184 Large and Small Holdings 



are today most profitable. And it is unquestionable that a landlord 

 who owns small holdings, provided that they are devoted to those 

 branches of agriculture for which they are best suited, is much better 

 satisfied with the economic results obtained by them than by his larger 

 farms. The natural conclusion would seem to be that where the agri- 

 cultural and market conditions were favourable, the landlord, so far 

 as he was moved by capitalistic considerations, would aim with all his 

 might at the division of his larger farms. But this is by no means 

 universally the case. Many landlords, in spite of the fact that their 

 smaller tenants succeed better than the large, are afraid to proceed 

 to any further formation of small holdings, and that on economic 

 grounds. The explanation is that besides the special advantages 

 which the large holding has in corn-growing etc., and the small holding 

 in stock-farming and market-gardening, there are general qualities of 

 the various units which exist unchanged to whatever use the holdings 

 may be put : and these qualities decrease the profitableness of the 

 small holding at the present day, just as they once increased the 

 profitableness of the large farm. 



In the first place comes the question of the cost of buildings. 

 Quite apart from any agricultural conditions, it is always an advan- 

 tage to the landlord to have few rather than many farm-houses. The 

 throwing together of holdings in the eighteenth and nineteenth cen- 

 turies meant an enormous decrease in expenditure on buildings. The 

 cost of building one new large farm in the place of many cottages was 

 very small. One of the old cottages could be enlarged ; or even if it 

 was necessary to build a new house altogether, the expenditure was 

 soon recouped, since the cost of repairs would be much less than on 

 the numerous old small houses. These latter were either allowed to 

 fall to pieces or turned into cottages for the labourers ; as a rule the 

 first alternative was followed. This process went on uninterrupted up 

 to the penultimate decade of the nineteenth century. But in pro- 

 portion as this question of building expenses was favourable to the 

 formation of large farms it is an obstacle to the revival of small 

 farms at the present day. To pull down is easy; to rebuild is much 

 more difficult. Landlords who are inclined to divide their farms 

 feel this acutely. The cost of building has risen greatly of late 

 years in consequence of the rise of industrial wages and the strong 

 organisation of the building trades. A landlord who wants to create 

 small holdings perceives that to do so will involve him in consider- 

 able expenditure, since he will have to put up a house, barns and 

 cow-stalls etc. for every tenant. If the old houses were still standing, 



