One argument for an animal industry is that with an increasing population the fish supply will not go so far as it has done. It is said that fish are not to be found in as large quantities as formerly. Another argument is that the national imports include many products of animal industry which might be advantageously produced at home. Not only is more milk, condensed and fresh, being consumed: with the adoption of foreign clothes in professional and business life and in the army and navy, more and more wool is being worn[251] and more and more leather is needed for the boots which are being substituted for _geta_ and also for service requirements. It is contended that for the emancipation of Japanese agriculture from the _petite culture_ stage it is essential that a larger number of draught oxen and horses shall be used. It is equally important, it is suggested, that more manure shall be made on the farms, so that a limit shall be placed on the outlay on imported fertilisers. Finally there are those who urge that the Japanese should be better fed and that better feeding can only be brought about by an increased consumption of animal products.[252] The possibilities of outdoor stock keeping in Hokkaido are limited by the fact that snow lies from November to the middle of February and in the north of the island to the end of March. A high agricultural authority did not think that the number of cattle in all Japan could be raised to more than two million within twenty years.[253] In the management of sheep--there were about 5,000 in the whole country when I was in Hokkaido--there has been failure after failure, but it is held that the prospects for sheep in Hokkaido are promising. (The question is discussed in the next Chapter.) At present, owing to the lack of a market for mutton, pigs, which used to be kept in the days before Buddhism exerted its influence, seem more attractive to experimenting farmers than sheep. No one has proposed that sheep should be kept in ones and twos for milking as in Holland.[254] When milk is needed it is said that goats, of which there are more than 90,000 in Japan, are desirable stock, but I doubt whether more than 500 of these goats are milked.[255] They are kept to produce meat. Some people hope that those who eat goat's flesh will come to realise the superiority of mutton. The case for pigs is that sweet potatoes and squash can be fed to them, that they produce frequent litters, that pork is more and more appreciated, and that there are 300,000 of them in the country already. Some confident experts who have possibly been influenced by the large consumption of pork in China argue that pork may become equally popular in Japan. There are two bacon factories not far from Tokyo.