458 
Allotments and Small Holdings. 
th^ir faces vrtftild te a study were they to he told that they were not to work 
mor^ than eigBt hours a day on the land. The great advantage the small owner 
or proprietor has in France is in the difference of climate which favours the 
growth, &c., of various articles and small products which do not do so well 
with us, and sufficient allowance is not made for this when comparison is 
drawn between the two countries, France and England, and their respective 
systems.” 
There are, however, exceptions to such conditions ; as, for 
example, in the Beet-root sugar districts of France, chiefly in the 
north. There are there hundreds of thousands of acres of sugar- 
beet, largely grown by the small farmers, who are materially 
aided in working capital, and consequently in the production 
and use of manure, by their connection with the sugar industry ; 
and one result of this is that they, as a rule, produce very much 
greater crops of wheat than the average of the country at large ; 
indeed, on the average, only a few bushels less than the yield of 
the United Kingdom. But it must not be forgotten that these 
results have been obtained under the influence of bounties on 
sugar, and a price of wheat artificially raised by import duties. 
If, however, small holdings are to be established to any 
considerable extent in Great Britain, there can be no doubt that 
success must be looked for, not in ordinary rotation farming, 
but in an extension of dairy-farming where the soil and climate 
are suitable, in an increased production of poultry and eggs, 
and also, where the soil and climate are suitable, on what is in 
reality market gardening rather than agriculture. So far a.s 
fruit and vegetables are concerned, however, it is to be borne 
in mind that the high value of the imports of these articles 
depends largely on earliness and quality, in which particulars 
it is only in a few limited districts that we could hope success- 
fully to compete with the countries which now supply us with 
so much of such produce. 
Nor can there be any doubt that, so far as land had to be 
acquired for such purposes as these, as distinguished from 
ordinary agriculture, such land would, both from its locality and 
its quality, command a much higher value in the market than 
has been assumed in the illustration of the requirements of a 
farm of fifty acres devoted to the ordinary agriculture of the 
district in which it is situated. On the other hand, a smaller 
area would, if the soil and climate were suitable, be sufllcient to 
support the holder and his family ; but, at the same time, the 
outlay per acre would be considerably greater. Upon the whole, 
therefore, althougli there is certainly much more promise in this 
direction than in the case of small farms devoted to ordinary 
rotation crops, it is pretty certain that it would only be under 
local circumstances as to soil, climate, and markets, specially 
