t 882 .J 
A gr i cultural Possibilities . 
525 
IV. AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES.* 
By An Old Technologist. 
oHE appearance of a second edition of M. Ville’s im- 
portant work naturally leads to the discussion of 
some of the momentous questions raised by the 
author, and which have certainly not lost any portion of 
their interest since first propounded. 
Agriculture, as we are told, or rather as we see, is in 
England in a most unsatisfactory position. A series of years 
wetter, colder, and windier than the average have rendered 
farming not merely an unremunerative, but a positively 
ruinous occupation, — a most serious state of affairs if we 
refledt that, after all the advance made in manufactures, the 
larger part of the national capital is invested in the cultiva- 
tion of the soil. If that capital from year to year brings in 
no returns, and is even diminished by losses, it would be an 
insult to the common sense of my readers were I to expound 
at length what must be the ultimate result, — a result ren- 
dered the more certain by the faCt that we no longer hold 
that unquestioned manufacturing and commercial supremacy 
which we once thought was, and must be for ever, our own. 
Were it not for the introduction of food in ever-increasing 
proportions from abroad, especially from the United States, 
we should— e.g., in the latter part of 1879 and in 1880 — 
have experienced what may be mildly called severe scarcity. 
But the method by which we have escaped this scourge has 
not been an unmixed benefit. To appreciate this considera- 
tion we need only look at what may be called the agricultural 
dilemma. The first condition of national prosperity — or I 
might rather say national existence — is abundant, and there- 
fore cheap, food. But food may be too cheap for the inte- 
rests of the producer. If his crops are ruined by increasing 
barrenness of soil, by unfavourable weather, or if prices are 
driven down below the remunerative point by foreign com- 
petition, the cheapness is to him no boon. The interests of 
the consumer and the producer can only be reconciled by 
enabling the latter to produce larger and better crops at a 
less outlay ; this is the great objedt of M. Ville. Addressing 
* On Artificial Manures, their Chemical Selection and Scientific Application 
to Agriculture. By M. Georges Ville. Translated and Edited by William 
Crookes, F.R.S, Second Edition. London ; Longmans and Co. 
