Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-07-25
FUTURE FOOD SUPPLY.
PRINCE kRAPOTKlN DlCuSSES THE
 QUESTION AT LENGTH.

Extracts from His Essay In The Nineteenth
 Century-Must Great Britain Starvee
 Agriculture in Belgium-Results of
 High CuItivation-The "orchard."
 Great BIitain now buys from foreign coun- tries one-hah of the food she eats and pays for it in manufactures What will she do when other nations decline to buy the pro duce of her looms and millsa Must half her people starve9 This is the question Prince Klapotkin discusses: t.
 ''Is it possible that the soil of the United Kingdom, which at present yields food for one-hah of it's inhabitants, could provide all the necessary amount and variety of food for 5000, 900 human beings, when it covers only 7S, ,o00, ,000 acres all told-forestS and rocks, marshes and peat bogs, cities, railways and fieldss The current opinion is that it by no means can; and that opinion is so inveterate that we even see a scientist, like Mir. Huxley, who is always cautious when dealing with current opinions in science, indorSe that opinion without even taking the trouble of verifying it. It is accepted as an axiom. And yet, as soon 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 we'll known facts"
 The prince thus compares the agriculture of Great Britain with that of Belgium:
 Belgium also grows an average of 2 S-10 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 az gregste crops of cereals are five times larger with regard to the cultivated area, and seven times larger with regard to tho 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, ill the words of Laveleye that only one-half, or less, of the territory offers natu- ral 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 a population which is denSer than that of England and Wales and numbers 514 in- habitants to the square mile. If 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 i'm ported food But even if we double his fig 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 nasty conclusions as to the impossibility of feeding S5,000000 people from 5000, 900 acres. They also will enable me to draw the following conclusions: CD If the soil of the United Kingdom were cultivated only as it was thirty years ago, 24, ,O0O,000 people, in- stead of 100000, could live on home grown food; and that culture, while giving occupa- tion to at least 750O00 men, would give nearly 3,0Oo,000 wealthy homo customers to the British manufacturers. @ If the 1,59O,- 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 9 ,O00, ,0O0 inhabitants out of S5, ,O00, ,OOO S) If the now cultivated area of the United Kingdom S0000 square miles, were culti- vated as the soil is cultivated on the average ill Belgium, the United Kingdom would have food for 8 ,0O0,O 900 inhabitants; and it might export agricultural produce, without ceaSing to manufacture, so as freely to sup ply all the needs of a wealthy population And finally (D, if the population of this coun- try came to be doubled, all that would be re- quired for producing the food for 10000, 900 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 present 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 den- 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 deScriptiom of a single maraiS, or orchard" near Paris:
 His orchard covers only 7-10 acres. The outlay for the establishment, including a steam engine for watering purposes, reached a1, ,1S6. Eight persons, Nj. 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 910O is spent every year. Another a100 is spent in rent and taxes. But how to enumerate all that is gathered every year on this plot of less than three acres, without filling two pages or more with the most wonderful figuresl One must rea6 them in NJ Ponce's work, but here are the chief items: More than 10000 pounds of carrots, more than 10000 pounds of onions, radiShes and other vegetables sold by weight, 6,0O0 heads of cabbage, 5000 of caulihower, 5000 baskets of tomatoes, 5000 dozen of choice fruit, and 154, 900 heads of salad~-in short, Q total oi 25o,o0o pounds of vegetables This soil is made to such an amount that every year 25( cubic yards of loam have to be sold. The
 gross income Is estimated at aSOo, which
 pays the 2100 of rent and taxes and 9570 oi
 working expenses "-The Standard.
 The Story of Annie Laurie."
 The lannon's Souoy that ;s su,r bx, oil s;r,ar.