1 66 Large and Small Holdings 



them often suit them better than those which the large grower supplies. 

 Methods by which they might command all markets will be discussed 

 below. 



It is often said that the large, capitalist grower can manure his 

 land better, and therefore obtain a larger gross product, than the 

 small man. The premise may be correct, but the conclusion is not so. 

 For the small holders can make up for the disadvantage of a some- 

 what less intensive manuring by the use of spade-labour, an advantage, 

 as already pointed out, peculiar to the small grower of fruit and 

 vegetables. 



Thus neither the advantages arising from a larger disposable 

 capital, such as the provision of forcing-houses or of better manuring, 

 nor those in regard of marketing, can produce a decided superiority 

 of large over small holdings in the growing of fruit and vegetables. 

 The large holdings lack as a rule the essential condition for the 

 profitable pursuit of this branch of agriculture, namely the intensive 

 application of labour. The small fruit-growers in the Evesham and 

 similar districts are said to be at work by three in the morning in 

 the height of the season. Of the small holders in Devonshire a 

 correspondent of Mr Read wrote: "The farmer himself with his 

 eldest boys works harder, and many more hours, than a paid labourer 

 does nowadays 1 ." Such industry results from the keen interest 

 of the men in their own holdings, and the returns they look for not 

 simply in money, but in the establishment of their independence. 

 The work they do is not only quantitatively more than, but qualita- 

 tively different from, anything which the large holder can obtain by 

 investment of capital or hiring additional labour : and this qualitative 

 intensity is precisely what is above all demanded by market-gardening. 

 Hence the small holder has always one great advantage over the large 

 grower*. 



Potato-growing, as already mentioned, is an exception ; but it is 

 an exception which proves the rule. Where potatoes are grown for 

 the market, and are the first or even the second object of the grower, 

 the large holding appears to be the most suitable unit Like corn- 

 growing, potato-growing depends on simple processes which can be 

 carried out mechanically. The importance of individual attention is 



1 Read, op. cit. p. . 



2 Mr C. Whitehead, Agricultural Adviser to the Board of Agriculture, also came to the 

 conclusion that fruit-growing "is specially suited to the cultivators of small holdings," 

 owing, as he says, to the fact that " fruit, as well as vegetable production, is an engrossing 

 occupation, requiring immediate and personal attention, which a small cultivator would 

 delight to give." See Long, op. cit. pp. 135, 131. 



