512 History of the E^iglisk Landed Interest. 



where the labourer, thougli wholly employed on his master's 

 farm, is at the same time kept " buoyant and industrious " by 

 sharing in the profits of his toil. The allotment system is so 

 far advantageous, that it gives the peasant an intelligent grasp 

 of the economical questions surrounding the management of 

 the soil. He has a personal interest in the market for agri- 

 cultural produce, and this to a certain extent divides his 

 particular wants from those of the town labourer. But the 

 system of co-operation advocated by the West Riding and 

 Herefordshire experts alluded to above, is preferable, because 

 it identifies more thoroughly the interests of rural labour and 

 capital, and militates against those mischievous strikes which 

 have recently crippled the husbandmen of the Eastern counties 

 at the most critical period of the year. 



The allotment controversy is, however, one over which the 

 last word has yet to be said ; and it remains for the historian 

 of the twentieth century to trace its various phases to their 

 close in some provision as yet hidden in the womb of the 

 future. 



