GERMAN AGRICULTURE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3145, 27 November 1922, Page 7

GERMAN AGRICULTURE.

(By Lieut.-Oolonel Dicker.) [t is probably unknown to, or forgotten by, the majority of English people that the wealth of the union of States which in 1871 became the German Empire, lay in their agricultural fertility and capacity. One has associated Germany so long with huge manufacturing activities and undertakings that this point has been lost to view. That Germany was able to keep her armies and' people so reasonably well fed during the long years l of the war was mainly due to the foresight of Bismarck in encouraging and 1 fostering her own food l production. The principal agency in this development was the large: landed estates stretching over enormous districts in Prussia, Silesia; East Prussia, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and many parts of Bavaria, which were given over to agriculture. It was by no means rare for one proprietor to possess many scores of thousands of acres, where he reigned) Dike an uncrowned' king. Thus agriculture, with the wealth ensuing therefrom for there was for years a huge agricultural export trade—was the foundation of the subsequent development of the other enormous industries for which Germany became famous —that and her coal industry, which was even in those days of much importance. Tiie great landowners after the war, with very few exceptions, set themselves in opposition to the Government, for the simple reason that the Socialist Government sought to centralise the cereal industry more and more, and so reduced the profit-making possibilities of the proprietors to a. very narrow margin. Only this year the question of the assessment of taxes! on cereals for the coming harvest nearly led to a Government crisis, and it was solely by the desperate exertions of the Middle party that a compromise was arrived at. The farmer and smaller 'landowners live, naturally, in close association with the large landowners. According to their own assertion., they are doing badly, but they are undoubtedly much better off in these days than the majority of townspeople. Not only can they grow the necessary food for themselves and their family at the lowest possible cost, but they are also able to sell their general produce at a price that approximates to the gol dmark more nearly than any other producer can do to-day. One can notice in travelling through a tract of country to-day that everything has improved, or is improving, compared with the country life of former days, particularly with the farmers an dsmall landowners. Where formerly stood huts and cottages are now well-built houses. The centralised collecting stations have a business far nv excess of any previous time. Electricity is in general use, and: the old wearing hand agricultural work has been superseded by the use of machinery. Thenturnover has been increased. Money comes in, and if forthwith expended in new and economics!] machinery on dwelling-houses, tdicids, and granaries, and in the improvement and even refinement of their mode of life. The inihabitants of the small towns in the neighborhood can bear witness to tlio difference in the expenditure of these people to-day from what it was before the war, when, with tihe help of wife and children, a meagre existence was in most cases the result of tireless work. Where want once was nearly universal one finds plenty, an »din many cases actual luxury. The bankers, if they would, could tell a talc of the increasing deposits of their agricultural clients. Tin' German farmer was ever of a saving disposition, but his gains during the 1 war and in these days are too great for the old family stocking, and necessitate a banking account. The revolution was not without its effect on agricultural life. Where formerly huge tracts of land were in the possession of one owner, in. many parts of Germany tiiese are now split up into innumerable small holdings, with the result that the whole of this land is under a more intense form, of cultivation, which has its beneficial consequence in a greater and better production. The general political views of the old Conservative fanner are changed with the times, and} he is now a Socialist, That there was much room for the improvement that has taken place in the life, of the farmer and farm-laborer one cannot gainjsay, as the lot of the latter before th<? war was really almost as hopeless as that of an old-time slave, while the big landowner basked in the sunshine of lu Kury.

The production of cereals in Germany from the year 1880 to 1913 increased, roughly speaking, 100 per cent., and with some sorts 150 per 'cent. Then came the war, during ever? 7 year of which the production curve fell. The most important falling off th.en was in the production of sugar. This in 191 was 2.6 million tons, in 191 9 it was only 0.7 millions. Last year it amounted'to 1.2 million tons. The general harvest in 1920-21 showed an increase

of 10 per cent, over that of 1919-20. This was about equivalent, to the barrest of 1895. The upward curve therefore since the war is really a very slight and unimportant one. Tlifc generally good harvest of last year was tbe cause of the removal of +he control prices on agricultural prodace and it also enabled the producers t > pay the rapidly-increasing prices for the' necessities for cultivation. It must not be forgotten that owing to her lost districts Germany lost 19 per cent ot her bread cereals, 17 per cent, of her cattle-feeding materials, 20 per cent ot her potato crop, 20 per cent, of her -imar-beet harreri, and IP r>?r cent, ot her normal cattle production. On the other 1 hand, owing to the fall in the mark, Germany was not in a position to import these requirements before the war Indeed, the actual import of any of tiie.se commodities was negligible. It was almost exactly the same with milk, butter, and eggs. The two former, of course, stand in close, relation to the proportion of cattle. So that, considering the above-mentioned loss of 15 per cent, in cattle and also the lack of Government support to the cattle-rearing industry, one cannot be surprised at the decrease of these two important foods. Particularly has the supply of milk fallen away for the last year, and much suffering has been caused to children and invalids through its shortness. This scarcity has been augmented by the fact that the farmers are turning more and more milk into butter, for which they obtain a much higher price in proportion. The high cost of grain suitable for feeding fowls has led to a great general reduction in the number formerly kept, and 'so the egg production has fallen off enormously. In speaking of the necessity of the increase of production, it must not be overlooked that agricultural increase is dependent on an increase of fertilisers. Before the war Germany, fo§ each harvest, used 185,000 tons of nitrates, 630,000 tons of pure phosphates, and 557.000 tons of potash. During the war, owing to the huge demands of the army for nitrates, very little was employed on the land, but last year more than 360,000 tons of nitrates were so applied. That shows an increase of 175,000 tons over that expended in the year prior to the war. This was necessary mainly because during the years of the war the ground was worked to death with inadequate fertilising material, and so its reproductive powers had reached a minimum. An almost proportionate increase of phosphates and potash was also employed. The industrialisation of agriculture in the last year or so has extended, in spite of the many attempts to fmpede it. This came about more particularly through jftiG easily calculable gain that could be secured everywhere by the employment of machines in substitution for the old-fashioned land-work. This has led to the employment of quite a different kind of agricultural labor from old. The installation of machinery has given very- successful results.