130 HOLLAND 



small to support them all, some of them have to 

 look out for land elsewhere, such requirement 

 leading to a still further increase in land values. 

 Thus the tenant farmers had to work harder 

 to pay the increased rents to their landlords, 

 of whom they complained that, living among 

 the attractions of the Hague, and spending their 

 money there, they drained the country districts 

 of financial resources. 



But if the landlords had their faults, the 

 farmers had theirs as well. Without being a 

 highly cultured person, the Dutch agriculturist 

 regards himself as essentially shrewd, and there 

 was a time when he was, also, essentially slim. 

 Reduced to the necessity of finding a market for 

 his produce abroad, he thought he could play 

 tricks with the foreigner by putting good fruit 

 or good vegetables on the top of his sack, and 

 inferior qualities beneath. The said practice was 

 one that in bygone days was more especially 

 adopted in the Westland district, which lies 

 between the Hague and the Hook of Holland, 

 and is famous for its fertility. As time went on 

 Dutch produce in general, and Westland pro- 

 duce in particular, began to get a bad name 

 on the English market, and to this cause was 

 due, in part, the falling off in prices which, as 

 already shown, was one of the causes that led to 



