SMALL HOLDINGS. 329 



larly testifies, settled gladly on conquered territory where 

 they held land as masters. Hut they would not settle 

 down to a quiet country Hfe in their own native land. 

 " Lcs etablissements militaires," so he goes on, " sonttoujours 

 voues a la. movt on a itne vie miserable." In the present 

 day it is notorious that in France there is no influence so 

 potent for drawing away people from " La terre qui meurt " 

 as soldiers' service, which makes those who have served 

 settle in towns near their dear estaminets and other amuse- 

 ments and seek for some comfortable position as foncHon- 

 naires. In Germany the continued growth of the popu- 

 lation, not yet sufficiently Malthusianised, counteracts 

 this effect. Besides, the " ladder " arrangement is in that 

 country better organised really than anywhere else. Agri- 

 culture is a " career," which offers prizes. But service in 

 the army is not found to be the very best preparative for 

 hard-working agricultural country life. The uniform and 

 barrack life suggest other things. The rather successful 

 courses of agricultural lectures for soldiers, organised suc- 

 cessively in Germany, France, Austria, and lately also in 

 Italy, are distinctly intended, not to turn non-agriculturists 

 in the army into agriculturists, but to prevent agriculturists 

 becoming non-agriculturists through the influences of mili- 

 tary life, which have been found to be strong in that direction. 

 They constitute a defensive measure, a sort of substitute 

 for agricultural college training, not a recruiting one. 



Such examples as exist of men combining agricultural 

 pursuits with military, as among the settlers in the whilom 

 " Military Frontier " of Austria, or the Indelta of Sweden, 

 both now improved out of existence, represent rather 

 settlers who were agriculturists first and soldiers by neces- 

 sity, holding under military tenure, paying a rent in the 

 shape of militia or landwehr service, than soldiers settling 

 down after completed military service, to agriculture. The 

 late Mr. Arnold Forster brought home no particularly 

 glowing account of prospects for settling discharged soldiers 

 in South Africa, whither he had been sent to inquire into the 

 matter. I had the benefit of his opinion privately expressed. 

 Under such circumstances we had better be cautious in the 



