EARLY MANHOOD Sy 



plough and high cultivation, is slovenly and incapable 

 of progress, and is not sturdy and independent, but living 

 on borrowed capital. There is no cause for alarm in the 

 grouping of small farms. 



In ' Women in the Field ' he deplores the results of the 

 hard work of women, even whilst suckling, and the 

 ' saddest results in a moral sense ' of contact with coarse 

 men. He suggests an organization of ladies to receive 

 girls after leaving school, in order to find them places as 

 servants. 



In ' On Allotment Gardens ' he points to the satisfac- 

 tion of watching things grow. He regards the system of 

 allotment gardens as an unmixed good, and its extension 

 as a safety-valve to ' communistic tendencies.' Why 

 should there not be societies to furnish workmen with 

 gardens as well as houses ? And if there is room for a 

 cemetery in London, why not also a garden ? He 

 deplores the lack of local authority : a village council 

 would mean good water, better drainage, and an adequate 

 area of allotments. 



In ' The Spirit of Modern Agriculture ' he emphasizes 

 the fact that agriculture is not a ' calm, quiet calling ' 

 now, but one for restless, educated, intelligent men, 

 struggling and pushing forward. ' American ideas ' are 

 spreading among the labourers, who have more and more 

 in common with the mechanic and the navvy. Why not 

 take advantage of this restlessness, and have lectures for 

 those men, who will soon have the franchise ? He thinks 

 there is a more liberal spirit and less local prejudice ; 

 tenant can stand up to landlord, and labourer to farmer. 



In ' Village Organization ' he finds that the School 

 Board is favoured only where there is no great landlord 

 and all are in disagreement ; that there is a strong feeling 

 against this placing the parish more under imperial 

 rule, and curtailing ' the freedom that has hitherto 

 existed.' The insisting upon ' a large amount of cubic 

 space ' in schools is intolerable. It is not to be ex- 

 pected that a single person will interfere against sewage 



