Even near Boston, where the soil is favourable for market gardening, the evidence of the small holder was ‘singularly unanimous’ as to their unfortunate condition.  The small occupiers were better off than the freeholders, because their rents had been reduced and they could leave their farms if they did not pay; but their position was very unsatisfactory.  From the evidence given to the assistant commissioner it is clear that the small occupier and freeholder could only get on by working harder and living harder than the labourer.  ’We all live hard and never see fresh meat,’ said one.  ’We can’t afford butcher’s meat,’ said another.  Another said, ’In the summer I work from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., and often do not take more than an hour off for meals.  That is penal servitude, except you have your liberty.  A foreman who earns L1 a week is better off than I am.  He has no anxiety, and not half the work.’  These instances could be multiplied many times, so that it is not surprising that the children of these men have flocked to the towns.

In Norfolk, ’twenty or thirty years ago, no class connected with the land held their heads higher’ than the farmers.  Many of them owned the whole or a part of the land they farmed, and lived in good style.  All this was now largely changed.  ’The typical Norfolk farmer of to-day is a harassed and hardworking man,’ engaged in the struggle to make both ends meet.  Many were ruined.

However, there were farmers who, by skill, enterprise, and careful management, made their business pay even in these times, such as the tenant of the farm at Papplewick in Nottinghamshire who gained the first prize in the Royal Agricultural Society’s farm competition in 1888.[688].  This farm consisted of 522 acres, of which only 61 were grass, but chiefly owing to the trouble taken in growing fine root crops, a large number of live stock were annually purchased and sold off, the following balance sheet showing a profit of L3 1s. 0d. per acre: 

DR. L

Rent, tithes, rates, taxes, &c. 278
Wages 387
Purchase of cake, corn, seeds, manure, &c. 688
Purchase of live stock 2,654
-----
L4,007
Profit 1,589
------
L5,596
======

CR.  L

Corn, hay, potatoes, and like product sold 655
Live stock, poultry, dairy produce, and wool sold 4,941
------
L5,596
======

The reductions of rents in various counties were estimated thus[689]: 

Per cent.  Per cent.