From: jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid   
      
   How many city people can one farmer feed?  If they are doing "back to   
   the land" farming, at least half the population has to grow food.   
      
   How large an area of farmland is required to support a city of a   
   hundred thousand people?  How long does it take a wagonload of   
   vegetables to travel from the farthest farm to the city?  Can you   
   build a farm-to-market road just by leaving wagon ruts, or do you have   
   to switchback through mountains?   
      
   How large are the available patches of farmland?  Arbitrary expanses   
   as on the Great Plains, or isolated valleys as in Appalachia?  Do you   
   have a confluence of two navigable rivers with a big flat farmable   
   space around it?   
      
   How are goods distributed?  Do the customers travel to a trading   
   center, or do goods flow along a network?   
      
   Do you telephone people in far places, or send a letter?   
      
   --   
   joy beeson at comcast dot net   
   http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/   
   The above message is a Usenet post.   
   I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)