INTRODUCTION 



A FEW years ago the catch phrase, *' Three acres and 

 a cow," formed the main plank in the platform of a 

 band of social reformers. The idea contained in such 

 a phrase may be all very well in theory, but the 

 practical man who cannot do better than feed a cow 

 on three acres of land had better give up farming, and 

 take up some occupation requiring less skill and energy. 



This latter statement applies specially to the small- 

 holder, who, with the advantage of being able to 

 concentrate his resoiu"ces on a small area of land, may 

 reasonably be expected to produce more per acre than 

 a farmer whose operations are concerned with an ex- 

 tensive area. 



The smallholder whose land is situated near a good 

 market town where fruit-growing and market gardening 

 are possible is already obtaining treble the revenue from 

 his land than the large farmer in the same district 

 obtains. This kind of intensive cultivation, though, is 

 not possible in districts with a scattered population or 

 where railway and market facilities are lacking. The 

 small farmer under these conditions is compelled to 

 produce more or less the same kind of soil products — 

 milk, butter, beef and bacon — ^as do his larger con- 

 temporaries. 



The trouble is that the farmer, large or small, has not 

 realised to what extent these agricultural products are 

 capable of being produced where an intensive system 

 of cropping is followed. 



The object of this book is to give the small farmer a 



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