Mr. Lange, the warden of a most attractive and charac-
teristically Danish school for smallholders at Odense, writes A Danish View of British Farming (John Lane, 1s.) to emphasize two definite and distinct points. Negatively, he holds that our system of tenure is at fault, and positively believes in small farms owned by the cultivators. Another Danish critic of English agriculture said—to the horror of our farmers—that rents were too low, on the theory that low rents encouraged low farming and high rents high. Mr. Lange's argument is much the same. He thinks ownership actually more expensive for the owner than tenancy ; but that compensation is found in the owner's desire to improve his property. " The magic of property," as early Chinese philosophers insisted, may convert loss into gain, labour into pleasure. The points are well and modestly argued : and worth the attention of our reformers. The one thing that spoils the analogy of England with Denmark is the inevitable comparison with us of industrial and agricultural wages. Envy of the factory kills the farm. It is curious that Mr. Orwin, who also has recently attacked our system of tenure in a remarkable book, argues in favour of more extensive farming. Perhaps both are right in regard to different districts.
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