RESULTS BAD AND GOOD 285 



while the arrears of 1882 were ;^2o68, and in 1892 were 

 £6yoo. Many of the larger tenants, with insufficient 

 capital, seem to have collapsed, and their farms have 

 been taken by new men at great reductions who are 

 doing better by improved methods, and by converting 

 their rich soil to market gardening. When celery 

 can be grown at a considerable profit, and the early 

 potatoes, grown between the celery rows, fetch 90s to 

 96s a ton, it is only lack of capital, or freedom, or 

 excessive rents which can prevent a reasonable amount 

 of prosperity. 



The balance sheets of a farm of y^ acres, for eleven 

 years from 1882 to 1892, occupied by a tenant, show a 

 net loss over the whole period of ^^470. 



Mr Bear, in his book on " Small Holdings," says, " The 

 houses reminded me of those I had seen in Jersey rather 

 than of the cottages of farm labourers, and I was most 

 struck with the well-fed and happy appearance of the 

 people." This account is confirmed by Mr Pringle. 



On the whole, results are much what might be ex- 

 pected. At present values the old mortgages could not 

 be realised, and the interest upon them is an enormous 

 burden. Land is kept by great sacrifices, both on the 

 part of parents and children who work without wages. 

 The economic pressure has fallen heavily upon these 

 people. But their lives have been happy, self-reliant 

 and independent. Adaptation is rapidly meeting diffi- 

 culties for those who can hold on, and where there is 

 any capital to work the land well the position is im- 

 proving, and if prices are but slightly better, the small 

 holders who pull through will reap the fullest fruits 

 from all their sacrifices. 



It must be remembered, too, that although the 

 pressure of hard times has been tremendous, these men 

 have even in such times an advantage from ownership 

 not shared by the yearly tenant. While the latter have 

 been swept away in wholesale ruin in many districts, 

 the small owner has in most cases been able to cling 

 on somehow, and so keeps his chance of recovery. 



And it is plain from Mr Pringle's report and other 



