[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have been so
impressed with Professor Scott's recent appeal in your columns for help both in advice and details of organization—an appeal directed in particular to the business and professional men of Cheltenham—that I have decided to give Professor Scott and his colleagues all possible help in the Homecrofting enterprise, and I have to-day intimated to him that I shall be pleased to invest £100 in the scheme, although the greatest help I can give will probably be in other details connected with the opening up of the scheme on national lines, and an appeal to the outside public.
The idea underlying the scheme is an excellent one, and probably Dean Inge is right when he suggests that very possibly this country has taken a wrong turning, and is becoming a factory when it might have been a garden !
I am inclined to think that such an eminent authority on agriculture as Lord Bledisloe would be of very great assistance if his experience and name could be associated with Home- crofting, and I think there is a hope that when Lord Bledisloe returns from his trip abroad, he may be induced to throw in
his lot with the ardent souls who see the vision of what the. land might be—a vision which has been so long obscured by, the smoke and grime of factories turning out immense numbers of unnecessary articles, which the world could very well afford to do without.—I am, Sir, &c., E. J. BURROW, [We publish below the names of further contributors to this experiment. Subscriptions should be made payable to the Homecrofting Fund, should be crossed Barclays Rank (Gosling's Branch) and should be sent to us. Money may be sent either for investment in the fund—the future revenue of the fund will be derived from the rents of the Homecrofting settlement—or as a free donation. The responsibility for the administration of the money will, of course, rest with the Utility Society which Professor Scott and those legally associated with him hope to form for conducting the experi- ment at Cheltenham. We must point out again that the homecrofter must never be confused with the smallholder. The aim is not to start a settlement of smallholders who cultivate the land for the market but to encourage men who are engaged in other occupations to put a stout barrier between themselves and the possibility of starvation by cultivating their little piece of land for the use of themselves and their families. Under modern conditions with shortened' hours of labour, risks of unemployment and the virtual. extension of the length of the days by Summer Time, a man and his family can do a good deal in the garden without over-straining themselves. Many, indeed, would find this a real pleasure, and all would have the satisfaction of feeling that by this means they were attaining economic freedom. In addition to the welcome promise of Mr. Burrow, we have received this week from Mrs. Weir, 120 ; Mrs. Stoehr, £50 ; Mrs. H. Stewart Drewry, A. B., and Anon., £10 each ; Miss D.1 Baker Penoyre and Miss E. C. Aitken, £5 each ; Mrs. T. G. Hare, £1 is. ; and M. A., 11, and the following promises : Capt. F. E. Fryer, £75 (in addition to £25 already promised) A. J. Lawrence, 120 ; The Honble. Madame Alethea Wiel and Mrs. Adam Sykes, £10 each ; Miss Drewry, £5, making a total of £1,410 17s., of which £86417s. has been received in cash and paid into the bank.—En. Spectator.]
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