130 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



swallow up all the profits if the management be at all 

 defective. 



If the industrial farm is to be of full benefit to the 

 nation, it is clear that it should absorb the indifferent 

 medium-sized farms on land not suitable for small 

 holdings. Public opinion would be averse to industrial 

 farms absorbing typical smallholding land. The ad- 

 vantages are that it is potentially easier to run a very 

 large farm as a business, and secure the economic use 

 of costly machinery and the full organization of labour. 

 For purposes of management it would probably be found 

 advisable to divide the large farms into " management 

 units " of 1000 acres ; even so, it would be hard to find 

 really efiicient managers of looo acres, and harder still 

 to find a man fully qualified to be the super-manager of 

 5000 acres. This country does not produce many such. 



People who have but a superficial knowledge of 

 agriculture are often heard to argue that, because the 

 big factory is more economic than the small factory, 

 the big farm must be more economic than the small 

 farm. But this argument can be pushed too far even 

 in the case of the factory ; the small factory has certain 

 advantages from the human point of view, and its 

 " economy " could be greatly bettered by a full develop- 

 ment of electric power. 



When one comes to the land the comparison to a 

 large extent breaks down ; agriculture is fundamentally 

 different from any urban industry. Not only is it more 

 affected by the weather, but the human element comes 

 into it on a larger scale than into any other industry. 

 The handling of animals forms a large part of the work 

 — and the " pony fattens best under the master's eye." 

 The land itself responds to the individual in a way and 

 to a degree that a machine does not. It is impossible to 



