90 Small Holdings. 
if he gave up other work, leaving hope of profit entirely out of 
the question. 
The Small Holdings on the Stratton Estate. 
The system of Small Holdings on the Stratton Estate, in 
Hampshire, a typical English estate, furnishes an interesting 
index to the probable results of the various Acts. 
On the Stratton estate some small holdings of arable land were 
set out by the late Sir Francis Baring in 1849, with the expressed 
intention of furnishing means to the labourer of rising to the 
position of a tenant farmer, incidentally attaching him to the 
district, increasing his interest in his neighbourhood, encouraging 
habits of thrift, and fostering the hope of ultimate independence. 
At the outset every man was made aware that so long as his 
rent was paid he should retain possession of his holding; but, while 
punctuality of rental payment was inculcated, the tenants were 
allowed six months of grace after the due date, in accordance 
Avith the custom of the estate in the case of larger occupations. 
It Avas also understood that no restriction Avas to be imposed 
upon the system of cropping, neither Avas it to be incumbent 
upon the tenant to replace by artificial, or other manure, the 
material drain of the land. The labourers who took these small 
holdings lived in cottages at a rent which barely afforded return 
for the capital outlay. All rates, taxes, tithe, and other out- 
goings Avere paid by Sir Francis Baring, and, in addition, the 
cottages Avere kept in repair at Sir Francis’s entire charge. All 
these arrangements Avere rigidly adhered to by their author, 
and, since his death, have been continued by the present Earl 
of Northbrook. He would be a harsh critic Avho could find fault 
Avith proposals so exceptionally favourable as these. 
Applications for the small holdings Avere received from fifteen 
persons, and an area of two hundred and fourteen acres was set 
apart for them, being an average of fourteen and a quarter acres to 
each man. Of these fifteen persons, seven only Avere of the labour- 
ing class, the class sought to be directly benefited. The remaining 
eight were small shopkeepers, carriers, carpenters, and other 
persons immediately above the labouring grade. The tenants and 
their families supplied all the labour necessary to their holdings, 
except during the harvest and also when they co-operated, both 
with horses and occasional manual labour, in ploughing and 
preparing the land for seed. The records of the holdings during 
the forty-four years show that throughout the first twenty 
years all were continually in occupation. But in 1866 the 
number of holders declined from fifteen to twelve, there being 
