CHAPTER IX 



THE RESPECTIVE ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES OF THE 

 LARGE AND SMALL HOLDING 



INTRODUCTORY 



IN the preceding chapters the recent evolution of the system of 

 agricultural holdings in England has been sketched. It was seen to 

 be characterised by a diminution in the number of large and very 

 large farms and an increase of small and medium-sized and also of 

 allotment holdings. This tendency to diminish the area of the unit 

 of holding has been shown to be due to the changes in the conditions 

 of sale and production since 1879, the decreasing profitableness of 

 corn-growing and the increasing profitableness of stock-feeding, 

 dairying, fruit and vegetable culture, etc. These latter branches of 

 production prove to belong, on the whole, to the domain of the small 

 farmer, who on the other hand only undertakes corn-growing as an 

 altogether secondary matter : so that the change in the relative 

 profitableness of the various branches of production necessarily 

 favoured the small as opposed to the large holding. It remains to 

 consider why the various units of holding are particularly fitted for 

 certain branches of production : why one kind of product belongs to 

 the domain of large farming, and another to the domain of small 

 farming or petite culture. The answer to these questions will throw 

 much light on the connection between the current conditions under 

 which production and marketing are carried on in any country and 

 the system of agricultural holdings adopted. The problem is, what 

 are the economic laws which govern the relation between a particular 

 branch of agriculture and a particular type of holding? Thus stated, 

 it appears as a compromise between the two theories on the question 

 of the unit of holding which were defended by earlier students of 

 agricultural economy. One set defended the large farm and another 

 the small farm : some were convinced that the former was the one 



