Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-08-19
agricultural.
Small Farms.

The reaction AGAINST the once dominant
belief in the superior advantage OF ldrTe
farms over small israpiily gaining ground.
The large holdings are losing ground in II
double sense he French Revolution Is
tabished the principal of peas mt proprie-
torship So ii mly in France thIt Bonaptr,e
nor Bourbon HIS dared to disturb it. Tn
principal has obtained scant recognition
in Germany In Italy the vast estates Of
the Church have been sold un Ter the nun
mer in many small lots. although each foot
of eX-ecclesiaStic1l property Is weighted
with the PapIl curse upon the purchaser
In England. the land question Is Il great
one John Stuart Mill was I'm earnest al
vOcate of small fIrms. He traced thr
extinction OF English yeomanry, whose
cloth yard arrows won CrecV and Agin-
court. to the absorption OF small holdings
by large. Mny plTes Of his " Political
Economy are devoted to a reasonable
eulOTy of the peasant prOp.letOrShip OF
France. His praises have lately been in,
titled by the enormous investments made by
the peasantrv. who holds half the soil 0
France. in VI. lhiers' NATIONAL lOIns. Tn
corresponding class in England-so far as
there Is such a class-has not a pei uv Ia
the funds. The strike of the agriculture
labOrers has turned English opinion t.
this question again Mr.. w. I. Thornton
has taken advantage of the fact to REISSUE
his . Plea for peasant Proprietors. irst
published in 1918. 1t is Il strong plea
Mr.. Thornton shows by statistics that
small farms yield better crops to the acre
than large ones. This, indeed. is die
tate of common sense. The smaller the
farm, the greater the care exerted upon it
h, 81
brains, and therefore produced great
paintings The rule holds cool with DO
tatoes as well as with pictures. The aver
age yield of an English wheat field is p
- bushels In the Channel Islands
which have n light soil i'll adapted foI
wheat. but which have small rms, thu
average product IS from 3 to - bushels
The soil of Flanders was originally %
course, siliceOus sand. particularly insult
able for wheat. Nevertheless the aver
age product is IS bushels. The small
farms of Flanders Yield Il to 60 bushels OF
barley to the acre. The large farms OF
England vie d from 50 to 81. Rome wa
once Il prosperous agricultural center
The peOpi; were divorce from the soil
and Rome became "a vast pauper war
rem" England his changed her veOmlnry
into paupers. All her poor could b.
maintained by agriculture, if the land
We're only to be got. On the other hand
in France, according to the Specttt1r ." in
many parts of the country pluperi.m Is
unknown The habits of thrift inculcat
ed by land owning have checked the reck-
less multiplication of families. Conterva-
It's II runs with land. The peaslntry OF
France is he one anti-revolutionarv ele-
mrnt in the country. he system pro
NOTES avlrice, but it is better for the poJI
to BE- misers than spcnlthrifts.
The proposal to allOt IN acre or two to
elch agricultural llborer at IL fair rent
and allow him finally to buy tn allotment
at II fair price. has not been we'll received
by English landowners. One of the
Queens Counsel. Mr.. KodweII has de-
bounced it us - the rankest possible com
munism." This Is Il curious thing for a
man who lives within twelve hours ot
Parie to say. \ very few landowners
have put this frightfully communistic theo-
~ into practice. Lord Spencer h IS start
ed MS ltborers with an acre apiece
1t Is worth while for American farmers
to consider whether they have not too
much Land on their hands. Too many o:
them have accu uulated acres and mort
cages together BY abandoning he fool
lsh attempt to Outstrip each other in acre
age, and by concentrating their work Oh.
comparatively small acres, they mic II
make more money in the end If the,
cannot sell their surplus land, they nigh
lease it to their present EMPLOYEES. and 10
aid others while aiding thrns Ives. Ii
they can get as much wheat from 10 acre.
as they get now from I25 why SHOULD
they carry the dead weight of the extra
5O5'