this, 'Where can England get meat?' On this point it is advisable to compare the consumption in the countries under consideration. M. Block estimates The area of Holland is 7,614,252 English acres ; that of Ireland, 20,122,476 acres. The number of cattle in Ireland in 1862 was 3,250,386; in Holland, 1,374,040. The exports from Ireland in 1863, compare thus with the exports from Holland : : Taking the area of the respective countries into account, the exports from Holland are 30 per cent. greater than those of Ireland, in proportion to the number of cattle they are 12 per cent. greater from Holland than from Ireland. Yet the population of Holland is, to the extent of soil, in the ratio of nearly double that of Ireland. Ireland, with her large supply of milch stock, neither makes nor exports cheese in any quantity. Holland exported 15,135,000 ponds, or 300,000 cwt. The export of butter from Ireland in '62 was about 800,000 firkins; that of Holland was 10,031,000 ponds, or about 336,000 firkins. It is, therefore, very evident that the production of ROTTERDAM TO LONDON. 209 the dairies of Holland, with its poor sandy soil, are much greater-I think they are double-those of the Emerald Isle. I fear the farmers of Ireland, and the people of the United Kingdom, are alike suffering from the want of more discretion with regard to the breed, and the treatment of cattle. The Irish dairies ought to be more productive than those of Holland; I think the evidence shows that they are less so. There is little in Holland, or Belgium, or Switzerland, or France, which a large English farmer would call good farming; there are no steam ploughs, few thrashing machines, none of that vast apparatus, which we foolishly suppose to be indispensable to good farming; but there is, in all these countries, a more minute, a more careful, cultivation of the soil, and there is also, that which should be the principal object in all farming—a larger amount of produce from the land, larger quantities of food for the people; which is obtained without exhausting the soil. London. The steamer in which I sailed from Rotterdam, was loaded to repletion with cattle and sheep, which were ranged tier over tier. There were two or three tiers under deck. The deck was full, and even the bridge, usually reserved for passenger accommodation, was packed with sheep. Three other steamers came away from Rotterdam the same tide, all equally crowded with live stock. This goes on week after week. I noticed on the deck a number of roan cattle, and not having seen any of that colour in Holland, I asked the drover in charge of them, where they came from, and learned that they Р were German, and had come down the Rhine. They were large animals, and in fair condition. On arriving at Harwich I soon felt the difference between the continental and the English hotel system. The Great Eastern Company has its own hotel at Harwich; it is a new building, and apparently well managed, but dear in proportion to foreign hotels. Some passengers complained that the Company's arrangements were made with a view to delay them at this hotel, instead of forwarding them speedily to London. I had a better bedroom, and greater accommodation, in the Bath Hotel at Rotterdam, for which I was charged a guilder, 1s. 8d. per night, than at the Great Eastern Hotel, Harwich, where the charge is 2s. 6d. Plain breakfast, which was better served and more varied in Rotterdam, was charged 1s. while in Harwich it was 1s. 6d. There is a difference of fully 50 per cent. in the price, and yet there can be no such difference in the cost of the articles supplied, or in the expense of the establishments. In passing through Essex, on my route to London, I saw greater preparations for future supplies of meat, than I had seen on the Continent; the frequent fields of turnips, told of the preparation which was made for the production of meat during the coming winter. The impression which has grown upon my mind, as I have visited these various countries, is very like that which Jupiter addressed to the waggoner. If we want meat, we must put our own shoulders to the wheel, and grow it ourselves; we must lay aside many of the absurd dogmas of writers on political economy, and look for wealth from better tillage of our own soil. That which a people raises by its own tillage, is inherently cheaper than that which it imports. Those who grow corn, and raise meat, are the best customers of the manufacturer. It is very true, such products do not appear in the returns of imports and exports, which are looked at, by a school of political economists, as the sole test of a nation's progress. They are very fallacious. Thus France, which has three different climatic regions, exchanges its several products without affecting the returns of imports or exports. The raw silk grown in the south, is spun and wove there, and worn in the north, without figuring in these returns, while all the silks worn in England appear at one side or other of the returns of the Board of Trade. How, then, can a comparison between two countries so circumstanced, be otherwise than deceptive ? If England grew sufficient food to support her people, the difference between the value of the imports of fibre, and the exports of manufactures, would be national profit. But as she does not grow sufficient food, the value of that imported, has to be added to the cost of fibre, and thus the calculations are disturbed. We want honest writers on political economy, who will expound a system of universal application. We have too long been listening to the lectures of mere charlatans, of men, who have propounded systems of political economy, which pander to the prejudices of a portion of the nation, instead of being comformable to the teachings of truth. These blind guides, have led their blind followers, until both are in the ditch. We want meat; the supply has been lessening in our country. Can we procure much larger quantities from other countries? France has increased the production, and consumption of meat; Switzerland requires a larger supply than she produces. Belgium and Holland have done even more than might have been expected to meet our wants. Let us see what we could do for ourselves. The area of the United Kingdom is 77,000,000 acres, of which 61,000,000 are capable of cultivation.* If about one-half of the area were farmed on four-course system it would give annually about 20,000,000 acres of grain, 10,000,000 acres of green crops, and 10,000,000 acres of clover. If the portion under grain produced only three quarters per acre (and this is considered less than the average produce), and that one-sixth were deducted for seed, it would leave 50,000,000 qrs. for the support of a population, of thirty millions, or 13 qrs. for each person, whereas each person only requires a quarter, per head, per annum. We should thus be independent of foreign countries for our supply of grain. Then as to meat. If each acre produced 20 tons of green crops, and that each ton of turnips, yields 14lbs. of meat, then the green crops would produce 2,800,000,000lbs. of meat, or at the rate of 90lbs. of meat for each person, being three times as much as is now consumed. This *The area of the United Kingdom is as follows: |