22 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



the " cow pasture," often the much circumscribed 

 remains of the old common land ; a certain number of 

 the villagers have a right to pasture a cow apiece in the 

 common field. In view of the present shortage of milk 

 it would be well to increase the area of common cow 

 pasture, and so encourage the cottager to keep a cow or 

 two. Unfortunately with land changing hands fre- 

 quently, as it does now, these useful cow pastures tend 

 to disappear. 



We have here to place on record the fact that one 

 bad feature of the later development of agriculture has 

 been the divorce of the labourer from a direct interest 

 in the land. 



From time to time some more far-seeing individual 

 would draw attention to this serious evil. A little more 

 than one hundred years ago Lord Winchelsea urged that 

 at least a good garden should go with every cottage, and 

 he set an example which was followed by many of the 

 great landowners. But this only touched the fringe of 

 the problem ; it did little to undo the mischief done, 

 and it was not until the Small Holdings Act of 1908 was 

 passed that an effort on a large scale was made to give 

 again a direct interest in the land to the labourer. 



HOUSING 



Up to 1837 the housing conditions of the country 

 labourer were very bad ; from that date onwards there 

 has been steady improvement, but even to-day there is a 

 serious shortage of cottages and many of the existing 

 cottages are not fit for a man with a family. 



It should be remembered in regard to housing in 

 the^ country, that bad conditions there are not quite as 

 serious as they are in the town ; the inhabitants are 



