3o8 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



occasionally was the utmost they could afford, and wives and 

 daughters took the work from the servants. The small farmers 

 had suffered more than the large ones, and the condition of the 

 small freeholders was said to be deplorable ; a fact to be noted 

 by those who think small holdings a panacea for distress.^ 



Even near Boston, where the soil is favourable for market 

 gardening, the evidence of the small holder was ' singularly 

 unanimous ' as to their unfortunate condition. The small 

 occupiers were better off than the freeholders, because their 

 rents had been reduced and they could leave their farms if they 

 did not pay ; but their position was very unsatisfactory. From 

 the evidence given to the assistant commissioner it is clear 

 that the small occupier and freeholder could only get on by 

 working harder and living harder than the labourer, ' We all 

 live hard and never see fresh meat,' said one. ' We can't afford 

 butcher's meat,' said another. Another said, ' In the summer I 

 work from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., and often do not take more than an 

 hour off for meals. That is penal servitude, except you have 

 your liberty. A foreman who earns ;^ i a week is better off 

 than I am. He has no anxiety, and not half the work.' These 

 instances could be multiplied many times, so that it is not 

 surprising that the children of these men have flocked to the 

 towns. 



In Norfolk, ' twenty or thirty years ago, no class connected 

 with the land held their heads higher ' than the farmers. Many 

 of them owned the whole or a part of the land they farmed, 

 and lived in good style. All this was now largely changed. 

 « The typical Norfolk farmer of to-day is a harassed and hard- 

 working man,' engaged in the struggle to make both ends meet. 

 Many were ruined. 



However, there were farmers who, by skill, enterprise, and 

 careful management, made their business pay even in these 

 times, such as the tenant of the farm at Papplewick in Notting- 

 hamshire who gained the first prize in the Royal Agricultural 

 ^ Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners (1895), xvi. 187-8. 



