LAND-TENURE SYSTEM OF BELGIUM.

133

work his farm. It is precisely the same in Rhenish Prussia, and in England and Scotland; whereas in Ireland, as we have seen, the tenant has to effect the improvements—that is, he has to provide the fixed and floating capital of farming.

In Belgium the lease is generally made by private contract, seldom by public notary. Its cost is not more than four shillings. The law fixes only a few points, such as keeping the buildings in repair, and this only in the event of there being no arrangement about these points in the private or the notarial contract. It is the same in Rhenish Prussia.

In both countries the power of sub-letting is never given. The tenant giving up his farm is bound to leave his land fully cropped, just the same as if he were not going out at all, and he is not permitted to remove hay, straw, or manure from the farm. He receives compensation for all from the incoming tenant. For this there are the most minute regulations. Should there be occasion for it, each party interested appoints a valuator, and the two valuators, if necessary, call in an umpire, from whose decision there lies no appeal. There are never any disputes between landlord and tenant, or between outgoing and incoming tenant. The system is such that, no matter what the change of tenants may be, the land is always kept in a state of high cultivation, and the outgoing tenant suffers no wrong, as he is fully compensated for whatever floating capital, in sown crops, hay, straw, and manure, he may leave after him. Fixed capital he has not to find; for we can hardly denominate such the repairs of thatch, glass windows, and fences, and the gearing of pumps, which he is bound to effect during his tenancy.

1 Elsewhere I allude to the serious evil of the heavy stamp duty on leases in Ireland.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

NUMBER OF OCCUPIERS IN BELGIUM AS COMPARED WITH IRELAND-EXTENSIVE EMPLOYMENT OF HUMAN LABOUR IN BELGIUM-COMPARISON OF THE LARGE FARMING OF NORFOLK AND THE LOTHIANS WIth la petite culture of BELGIUM; THE LATTER BEARS THE PALM - FARMING OF RHENISH PRUSSIA AND SAXONY-SYNOPSIS OF THE AVERAGE size of HOLDINGS, AND OF THE NUMBER OF CULTIVATORS, IN EQUAL AREAS, IN ENGLAND, ireland, BELGIUM, RHENISH PRUSSIA, AND THE KINGDOM OF SAXONY.

THE foregoing facts are well worthy the attention of those who quote the short leases of Belgium against the advocates of security for the tenant in Ireland.

Those, too, who argue that 600,000 occupiers are too many for Ireland, with 15,542,208 acres of arable land, would do well to study the agriculture of Belgium, where 945,000 occupiers have only 6,428,000 acres, or 7 acres each. These small holdings are by far the most productive farms in the world, and maintain in comfort the densest population in Europe. Compared with the large farming of Norfolk and the Lothians, where all the aids of science and appliances of mechanism are called into requisition to supply for the scarcity of human labour, la petite culture of Belgium incontestably bears the palm.

There is a peculiarity in the system of Flemish husbandry, which in great measure prevents the rapid increase of the aids which agriculture has drawn to herself in a country such as our own. The peculiarity to which we here allude is the extensive employment of human labour. With a numerous population and a poor soil (un sol ingrat), the perfection in culture which has undoubtedly been attained, and the triumphs over natural obstacles which have been won, have been bought only by labour incessant, and the most lavish expenditure of manure. The ingenious methods adopted to increase the fertility of the soil, and its careful repeated workings, and the weedings of the crops, have given the system more of the peculiarities of the garden than of the farm, using the latter term in its English signification. But this garden cultivation is only obtained by garden labour-labour not attainable in a country

like our own.

AGRICULTURE OF RHENISH PRUSSIA.

135

This condition of affairs is also greatly aided by the

small extent of the occupations.1

Let us now hear the results, which abundantly prove the superiority of this system :

Nothing, indeed, could show more strikingly the general value of the Flemish system than an inspection of the lands of East and West Flanders this spring (1860). We took a run through the best districts of England and Scotland, and noticed, with regret, the sadly-behind condition of the crops, and the meagre produce of the pastures; we crossed over to Dunkirk, in French Flanders, from thence through the best part of West Flanders, in Belgium, and our eyes were gladdened with fields rich in their crops of green forage, clover in splendid condition, rye and barley of great height, affording rich forage for cattle. And yet the soil is infinitely poorer than ours; the climate marked by many peculiarities of our own-indeed, the severity of the past winter (1859), we believe, and the length of it, has been a matter of as great complaint with the Flemish farmer as with us. Comparing the state of the crops fit for forage with those of England and Scotland, whereof such a perfect famine, almost unexampled in severity, existed, the question was forced upon us, wherein lies the secret of Flemish success? 2 The reply is, that in the management of nominally poor and almost sterile soils, in the saving and distribution of manures, and in the judicious succession of crops, which keep the land in a state of perpetual and abundant cropping, in the production of forage plants for the feeding of cattle, we have something yet to learn from the farmers of Flanders.' 3

But all of this is the result of the extensive employment of human labour-that labour with which the large farming of England dispenses, but which formerly abounded in Ireland, and was not turned to account.

Immediately adjoining Belgium is another country of small holdings and peasant proprietors, which exhibits a high state of agricultural prosperity. This is Rhenish Prussia. The Rhine Provinces of Prussia number a population of 3,346,195.4 The area of cultivated land is 6,144,718 English acres; 5 which

gives an average of 272 inhabitants to 500 acres of arable land. These provinces are rich in minerals and coal-fields. The number of farms is 822,000, averaging 7 acres of arable land to each farm. The total numbers living wholly or partially by the cultivation of the soil are 1,472,328, or 44 per cent. of the population. These numbers include the non-working children of the cultivators.

The cultivators are thus classified:

Proprietors, living solely by agriculture

:

with other occupations besides farming

Tenants, depending solely on agriculture

with other occupations besides farming

Wives and children of cultivators aiding in cultivation
Farm servants male and female.

Total cultivators .

162,000

76,000

8,200

6,900

250,000

205,000

708,100

The great majority of the farms are extremely small, more than two-thirds of the total number averaging one acre and a quarter; but, in many instances, five or six of these holdings may belong to one cultivator. This minute parcelling of land is accounted for by the fact, that the French law of the equal division of property between the children on the death of a parent, introduced by Napoleon I., still remains in force in these provinces.

Of holdings of over 420 acres,' there are only 1,512.

The kingdom of Saxony is distinguished for the energy and advanced state of its agriculture. Wherever the soil is capable of culture it is worked with the greatest diligence. There is no part of Europe, save Belgium, where land is turned to so much account. The area of arable land is 3,443,905 English acres.2 The number of farms is 216,000. This makes the average size of farms 16 acres. The numbers subsisting on agriculture are 1,066,378, or 44 per cent. of the population. These numbers include the non-working children of the cultivators.

Saxony abounds in minerals, and is second to no part of the Continent in manufacturing industry.

1170 hectares.

* 1,395,000 hectares.

AGRICULTURE OF THE KINGDOM OF SAXONY.

137

It is deserving of note, that in manufacturing countries generally the holdings are small, agriculture is most flourishing, and the agricultural production is greatest. This is exemplified in Ulster, Belgium, Rhenish Prussia, and Saxony. Hence it is a matter of congratulation that Ireland, as we have seen, is steadily progressing in manufactures; and there is every reason to hope now that, with a prompt and judicious settlement of the land question, she will continue to advance in peaceful industry and prosperity.

The following synopsis will enable us to compare the average size of holdings, and the numbers of cultivators, in equal areas, in the several countries:

CONCLUSION THAT IRELAND STANDS FAR BELOW OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE SCALE OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS-COMPARISON OF HER ACTUAL ECONOMIC STATUS WITH THOSE OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND-ASSESSED INCOME OF THE THREE COUNTRIES RESPECTIVELY; THE SAME PER HEAD OF THEIR RESPECTIVE POPULATIONS-IRELAND BADLY WORKED FOR FISCAL PURPOSES THE SETTLEMENT OF THE IRISH QUESTION A MATTER OF DEEP INTEREST TO THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER AND THE TAX-PAYER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM-SHIPPING AND RAILWAYS OF THE THREE KINGDOMS RESPECTIVELY.

FROM what I have thus far written, it must be evident to those of my readers who have never been in Ireland, that, endowed as that country is with great natural advantages, she stands far below other countries in the scale of agricultural progress;

1 This was in 1861. The number of cultivators in Ireland has considerably diminished since then.