Fortunes for Farmers 



crepancy is that whilst one country has encou- 

 raged subdivision of the soil the other has not. It 

 is maintained in England that the attraction of 

 high wages in towns is the cause of rural depopu- 

 lation, but the demand for small holdings is always 

 stronger than the supply. The relative desirability 

 of the life of a small holder and an industrial 

 workman cannot be measured solely by wages, for 

 there is always a class who, if possible, gravitate 

 to the soil, and land hunger seem inbred in the 

 human spirit. 



Small holdings appeal not only to the English- 

 man's love of country, but to his independence 

 and desire to improve his position. His outlook 

 is more hopeful, he has more scope for his own 

 initiative, and less readily becomes the victim of 

 circumstances upon his plot of land than in the 

 cast-iron industrial system of our towns. The pro- 

 portion of the total population living in rural 

 districts is two and a half times as great in Belgium 

 as in England and Wales. 



This result is certainly advantageous to a state, 

 for there is no better class than a thriving peas- 

 antry, and the fact that Belgium has fewer people 

 in the city slums and more on the soil is her gain. 

 If we could produce three times the food we do 

 now, we should nearly feed ourselves, and cease 

 to be dependent upon foreign supplies. Our 



70 



