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nature, and the extent to which its non-satisfaction has affected 

 " rural depopulation." From about a score of counties, it is 

 reported that small holdings are little in request, or at any rate 

 that no specific instance of a desire to obtain a small holding has 

 come under the notice of the correspondent. It is possible, of 

 course, that an apparent absence of demand may be due, 

 to some extent at least, to the recognition of the 

 futility of asking for what is practically unobtainable, but at 

 the same time there is certainly some evidence of a disin- 

 clination among those who have been brought up on the land 

 to undertake the risks of farming. One or two instances are 

 given of the failure of small holdings where they have been 

 tried, as, for example, in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. 

 Mr. Carrington Smith (Staffordshire) gives a concrete instance 

 of personal failure. " Many good labourers," he writes, " do 

 " not make successful small holders. There is coming to me 

 " next week as a waggoner a man who worked for 12 years 

 " under the same master. With the money saved and a small 

 " legacy left to his wife he took a small holding, on which he 

 " lost what he had saved." 



The majority of the correspondents, however, report that Deficient 

 there is a demand for small holdings, which is not satisfied for supply of 

 reasons which many of them specify. The belief that their S^fS 

 provision would tend to keep the population on the land is 

 expressed in many reports. One correspondent in the East Rid- 

 ing puts the case succinctly: "It is absolutely necessary that 

 " those employed in farm work shall have a prospect of rising 

 " by their own thrift and perseverance ; for this purpose there 

 " should be cottages without land for the older people, cottages 

 " with gardens and allotments, and also small holdings from 

 " 10 to 50 acres." 'Some correspondents express doubts as to 

 whether an increase of the rural population would in all cases 

 result from the cutting up of farms. A Forfarshire correspond- 

 ent, for instance, observes that a 400-acre farm in his district 

 employs a farmer, his grieve, and nine others, most of whom are 

 householders. He adds: "If this same farm were broken up 

 " into seven small holdings, each tenant would do the work of 

 k his 50 or 60 acre farm himself, or with the assistance of his 

 ' family, and I hold that fewer families would be employed the 

 ' one way than the other. At the same time, the advantages 

 ' in favour of the small holding system are so enormous that 

 ' the other side of the question should not be looked at, especi- 

 ' ally as there are few districts in Scotland so happily situated as 

 ' this in the way of accommodation for farm servants on the 

 ' large farm." 



While the advantages of small holdings as an incentive Difficulties, 

 to the younger and more desirable class of men to remain on 

 the land are very generally recognised, the difficulties of pro- 

 viding them are forcibly referred to by many correspondents. 

 Various obstacles are mentioned, but that which may be said 



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