Land Problems and National Welfare 



divided into small farms I got a fair rent. This 

 operation meant the immediate saving of ^1,200 

 a year of the former loss on farming that land, 

 plus the new rentals ; it also reduced the land 

 in hand to exactly 3,000 acres, in three large 

 farms. 



It is impossible for a landowner, no matter 

 how much he may have studied the science and 

 practice of agriculture, to find time properly 

 to supervise the farming of a large area, and I 

 think the same remark fairly applies to the 

 agent of a big estate. 



This is particularly the case where it is neces- 

 sary to change the methods of cultivation. When 

 once a tradition is formed a single man can 

 effectively supervise a large area ; but when the 

 object is to change the methods of cultivation on 

 large farms, where for years the total receipts 

 have averaged under ^^3 per acre, and where 

 the bailiffs and labourers have grown accus- 

 tomed to a routine of non-paying farming : — 

 in other words, where it is necessary to give up 

 extensive and to adopt intensive methods of 

 cultivation, then a very specially qualified 

 person is required to superintend the farming 

 operations. The ordinary run of farm bailiff, 

 no matter how honest or practical, is not the 

 class of man for such business. That was one 

 of the points that struck me most in Denmark 

 — the high class of men employed as farm 



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