46 THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF 



CHAPTER IV 



SMALL HOLDINGS. — ^I 



Since the appointment of the Departmental 

 Committee on Small Holdings, there have 

 been various publications which were 

 apparently intended by their authors to 

 describe their own experience, or to indicate 

 how a man may succeed in earning his liveli- 

 hood upon a small area of land. We have 

 observed that although some useful informa- 

 tion has been supplied, there has been a general 

 lack of initiative, which was in all probability 

 owing to a natural cause. There are numbers 

 of men who are thirsting for land; they are 

 anxious to rent or to buy it, to purchase 

 implements and stock and set to work in 

 good earnest, but they lack experience. 

 There are others, much less numerous, who 

 are at work; some are failing to succeed, 

 others are succeeding. We have received 

 many applications for advice on this subject, 



