in NotUnghamsJiire, Lincolnshire., &c. : Classes 2 and 3. 37 
Percentage for Class of Holdinga. Percentage for 
Derbyshire all England 
26 Fifty acres and under 14 . 
21 From 50 acres to 100 acres 13 
42 „ 100 „ 300 „ 41 
9 „ 300 „ 500 „ 18 
2 „ 500 „ 1,000 „ 11 
Over 1,000 3 
Many small occupancies on tlie Duke of Devonshire's Buxton 
estate consist simply of a cottage, with two or three acres of 
laud, almost wholly old grass. The men work in the limestone 
quarries, whilst their wives and families do most of the farm- 
work during the day. No horses are kept, and the tenants 
sometimes arrange with larger farmers to summer their cows, in 
which case the land is all mown for hay. No part of this land is 
less than 1,000 feet above the sea-level. Rents are from 11. to 
11. 5s. per acre, including the cottage, and the money is punc- 
tually paid. The people are believed to be very comfortable. 
The making of butter is the almost exclusive industry on these 
farms, but it is not always of very good quality. The sale of 
milk to the towns is left to the larger tenants. One great diffi- 
culty in connection with small holdings is the outlay on build- 
ings, and if interest were charged on these the rent would be 
considerably increased. 
As a general rule, occupiers of small holdings work very hard, 
live economically, and deprive themselves of many comforts in 
order to pay the rent and lay by some money. They cannot 
afford to keep either horse or implements, but depend on neigh- 
bouring farmers, or " higglers," to do the work. Still, they are a 
thrifty, well-doing class, seldom in arrears with the rent, and 
generally move to larger holdings. Some of the very small 
holders assist on larger farms in busy times. In social position, 
these tenants are not much removed from farm-labourers, but 
ideas of self-respect are promoted by the occupation of land, and 
they have passed successfully through the period of agricultural 
depression. Few farms of this class have remained unlet ; ^ 
rents have been well paid, and for any small holdings that 
became vacant there has always been ready competition. Not 
much change has recently occurred in the character of farms 
belonging to the chief landowners of the county, but the ten- 
dency has been rather to increase the size of the holdings than 
the number of the tenants. 
In June 1886 there were 4,053 garden allotments (excepting 
' In the return of unoccupied farms included in the Agricultural Returns 
for 1887, six farms, comprising altogether only 120 acres, were returned as 
unoccupied in Derbyshire, 
