SMALL V. LARGE HOLDINGS 435 



order to try to pay off the debt. Moreover, the ex- 

 perience of the past in this and other countries shows 

 that each cycle of depression has crushed out a large 

 proportion of small owners, for reasons that lie deep 

 in human nature. There remains the last but distant 

 alternative ownership by the State or other permanent 

 corporation, of which we will only record that we have 

 always found the Crown, the colleges, and other similar 

 bodies spoken of as good landlords ; their estates are 

 well cultivated and their people prosperous. The 

 disintegration of the historic estates must come under 

 economic pressure, but the process will be a slow one, 

 and we doubt if there is any case for interference. 

 However, from the point of view of good farming alone 

 it will be better if the change moves in the direction 

 of large permanent owners rather than small individual 

 proprietors. 



Closely associated with the question of ownership 

 is that of large versus small holdings, whether owned 

 or rented. It is difficult to put aside one's pre- 

 possessions ; to one man small holding farming appears 

 as uneconomic as handloom weaving. From another 

 point of view capitalist farming has resulted in the 

 degradation of the labourer and the depopulation 

 of the countryside. Illustrations may be found to 

 support either view, but the size of the holding is 

 often an accident and not the causal factor in the 

 cases quoted For example, in many parts of the 

 country, as round Evesham and Biggleswade, where 

 intensive market gardening and fruit growing is 

 pursued, men are making a living off as little as ten 

 acres, and producing a much larger amount of food 

 per acre than adjoining large farmers who are growing 

 corn or milk on old-fashioned lines. Favourable as 

 the comparison appears to the small holder, who 



