CHAPTER XIV 

 BRANDSBY SHOWS THE WAY 



IN the Yorkshire village of Brandsby, situate fourteen 

 miles from the city of York and five miles from Easing- 

 wold, there are being quietly worked out, in a most 

 practical and effective manner, a number of problems 

 closely connected with present-day conditions in British 

 agriculture, including (i) the labour question, (2) the 

 cottage question, (3) the possibility of promoting com- 

 bination among farmers of a well-to-do type engaged in 

 ordinary farming operations, and (4) the improvement of 

 rural transport facilities, so that a locality situate some 

 distance from a main line of railway can be assured 

 regular, efficient, and economical communication there- 

 with. How these various questions have been met by 

 the combined efforts of the Squire of Brandsby, the local 

 co-operative agricultural society, and the North-Eastern 

 Railway Company, is the more worth the telling inas- 

 much as Brandsby is rapidly becoming a sort of Mecca 

 for students of the ' forward ' policy of agricultural pro- 

 gressives. 



Brandsby parish comprises about 3,000 acres, and is 

 practically owned by Mr. Hugh C. Fairfax- Cholmeley, 

 only from 100 to 200 acres, besides the glebe, belong- 

 ing to other persons. The population is some 300 

 in all. Generally speaking, the farms range from 



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