FREEHOLD DECLINE 8i 



for that year does not include Scotland, but 

 the proportion in Scotland is still lower than 

 in England and Wales. Taking the latter 

 alone we find, then, a shrinkage from 15 per 

 cent, to 10.87 per cent, between 1888 and 

 1912. 



If the number of holdings, instead of the 

 acreage, be taken as the unit of comparison 

 the figures are somewhat different, but the 

 general result is virtually the same. 



The Decline of Freehold Farming. 



What are the causes of this remarkable 

 difference between Great Britain and other 

 countries in regard to the respective propor- 

 tions of freehold and tenant farming ? They 

 are to be sought in the history of British and 

 foreign agriculture, but they are by no means 

 easy to find. We do not even know when the 

 differentiation from what is assumed to have 

 been a similar agricultural system to that 

 prevailing elsewhere definitely began. The 

 subject was discussed at the recent Inter- 

 national Congress of Historical Studies in the 

 presidential address to the Economic History 

 section given by Professor Ashley, who sum- 

 marised the results of modern research with 

 characteristic breadth and clearness. It is not 

 within the scope of this chapter to follow him 

 through his survey, and still less to criticise 

 it, but the more salient points may be noted. 



