14 FREE TRADE IN LAND 



renders it prohibitive not only to the small man, 

 but to the landowner for the purposes of invest- 

 ment. 



This applies more especially to small farm hold- 

 ings which necessitate the cost of buildings and 

 fencing. We do find, however, that where the 

 conditions are suitable for market-gardening and 

 fruit-growiug, not involving so great an outlay, 

 new small holdings have cropped up naturally in 

 those places where it has been possible to acquire 

 land in an ordinary commercial way ; that is to say, 

 in localities where the whole neighbourhood was 

 not in the hands of very large landowners, or where 

 the country, being ill adapted for sport or residential 

 estates, came into the market on its purely agricul- 

 tural value, and in lots not beyond the reach of 

 smaller men. 



How much more this would happen if most of 

 the land of England was not tied up either directly 

 or indirectly by our customs of entail and primo- 

 geniture is a matter of argument. It is certain 

 that an absence of these restrictions would be the 

 means of bringing land in more convenient lots into 

 the market ; but definite legislation would have to 

 accompany it to prevent such conditions merely 

 facilitating the purchase of land by capitalists for 

 the sake of those amenities which accompany its 

 possession. 



So far we have very briefly considered the main 

 causes which have made small holdings die out on 

 the one hand, and prevented their natural creation 



