46 THE ERRORS OF THE PAST 



This tendency is especially pronounced in the 

 industry of food production, because no other 

 industry depends so largely for its sustained success 

 upon individual skill and knowledge as agriculture. 

 All our Allotment and Small Holdings Acts, all the 

 Land Acts of European countries, all the Closer Settle- 

 ment Acts of our Dominions, are incontrovertible 

 evidence of this truth. All admit by implication 

 that the aggregate intelligence and skill of, say, 

 ten men expended in manipulating i,ooo acres 

 produces better economic results (to say nothing of 

 the social effects) than the intelligence and skill of 

 one man. 



True, if the ten men are placed on their hundred 

 acres under circumstances which do not make for 

 economy, all their skill and intelligence will not 

 in the end avail ; that is, however, no disproof 

 of the general statement but rather a reproach 

 against the powers that be who dabble in home 

 colonisation without a knowledge of its principles, 

 or the abihty to apply them. 



Until recent years we had to rely for statistical 

 proof in this controversy of large farms and small 

 holdings upon figures obtained from the Continent,^ 

 but thanks to the Cheshire County Council we are 

 now able to give figures which anyone with a doubt- 

 ing mind may at any moment verify for himself. 



* In Germany the relation of the head of stock to the size of 

 holding is shown in the following table : 



Cattle per 

 Size of Holding. No. of Holdings. loo acres. 



From 5 to 12 J .. .. 1,016,318 .. 34 



From i2| t i 50 . . . . 998,804 . . 26 



From 50 t , 250 . . .. 281,767 .. 19 



From 250 and over . . 25,061 . . 10 



" A study Df the yield of small holdings in France shows the 



same results. 



