SMALL-HOLDINGS AND THE SMALL-HOLDEE. 



301 



holders and those engaged in work upon the land, should be instituted 

 for imparting information on the laws and conditions which govern the 

 fertility of the soil, to be followed by subsidiary courses in market- 

 gardening, fruft- growing, mtensive cultivation, dairying, butter- and 

 cheese-making, stock breeding and raising, poultry- and bee-keeping, 

 grading and packing for market, and in fact in all matters to which a 

 small-holder could profitably turn his attention. These courses should 

 be arranged in groups of allied industries, and State aid should depend 

 not only on the candidate's suitability of character and general fitness, 

 but also upon his obtaining a certificate of proficiency in connexion with 

 a given group of subjects, the examinations being conducted either 

 orally or in writing. Although even then failures in the new under- 

 taking would not be impossible, they would be reduced to a very small 

 proportion of the whole, and the interests both of the State and the 

 individual would be amply safeguarded. 



In conclusion, I submit that such a scheme as the one I have 

 outlined presents no insuperable difficulties to a nation which can 

 provide two hundred millions for land purchase in Ireland. With small- 

 holdings laid out and manned on the lines indicated, the rural depopu- 

 lation problem would soon disappear, the nation's physique would 

 improve, England would be in a fair way to feed herself, and the desert 

 spaces of the country would become covered with industries and thriving 

 villages populated by healthy and contented families, who would add 

 enormously to the real wealth and prosperity of the nation and form an 

 impregnable bulwark to the State. 



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