SMALL AND LARGE HOLDINGS 127 



quite apart from that point, are in the hands of men who 

 are not farming them well ; some of these men are 

 incapable of better farming, others would improve 

 greatly under guidance. But in any such question as 

 this, the great variations as between counties must be 

 remembered. In the North Riding of Yorkshire, for 

 instance, the 250-acre farm is generally very well done, 

 and the falling off is in the 400- to 600-acre farm ; 

 whereas in Lincolnshire the 400- to Coo-acre farm is 

 generally well done, and the 200- to 300-acre farm may 

 be indifferent. 



One important result of the War Executives has been 

 to bring home to the agriculturists who worked upon 

 them how serious is the degree of bad farming in this 

 country. It is only when information is tabulated that 

 one can really see how matters stand. Every day good 

 agriculturists, in their walks abroad, used to see the 

 bad farming of the medium-sized farms ; but they 

 were not in the limelight as were our small holdings, 

 and so little notice was taken of the condition of these 

 farms. 



It is quite certain that a large number of the indifferent 

 medium-sized farms did not bring in 10/- per acre 

 profit to the tenant. The working capital before the 

 war could not have averaged over ^6 per acre and often 

 much less. F'arms of this description were let at from 

 10/- to 12/- per acre. On this basis the farmer who put 

 in, say, ;^i8oo as working capital on a 300-acre farm, and 

 cleared £is^ pcr annum, after paying rent and working 

 expenses would only have ^^78 for his personal remunera- 

 tion after paying 4 per cent interest on his capital. It 

 is true he had his house rent-free, and the greater part 

 of his household requirements from the farm ; but 

 still the results are ridiculously inadequate, when one 



