Economics of the Size of Farms 1 7 1 



such a decided advantage over the small farmer as the large arable 

 farmer does in his branch of farming. The use of machinery is among 

 the points which make the large farm distinctly superior to the small 

 for arable purposes. For pasture-farming it can only lessen the 

 disadvantage at which the large farmer stands, especially in hay- 

 harvest. 



Small farming has one specific advantage which is of the greatest 

 importance in stock-farming, and even outweighs all the advantages 

 which have been mentioned on the side of the large farmer. These 

 advantages have all been concerned with processes only indirectly 

 affecting the ultimate object in view, namely the beasts themselves. 

 The actual work among the cattle has not yet been discussed. This 

 is however the most important part of the whole business ; and it 

 is just here that the small holder has an advantage so great as to 

 make him master of the situation in many cases. In no other agri- 

 cultural employment is so much individual attention and personal 

 interest, that is to say such qualitative intensity of labour, needful. 

 Careless or even rough handling of the animals may do very serious 

 harm. Cows in calf or at the period of calving, young calves, sick or 

 weakly beasts, all need most careful attention. So does the cleaning 

 of the sheds and stalls, and many other matters essential to good 

 cattle-farming. To all these things the small holder attends personally. 

 He, with his small stock, is not obliged, like the owner of a great 

 herd, to leave the handling of his beasts to the uninterested hands of 

 the hired labourer, contenting himself with the supervision which 

 naturally cannot be everywhere at once. The modern small holder 

 is not behind his predecessor of the eighteenth century in his love for 

 his beasts and the sacrifices he is willing to make for them. No detail 

 escapes him, and the interest he has in them, and the pride with which 

 he regards them, make him hesitate at no amount of labour which 

 may improve their condition. A very able Gloucestershire landlord 1 

 told the present writer that he thought small holdings best suited for 

 calf-rearing; and that he let the hilly district which he owned in 

 Shropshire to small farmers, as being appropriate for the purpose. 

 In fact, in this sphere small farming seems to have a clear advantage 

 over large, in consequence of the qualitatively intensive labour it 

 demands. The same advantage applies to some extent to the fattening 

 of cattle ; but it is not here of such pre-eminent importance, so that 

 the small holding cannot be said to be absolutely superior to the large 



1 Mr Granville E. Lloyd-Baker, of Hardwicke Court, Gloucester. 



