4.—­Colonies of Small Holdings.—­It is to be hoped that when the troops are demobilised, and the Small Holdings Acts are put into fuller operation, the number of small holdings will be increased.  A population of independent yeomen is the best reservoir of the manhood of any country.  No finer race has existed than the statesmen who cultivated the small farms among the hills of Cumberland and Westmorland.

5.—­There is a great deal of land, both on the seashore and in inland districts, which might be reclaimed.—­The cost of such work would be heavy, but the return in greater aggregate production and in providing means to support a larger country population would be most important.  This question will be alluded to briefly in Chapter XXI.

6.—­Important industries, such as basket-making and many others, might be carried on in rural districts along with their principal work by those engaged in agriculture or horticulture, just as Swiss peasants by wood carving, when agricultural operations are impossible, produce a number of articles for which there is a substantial demand in other countries.

7.—­Last, and perhaps the most interesting and important step of all, is to increase allotments. The demand for allotments, both by the agricultural population in rural districts and by the urban population who are engaged in industrial or even in commercial pursuits in the forge towns, is very keen.  The effect of the War and the more pressing need for home-grown food have stimulated the demand, and in trying to meet it, both the Board of Agriculture and private individuals and local authorities have done splendid work, which ought to be recognised as one of the most beneficial movements which have taken place within living memory.  More than seventy years ago William Howitt called attention to the advantages derived from the system of urban allotments adopted near his own town of Nottingham, and attention has been subsequently drawn to the subject, but its importance was not fully realised until the outbreak of the War.  An enormous advance has already been made, and if the right steps are taken for securing more permanence of tenure, and for obtaining land on fair terms near to the homes of the workers, a far greater and more lasting advance will be made.  The number of allotments in England and Wales before the War was about 570,000.  It is estimated that now there are upwards of 1,400,000.  The urban allotments have increased enormously, an interest has been added to the lives of many workers; their supply of wholesome food of their own growing has been increased and the health of these urban workers promoted.  At present the total area taken up by allotments is about 200,000 acres.  If half of these are devoted, say, to growing potatoes and produce an average of seven tons per acre, the allotment holders in England and Wales would this year grow “700,000 tons of the most essential war-time crop practically