4 



(i) Good land, producing a large return in kind, with little 

 initial outlay and expense of working ; or 



(ii) A forward climate (induced perhaps only by a sheltered 

 aspect in an otherwise backward district), enabling early 

 market prices to be obtained for the produce ; or 



(hi) The vicinity of a good market, enabling the disposal of 

 produce and the purchase of manure at a price which will 

 compensate for the enhanced expense of manuring and cultivat- 

 ing unsuitable soil, or the expense of growing under glass, &c, 

 in a backward district. 



Under the second heading, viz., qualifications which serve 

 to supplement the actual return from the land itself, we 

 get :— 



(i) Supplements to the land itself, such as, the existence of 

 common rights or co-operative grazing grounds, or ; 



(ii) Opportunities for supplementing the weekly cash returns, 

 such as, surrounding agricultural conditions affording piece- 

 work, dyking, quarrying, or work in woods ; the existence of 

 special local trades, or the proximity of mines or factories. 



In considering any locality, therefore, for starting a scheme 

 .for small holdings, the first thing to do is to see that one or other 

 of the above conditions is present. I would here, however, 

 lay very special stress on one point. It is so often said of small 

 holdings that to be a success they must be on good land and near 

 good markets that people now tend to accept this placidly 

 as a truism. But the fact that it is true up to a certain point 

 only makes it as absurd to lay too much stress upon it as it is 

 dangerous to ignore it. For when we come to examine the 

 places where small holdings are actually succeeding, we as often 

 as not find one or both of these two factors absent. A glance 

 at the tabulated conditions above will explain this ; for the 

 presence of any one of the conditions there named has been 

 proved to be sufficient, in the absence of all the others, to estab- 

 lish the prosperity of the holdings in the neighbourhood to 

 which this condition applies. 



Having considered any locality in the light of suitable con- 

 ditions, what is the next step ? The particular type of holding 

 it is proposed to create will have to be settled. And it will 

 probably be found that the type of cultivation will be 

 determined by the nature of the local condition which has led 



