The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-08-24
FUTURE FOOD SUPPLY.
PRINCE KRAPOTKIN DlcuSSEs THE
QUESTION At LENGTH.
Extracts from His Essay In The Nineteenth
Century-Must Great Britain Starve7
Agriculture in Belgium-Results Of

Agriculture in Belgium-Resu1ts Of
High Cultivation-The "Orchard."
Great Britain now buys from foreign coun.
tries one-half Of the food she eats, and pays
for it in manufactures What will she dc
when other nations decline to buy the pro.
duce OF her looms and millsi Must half her
people starvef This is the question Prince
Klapotkin discusses:
SIS it possible that the soil of the United
Kingdom, which at present yields food for
one-half of its inhabitants, could provide all
the necessary amount and variety Of food for
$4,000 600 human beings when it covers only
100000 acres all told-forests and rocks,
marshes and peat bogs, cities, railways and
deldsa The current opinion is that it by no
means can; and that opinion is so inveterate
that We even see a scientist, like Mr.. Huxley,
who is always SO cautious when dealing with
current opinions in science, indorse that
opinion without even taking the trouble of
verifying it. It is accepted as IN axiom
And yet, as soon as we try to find out any
argument in its favor, we discover that it has
not the slightest foundation, either in facts
or in judgment upon well known facts"
The prince thus compares the agriculture
OF Great Britain with that Of Belgium:
Belgium also grows an average Of q $40
bushels Of wheat per acre, but her wheat
area is relatively twice as large as that of the
United Kingdom; it covers one-eleventh part
OF the cultivated area, one-twelfth of the
aggregate territory. Besides, Belgium culti-
Yates on larger scale industrial plants, and
although she keeps the same amount Of cattle
on the acre as the United Kingdom, her ag-
gregate crops Of cereals are five times larger
with regard to the cultivated area, and seven
times larger with regard to the aggregate
territory. As to those who will not fail to
say that the soil of Belgium is certainly more
fertile than that Of this country, let me
answer, in the words of Laveleye, that only
one-half, or less, Of the territory offers natu-
raj conditions which are favorable for agri-
culture:' the other half consists of a gravelly
soil, or sands, the natural sterility of which
could be overpowered only by heavy manur-
ing.' With this soil and labor, Belgium
succeeds in supplying nearly all the food
OF population which is denser than that of
England and Wales. and numbers 514 in
habitants to the square mile. II the exports
OF agricultural produce from Belgium be
taken into account, we can say that Lavel-
eyes figures are still good, and that only one
inhabitant out of each twenty requires inn
ures, we still find that the soil Of Belgium
supplies with home grown food no less than
46O inhabitants per square mile.
II might quote like examples from else
where, especially from Lombardy, without
even going as far as China But the above
will be enough to caution the reader against
hasty conclusions as to the impossibility of
feeding 35,000,O00 people from 78,OOO.OOO
hou oil mil IL
following conclusions: N If tho soil of the
United Kingdom were cultivated only as it
was thirty years ago, q, ,00O, 600 people, in
stead Of 17,000, 600, could live on home grown
food; and that culture, while giving occupa-
ion to at least 10000 men, would give
nearly 5000, 900 wealthy home customers to
the British manufacturers. C9 If the $780,
600 acres on which wheat was grown thirty
years ago-only these, and not more-were
cultivated as the fields are cultivated now in
England under the allotment system. which
gives on the average forty bushels per acre,
the United Kingdom would grow food for
q, ZOO, 600 inhabitants out of S5,OOO,OOO @
If the now cultivated area of the United
Kingdom $50, 900 square miles, were culti-
waited as the soil is cultivated on the average
in Belgium, the United Kingdom would
have food for 81, ,0OO, 600 inhabitants; and it
might export agricultural produce, without
ceasing to manufacture, so as freely to sup
ply all the needs Of q wealthy population.
And finally ~, il the population OF this coun-
try came to be doubled, all that would be re-
quired for producing the food for 100000
Inhabitants would be to cultivate the soil as
it is cultivated in the best farms of this coun-
try, In Lombardy and in Flanders, and to
cultivate the meadows which at presen, lie
almost unproductive around big cities in the
same way as the neighborhood of Paris is
cultivated by the Paris maraichers"
But Prince Krapotkin goes farther, and
shows how, as population increases in dem
sity, the command Of man over the produc-
tive power Of the soil becomes proportion
ately greater, until it really seems impossible
tosset limit to it Here is his description of
single marais, or ''orchard," ," near Paris:
"His orchard covers only 7-1O acres. The
outlay for the establishment, including a
steam engine for watering purposes, reached
81, 1876. Eight persons, N. Ponce included,
cultivate the orchard and carry the vegeta-
bles to the market, for which purpose one
horse is kept; when returning from Paris
they bring in manure, for which e100 is
spent every year. Another G10O is spent in
rent and taxes. But how to enumerate all
aat is gathered every year on this plot Of
less than three acres, without filling two
pages or more with the most wonderful
fgures7 One must read them in NJ. Ponce's
work, but here are the chief items: More
than 10000 pounds Of carrots, more than
%, 600 pounds of onions, radishes and other
vegetables sold by weight, 5000 heads of
cabbage, 5000 Of caulifower, 5000 baskets of
tomatoes, 5000 dozen Of choice fruit, and
154 900 heads Of salad-in short, total of
25o,ooo pounds of vegetables. This soil is
made to such IN amount that every year $50
cubic yards of loan have to be sold. The
gross income is estimated at $500, which
pays the 9l00 of rent and taxes and s57O of
working expenses. "-The Standard.