RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 169 



cient capital, without which an experiment of this kind cannot be made 

 a rapid and pronounced success. For the purpose of starting the 

 scheme a number of properties were purchased in the county of Hert- 

 ford, making up a total area of 3,818 acres; an additional area of 750 

 acres has since been acquired. When purchased by the Garden 

 City Company in 1903 the estate comprised fourteen separate agri- 

 cultural holdings. About 1,300 acres, or approximately one-third, 

 were set apart for the building of the town and for open spaces, and 

 the remaining 2,500 acres (now about 3,300 acres) were definitely re- 

 served for agricultural purposes for all time. (Figure 35). 



Including legal and other expenses the Letch worth Estate cost 

 about $225 per acre. This was not only for bare land but included 

 valuable buildings and timber of a gross insurance value of about $125 

 per acre. In 1905 it was estimated that the part of the estate re- 

 served for the townsite should be calculated as having cost $325 per 

 acre and the agricultural estate $175 per acre, both figures being sub- 

 ject to a reduction of about $62.50 per acre, as being a fair allowance 

 for the capital value of improvements. Thus the cost of the bare 

 building land might be put at $262.50, and the agricultural land at 

 $112.50. It was presumed that an average rental of about $7.50 

 per acre per annum for land and buildings and $5 per annum for land 

 without buildings would be fair to the farmers and provide a satis- 

 factory return to the Garden City Company. 



The situation of the estate was 33 miles from London, with no 

 large city intervening. At the time of purchase there was approxi- 

 mately a population of 450 people all engaged in agriculture and 

 no railway station on the property. The population now numbers 

 about 13,000, and there is a splendid new station in the centre of the 

 town. The company has, in addition to existing county roads, 

 made 10 miles of new roads and provided 20 miles of water mains, 

 15 miles of gas mains and 14 miles of sewers. The ground rents 

 created up to 30th September, 1915, amounted to over $38,000 per 

 annum, equivalent to a capital value of about '$760,000. The net 

 profit in 1915 was $28,600, showing that the experiment has begun to 

 pay its way, although it is well known that in connection with land 

 development it is essential that capital should be sunk for a consider- 

 able period before yielding a profit, unless in the case of a purely 

 speculative enterprise. The number of inhabited houses, factories 

 and workshops is about 2,500. There are some 30 industries estab- 

 lished in the town, engaged in engineering, printing, embroidery, 

 book-binding, pottery, weaving, motor engineering, metal works, 

 organ building, implement and scientific instrument making, etc. 



