Basle to Mayence - Baden-Railway Fares - Frankfort - Verviers-Liege-Division of Lands-Produce of Cereals- House Property in Brussels-Rents - Export of Cattle-English Purchasers-Advance in the Price of Meat Flemish Industry-Sir George Nicholls-Small Estates-Cattle Vegetables-Population of Belgium-Division of Land-Live Stock-Imports and Exports of Cereals and Cattle Of Manu- factures-Gold Coined-Comforts of the small Proprietors— Labours of the Dutch-Dordrecht-Cereals-Evening on the Maas-Zealand-South Holland - North Holland- - Dutch Dutch Barges-Palace at Amsterdam-Population of Dutch Cities-Churches in Holland and Belgium-Crystal Palace- Trade in Cattle-The Hague-Division of Lands-Population Functions of Food-Life-Motion-Animal Fat-Distribution of Food-Flesh-formers and Heat-givers-Mankind divided into Alimentary and Stipendiary-The Chinese--Equine and Mauual Labour-America--Norway-Switzerland-Mineral Wealth of Great Britain-M. Block's Estimate of Agricul- tural Produce-United States-Decrease in the Culture of Grain in the United Kingdom-Export of Cattle from Ire- THE FOOD SUPPLIES OF WESTERN EUROPE.* JERSEY. St. Helier's. I had not, when you expressed your wish that I should commence my notice of foreign agriculture, by visiting Normandy and Brittany, and inquiring into the increasing export of provisions from these districts, expected that I should have the opportunity of stopping at this halfway house between Great Britain and the continent, but I have, rather against my wish, been obliged to stay at St. Helier's, and thus had the opportunity of seeing the state of agriculture in this most interesting island. It may not be out of place to state here, for the information of your very extensive and influential circle of readers, the scope of my commission and the objects I shall seek to develope. The first necessity of existence is food: man does not live on bread alone, but he cannot live without it. All the operations of manufacture, all the employments of life, depend upon the supply of food. Life is motion. That motion is kept up by * These letters were addressed to the Morning Herald, and published in that paper. B consumption. The stomach is to the human living mechanism, what the boiler, or rather the furnace, is to the steam-engine; we must supply it with an article for consumption to promote motion. One of the questions which meet your London readers is this, 'Where shall we dine?' This is an important consideration just now, when the principal diningrooms have raised their rates for dinner, and have based that advance on the increase in price of meat. In one much frequented dining-room, where the charge for dinner from joints was 2s., it has been raised to 2s. 3d. The advance is explained by a note on the carte, which attributes it to the higher price of meat. I doubt if, on an average, each person who dines consumes half a pound of meat. An advance of 3d. in the charge for dinner implies a rise in the price of meat of 6d. per lb., and I am afraid our people are hardly prepared for such an advance, but if it does occur it will make a very serious increase in domestic expenditure. In a cold climate, such as Great Britain, where it is necessary to keep up the temperature of the system to blood heat (90°), it is needful for more than half the year that the food used should contain a considerable amount of heat-givers, such as animal fat. We also require flesh-formers to keep up the vital force, or muscular action. In warmer climates, where the external atmosphere is above blood heat, man does not want so much fat meat, and in the colder climates he requires more animal fat or oils. Meat is a necessity for the inhabitants of Great Britain, and the question which we are forced to consider, is, from what regions we are to obtain the supply of meat? It is very apparent that the cultivation of the soil |