INTRODUCTION 



TO THE THIRD EDITION 



The immediate remedy for this is to show how land can 

 be used to produce a living and how land alone is neces- 

 sary that men may live. To learn how to use such lands 

 as are available near the cities is a long step to this end, 

 and if all the little lands were furnishing a living for some 

 one, we would be able to accommodate in our country hun- 

 dreds of millions more than the eighty millions that we 

 now think of as overcrowding us. 



I have made a beginning of this practical teaching at 

 our Mayland, near Southminster, England, which is be- 

 coming a model village, with small or intensive cultivators 

 predominating. There is growing there an open air school, 

 and consequently an object lesson to the grown people 

 throughout the county and the country. The establishment 

 of this new type of school for children means that when 

 the children come to an age for selecting their occupa- 

 tion they will probably turn to land cultivation, with a 

 better chance of success than their fathers. 



I believe in catching the farmer when he is young. We 

 must give the child an education under the right auspices 

 if we are to continue to keep his interest in the land. I 

 hope that in future the greater part of the people in the 

 country will continue to live in the country, but we have 

 got to show them the advantage of doing so. Where the 

 school comes in is this: We cannot well take the children 

 of farmers and small cultivators, who are used to an out- 



