Economics of the Size of Farms 1 69 



than on large, it is evident that so far as regards stock-farming on 

 arable farms the large farmer has a considerable advantage over the 

 small. He ploughs more cheaply, and can afford to use labour-saving 

 machinery, and so gets his straw and winter fodder at less cost. He 

 feeds his stock, therefore, more cheaply than the small holder. This is 

 true of sheep-feeding as well as of cattle-farming. Where the farm does 

 not include great sheep-walks or large areas of pasture, sheep-feeding 

 can only properly be carried on by means of turnip and clover fields 

 to be fed off by the flock : and this, as already explained, the large 

 farmer can arrange more cheaply than the small. As regards root- 

 crops which are not fed off on the field itself, as e.g. mangolds, the 

 small farmer has indeed the advantage of harvesting them by means 

 of cheaper labour : but this does not compensate for his loss at the 

 time of ploughing. These considerations do not apply where sheep- 

 breeding is conducted on pasture-farms. But here too the large 

 farmer has the advantage. He can take the so-called " sheep-walks " 

 wide stretches of poor grass-land, often mountainous. To succeed 

 on these, a man must have large flocks of sheep, which the small 

 farmer has not the capital to obtain. Cut into small areas such farms 

 would never pay 1 . The cost of the necessary fencing alone would be 

 too heavy as compared with the value of the land. Therefore the use 

 of such pastures, which are often excellent for the purpose, remains a 

 prerogative of the large farmer 2 . 



As regards cattle-breeding on arable farms, the large farmer has 

 other advantages besides those already mentioned. A small holder 

 can often grow only part of the foodstuffs necessary, and is therefore 

 obliged to buy. The large farmer, on the contrary, often buys only 

 if he can on the one hand get what he wants at a low price, and on 

 the other sell his corn dear. In Westmorland, for instance, I was 

 told 3 that farmers fed their oats to their own beasts, or sold them, 

 according as the price of maize and oilcake was high or low. So 

 that the large farmer is less dependent on variations in the price 

 of foodstuffs than the small. Again, the large farmer can obtain the 

 expensive artificial foods at a relatively low price, while the small 

 farmer, as a rule, finds them altogether too costly 4 . 



1 This is admitted even by enthusiastic supporters of the small holding system. Cp. 

 J. L. Green, Allotments and Small Holdings, 1896, p. 89 : " It would be absurd to cut up a 

 large hill sheep farm, for instance, which is practically fit for nothing else but sheep feeding 

 and breeding." Also Sir M. Hicks Beach in the Report of 1894, qu. 6058. 



3 Walker, Small Farming, in Journal of the Bath etc. Society, 1902, p. 85. 

 * By Lord Brougham's agent on his Eamont Bridge estate (Westmorland). 



4 Small Holdings Report, 1889, qu. 7481 (Mr Druce). 



