Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1886 — Close Living. [ARTICLE]

Close Living.

The little country of Belgium has 480 persons to the square mile, or three to every four acres.' That is, four acr s are made to support three persons. It .the United States were equally crowded tile population woula be 1,650,C00,U00, or more than the population of the whole world. One acre perfectly well cultivated can easily support one person. It is possible to produce sixty bushels on one acre, and this is equivalent to the whole support of at least two persons. It is simply a matter of calculation and management. Belgium shows what can be done. And it is well done, for we do not hear of distress in that busy country, mor of paupers, nor of a rush of dissatisfied Belgians crowding away to better their condition. It shows that high farming and excellent cultivation Of the soil are profitable, and may be taken as one of the facts that proved this to be a settled principTe of agricultural economy.