128 THE AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 



Irishmen are imported for harvest, and in many cases live 

 under wretched conditions. These multiple men boast they can 

 manage whole parishes with the motor and telephone, and with a 

 system of transferring men and machinery from one farm to 

 another they declare themselves able to run whole counties. That 

 may effect economies in some directions, but it is not very attrac- 

 tive to the worker to settle on the land. And I believe such a 

 system is a grave danger to rural life. It is bad in all its bearings. 



It may be considered scientific farming, but I believe our 

 system of small cultivators will and does give better results 

 all round. At least that is my experience, and I, therefore, 

 pin my faith to the small cultivator. 



In the discussion which followed, Mr. (now Sir) Douglas 

 Newton, visitor, said that in his county 10,500 acres had 

 been acquired for small holdings and they had been a great 

 success. Undoubtedly there was land hunger in certain 

 districts. It would not be fair to ask the community to find 

 capital for the man with no experience and no capital. The 

 cardinal points for successful small holdings were : (i) Good 

 land ; (2) accessible markets ; (3) sufficient capital ; (4) 

 good house and buildings ; (5) experience in Agriculture ; 

 (6) hard work. In addition rural industries were a great 

 advantage to the small holder. He agreed with Mr. Nicholls 

 that the small holding must be confined to suitable land and 

 men. 



Mr. Hewitt described how he and five others had taken 

 over a farm of 60 acres. Where two men had been employed 

 and three cows kept, now nine cows were kept and eight men 

 got a living, although the rent had been doubled. He 

 advocated the planting of fruit trees in the hedgerows. If 

 kept low they would afford shelter for the crops and stock, 

 and would not cause much waste of land. He thought the 

 small holder should be put on the same footing as the large 

 farmer as regards rent. He himself paid 12 more for his 

 12 acres than the previous occupier had done. 



Mr. W. R. Smith was not altogether certain that the nation 

 could look forward to small holdings as the one means of 

 saving British Agriculture. If the workers' freedom could 

 be established by small holdings and the land cultivated 

 in the best way from a national point of view, he thought 



