Change in Unit 93 



without the clearest perception of its inevitable weaknesses. If this 

 is understood it may be worth while to compare the classification 

 adopted on economic grounds, as described above, with the cor- 

 responding statistics as given in i895 l . There were then : 



Percentage of Percentage 



Total Holdings of Area 



Holdings of over i and not over 5 acres 22*9 1-07 



5 20 28-45 4-87 



20 50 16-42 8-36 



50 loo 12-25 1370 



loo 300 15-88 42-00 



300 500 2-92 16-86 



11 5 looo 1-04 10-35 



looo 0*14 2-79 



IOO IOO 



The contrast between the two series of percentages is interesting. 

 While that relating to the number of holdings decreases as the size 

 of holding increases, that relating to the area covered moves almost 

 in the opposite direction. Further, so far as numbers are concerned, 

 small holdings preponderate. Holdings up to 100 acres make 8o - i2 

 per cent, of the whole. But as regards area it is otherwise. Medium 

 holdings account for 42 per cent, of the whole area covered, and 

 medium and large holdings together for 72 per cent. So that the 

 land under cultivation was at that date still predominantly held in 

 large and medium holdings. But if taken in connection with earlier 

 statistics, the figures would indicate the beginning of a new develop- 

 ment ; they belong to a period when the old tendency to the consoli- 

 dation of holdings was not merely at an end, but was being replaced 

 by a contrary movement. 



Up to 1880 the question of the proper size of holdings was 

 regarded as settled. Landlords aimed at enlarging their farms as 

 far as possible. The few social reformers who were in favour of 

 small holdings failed to get a hearing in face of the economic 

 conditions. But as corn growing ceased to pay the case was altered, 

 and the question came up again as one for serious discussion 9 . The 



1 For the sake of simplicity the sources of the statistics used in the following pages 

 and in Appendix II are given here. They are as follows : Agricultural Returns for 

 1885 ; Returns of Allotments and Small Holdings, 1890 ; and Returns as to the Number and 

 Size of Agricultural Holdings in Great Britain in the year 1895. 



2 Cp. e.g. R. Scott Burn, Systematic Small Farming, 1886, p. 14: "In looking back 

 at a period of a few years ago, it will be seen that, so far as the general public was con- 



