SMALL FARMERS 339 



summer, until the casual observer often finds a difficulty 

 in separating the sheep from the goats. 



With Anglesey our inspection of Welsh agriculture 

 ended. There is some excellent farming in the Vale 

 of Clwyd and in the counties bordering on Cheshire 

 and Shropshire, but it possesses no features to dis- 

 tinguish it from the farming across the border and has 

 no specially Welsh character. In Wales proper we 

 could but conclude that the agriculture generally is 

 undeveloped and below the opportunities offered by 

 the soil and climate. In part this may be set down to 

 the barriers of distance and language which in the 

 past cut the Welsh farmers off from their improving 

 brethren in the Eastern Counties, and perhaps to some 

 want of sympathy between the landowning and the 

 farming class, but probably it is chiefly due to the 

 smallness of the farms. Small holding farmers, 

 however stable as social elements and excellent as 

 rent-payers, rarely originate, rarely even improve their 

 land or their methods ; they have no margin for 

 experiments, and must hold fast to what has been 

 proved to yield the living to which they are accustomed. 

 There are exceptions ; but if a small holding com- 

 munity in Wales or elsewhere is in the future to rival 

 the large farmer in adaptability, in seizing opportunities 

 for business, in making the most of the land, it will 

 only be after enlightenment by education and under the 

 direction of a co-operative movement. 



