Mr. RUTHERFORDasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he is aware that in a Report issued a short time ago by the Board of Agriculture the relative production of the average 100-acre farm of Great Britain and Germany is given as follows, namely, the British farmer feeds from forty-five to fifty persons and the German farmer feeds from seventy to seventy-five persons, the British farmer grows 15 tons of corn and the German farmer grows 32 tons, the British farmer grows 11 tons of potatoes. and the German farmer grows 55 tons, the British farmer produces 4 tons of meat and the German farmer produces 4¼ tons, the British farmer produces 17½ tons of milk and the German farmer produces 28 tons, and the British farmer produces a negligible quantity of sugar and the 1669W German farmer produces 2¾ tons; and, if this comparison is wrong or illusory, will he give the correct figures?
§ Sir R. WINFREYThe publication referred to is "The Recent Development of German Agriculture." The figures are correctly quoted in the question, except that the amount of corn produced in Germany per 100 acres of cultivated land is 33 tons, and not 32. The figures were arrived at after a detailed inquiry, and the Board have no reason to suppose that they are incorrect, nor is it considered that the comparison is either wrong or illusory. The actual methods of tillage adopted in the growing of corn, potatoes, etc., in Britain are not inferior to the methods adopted in Germany. But the difference between the two countries in production is chiefly due to the fact that in Britain more than two-thirds of the cultivated land was in grass in the period reviewed, while in Germany less than one-third of the cultivated land was in grass. This fact is clearly emphasised in the pamphlet, winch illustrates the relative importance from the point of view of food production of tillage land and grass