Allotments and Small Holdings. 
455 
large is the annual value of our imports of such smaller articles 
of production. Thus, the value of the following articles imported 
into the United Kingdom in 1890 was — 
£ 
Poultry and game 
Eggs . 
Butter . 
Cheese . 
• 
497,867 
. 3,428,806 
. 10,598,848 
. 4,975,134 
£19,500,645 
Potatoes 
Onions . 
Other vegetables . 
Apples 
Other raw fruit . 
714,257 
724,020 
773,590 
786,072 
. 1,806,811 
£4,804,750 
£19,500,645 
£24,305,395 
In 1890, therefore, the value of the imports into the United 
Kingdom, of poultry and game, eggs, butter, and cheese, was 
19,500,645/., and that of vegetables and fruit was 4,804,750/., 
making together about 24^ million pounds. 
It is sometimes said that all these at any rate, if not all the 
grain and meat required for consumption, should be produced at 
home. In reference to the argument that we should produce 
more of the staple agricultural products also, it is to be borne in 
mind that we do at present produce more per acre of both wheat 
and barley than any other country ; more of oats than any 
excepting one or two of comparatively small area under the 
crop ; also more of potatoes, and a greater weight of live-stock 
for a given area, than any other country the statistics of whose 
production are known. If, under our existing system of agri- 
culture, we accomplish this, it is natural to suppose that there 
is something in our soil and climate, as well as in the habits of 
the people, compared with those of the countries supplying us 
with so much of the smaller articles above referred to, to account 
for the fact that they are able to compete with us in our own 
markets in the supply of those productions. In most, if not in 
all continental countries, the success of small holdings depends 
very materially on whether or not the soil and the climate are 
suited for the production of what may be called industrial 
crops, such as tobacco, hops, sugar-beet, colza, flax, hemp, and 
grapes, also other fruit and vegetables. Where these condi- 
tions do not exist, and ordinary rotation crops are relied upon, 
and especially where, with this, the land is much subdivided, 
VOL. III. T. S. — 11 K K 
