Land Tenure 



are tenants. This proportion is much lower 

 than it used to be, and in no other country- 

 is it so low. In Denmark, the most flourish- 

 ing agricultural country in the world, 88 per 

 cent, of the occupiers of land own their 

 holdings, and only 12 per cent, are tenants. 

 Then under the present system, many 

 farmers have come to trust too much to the 

 landowner in times of trouble, instead of 

 taking measures to meet their own diffi- 

 culties. As in any other business so in the 

 case of farming the cultivator ought to have 

 a reserve fund to fall back upon when a bad 

 year comes. Landowners have been doing 

 more and more for the farmer in regard to 

 the upkeep of the farm, and this again is 

 not well. There is no doubt that our 

 system of land tenure at the present time 

 does not encourage self-reliance on the 

 part of the farmer, or individual effort to 

 keep his farm and buildings in a condition 

 in which a man who takes pride in his work 

 should wish to see them. 



Again, the size of estates has tended to 

 increase, and many landowners own more 

 land than it is desirable from the national, 



41 



