220 Appendix I 



with bucket and dung-fork. Poultry-breeders using incubators, or growers 

 of fruit and flowers under glass, are equally far removed from the old 

 conditions. Worthing alone has 1220 forcing-houses, whose pipes laid end 

 to end would cover more than 136 miles ; some of the growers there have 

 artesian wells of their own ; some have small windmills or steam-machinery 

 for pumping purposes 1 . Here again it is evident that we have a branch of 

 modern agriculture demanding much technical knowledge and skill, and quali- 

 ties not traditionally supposed to be found in the ordinary countryman. 



It may perhaps be suggested that where technical knowledge and a 

 cultivated intelligence are essential there the large farmer has his proper 

 sphere, whether or not the branch of production pursued be one otherwise 

 belonging to the small holder. But the various demands made upon the 

 cultivator in any case cannot be considered apart from one another. All 

 authorities on English agriculture are agreed that for certain branches of 

 production, as dairying, market-gardening and so forth, the fundamental 

 condition is and remains the intensive personal labour of the occupier and 

 his family; a kind of labour which can never be obtained from a hired 

 labourer. For this reason the small holder has always an advantage in these 

 branches of production over the large farmer. This advantage cannot be 

 seriously endangered by the growing need for business qualities and technical 

 skill. But these demands will have their effect on the total result which the 

 small holder is in a position to obtain from his holding. 



The need for such qualities may be very much lessened if the small 

 holders are co-operatively organised. Co-operation, in fact, may almost 

 amount to a complete disburdening of the small holder in this particular. 

 A cooling-station or steam-dairy takes over the mechanical part of the work 

 of a modern dairy, and co-operative collecting depots relieve the farmer of the 

 need for a business head. But co-operation is relatively speaking little 

 developed in England, even though it is increasing; it is not everywhere 

 applicable (e.g. where success depends on individual methods, or where the 

 type of holding is very various, etc.); and it cannot take over all the functions 

 which have been noticed as necessary on a modern small holding. 



Where therefore the large cultivator, in spite of his superior business 

 capacity and technical knowledge, has not the advantage over the small 

 holder, and where co-operative methods cannot relieve the small holder of 

 the necessity of exercising such qualities, it is evident that the small holder 

 who can bring these powers to his work will be the person best fitted to 

 conduct a variety of branches of production, and will in fact have an 

 extraordinary advantage in them. It becomes easy to understand why 

 non-agricultural sections of the population are to-day being attracted into 

 agriculture, and why they show such capacity for survival in the struggle for 



1 Pratt, op. cit. pp. 90 f. 



