6 



Creation of Small Holdings. 



[APRIL, 



innate capabilities, and the necessity of making him take to 

 more enlightened methods. 



This leads to the last consideration of my paper : What data 

 have we to show the possibilities of success in inducing new 

 forms of cultivation ? 



Fortunately it is not necessary to expound mere theories 

 when one talks of enlightenment in matters of cultivation. We 

 have many instances to show how the accidental intelligence of 

 one man has determined the type of holding in some 

 comparatively modern establishments of small holdings in 

 certain districts. To mention one or two concrete casts : 

 The holdings in the early fruit-growing districts of the valley 

 of the Tamar in Cornwall owe their existence to the fact that 

 a young local farmer, up in London for the Exhibition of 1862, 

 was struck by the high price obtained for strawberries in Govent 

 Garden, which he knew were no better than those growing in 

 his father's strip of garden. He turned his attention to supply- 

 ing this demand for early fruit, and in a few years all his neigh- 

 bours followed suit ; the result is that what was once poor 

 agricultural land is now highly rented land intensively cultivated 

 by small men. The favourable local condition here is the 

 forwardness of the locality, but this was not turned to the 

 advantage of small holders until one man had discovered its 

 significance. 



Again, the seed-growing industry at Tiptree in Essex, in 

 which a very large number of small holders are concerned, 

 was introduced by a working man from the neighbouring dis- 

 trict of Coggeshall. He started in a small way and taught 

 his fellow workmen the art of dressing the seed. The suitable 

 conditions here for this particular form of holding are a very low 

 rainfall, much sun, and a naturally dry soil ; but the fact that 

 these parts are not still mediocre farm land is due possibly to 

 the enterprise of one intelligent man. 



These cases serve also as instances of how, a place being found 

 specially suitable for the growth of certain articles, the question 

 of a market for them followed as a corollary. 



We have, however, instances of how the opening of a market 

 for special produce in any particular district has given rise to the 

 profitable production of that article. A good example of this 

 is the establishment of Chiver's jam factory near Cambridge, 



