SMALL HOLDINGS 171 



vide for a larger population, give the younger 

 generation a taste for country pursuits, and 

 often enable their possessors to retire from 

 business earlier than they would otherwise 

 do, making a partial living out of the soil and 

 leaving their places as retailers or workmen 

 to be filled by others. 



The usefulness of such holdings, even on 

 light and comparatively poor land, is illus- 

 trated by the success of the Norfolk Small 

 Holdings Association, formed in 1900. Here 

 three farms, making a total of 338 acres, were 

 purchased and let to sixty tenants. There 

 are no special advantages in the way of soil, 

 climate, markets, common rights or outside 

 labour. But the land is conveniently situated 

 for those living in the villages. Norfolk is a 

 county in which the tradition of small farms 

 and the desire for the land have survived more 

 vigorously than in other parts of England. 

 The experiment has been highly successful. 

 The rents are promptly paid ; there is no 

 evidence of tendency to throw the land back 

 into large farms ; and, if the population is 

 not increasing, at any rate the exodus is being 

 stemmed. 



The success of small holdings, where certain 

 conditions exist, has thus been proved beyond 

 the possibility of doubt. Object-lessons lie 



