42 THE ERRORS OF THE PAST 



of a highly skilled man with a direct interest in 

 the farm, and receives in addition to his rent 

 and the interest on the working capital a definite 

 proportion of the farmer's profits. 



The factor next in importance in any attempt 

 to reconstruct our industry of food production on 

 a basis of greater efficiency is the " staff." If we 

 are to bring about a great increase in the productive- 

 ness of the land it is plain that we must effect an 

 increase in the number of the workers on the land. 

 This increase can only take place under two heads : 



(i) In the number of the holders. 

 (2) In the number of agricultural labourers 

 working for farmers. 



The necessity of increasing the number of 

 labourers if we wish to produce a large output is 

 not likely to be disputed by any practical man, 

 but there exists very considerable doubt concerning 

 the wisdom of creating still more holdings. Indeed, 

 the firm conviction is held in influential quarters 

 that the subdivision of our land has already gone 

 too far, and that the uneconomic effects produced 

 by it can only be remedied by the consohdation 

 of holdings. 



On pages 45 and 47 are two diagrams prepared 

 from the statistics collected by the Board of Agri- 

 culture. 



In the first diagram columns i, 2 and 3 represent 

 the small holdings, 4, 5 and 6 the medium farms, 

 and column 7 the large farms. 



Numerically the small holdings are vastly 

 stronger than the number of medium and large 



