THE TEN-ACRE FARMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21247, 29 July 1932, Page 13

THE TEN-ACRE FARMS

Sir, —There has been much criticism of the ten-acre farms scheme. The trouble is our farmers have been so obsessed with the idea of large farms, in some cases four times tho size they really need to work for profit. It looks big to say, "I have four hundred acres," even if the farmer has a mortgage on every acre, and is actually only using one-fourth of it. No wonder we hear such an outcry from the poor farmer when he has put his head into such a mortgage noose. How much better would they have been on ten or twenty acres well-cultivated land! What a different country would New Zealand bo if we had fifty thousand small holders putting their best into their plots! I well remember the FrancoGerman War of 1870, so disastrous to the French that the Germans at its close demanded two beautiful provinces and two hundred million pounds indemnity and one hundred and fifty thousand troops to be billeted on France until the money was paid. The French nation paid it off in about two years. How was it done ? It is well known that the French nation are small holdors of land, and with intense culture and a determination to rid the country of their enemy, they wero willing as ono man to make sacrifices to free thomselves. 1' consider a man and wife on a properly worked ten acres of land can make a decent living. They could keep a pig always fattening, and as soon as one was killed put a young ono in the pen. They could have all the eggs and butter they needed and more vegetables than they could consume and often have poultry for dinner, which they could not afford in town. Land should be within an hour's run of some town with an open market to sell their produce to the public. We would soon find things better in our towns if these small holdings were put on a proper basis. Ten Acres.