118 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



human factor — one man makes good where another fails. 

 The Evesham district in Worcestershire is one of the best 

 examples of this type of holding, and the development 

 there during the last thirty years has been remarkable. 

 Wherever there are holdings of the above types in con- 

 siderable numbers — and the whole aim ought to be to 

 concentrate them — there should be fruit and vegetable 

 drying plants, and jam, bottling, and fruit pulp factories ; 

 only so can prices be steadied and the effect of gluts 

 avoided. 



The small j arm. On grass land, holdings range up to 

 50 acres (generally 30 to 50 acres where the holder 

 counts on making his livelihood from the land) in the 

 western half of England ; and a very fine development 

 of the grass-land dairy holding, averaging about 30 acres, 

 is to be found in Cheshire and Lancashire. But even 

 here a larger area might be advantageously under the 

 plough. This would reduce the large purchases of food 

 stuffs for the cows ; and one of the axioms for the small- 

 holder is : " Be as self-contained as possible." The 

 Lancashire smallholders are progressive and have 

 responded well to the efforts of their County Council 

 to give them the full advantage of expert guidance in all 

 matters relating to the land. This County Council 

 expends a larger sum on agricultural education than does 

 any other County Council, and the beneficial results are 

 clearly seen. 



One word more in regard to small grass-land holdings. 

 It is not intended to rule out the grass holdings altogether, 

 for when they a.re properly looked ajter they are justifiable. 

 A few acres of grass land may be a great boon to the 

 agricultural labourer, enabling him to keep a cow and 

 earn extra money with less work than he would have to 

 bestow upon an arable holding ; it often happens that 



