock-foods, which would then, in their 
turn, have to be imported in larger quantities; or, our stock 
must be reduced, and our imports of live animals, dead meat, 
and dairy produce, be very much increased. 
Doubtless, if the price of wheat were materially to recover, 
the area under the crop would again increase ; but it is obvious 
that with an annually increasing population, and demand for 
sustenance, it is hopeless to suppose that we can supply 
from home produce even so large a proportion of the total 
amount required as during the earlier periods to which our 
inquiry relates. Indeed, it is evident that, even if our wheat 
area were to regain its former proportions, it could, with the 
rapidly increasing demands for other products, only be by the 
