e total area taken up by allotments is about
200,000 acres. If half of these are devoted, say, to growing potatoes
and produce an average of seven tons per acre, the allotment holders in
England and Wales would this year grow "700,000 tons of the most
essential war-time crop practically on the spot where the crop is to be
consumed." It appears that, taking the whole of England and Wales, there
was an allotment holding for one household in twelve before the War. On
May 1st, 1918, one household in five held an allotment. In the county
boroughs before the War one household in thirty-two possessed an
allotment, now the proportion is one household in nine, and the process
is going on. It is the most encouraging development, whether looked at
from the economic point of view or from the point of view of national
health and happiness, that has taken place within living memory. The
urban allotments are regularly worked by persons who are engaged in
various forms of industry during the greater part of their time, and it
is found that the allotments must be small, usually about fifteen to an
acre. They ought to be as near as possible to the homes of the people
who work them. One of the reasons pointed out for the slow development
of the system, even where it has been so successful as in Nottingham
long before the War, was the distance of the allotments from the homes
of the workers. In town planning there should be an attempt wherever
possible to arrange for allotments close to the new small dwellings
which are erected. It will be essential, however, to insist (i) on more
permanent tenure for those who work their allotments properly and keep
them in good condition; (ii) that the land required should be obtained
on reasonable terms. Some landowners have themselves voluntarily taken
the matter in hand, but in other cases compulsion will be necessary,
and, as already stated, it will be right that where the land has been
agricultural or vacant land, bringing in a small or even no return, the
price or rent paid for it should be based on its agricultural value plus
some reasonable addition, and not on the enormously enhanced value of
the land as land which has become building land owing to the growth of
the urban population in the neighbourhood. It will be desirable to
arrange by co-operative or municipal action for the supply of seeds,
plants and fertilisers, and also for the sale of any surplus produce not
required by the holder for his