The Daily Chronicle of Saturday gives a very interesting account
of an experiment in peasant proprietary recently tried in Dorsetshire by Sir Robert Edgcumbe. About seven years ago he bought a farm of three hundred and forty-three acres for £5,050. He then spent money on cutting up the farm into twenty-five holdings, and in making roads and sinking wells, with the result that his total bill for the land rose to £6,142. The holdings, which varied in size from two acres to thirty-three acres, were then offered to purchasers prepared to pay down one-tenth of the pur- chase - money, and the remainder in nine equal instal- ments with interest. To the surprise of every one, there was a flood of applicants, and all the lots were at once dis- posed of. This was in 1889. But by 1895 all the instal- ments have been cleared off with the exception of £500. The purchasers were of various classes and trades, only eight being agricultural labourers. The amount of labour brought on to the land may explain the success. When in the occupa. tion of the tenant, there were employed upon the land the farmer and three labourers. There are now on the same land twenty-five families and seventy-five persons in all. When the tenant went, the land was lettable at £170 a year. Under petite culture it is worth £313.
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