EDUCATION 143 



" have been alluded to) where many small men 

 " are earning a good living and paying a high 

 " rent on heavy land where farmers had failed. 

 " While admitting, therefore, that, in the first 

 " instance, the rich soils of the Avon Valley, 

 " combined with the early climate, caused the 

 "introduction of market-gardening, I would 

 " add that the spreading of the industry further 

 " afield has educated the local men up to the 

 " discovery of how to cultivate inferior soils so 

 " as to arrive at the same results."* 



Besides the purely technical side of the 

 question, small-holders will ask advice on the 

 practical workings of their holdings. Such 

 questions as prices and marketing will arise, 

 and whether it would not be better to work 

 up a retail trade instead of being content with 

 wholesale prices for their produce. " Elimina- 

 tion of the middleman " is a stock phrase for 

 the solution of our agrarian problem, as till 

 recently it was a byword for the solution of all 

 industrial problems. But experience has shown 

 that the middleman supplies the cheapest and 

 most efficient machinery for distribution, pro- 

 viding always that he is satisfactorily organized. 



* L. Jebb, "Small Holdings of England," p. 82. 



