88 BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 



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That is to say, it would have fields of an average size 

 of 40 acres. These seem to me to be the largest that 

 can be reasonably thought of when allowance is made 

 for the crumpled formation of our geology and the 

 ever-varying nature of our climate. Think how far 

 would a man have to walk to get over such a farm ! 

 I cannot think but that he would have to traverse 

 each field on an average once every working day of 

 the year. That is to say, he would have to walk over 

 30 miles on each of six days in the week in order 

 properly to supervise the working, grazing, and -fold- 

 ing of the land. This amount of exercise obviously 

 would be impossible, and so much of his work would 

 have to be deputed, and it is this transference of 

 authority which destroys that individual capacity 

 which alone can induce each field to produce its 

 utmost. In the past one has seen examples of men 

 enlarging their occupation of land by piling farm 

 upon farm, each holding being under the immediate 

 supervision of a bailiff, foreman, or manager, some 

 deputy of the master by whatever name he was called. 

 Such have been among the very worst examples of 

 land robbers! Why then seek to encourage them 

 under the name of industrial farmers? These gentle- 

 men farming large areas (and even for such work 

 5000 acres were very exceptionally high), made very 

 small profits indeed out of each hundred acres; they 

 relied entirely on the quantity of land held to atone 

 for smallness of yield from individual fields. In their 

 own way they were capable, enterprising, and hard 

 working. Had it been possible they would, I contend, 

 have farmed intensively, or produced the utmost the 

 land was capable of yielding, whereas it is common 

 knowledge that they did no such thing, but very 

 much the reverse. 



I have had considerable experience of the farming 



