Fortunes for Farmers 



better sport than fishing in Fen dykes. As a 

 matter of fact, this has happened, there are only a 

 few large estates left in rich soil, and the State 

 might buy them out. When we consider the im- 

 mense sums advanced to Irish farmers to buy their 

 land, it seems remarkable that more is not done 

 at home. On the other hand, we must not be 

 carried away by enthusiasm. There is a limit to 

 the spread of the small holder; one does not 

 picture the whole of England, for instance, a 

 beehive of ten-acre farms, but that limit is not 

 yet in sight, and we may safely go forward. 



Small holders are an industrious and prosperous 

 class, healthy, and contented, comparing favour- 

 ably with any section of the community. There 

 is nothing decadent about them. They are of the 

 ascendant type (beloved of Nietzsche), and 

 fiercely independent. When the weaklings of 

 our large towns peter out — and they are decaying 

 rapidly — it is to the country that we turn for 

 fresh stock, and amongst the small farmers and 

 small holders we find a worthy backbone to the 

 race. They are largely Nonconformist, for chapels 

 are scattered in every hamlet, and their indepen- 

 dence,together with the absence of a squire,weighs 

 against an Established Church; but, on the other 

 hand, they are mainly Conservative. Farmers are 

 naturally Conservative; the land implants it, 



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