78 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



Birmingham with nothing but their labour to 

 sell, and who had even that rejected, are now 

 welcomed in the market-place of that same 

 town, for have they not created something of 

 which the town is in daily need ? These 

 small holdings are from twelve to fourteen 

 miles distant from Birmingham, and it is 

 common for one adult member to cart in the 

 produce, market it, and return loaded with 

 stable manure purchased for Is. a ton. Yet, 

 time and labour is wasted here, as at Evesham, 

 in the lack of co-operative marketing. Some 

 day these men will realise that they need not 

 work so hard if they would but work together. 

 The holdings are of all sizes, from half 

 an acre to twenty acres. The land is not 

 particularly good ; indeed it is rather poor. 

 Strawberries seem to bring in the greatest 

 returns in cash. Most of the small holders 

 have to devote a portion of their land to 

 growing hay, oats, or vetches for the upkeep 

 of their horse or pony, and if co-operation 

 were properly organised here much of this 

 land could be more profitably used by growing 

 vegetables and fruit. The plough and the 

 horse hoe are used more than at Evesham, for 

 in the general absence of fruit-trees there is 



