THE URBAN EXODUS. 259 



than Avhen farmed intensively. As tar as I 

 can see, May land as a small-holding colony of 

 five-acre fruit farms has failed. It has failed 

 because its democratic founder, INIr. Fels, put 

 a plutocratic qualification upon the selected 

 small holders. Men were selected for their 

 capacity to come equipped with a £lOO note 

 rather than for the capacity to make a success 

 of the life which was entirely new to them. It 

 failed, too, because the holdings were too small. 



It is a significant fact that men were selected 

 at Cudworth too for their property quahfica- 

 tions, rather than for their capacity to till the 

 earth with advantage. 



Many of these settlers came from Woolwich 

 and other urban districts, and yet one cannot 

 lay the blame altogether on the unfitness of 

 the men. In my opinion, Mayland should 

 never have been cut into five-acre fruit farms, 

 but rather into thirty- or forty- acre stock- 

 raising holdings. A life which presents to 

 the townsman six months of digging heavy, 

 dirty land, unrelieved by any other winter 

 occupation, is a sore test to the most ardent 

 of earth lovers. 



Evidently Mr. Fels entered into this 

 undertaking with the best of intentions, but 



