452 
Allotments and Small Holdings. 
Lastly, in the present year, 1892, about 5 acres more have 
been added ; and they have been divided into two allotments of 
1 acre each, 11 of of an acre, 6 between ^ and and 14 of 
of an acre. The two 1-acre plots are respectively occupied by 
a blacksmith and a carpenter; and of the remaining 31 of of 
an acre or less, only three by agricultural labourers, the re- 
mainder being held by persons of very various occupations. It 
may be said that the demand for mere garden allotments is for 
the present satisfied ; but there still remains a desire for more 
1-acre plots. 
Of the total number of 334 allotments, about 300 are 
garden allotments of one-eighth of an acre or less, and it is 
among the tenants of these that almost the whole of the agri- 
cultural labourers are to be found ; whilst the majority of the 
holders of the larger allotments are persons whose earnings and 
general position are much above those of the labourer, some of 
them owning the houses in which they live, and having horses 
or other live-stock. 
The general result is then, that, with the soil and climate 
such as they are in this locality, the demand for anything more 
than garden allotments has not come from those engaged in 
agricultural pursuits. The problem of the advancement of the 
agricultural labourer by giving him a more direct interest in the 
land he cultivates is, therefore, in no way advanced towards a 
solution by the facts above stated. Long before the cry of 
“ Three acres and a cow ” was invented, the possibility or desira- 
bility of furnishing the labourer with the means of keeping a 
cow was carefully considered at Kothamsted ; but the idea was 
eventually abandoned, as it was thought that the soil and climate 
were not sufficiently suitable for pasture, especially in dry 
summers ; and that, under such circumstances, the keep of a 
cow would be very expensive. 
Conditions Essential to the Success of Small 
Holdings. 
It is one thing to provide the agricultural labourer with 
sufficient garden ground to occupy his spare time, and provide 
his family with vegetables, or to provide the small tradesman 
of more spare means and time, and who does not derive 
his livelihood from the land, with a somewhat larger area to 
enable him to add a little to his income : and quite another to 
establish tenants or proprietors of small holdings, who are sup- 
posed not to receive wages, but to derive the whole of their 
livelihood from the land. It is alleged, however, that with such 
