Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1893-09-15
CLIMATE AND CROPS.
HOW THE FOOD SUPPLIES OF THE
EARTH ARE REGULATED.

"A
but Yet the Most ThickIy Settled Spots
Are Not by Amy Means the Most Fertile.
Java's Population.
How much room is there still on the
earth for mankind? This is question
which is often raised and which is an
swered in a great many different ways
AS all food is either directly or indirect
" derived from the vegetable kingdom,
and the plants need the light and the
heat of the sun, the question as to how
the light and heat are distributed is an
important one. If we assume (Which Is
true) that only 60 per cent of the heat OF
the sun reaches the earth, the remainder
being absorbed by the atmosphere, then
ATTITUDES 90 degrees north and south Will
receive 90 per cent; 40 degrees north and
south, SO per cent; 60 degrees north and
south, 40 per cent, and the poles only II
per cent of the heat received at the equa-
tor. Therefore the countries which on
account of the amount of heat received
are in the most favorable circumstances
to produce a great amount of vegetable
food lie in the tropics. provided the
other condition of plant life is found
that is, dampness.
In Europe people were particularly
impressed with the information commu-
nicated by Humboldt, on his return
from his American journey, concerning
the great amount of food furnished by
the banana in tropical countries. 1t was
later proved, however, that the dlstln-
guished naturalist was mistaken, first,
in ascribing so high state of productive
ness to the banana, and, second, because
the banana is not generally suitable to
be used as the principal food for man.
AS the grains are cultivated wherever
agriculture is advanced, in the damp
parts of south and east Asia we find
rice, in the dry parts of India and the
greater part of tropical Africa, millet
and sago, and in tropical America, prln-
cipally corn.
The banana is even less fitted to fur
nish the staple food than the potato, AS
an accessory, however, like the potato in
the wealthy countries of Europe and
North America, it is very important. AS
a dense population is only possible where
there is a certain amount of cultivation,
we must keep in mind the experience Of
many thousand years and accept the
grains as the base of nourishment.
The Little Antilles and Mascarene is
lands are of intense fertility and export
a great deal of sugar and import not
only industrial products, but good deal
of foodstuff. The ground, therefore,
does not directly nourish the population.
Several parts of India export foodstutfs,
and there is no trustworthy information
as to the interior commerce in these
products. Tcnquin has too lately been
annexed to France to obtain trustworthy
statistics. Java, with Madura, Is alone
suited to our statistical necessities.
This country is sufficiently large, 1t
furnishes good statistics of agriculture
and commerce, and the imports and ex-
ports are carefully registered. The pop
ulation is about as dense as in Belgium
and Saxony, but life is supported under
very different circumstances. Saxony
and Belgium import foodstuffs and eX-
port mineral and manufactured prod
ucts. Java imports very small amount
of rice and salt fish and exports many
more agricultural products. 1t not only
supplies its own people with food, but
finds it possible to buy mineral and
manufactured products. 1t might be
supposed that this immense population
would be divided in certain proportion
on the island, and either that its increase
would be small, as in France and Bel
GUM, or else there would be a large
emigration, as from Great Britain or
Germany.
Neither case is true. Emigration is
scarcely known. The population in
creases at the rate of 1 per cent year,
and its distribution varies so greatly
that in the eastern portion there are
fewer people than in the swampy prov
| ince of Minsk, in Russia, and in the
central part there are almost twice as
many people as in Belgium and Saxony,
and yet 50 per cent of the population in
this part of the island live by agricul-
ture. Rice is the staple, and the statistics
give 23S Kilograms to each inhabitant.
Only about ID per cent of the surface of
the island is devoted to the culture Of
rice. This is still in a very primitive
state, but the government has taken it
up, and the production will be greatly
increased. Java is a mountainous coun-
try, but these mountains are not high,
and the rainfall is great, and rice can be
cultivated on 80 per cent Of the surface
for the first crop and 10 per cent for the
second. We have therefore possible
extension of the cultivation of rice to
$500 900 hectares. An average crop to
this amount of acreage would support
5000 900 people.
The surface of Java could be divided
in this manner: Thirty per cent of the
water surface would produce rice, vege-
tables, breadfruit and agricultural ex-
ports. Fifteen per cent, not watered,
would produce breadfruit and agricul-
tural exports; eight per cent, not water
ed, coffee and tea plantations; two per
cent, watered, sugar cane. There would
| Inen DE lelG ~ pei SSiO III AOi SS'H' 81
dens, meadows, waters, roads and dwell
ings. The people of Java need not then
be condemned to live on rice alone.
Fruits are very important and necessary
for health, and in Java alone are found
100 different kinds Cattle can be easily
raised, and the superintendent numbers
of water plants, insects and worms that
are found in tropical countries furnish
an easy mears of feeding fish and fowls.
We find therefore that in this country
800 men could find support on one square
kilometer, or more than four times as
many people as are now there.-Aex'
under Wolikof in Breslau Deutsche
Revue.