324
ALLOTMENTS
AND
to the latter represents only a continuation of the day’s drudgery, while it is a pleasant change and relief to the former. Further, local conditions have much to do with their popularity. In practice, it is not found that a Northumbrian hind cares much for an allotment. He has a thousand or fifteen hundred yards of potatoes grown with his master’s crop, and he gets meal and fuel as part of his wages. Better still, he has a twelve months’ engagement for “ rain or shine, sickness or health ”; but where perquisites are not given on a scale so liberal, and wages are lower and engagements from week to week—even from day to day, as in some of the eastern counties of England, —then naturally the advantages of the allotment are much more highly prized. Apart from those created by legislation, there are many groups of small agricultural holdings that have either come to exist naturally or have been made during the last few years. Cheshire is a county wherein the former prevail. A typical estate in it is that of Lord Eger ton of Tatton. This is divided into 189 holdings, of which 117 are of less than 50 acres and 72 are under 10 acres. Even in a county so notable for its excellent pasture a man could scarcely manage to live on one of these last-mentioned holdings; and, as a matter of fact, those who have them are either agricultural labourers or possess some other means of earning a livelihood; but the land forms a valuable supplement to wages. One point of importance is that nowhere are large healthy families more prized than on these small holdings, where the girls at a very early age ‘ learn to look after the poultry and attend to the lighter duties, while boys are set to harder tasks. It has been observed that in portions of England where farm labour is badly paid, and the men have no land, children are regarded as burdens and misfortunes. The Peckforton estate of Lord Tollemache differs from that of Lord Egerton, inasmuch as pains have been taken to make small holdings on it. There are over 250 cottages, to which as much land is attached as enables the occupier to keep a cow, and the sale of milk and butter brings in enough to pay the rent and vastly improve the food supply of the cottage. As there are over 120,000 holdings of less than 50 acres in Cheshire, it will be understood that the estates mentioned are typical of others. The Isle of Axholm, in Lincolnshire, has long been famous for its small holdings, and as they are to a great extent cultivated on the open-field system they are probably of great antiquity. In the parish of Epworth there are 421 agricultural holdings, of which 356 are under and 65 over 20 acres in extent; in the parish of Haxey, 574 agricultural holdings, 475 underand 99 over 20 acres; in West Butterwick, 132 agricultural holdings, 109 under 20 acres and 23 over. It would appear that the tendency is towards subdivision. Most of the land is held in strips, and at the owner’s death these are often sold separately. During the worst. of the depression a great amount of suffering was felt, but recently accounts have been more cheerful. Lord Savile’s estate in Yorkshire is an outstanding example of land in small holdings. It consists of 10,848 acres, held in 682 tenancies, averaging about 16 acres each. Experience there seems to show that a man requires about 30 acres of ordinary agricultural land in order to obtain a living 6 from it. To these examples of small holdings, it may be useful to add an account of the manner in which one set was formed; and we select for the purpose that at Winterslow, in Wiltshire, chiefly for the reason that, save for a little guidance, the men worked out their own salvation. Major Poore, who originally conceived the idea, has not been a penny out of pocket on account of it. When land was cheap in 1892, owing to the depression in agriculture, he
SMALL
HOLDINGS
purchased an estate. The price came to an average of £10 an acre, and he made the average for selling it out again £15 on a principle of instalments. But his object was not to make any profit from the transaction, and he formed what is termed a Landholders’ Court, formed of the men themselves, every ten choosing one to represent them. This court was found to act well. It collected the instalments, which are paid in advance; and of course the members of it, down to the minutest detail, knew not only the circumstances, but the character of every applicant for land. The result speaks for itself. Early in 1901 there were no arrears, and the expenses having proved only trivial there was a balance of £666 in favour of the court, and about £150 had been spent in sinking a well. This fund has the very great advantage of establishing a common interest in the holders and inducing them to stick together. Various sums have been lent out on mortgage, and, were a neighbouring village to wish it, the Winterslow holders are prepared to listen to an application for a loan. It should be added that all the owners are, in the true sense of the word, peasants. They do not depend on the land for a living, but work in various callings—many being woodmen—for wages that average about 15s. a week. The holdings vary in size from less than an acre to ten acres, and are technically held on a lease of 1999 years, practically freehold, though by the adoption of a leasehold form a saving was effected in the cost of transfer. On the holdings most of the men have erected houses, using for the purpose chalk dug up from their gardens, it lying only a few inches below the surface. It is not rock, but soft chalk, so that they are practically mud walls; but being as a rule at least 18 inches thick, the houses are very cool in summer and warm in winter. Major Poore calculates that in seven years these poor people—there are not thirty of them altogether—have managed to produce for their houses and land a gross sum of not less than £5000. This he attributes to the loyal manner in which even distant members of the family have helped. It remains to give a brief outline of what small holdings are like outside Great Britain. From the results of the Belgian Agricultural Inquiry of 1895 the following table has been compiled, assuming that one hectare = 2^ acres:— Occupied by Owner. | Occupied by Tenant. than; More than Whole. Whole. More half. half. No. No. (No. No. acres and under. 109,169 8,759 34,779 305,413 „ ,, 5 acres 27,395 19,544 58,829 70,465 5 12,089 13 873 30,340 25,006 10 „„ 10 ..„ „.. 50 16,690 18,909 33,443 28,387 50 or 100 acres . 2,021 1,497 3,315 4,517 Over 100 ,, 903 470 1,417 2,395 Total 168,267 63,052 162,123 j 436,183 Size of Holding.
Total. No. 458,120 176,233 81,308 97,429 11,350 5,185 829,625
It will be seen from this table that Belgium is preeminently a country of small holdings, more than half of the total number being under 50 acres in extent. Of course it is largely a country of market gardens; but as the holdings are most numerous in Brabant, East and West Flanders, and Hainault, the provinces showing the largest number of milch cows, it would seem that dairying and la petite culture go together. In Germany, the number of small holdings is proportionately much larger than in Great Britain. The returns collected in 1895 showed that there were 3,235,169, or 58'22 per cent, of the total number of holdings under 5 acres in area; and of these no fewer than 11 per cent, are held by servants as part of their wages. A table compiled for the Journal of the Board of Agriculture
