44 Small Holdings and Allotments 



the system of dividing a field into small lots, to be 

 cultivated by labourers or cottagers in their spare time 

 and on their own account. The size of allotments is 

 usually about a quarter of an acre, but varies consider- 

 ably in different localities. Goldsmith writes in The 

 Deserted Village: 



A time there was, ere England's griefs began, 

 When every rood of ground maintained its man: 



and this has reference, probably, to the general use of 

 allotments by the rural labourers before the poet's 

 time. 



At the present time about 34,000 acres are divided 

 into allotments, which are cultivated by 130,000 

 individuals. Spade cultivation is, of course, generally 

 adopted on these allotments, which are among the most 

 highly cultivated lands in their several districts. 



9. THE LOSS AND GAIN OF LAND 

 IN BRITAIN 



The area of the British Islands varies from year 

 to year owing to two facts coast erosion and the 

 reclamation of land from the sea. In neither case is 

 the loss or gain very great in one year, and at times the 

 one seems to balance the other. But reviewing a 

 long period we have striking evidence of large areas 

 being engulfed by the sea, and of extensive tracts being 

 won from the sea. We have only to look at some old 

 maps of parts of our east coast to notice the change 

 in the outline of the counties bordering on the sea ; and 

 we can read in old books and documents of disastrous 



