ITS LESSONS AND ITS WARNINGS 21 



fertilize the waste and perform prodigies which 

 nothing but the love of the land could enable 

 him to accomplish. . . . All over the Continent 

 of Europe is more live stock kept, more produce 

 and income yielded by small farmers than larger 

 estates." 



As to cultivating (i.e. occupying) ownerships, 

 it is not necessary to refer to the hackneyed 

 phrase as to the " Magic of ownership turning 

 sand into gold," etc., as any man with common 

 intelligence must know, if he does not acknow- 

 ledge, that the sense of ownership whether of 

 field or farm, wife or child, discloses all the best 

 energies in a man to do his very best for that 

 which is his own. The feeling is not acquired, 

 but is inbred in human nature. As Lord Lans- 

 downe states : "I believe it to be inherent in 

 human nature to prefer a complete ownership 

 of anything, to a divided and partial ownership. 

 Give a child a toy which it especially likes : its 

 first question is, ' Is it my very own ? ' and the 

 child is father to the man." 1 



A tenant is in a completely different position 

 from the owner who tills his own land. The 



1 Speech at the annual meeting of the Rural League, 

 July 24th, 1912. 



