THE RURAL PROBLEM 61 



As regards administration, the Board of Agriculture 

 should use to the full the powers it possesses under Section 20 

 of the Act, " in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the 

 establishment of small holdings in any locality." 



§ 3. The Limitations of Small Holdings. 



At this point three very serious objections to the unlimited 

 extension of small holdings must be faced. 



(1) In the first place, it is argued that all this increased 

 production would create a glut ; there would be no market 

 for the stuff, at any rate at a remunerative price. 



The answer to this is two-fold. First, it is a very long 

 way off — so far as hardly to be worth attention at this 

 stage. But, further, it is quite impossible that such a glut 

 could ever be produced. A country in which agriculture 

 became increasingly prosperous would consume more and 

 more agricultural produce. Two hundred years ago quite 

 small people used dishes which required 20 yolks of eggs, 

 a number which would be out of the purchasing power of 

 any but the rich at the present time. The consumption of 

 eggs and milk in Germany per head of population is double 

 that of England ; the consumption of vegetables in France 

 is three times that of England. 



In a densely populated country like ours the cause of 

 gluts in the matter of foodstuff is not, and is never likely 

 to be, over-production ; they are due solely to defective 

 methods of distribution. Gluts due to our chaotic marketing 

 occur even now, while people are starving on the one hand 

 and foodstuff is wasted on the other. Marrows lie rotting 

 in the country when the growers could make a profit if 

 they sold them at a halfpenny apiece ; at the same time 

 they are priced at 6d. in the towns and are beyond the purse 

 of the masses. This sort of thing is due entirely to dis- 

 organisation, and with the adoption of recommendations 

 to be made in subsequent chapters all danger of a glut 

 would disappear. 



(2) The second objection is more forcible. For some 

 kinds of agricultural production, and perhaps for all, large 



