392 
Small Holdings in CormvalL. 
success of the work which is indispensable in order to secure the best 
results. Or — if dairying were the principal thing — on a large hold- 
ing, say of 600 acres, every practical man knows the difficulty expe- 
rienced in getting from 150 to 200 cows properly milked on Sundays 
as well as week days ; but let this holding be divided into twelve or 
more, and the occupiers .and their families will do the principal part, 
if not the wliole of this work, and do it efficiently and without com- 
plaint. So also with reference to poultry raising and the production 
of eggs ; small enclosures, affording variety and shelter, are better 
than tlie large ones found on large holdings. In this matter, as in 
all the other operations specially adapted to small holdings, the con- 
stant personal jjart taken in tlie work by the occupier or members 
of his family is an advantage that will be appreciated most by those 
occupiers of large holdings who realise the difficulty, uncertainty, 
.and generally unsatisfactory results, when such matters have to be 
entrusted to hired labourers. 
It is further to be noted that the products specified do not suffer 
so seriously from foreign competition as do the products best suited 
to large holdings. Notwithstanding the heavy imports of butter, 
cheese, and eggs, the foreigner cannot compete with us in supplying 
the increasing demand for milk and cream, and the local demand 
for the best quality of home-produced butter and new-laid eggs. 
Then as regards soft fruit, fresh vegetables, and cut flowers, we 
have the natural protection afforded by the importers’ inability to 
bring such articles here in a perfectly fresh condition, so that, other 
things being equal, the same products grown at home always 
command a considerably higher price. 
These facts, namely, that the commodities best adapted to be 
produced on small holdings require more skilled labour and personal 
supervision, and suffer less from foreign competition than do those 
best suited to be pi’oduced on large holdings, are economic advan- 
tages that should make small holdings a complete success. We 
are, however, met with the reply that, where they already exist, 
this success has not been generally attained. This may be so, and 
too often the cause is not far to seek. The demand for small 
holdings has been generally beyond the supply ; hence the price 
paid for them has often been from 50 to 100 per cent, more than 
that paid for land of the same quality let in large holdings. 
An assist.ant overseer to whom I am indebted for the statistics 
of his parish, given on page 394, remarks with reference to 
small holdings in that parish ; “ The rent of our farms of 50 
acres and upwards is about 1?. per acre, and of those below, in- 
cluding those under 5 acres, the average price will be considerably 
more per acre. Small holdings here have, as a rule, punished the 
steady, industrious labourers who have tried them ; but as soon as 
they get tired of them, there are others ready to try, and so the 
rents are, by competition, kept too high for the occupiers to get a 
sufficient remuneration for their labour.” 
Another correspondent, who has a wide experience in connection 
witli .an Assessment Committee, s.ays : “ I find, as a general rule, th.at 
