Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-10-31
CLIMATE AND CROPS.
NOW THE FOOD SUPPLIES OF rus
EARTH ARE REGULATED

Agriculture Ii the Ba.i- Of Al, >ss.:.,c,.,
but Vet the Mos, Thi..:y Settled, sro,.
Ass Not by Any Means ,,s. No.: yer.c.
JaSa's Population.
How much room is there still On ,ia
Garth for mankind: This is a oues,;n,,
which IL often raised and which is nv
swcred IL :. great many different wny..
As all Food Is either directly OF indirect.
ly derived from the vegetable k;urlo,,
and the plants need the light ana ,,,e
heat OF the sun, the question as Ia how
the light ard heat are dis.ribu,et, is IN
important one. II we assume (which is
true) tia. only 69 per cent Of the h,a, OF
the sun reaches the earth, the remainder
being absorbed by the atmosphere. then
Iatifudes 20 degrees north and south will
receive - per cent; 20 degrees north and
south, Is Per cent; G. degrees north and
south, 10 Per cent, and the poles only |.
per cent Of the heat received at the es,ua-
tor. Therefore the countries which ON
account of the amount of heat received
are IN tho most favorable circumstances
70 produce 6 great amount Of vegetable
food lie in the tropics. provided the
other condition Of plant life is found
that Ii. damrncss.
In Europe people were particularly
impressed with the information commu.
nacatei by Humboldt. on his return
nom his American Journey. concerning
the great amount Of food furnished Nv
the banana in tropical countries. TWAS
later proved, however. that the distin-
guished naturalist was mistaken, first,
IN ascribing 70 high state Of productive
ncse to the banana. and, second, because
the hsnsna II not generally suitable to
nc used as the principal food for man.
A the grains are cultivated wherever
agriculture Is advanced. in the damn
parts of south and east Asia VIC find
ricr. in the dry parts Of India and the
greater Part Of tropical Africa, millet
and sasc. and in tropical America, rrin-
cipally ccrn.
The banana IL even less fitted 20 fr.--
nish the staple food than the potato. A.
an accessory. however. like the potato il,
the wealthy countries Of Europe and
!! North America. il i-very important. As
q dense population Is only possible where
there is n certain amount of cultivation.
We must keep in mind the expo rience of
many thousand years and accep: the
grains rs the base Of nourishnent.
The Little Antilles and Mascarene Is
lands are Of intense fertility and expor,
q grca: deal Of sugar and import not
only industrial products. bu. q good deal
OF foolstuff. The ground, therefore,
does not directly nourish the population.
Several parts Of India export foodstuffs,
and there is no trustworthy information
as to the interior commerce in these
products. Tonquin 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, j,
furnishes good statistics Of agriculture
and commerce, and the imports and ex
ports are carefully registered. Tho pop
ulation is about as dense as in Belgium.
and Saxcny, but life is supported undo,
very different circumstances. Saxcny
and Belgium import foodstuffs and OK
port mineral and manufactured prod
ucts. Java imports very small amount
of rice and salt fish and exports many
more agricultural products. It not only
supplies its own people with food, bu
finds it possible to buy mineral ant
manufactured products. 1t might h
supposed that this immense population
would be divided in a certain proportion
on the island, and either that its increas,
would be small. as in France and Bel
gium, or else there would be a large
emigration, as from Great Britain O,
Germany.
Neither case is true. Emigration il
scarcely known. The population in
creases at the rate Of Per cent year
and its distribution varies SO greatly
that in the eastern portion there AZ
fewer people than in the swampy prov