SMALL FARMS v. LARGE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2502, 14 April 1882, Page 4

SMALL FARMS v. LARGE.

It is well known to every reader of history that in olden times during the prevalence of the Fedual System, very little attention was given to agriculture. Lords, vassals and slaves were constantly engaged in warfare, and only tilled the land when there was no fighting to be done. After the civil wars, and the abolition of the Feudal System, however, men began to settle down and pay more attention to the cultivation of their small plots of land, for in those days the land was principally occupied and tilled by a class of husbandmen called yeomen, who were considered a middle class between gentlemen and peasants. The first signs of the decay of the English yeomanry dates from the time of the Tudor Period. Henry the Seienth finding that many small holdings were being merged into largo estates, whereby tithe# and taxes were diminished, enacted certain Ordinances for the Ereyantion of this evil. Lord Bacon, in his istory of the the life of Henry VII., speaking of these Ordinances, says:—“Enclosures at that time began to be more frequent, whereby arable land was turned into pasture land, and it was therefore enacted that all farm houses that had twenty acres of land and upwards should bo maintained and kept up for_ ever and to be in no wise interfered with by any other statute. ’’ But notwithstanding these measures the yeomanry class gradually diiappearod, and England has essentially become a country of large estates and large farms. No doubt many of the tenant farmers of the present day are descendants of the old yeomen, while at the same time it is probable that many have sunk to the position of farm laborers. This change in the rural affairs of the country has no doubt been beneficial to agricultural progress. The land is now-a-days chiefly farmed by men of capital and education, who have rendered it much more productive than it would have become in the bands of small freeholders. But it is a question whether it would not bo better for the country at large it the produce of the land, even if it should bo less productive, were enjoyed by those who raised it, than that the land should yield a larger increase, which, for the most part, goes to the landlords, who neither sow nor reap. Tenant farmers in the old country require a capital of about £lO per acre to take a farm with ap.y chance of success, so that men of small capital are left completely out of the question with regard to farming in England or Scotland. It is in the colonies, however, that a man of limited means can embark his small capital with every chance of increasing it by the exercise of frugality and industry.

At Home, between men of small and large capital there is a wide gulf fixed. Here things are different, where it is said, “Jack is as good as his master;” and those who come to the colonies with a few pounds have every opportunity of acquiring land, either lease* hold or freehold, and those who do not bring anything but a pair of willing hands may in time become farmers of their own land. It is generally considered that a large farm at Home can be more economically worked, in many respects, than a small one. The plant required to work a small farm it to a certain extent sufficient for a larger one. To carry on a farm on the most advanced principles a large outlay must be incurred in obtaining the most efficient mechanical appliances, not only for field work, but a good system of farming requires that the homestead should be provided with apparatus for crushing, chaffing, and steaming fodder, &0., and the plant is not considered complete without a steam engine. For working a farm on the most improved method, the outlay and expense per acre is less for a good-sized farm than for a small one; but according to the more simple and unscientific stylo of farming at present practised in the colonies, the man of small capital has as much chance of getting a good return for his outlay as the larger farmer has. In some respects ho is at a disadvantage. For instance, if he has only about fifty acres under crop, it is hardly worth his while to purchase expensive machines for such a limited area. Corn drills and binding machines can generally be hired, but perhaps they cannot be obtained at the right time, for such things are generally wanted by everybody at the same time; and those who have to hire or borrow must wait until their neighbours have finished. It appears then that the small farmer is at a greater or less disadvantage compared with large farmers, according to the state of agriculture in the country. If corn can be sown and reaped by hand, a small area can be worked as cheaply per acre as a larger block. Although it is a fact that the rapid progress of English agriculture dates from the time when large farms became the rule, it docs not necessarily follow that a man farming in a small way is deficient in scientific knowledge relating to agriculture. The better educated a man is, the more likely he is to succeed in farming, as in everything else —for the ignorant man is generally prejudiced and opposed toinnova'ions Therefore, when education was only within reach of the few, the men of smaller means were unable to hold their own against the superior intelligence of men of capital and education. Under a liberal system of education, such as we have in this colony, everyone is enabled to acquire sufficient education to carry them successfully through life, if they have energy and perseverance.

We hare now a School of Agriculture and Model Farm in full swing, where many are gaining an acquaintance with scientific farming, both practical, theoretical, and experimental. When these young men leave the College, and put the knowledge there acquired into use for their own benefit, whether it be upon, large or small farms, it is to be hoped that their example will so leaven the respective districts in which they may settle that the state of agriculture will be greatly improved, and the country reap some benefit from the money expended in establishing and maintaining the school.