18 FORESTRY AND AGRICULTURE. 



presents no difficulty. With regard to the large tracts of 

 inferior land, there are alternative methods of reaping some 

 benefit from them. The question of their utilisation for 

 sport will be dealt with in a subsequent chapter. What 

 we have to consider meantime is how they may best 

 be treated as an agricultural subject in conjunction with 

 forestry. 



While small-holdings along with forestry may be estab- 

 lished on a sound and lasting basis, scope will be found 

 through these latter classes of lands to fit in with small- 

 holdings a class of farms of considerable or even large 



e 



area. 



In face of recent legislation, it is somewhat difficult to 

 state precisely what is a small-holding and what a farm. 

 All holdings with rents of 50 or under may be included 

 within the Small-Holders Act, yet it is possible to rent in 

 the Scottish Highlands as much as two thousand acres at 

 a rental of 50. It requires some straining of terms to 

 class such an acreage as a small-holding. What we have 

 first to do, then, is to arrive at an understanding of what 

 in connection with forestry constitutes a small-holding. 

 When this has been done, other agricultural holdings may 

 be treated as farms. 



Small-holdings may be divided into two classes. The 

 first includes places where one to three cows and their 

 young may be kept summer and winter, with sufficient 

 arable land to raise crops for the holder, his family, and 

 stock. The holder will cultivate his holding in spare 

 evenings and afternoons, with a few whole working-days 

 in spring and autumn. Subject to these conditions, he 

 will have permanent employment at a steady wage from 

 forestry work. This class of holding will serve the 

 interests of forestry by providing a means of sustenance 

 for the forest worker; it will fulfil the wants of the 

 agriculturist by utilising advantageously any small patches 

 of good land that occur in the area of planting operations. 



