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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  24,  1900. 
the  foreigner,  and  so  on  and  so  forth.  These  reproaches  usually  come 
from  men  who  are  by  no  means  as  “  up  ”  in  their  subject  as  they  think 
they  are,  but  they  serve  their  purpose,  which  is  agitation  against  the 
present  system  and  present  workers.  It  is  always  advisable  before 
addressing  the  public  to  make  sure  of  the  facts.  We  know  very  well 
how  facts  and  figures  may  be  manipulated,  but  still  facts  and  figures 
are  tetter  than  generalities — there  is  something  to  grasp. 
Our  population,  instead  of  being  stationary  like  that  of  France,  is 
increasing  rapidly ;  our  land  is  sea  girt,  and  therefore  we  cannot 
enlarge  our  borders  to  accommi  date  our  family.  We  have  done  what 
we  thought  was  the  next  best  thing — established  colonies  and 
dependencies  pretty  nearly  all  the  world  over,  and  we  expect  that 
they  help  us  in  two  ways — viz.,  relieve  us  of  our  surplus  population 
and  feed  us  with  their  surplus  stores,  for  which  we  are  ready  to  offer 
the  best  price.  This,  it  appears,  is  not  at  all  the  proper  thing  to  do. 
We  should  be  self-contained,  that  is,  be  able  within  our  own  borders 
to  produce  enough  of  those  feeding  stuffs  that  the  climate  will  allow 
us  to  grow.  We  are  told  constantly  that  we  do  not  cultivate  every 
available  acre,  that  there  is  much  of  what  is  termed  “  waste  land,” 
land  crying  out  to  be  tilled,  that  there  is  too  little  under  plough  and 
too  much  laid  down  to  pasture ;  and  that  which  we  do  cultivate  we 
only  do  badly.  We  are  not  perfect,  v. e  know;  but  we  fancy  we  can 
compare  very  favourably  with  those  other  nations  that  are  held  up  as 
our  examples. 
Let  us  see  what  we  do  import,  and  the  land  needed  for  the  production 
of  those  imports;  let  us  count  up  our  acres  available  and  non- available, 
and  strike  a  balance.  Let  us  see  per  acre  what  we  can  manage  to 
raise,  and  let  us  ask  what  other  countries  can  raise  per  acre  too — and 
then  see  who,  acre  for  acre,  has  the  best  of  it.  Wheat  comes  first  ;  it 
is  allowed  on  all  hands  that  we  must  have  bread,  and  we  find  that 
we  can  only  produce  one-quarter  of  what  we  annually  need.  We  do 
not  say  anything  about  the  cost  of  producing  that  bread,  but  there  is 
a  pretty  gen  ral  opinion  abroad  that  the  grower  will  not  become  rich 
on  his  profits,  and  it  ir  hardly  to  be  expected  that  men  are  so  large 
minded  as  to  want  to  work  without  seeing  .some  return  for  their 
labour.  As  meat  eaters  we  find  that  we  can  supply  about  62  percent, 
of  our  yearly  requirements.  Much  more  meat  is  eaten  now  than 
formerly,  and  this  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  foreigner  sends  meat 
that  he  can  afford  to  sell  at  a  price  to  be  within  the  means  of  our 
poorer  population,  a  population  that  till  recently  were  not  great  meat 
consumers.  Owing  to  cheap  bread  and  meat  the  consumption  of  the 
Potato  declines  rather  than  increases,  and  we  practically  supply 
ourselves.  Of  milk  products  we  require  about  45  per  cent.;  by  that 
we  mean  butter,  cheese,  a  d  condensed  milk. 
But  there  are  other  food  products  we  are  importing  that  by  the 
casual  inquirer  might  be  ibrgotten.  They  are  what  might  be 
termed  indirect  food  products,  and  are  classed  under  the  following 
heads.  They  are  needed,  not  for  ourselves,  but  for  our  stock  and 
for  the  purposes  of  fertilisation.  We  find  in  the  list  Barley,  Oats, 
Rye,  Beans  and  Peas,  Maize,  both  whole  and  in  meal,  Buckwheat, 
Cotton  seed.  Linseed,  Rape  seed,  linseed  and  cotton  seed  cake,  other 
cakes  and  hay.  Some  of  the  Barley  and  Maize  are  for  malting,  but 
all  the  small  second  class  Barley  is  used  as  feeding  meal;  we  might 
put  that  down  as  about  11,947,000  cwts.  per  annum.  We  are  very 
free  users  of  the  various  oil  cakes,  and  we  also  need  much  additional 
hay.  Ninety  million  cwts.  of  feeding  stuffs  per  annum  would  take  a 
good  deal  of  producing,  and  we  fear  that  this  production  would  be  a 
puzzle  that  would  perplex  our  many  advisers.  To  get  this  food  or  its 
equivalent  would  require  six  million  acres,  and  the  question  is  whether 
we  could  produce  the  equivalent. 
Very  well,  now  let  us  see  how  much  land  would  be  needed  to 
produce  the  Wheat,  beef,  mutton,  and  milk  which  we  import.  It  has 
been  wo'ked  out  carelully  by  experts,  and  they  have  arrived  at  the 
following  conclusions: — 
Wheat  would  require  . . 
Beef 
Mutton  . . 
Milk  and  its  products  . . 
Feeding  stuffs  . . 
Acres. 
5,979,000 
4,108,000 
2,176,000 
4,643,000 
6,093,000 
22,999,000 
Now  where  are  we  to  find  these  twenty-two  million  and  odd  acres  ? 
The  total  area  of  land  and  water  in  the  United  Kingdom  is  77,671,000 
acres,  and  of  that  47,800,000  are  under  crops  and  grass.  We  cannot 
and  do  not  suppose  that  much  of  the  remaining  twenty-nine  millions 
are  fit  and  suitable  for  cultivation  ;  there  is  the  wafer  to  deduct,  the 
buildings,  and  the  true  waste  lands.  Of  course  some  would  say, 
“Plough  up  some  of  the  grass.”  Well  that  would  only  be  robbing 
Peter  to  pay  Paul ;  we  might  get  a  little  more  grain  at  the  expense  of 
beef  and  mutton,  and  certainly  at  present  we  find  if  there  is  a  bit  of 
profit  at  all  for  the  farmer  it  comes  from  his  beef  and  mutton. 
We  should  fare  very  badly  without  the  oil  cakes.  Linseed  has 
been  given  up  for  some  time  as  an  unprofitable  crop  in  England,  and 
though  attempts  have  been  made  to  revive  that  industry,  they  have 
only  met  with  failure.  Eliminate  Maize  from  the  bill  of  fare  and  you 
do  away  with  a  cheap  and  most  valuable  feeding  stuff,  and  it  will  be 
allowed  on  all  sides  that  Maize  cannot  be  grown  except  as  a  green 
fodder  crop  in  some  of  our  warmest  counties.  We  cannot  even  make 
an  attempt  at  cotton  cake,  that  is  quite  beyond  our  power,  and  yet 
cotton  cake  we  must  and  will  have. 
We  had  intended  to  say  a  few  words  respecting  the  fallacy  (for 
fallacy  it  is)  that  we  do. not  get  as  much  return  per  acre  as  some  of 
our  Continental  neighbours  ;  but  the  subject  [is  too  long  to  be 
treated  of  at  the  small  end  of  a  paper ;  we  must  keep  it  for 
another  day.  It  is  too  bad  to  find  our  own  people  always  belittleing 
their  own  country  folk. 
Some  of  the  calculations  as  to  the  production  of  feeding  stuffs  on 
mixed  occupations  are  most  interesting.  They  are  based  on  the  sup¬ 
position  that  the  land  is  of  the  best  quality  and  under  the  best 
management.  This  is  a  table  of  quantities.  Beef,  1200  lbs.  annuallv 
will  be  produced  from  6  5  acres;  mutton  112  lb-,  from  0  64  acres; 
milk,  500  gal.  from  2  0  acres.  How  many  of  us  know  what  is  our 
due,  then,  of  the  national  butcher’s  bill  ?  We  fancy  a  good  many  of 
us  fall  far  short  of  our  proper  share,  66  Ib^.  beef,  31  lbs.  mutton,  anl 
35  lbs.  pork.  Things  (even  butchers  meat)  are  not  evenly  divided. 
We  fancy  the  greater  production  of  vegetables  of  all  sorts  may 
have,  in  a  small  measure,  affected  the  Potatoes.  There  has  been  a 
steady  and  large  increase  in  the  greengrocery  of  the  kingdom.  All 
manner  of  Broccoli  and  fancy  vegetables  are  both  abundant  and  good, 
and  we  see  signs  that  our  cooks  look  for  and  expect  something  beyond 
the  homely  Potato  and  Cabbage.  It  is  good  both  for  the  health  and 
the  pocket  that  we  include  more  vegetables  in  our  dietary — in  the  past 
we  have  been  rather  too  conservative,  and  have  failed  to  appreciate  at 
their  proper  value  any  but  the  very  commonest  and  most  easily  cooked 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
Work  on  tlie  Home  Farm. 
We  rejoiced  too  soon  when  we  thought  that  the  heavy  rain  would 
bring  warmer  weather,  for  the  last  week  has  been  an  unbroken  record 
of  north-easterly  winds,  cold  and  piercing,  with  sometimes  we  must 
imagine  a  touch  of  frost  in  them,  for  every  kind  of  vegetation  is 
looking  more  or  less  nipped.  Barleys  have  distinctly  gone  back 
during  the  week,  and  have  lost  much  of  their  promising  appearance. 
Wheats  are  also  showing  signs  of  rust,  and  both  are  badly  in'  want  of 
more  sunshine.  It  is  late  for  top-dressing,  but  where  Wheat  turns 
very  yellow,  as  the  season  is  such  a  backward  one,  a  light  dressing  of 
nitrate,  say,  80  lbs.  per  acre,  might  be  advisable.  .As  regards  farm 
work,  the  weather  has  been  everything  one  could  desire.  The  chief 
work  now  is  ploughing  fallows  for  Turnips,  or  rather  Swedes.  The 
land  is  turning  up  in  beautifully  moist  condition,  and  much  finer  than 
was  expected.  Swedes  could  be  put  in  well  now,  and  no  doubt  many 
will  be  sown,  especially  in  the  north ;  but  the  land  is  hardly  warm 
enough,  and  we  should  prefer  to  wait  until  mid-June  rather  than  drill 
Swedes  in  cold  weather.  We  have  seen  very  fine  crops  indeed  from 
May  sowings,  but  not  a  May  like  this. 
Mangold  will  soon  be  peeping  through,  and  it  must  be  side-hoed  as 
soon  as  the  rows  of  young  plants  can  be  disceined.  Potatoes  will  soon 
be  through,  and  if  not  already  done  must  be  ridge-harrowed.  Such 
work  went  very  well  immediately  after  the  recent  rain;  the  large  clots 
fell  to  pieces  beautifully. 
Pastures  look  greener,  but  there  is  only  a  short  bite.  The  shortness 
of  plant  in  the  seeds  is  telling  its  tale  now  the  young  growth  has  a 
mouth  always  at  it,  and  cannot  make  any  headway.  The  Clovers  laid 
in  for  hay  having  been  relieved  from  stock  for  a  month  begin  to  look 
rather  promising,  and  have  stood  the  cold  as  well  as  anything. 
Meadows  are  the  same  ;  grass  is  growing  where  it  has  a  chance.  The 
cake  merchant  still  drives  a  good  trade  ;  we  see  many  waggons  fetching 
cake  to  the  farms.  No  doubt  the  price  of  meat  is  well  repaying  the 
farmer  for  his  outlay.  When  a  butcher  has  to  pay  8s.  9d.  per  14  lbs. 
for  beef,  and  up  to  lOd.  per  lb.  for  clipped  sheep,  there  is  a  good  margin 
to  buy  extra  foods  with.  As  there  is  a  strong  probability  of  a  striking 
decrease  in  the  numbers  of  sheep  recorded  in  the  coming  agricultural 
returns,  farmers  must  make  the  most  of  their  limited  stocks.  There  is 
little  fear  of  foreign  m^at  having  a  very  serious  effect  on  the  trade  for 
some  time  to  come.  We  hear  that  at  the  Yorkshire  and  Lincolnshire 
May  hirings  hands  were  almost  impossible  to  obtain,  and  wages  higher 
even  than  in  the  1876  boom. 
