276 THE AYLESTONE ALLOTMENTS 



which may some day be required for building purposes, 

 but at present is lying more or less idle ' awaiting 

 development ' at what land-owner or builder may regard 

 as the psychological moment. That moment may not 

 arrive for another ten or twenty years; but even 

 if the land-owner were now in a position to sell, 

 he probably would not sell at the agricultural value 

 for the purposes of allotments or small holdings, while 

 either he might not care for the trouble of dealing 

 individually with 100 or 200 allotment holders as 

 tenants for the time being, or his scale of rent, to 

 cover expenses, agents' commission, losses, etc., might 

 be unduly heavy. 



These difficulties would be overcome by the interven- 

 tion of a co-operative society working on Aylestone 

 lines, and taking, if possible, a lease for such period as 

 could be mutually arranged. It might so happen that 

 the lease could not be renewed beyond that period, as 

 the time for building operations would then have 

 arrived ; but, meanwhile the land-owner would have 

 had his guaranteed rent from the society ; the land 

 would be all the better for having been cultivated ; and 

 the working-men renting the allotments (situate pro- 

 bably within easy reach of their dwellings) would not 

 only have had all the immediate advantages I have 

 enumerated, but, what is still more to the point, would 

 have been much better qualified to earn a livelihood on 

 the soil, in case of need, than if they were without the 

 practical experience and the taste for rural pursuits 

 which had followed from their cultivation of allotments 

 while still in the ranks of 'town workers.' 



The example set at Aylestone has since been followed 

 oy the Newfoundpool (Leicestershire) Co-operative 



