OWNERSHIP AND OCCUPANCY 107 



Own growth ... ... ... 7 tons 7 cwt. 



From Cottenham ... ... 7 tons 8 cwt. 



From Willingham ... ... 8 tons. 



By train from other villages ... 1 ton. 



This shows that two-thirds of the supply are 

 drawn from small holdings in the neighbouring 

 villages. From St. Ives, in Huntingdonshire, to 

 Cambridge on one side, and to Ely on the other, 

 the whole country is being increasingly brought 

 under fruit cultivation by the agricultural class. 

 The general method of getting on to a holding is 

 to start with a rood or |~acre allotment while 

 working for wages, growing bottom fruit and 

 potatoes. When this is well established they get 

 a little more land and do job-work, such as plough- 

 ing for others, or acting as carriers, taking produce 

 into Cambridge two or three times a week. 



Ownership versus Occupancy. 



Every small man who has saved any money 

 wishes .o invest it in land. This is a specially 

 notable point in this district ; the one idea seems 

 to be to own land for fruit-growing rather than 

 rent it. It is interesting to compare this with the 

 fruit-growing districts of Worcestershire, where few 

 men want to buy, but all want to rent, land. The 

 prevalence of the * Evesham custom ' may to some 

 degree account for this ; it gives full security for 

 improvements, and leaves a man's capital free to 

 go into the land. No such system of security has 

 been developed in the Cambridgeshire districts, 



