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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: AJA-ALL |
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ALLOTMENTS AND SMALL HOLDINGS . As the meaning of these terms in agricultural tenure varies in different localities, it may be as well to say at once that for the present purpose they are definable as pieces of land detached from cottages, and hired or owned by labouring men to supplement their main income. We do not include any farm, however small, from which the occupier derives his entire support by dairying, market-gardening, or other form of la petite culture. So, also, no account is taken of the tiny garden plot, used for growing vegetables for the table and simple flowers
only 16 in money, the rest being made up by rights of grazing live-stock, growing crops on his master's land, and kindred privileges. That is exactly in the spirit that used to pervade agriculture, and doubtless had its origin in the manorial system. If we turn back to the 13th century, from Walter of Henley's Husbandry it will be seen that practically there were only two classes engaged in agriculture, and corresponding with them were two kinds of land. There were, on the one hand, the employer, the lord, and his demesne land; on the other, the villeins and the land held in villenage. Putting aside for the moment any discussion of the exact degree of servitude, it will be seen that the essence of the bargain was that the villein should be permitted to cultivate a virgate of land for his own use in return for service rendered on the home farm. This is not altered by the fact that the conditions approached those of slavery, that the villeins were adscripti glebae, that in some cases their wives and sons were bequeathed by deed to the service of religious houses, and that in many other respects their freedom was limited. Out of this, in the course of centuries, was developed the system prevailing to-day. Lammas lands are indeed a survival from it. There are in the valley of the Lea, and close to London, to take one example, lands allotted annually in little strips till the, crops are carried, when, the day being fixed by a reeve, the land becomes a common pasture till the spring closing takes place once more. Perhaps the feature of this old system that bears most directly on the question of allotments was the treatment of the waste of the manor. The lord, like his tenants, was limited by custom as regards the number of beasts he could graze on it. After the havoc of the Black Death in 1349, many changes were necessitated by the scarcity and dearness of labour. It became less unusual for land to be let and for money payment to be accepted instead of services. There was a great demand for wool, and to conduct sheep-farming on a large scale necessitated a re-arrangement of the manor and the enclosure of many common fields under the statute of Merton and the statute of Westminster the Second. Nevertheless, up to the 18th century, a vast proportion of agricultural land was technically waste, on which rights of common were exercised by yeomen, some of whom had acquired holdings by the ordinary methods of purchase or inheritance, while others had merely squatted and built a house on the waste. It is to this period that belongs a certain injustice to which the peasantry were subject. No reasonable doubt can be entertained of the necessity of enclosure. Husbandry, after long stagnation, was making great advance; and among others, Arthur Young raised his voice against the clumsy inconvenient common fields that were the first to be enclosed. Between 1709 and 1797 no fewer than 3110 acts, affecting, as far as can be calculated, about 3,000,000 acres, were put into operation. They seem mostly to have been directed to the common fields. In the first half of the 19th century the movement
out that not only the rights of the tenant, but those of his successors ought to have been studied. The course adopted divorced the labourer from the soil. Parliament, as a matter of fact, had from a very early period recognized the wisdom of contenting the peasant. In the 14th century the labourer lived in rude abundance. Next century a rural exodus began, owing to the practice of enclosing the holdings and turning them into sheep walks. In 1487 an act was passed enjoining landlords to " keep up houses of husbandry," and attach convenient land to them. Within the next hundred years a number of similar attempts were made to control what we may call the sheep fever of the time. Then we arrive at the reign of Elizabeth and the famous Small Holdings Act passed in 1597an anticipation of the three-acres-and-a-cow policy advocated towards the end of the 19th century. It required that no person shall " build, convert or ordain any cottage for habitation or dwelling for persons engaged in husbandry" unless the owner " do assign or lay to the same cottage or building four acres of ground at the least." It also provided against any " inmate or under-sitter " being admitted to what was sacred to one family. This measure was not conceived in the spirit of modern political economy, but it had the effect of staying the rural exodus. It was repealed in 1775 on the ground that it restricted the building of cottages. By that time the modern feeling in favour of allotments had begun to ripen, and it was contended that some compensation should be made to the labourers for depriving them of the advantages of the waste. Up to then the English labouring rustic had been very well off. Food was abundant and cheap, so were clothes and boots; he could graze his cow or pig on the common, and also obtain fuel from it. Now he fell on evil days. Prices rose, wages fell, privileges were lost, and in many cases he had to sell the patch of land whose possession made all the difference between hardship and comfort. All this was seen plainly enough both by statesmen and private philanthropists. One of the first experiments was described by Sir John Sinclair in a note to the report of a select committee of the House of Commons on waste lands in 1795. About 1772 the lord of the manor of some commonable lands near Tewkesbury had with great success set out 25 acres in allotments for the use of some of the poor. Sir John was very much struck with the result, and so heartily applauded the idea that the committee recommended that any general enclosure bill should have a clause in it providing for "the accommodation of land." Sir Thomas Bernard
opinion, since it never came to a third reading in the House of Lords. He said that " the voluntary system of arrangement would do all the good that was expected to accrue from the allotment system. At this point in the history of the movement
Beaconsfield in 1876, and gave force to the three-acres-and-a-cow agitation, of which the more prominent leaders were Joseph Arch and Jesse Collings. In 1882 the=Allotments Extension Act was passed, the object of which was to let the parishioners have charity land in allotments, provided it or the revenue from it was not used for apprentice-ship, ecclesiastical or educational purposes. A committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1885 to inquire into the housing of the working classes, reported strongly in favour of allotments, and this was followed in 1887 by the Allotments Actthe first measure in which the principle of compulsory acquisition was admitted in regard to other than charity lands. Its administration was first given to the sanitary authority, but passed to the district councils when these bodies were established in 1894. The local body is empowered to hire or purchase suitable land, and if they do not find any in the market they are to petition the county council, which after due inquiry may issue a pro-visional order compelling owners to sell land, and the Local Government Board may introduce a bill into parliament to confirm the order. It was found that the sanitary authority did not carry out the scheme , and in 1890 another act was passed for the purpose of allowing applicants for allotments, when the sanitary authority failed to provide land, to appeal to the county council. Judging from the evidence laid before the commission on agricultural depression (1894), the act of 1887 was not a conspicuous success. Most of the witnesses reported in such terms as these the Allotments Act has been quite inoperative in Cornwall
lama for allotment prior to the 28th of December 1894, the date at which these authorities ceased to exist under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1894. Land was acquired by compulsory purchase in only one parish; by purchase or agreement in eighteen parishes; by hire by agreement in 132 parishes. The total acreage dealt with was 1836 acres I rood 34 poles, and the total number of tenants 4711. The number of county councils that up to the same date had acquired land was twelve, and they had done so by compulsory purchase in one parish, by purchase or agreement in five parishes, by hire by agreement in twenty-four parishes. The total area dealt with was only 413 acres 1 rood 5 poles, and the total number of tenants 825. The complete totals affected at the date of the return (August 21, 1895) by the acts, therefore, were 2249 acres 2 roods 29 poles, and 5536 tenants. A considerable extension has taken place since. The Small Holdings Act introduced by Mr Henry Chaplin, and passed by parliament in 1892 was an attempt to appease the rural discontent that had been seething for some time past and was silently but most eloquently expressed in a steady migration from the villages. The object of this measure was to help the deserving labouring man to acquire a small holding, that is to say, a portion of land not less than one acre or more than fifty acres in extent and of an annual value not exceeding f 5o. It is not necessary here to describe the legal steps by which this was to be accomplished. The essence of the bargain was that a fifth of the purchase money should be paid down, and the remainder in half-yearly instalments spread over a period not exceeding fifty years. But if the local authority thought fit a portion of the purchase money, not exceeding one-fourth, might remain unpaid, and be secured by a perpetual rent charge upon the holding. It cannot be said that this act has attained the object for which it was drawn up. From a return made to the House of Commons in 1895 it was shown that eight county councils had acquired land under the Small Holdings Act, which amounted in the aggregate to 483 acres. A further return was made in 1903, which showed that the total quantity of land acquired from the commencement of the act up to the end of 1902 was only 652 acres. It is, however, an English characteristic to prefer private to public arrangements, and probably a very great majority of the allotments and small holdings cultivated in 1907 were due to individual initiative. There are no means of arriving at the exact figures, but data exist whereby it is at least possible to form some rough idea of them. It is not the custom to give in the annual agricultural returns any statement of the manner in which land is held, and the information is to be found in the returns presented to parliament from time to time. From the following table, which includes both the holdings owned and tenanted, it will be seen that between 1895 and 1904 the tendency was for the holdings to decrease in number; while the holdings of from 50 to 300 acres slightly increased, those from 5 to 50 acres were almost stationary, and there was a decrease in those between r and 5 acres. 1895. 1904. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. I to 5 acres 117,968 22.68 110,974 21.69 5 to 50 235,481 45.28 232,476 45.44 50 to 300 147,870 28.43 150,050 29.33 Above 300 18,787 3.61 18,084 3.54 Total 520,106 loo. 511,584 100 These figures become doubly instructive when considered in connexion with the decline of the strictly rural population. It will, therefore, be useful to place beside them a summary published in a report on the decline of rural population in Great Britain issued by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1906. Class. 1881. 1891. 1901 (- Decrease ). 18811891. 18911901. No. No. No. No. No. Farmers and 279,126 277,943 277,694 -1,183 -249 Graziers Farm Bailiffs 22,895 21,453 27,317 -1,442 +5,864 and Foremen Shepherds 33,125 31,686 35,022 -1,439 +3,336 Agricultural La- 983,919 866,543 689,292 -117,376 177,251 bourers . These figures must of course be approximate. The effect of recent development in methods of travelling and the growing custom for townsmen either to live wholly in the country or to take week-end cottages, has made it impossible to draw a strict line of demarcation between rural and urban populations. Still they are near enough for practical purposes, and they amply justify the efforts of those who are trying to stay the rural exodus. While legislation had not, up to 1908, achieved any noteworthy result in the creation of small holdings, and still left doubts as to the practicability of re-creating the English yeoman by act of parliament, many successful efforts have been made by individuals. One of the most interesting is that of the earl
Other examples of the establishment of small holdings can only receive brief reference. The Norfolk Small Holdings Association acquired three farms at Whissonsett, Watton and Swaffham
The earl
interest
A nest of small holdings was created at Winterslow, near Salisbury, by Major R. M. Poore. The holders completed the purchase by 1906, and the work may be pronounced a complete success. Major Poore originally conceived the idea when land was cheap in 1892, owing to the depression in agriculture. He purchased an estate that came into the market at the time. The price came to an average of 10 an acre, and the men themselves made the average for selling it out again 15 on a principle of instalments. 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. 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 callingsmany being woodmenfor 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 calculated that in seven years these poor peoplethere are not thirty of them altogethermanaged to produce- for their houses and land a gross sum of not less than 5000. This he attributed to the loyal manner in which even distant members of the family have helped. The class of holding which owes its existence to the act of 1892 may be illustrated by the history of the Worcestershire small holdings. The inception of the scheme was due to the decline, of the nail-making business, which caused a number of the inhabitants to be without occupation. Two candidates for election to the county council looking out for a popular cry found it in the demand for land. They promised to do their best in this direction, and thanks to the energetic action of Mr Willis Bund, the chairman, the act was put in force. Woodrow Farm, adjoining the village of Catshill in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, was purchased on terms that enabled the land to be sold to the peasant cultivator at 4o an acre. They were paying this back at the rate of 4 % on the purchase money, a rate that included both interest
strawberries, to which many acres were devoted. Costermongers would come out from Birmingham and buy the fruit on the spot, selling part of it to the villas on the way back, and part in the Birmingham market. The experience gained in working the act enabled the committee on small holdings to make a number of practical suggestions for future legislation. It remains to note the passing in 1907 of a new English Small Holdings and Allotments Act, experience of which is too recent for its provisions to be more than indicated here. The act transferred to the Board of Agriculture the duties generally of the Local Government Board, and transferred to parish councils or parish meetings the powers and duties of rural district councils; it required county councils to ascertain the demand for land without previous representation to them, and gave power for its compulsory acquisition; and the maximum holding of an allotment was raised from one acre to five. Both compulsory purchase and compulsory hiring (for not less than 14 nor more than 35 years) were authorized, value and compensation being decided by a single arbitrator. A coercive authority was applied to the county councils in the form of commissioners appointed by the Board of Agriculture, who were to hold inquiries independently and to take action themselves in case of a defaulting county council. They were to ascertain the local demand for small holdings, and to report to the Board, who might then require a county council to prepare a scheme, which, when approved, it was to carry out, the commissioners being em-powered to do so in the alternative. Foreign Countries.-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 = 21 acres:- Occupied by Occupied by Owner. Tenant. Size of Holding. More More Total. Whole. than than Whole. half. half. No. No. No. No. No. 1-, acres and under 109,169 8,759 34,779 305,413 458,120 4 acres and under 27,395 19,544 58,829 70,465 176,233 5 acres . . 5 acres and under 12,089 13,873 30,340 25,006 81,308 to acres . . to acres and under 16,690 18,909 33,443 28,387 97,429 50 acres . . 50 or 100 acres . 2,021 1,497 3,315 4,517 11,350 Over too . 903 470 1,417 2,395 5,185 Total . 168,267 63,052 162,123 436,183 829,625 It will be seen from this table that Belgium is pre-eminently 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. There is a slight tendency for the holdings to decrease in number. 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 % of the total number of holdings under 5 acres in area; and of these no fewer than 11 % are held by servants as part of their wages. The table below compiled for the Journal of the Board of Agriculture enables us to compare the other holdings with those of Great Britain. Great Britain, it will be seen, has over 4o% of large farms of between 5o and 500 acres as compared with Germany's 12.6, while the latter small holdings, compared with England's 58.6. France also has a far larger proportion of small holdings than Great Britain; its cultivated area of 85,759,000 acres being has 86.8 ofdivided into 5,618,000 separate holdings, of which the size averages a little over 15 acres as against 63 in Great Britain. Of the whole number, 4,190,795 are farmed by the owners, 934,338 are in metayage, and 1,078,184 by tenants. The leading feature is the peasant proprietary. Half of the arable, more than half of the pasture, six-sevenths of the vineyards and two-thirds of the garden lands are farmed by their owners. Comparison with Great Britain is difficult; but it would appear that, whereas only 11 % of British 520,000 agricultural holdings are farmed by the owners, the proportion in France is 75%. A further point to be noted is that the average agricultural tenancy in France is just one-fourth of what it is in Great Britain, and the average owner-farmed estate only one-sixth. Size Holdings. Germany. Great Britain. of Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. 5 to 50 acres . 2,014,940 86.8 I 235,481 58.6 50 to 500 292,982 12.6 161,438 40.1 Over 500 13,809 o6 5,219 t.3 Total . 2,321,731 100 402,138 100 In France the tendency is for the very small holdings to increase in number owing to subdivision, with a consequent decrease of the size of the average holding. Between the years 1882 and 1892 there was a decrease of 138,237 in the total number of proprietors, the larger properties moving towards consolidation and those of the peasant proprietors towards subdivision. Those interested in the formation of small holdings in Great Britain will find much to interest them in the history of Danish legislation. British policy for many generations was to preserve demesne land, and there are many devices for insuring that a spendthrift life-owner shall not be able to scatter the family inheritance; but as long ago as 1769 the Danish legislators set an exactly opposite example. They enacted that peasant land should not be incorporated or worked with estate land; it must always remain in the ownership and occupation of peasants. In this spirit all subsequent legislation was conceived, and the allotment law that came into force in October 1899 bears some resemblance to the English Small Holdings Act of 1892. It provides that labourers able to satisfy certain conditions as to character may obtain from the state a loan equal to nine-tenths of the purchase money of the land they wish to acquire. This land should be from 5 to 7 acres in extent and of medium quality, but the limits are from 24 to 1o4 acres in the case of better or poorer land. The total value should not exceed 4000 kr. (222). The interest payable on the loan received from the state is 3 %. The loan itself is repayable after the first five years by annual instalments of 4 % until half is paid off; the remainder by instalments of 31 %, including interest. Provision is, however, made for cases where the borrower desired to pay off the loan in larger sums. Regulations are laid down regarding the transfer of such properties and also their testamentary disposition. The Treasury was empowered to devote a sum of 2,000,000 kr. Number and Size of Holdings in Denmark in 1901. (t 1 r,000) to this purpose for five years; after that the land is subject to revision. Even before this law was passed Denmark was a country of small holdings, the peasant farms amounting to 66 % of the Groups. Number. Percentage Acreage. Percentage Average of of size in Tondeland. Acres. Number. Area. Acres. Under 1 . Under 1.36 68,38o 27.3 23,455 '3 '34 t-3 . . 1.36-4 18,777 7'5 58,553 7 3'12 3 -27 . . 4 -36'7 93,060 37.2 1,408,549 15.8 15' 14 27 -108 . 36.7 -147 60,872 24'4 4,459,077 50.1 73.25 108 -216 . 147 -294 6,502 2.6 1,272,398 14.3 195.69 Over 216. Over 294 2,392 1.0 1,674,730 18.8 700.14 Total. 249,983 100.0 8,896,762 100.0 35' 59 whole, and the number is bound to increase, since the incorporation of farms is illegal, while there is no obstacle to their division. Between 1835 and 1885, the number of small holdings of less than one tondekarthorn increased from 24,800 to 92,856. What gives point to these remarks is, that Denmark seems in the way to arrest its rural exodus, and was one of the first countries to escape from the agricultural depression due to the extraordinary fall in grain prices. The distribution of land in Denmark may be gathered from a glance at the preceding table for the compilation of which we are indebted to Major Craigie. 1867 (historical sketch by Messrs Tremenheere and Tufnall); A Study of Small Holdings, by W. E. Bear; The Law and the Labourer, by C. W. Stubbs; " Agricultural Holdings in England and Abroad," by Major Craigie (Statistical Society's Journal, vol. i.) ; The Return to the Land, by Senator Jules Meline; Land Reform, by the Right Hon. Jesse Collings, M.P.; Report on the Decline in the Agricultural Population of Great Britain, issued by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries; Report of the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to enquire into and report upon the subject of Small Holdings in Great Britain. (P. A. G.) End of Article: ALLOTMENTS AND SMALL HOLDINGS If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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