68 



SMALL HOLDINGS 



depressions, had already driven out the small 

 man. We have to go back a great deal further 

 to find the time when he flourished. The 

 figures also show that the tendency of changes 

 since 185 1 has not been in the direction of 

 increasing large farms. This is further shown 

 by the more strictly comparable figures of the 

 Board of Agriculture for 1885, 1895, and 

 1905. 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



Number of Holdings. 



The very small and the very large holdings 

 both show a continuous decline, while the 

 medium-sized farm has steadily increased at 

 their expense, and the small farm has re- 

 mained stationary after a fluctuation in 1895. 

 The decline in the smallest class was really 

 less than is shown here, because in 1885 

 holdings of exactly one acre, which numbered 

 about 16,000, were included, but omitted 

 in the later years. The distribution of the 

 several classes varies widely in different parts 

 of the country, and the movement indicated 

 in the above table is by no means uniform. 



