COMPARATIVE OBSERVATIONS AND 

 SUGGESTIONS 



Small Holdings 



All parties in the State are agreed that there should be more 

 small holdings in Scotland than there are at the present time, 

 particularly in view of the depopulation of the country and the 

 congestion of the town, and the ever-increasing procession that is 

 heading from our shores to the new lands of the far West. That 

 does not, however, mean that there is to be nothing but small 

 holdings. The consensus of opinion is in favour of a graduated 

 scale of holdings, ranging from the small holding to the large farm, 

 so that the man beginning at the foot of the ladder may, with 

 perseverance and ability, reach the top. Nor does the increase of 

 smallholdings mean that the small holdings are to be — if one may 

 so phrase it — large farms on a small scale. A man here and there, 

 with uncommon shrewdness, skill, and thrift, may make such a 

 farm pay, but the average man never. The small holder of the 

 future must specialise. It is not necessary that he should entirely 

 give up ordinary farming, but it is necessary that, where situation 

 and climate and soil are suitable, he should develop one or more 

 of the special departments of farm work, such as dairying, pig- 

 rearing, poultry-keeping, market gardening. These branches of 

 farming are best suited for small holdings, and the market for 

 their produce is within our own gates. To ensure a general 

 success, however, even when the small holder specialises, it is 

 desirable that the holdings should be in colonies, worked on a 

 co-operative basis. 



Land Transfer 



We believe that it would be a general advantage to the 

 agricultural interests if the transfer of land were less cumbersome 

 and less expensive. 



Co-operation 



There is not the same need in Scotland as there is in Ireland to 

 teach the principles of self-help, though it is to be feared that 

 both self-help and thrift in Scotland are virtues which were better 

 known and more practised in bygone days than now. But what 

 energy can be spared from the inculcation of these virtues is 



