6 Large and Small Holdings 



Other representatives of the same side say nothing at all about corn- 

 growing, but they too dwell on the live-stock of the small farms and 

 their success in the lesser branches of agricultural production 1 . It 

 thus appears that Arthur Young and other champions of the spreading 

 system of the large farm were justified in describing the corn-growing 

 on the small holdings as behind the times. Instead of contradicting 

 them, their opponents point to the superiority of the small farmer 

 over the large in the production of vegetables, butter, milk, pigs, 

 poultry, fruit and so forth. Even at that time, therefore, these pro- 

 ducts were the domain of the small cultivator ; and even in the 

 eighteenth century the products of large and small farming were seen 

 to differ. The large farmers neglected both live-stock and the smaller 

 matters of agriculture in favour of corn-growing. The writers of the 

 period frequently note that the farmer's interest in corn-growing 

 increases as the size of his farm increases, while on large holdings all 

 other branches of production, with the possible exception of sheep- 

 breeding, are neglected 2 . 



The care demanded by live-stock and the lesser matters which 

 occupied the attention of the small holders seemed to the large 

 farmer to be troublesome and not very profitable 3 . The work on 

 an arable farm could be done by day-labourers with superintendence 

 only on the part of the occupier. Live-stock and market-gardening 

 required intensive work, and care and attention such as could not be 

 obtained from hired labour, but which the small cultivator and his 

 family bestowed to admiration 4 . This was not only claimed by the 

 friends of small farming. Even Arthur Young, who had as a rule so 

 little to say in its favour, was astonished and delighted by the energy 

 of the Lincolnshire peasants, who, as he said, "turned sand into gold 5 ." 



The care bestowed by the cottagers on their cows was always an 

 object of special commendation. They were in the stable till late at 



. J Nathaniel Kent, Hints to Gentlemen of Landed Property, 1775, P- Iia - 

 J. S. Girdler, Observations on the Pernicious Consequences of Forestalling, Regrating and 

 Engrossing, 1800, p. 42. The author speaks of men who possess "little farms," or some- 

 times only "cottages with small enclosures," "who gain a livelihood and support large 

 families by selling their sweet little mutton, and their calves, pork, pigs, geese, and other 

 poultry; butter, and eggs." Nothing is said of their growing any corn. 



J See e.g. Th. Wright, A Short Address to the Public cm the Monopoly of Small Farms, 

 1 795> P- 6 : " The wealthy farmer's attention is engrossed by the means of producing the 

 greatest quantity of grain and hay." 



3 Cp. e.g. Sketth of a Plan for reducing the present High Price of Corn, 1772, p. 16 ; and 

 Adam, Practical Essays on Agriculture, 1789, Vol. II, p. 510. 



4 Forbes, op. cit. p. 157; and Kent, op. cit. p. 214. 



8 Young, A General View of the Agriculture of Lincolnshire, 1799, pp. 17 ff. 



