116 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



shire, by the way, has not always had encourage- 

 ment from the two Commissioners originally 

 appointed to supervise between them the 

 whole of England and Wales ! These gentle- 

 men reported adversely on the hiring of 

 650 acres at Soham, but the County Council 

 proceeded with the acquisition of the farm, 

 and of the twenty-five tenants there are only 

 three who do not earn their entire liviner 

 from their holdings. These holdings have 

 succeeded better than most, probably because 

 co-operation is a live factor here where there 

 is actually a co-operative oil-engine and mill 

 for grinding the produce of these holdings. 



Bedfordshire, a county of natural small 

 holdings carved out before the passing of the 

 1907 Act, is rapidly becoming a county of 

 market gardens. This is due largely not only 

 to the fertility of the soil, but to the fact that 

 it can be easily worked at any time of the 

 year. It has, too, the economic advantage 

 over many counties where a new race of 

 market gardeners are of mushroom growth. 

 Like Evesham, it has bred through generations 

 a race of skilled market gardeners, men who 

 at carrot-bunching time, for instance, can earn 

 as much as 10s. a day. Here, around such 



