286 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



given an opportunity to acquire small allotments and gradually work up into 

 an independent farmei*. While he is acquiring the land there should be a co- 

 operative organization to list the workers and the tyi>es of work that they are 

 efDcieut in, so that all inquiries for laborers can be readily satisfied. He also 

 advocates ttuit the cooperative movement should be extended to securing credit 

 for the small farm operator. 



The land and the capital, G Fernandez de la Rosa (Bol. Agr. T6c. y Econ., 

 6 (19U), Nos. 61, pp. 67-78; 62, pp. 129-149; 63, pp. 238-248; 64, pp. 333-342; 

 65, pp. 430-439; 66, pp. 513-523). — The author discusses the economics of pro- 

 duction as it relates to agricultui'e, the influence of proximity to centers of 

 population upon land value, and of local customs, fiscal regulations, and owner- 

 ship uijon agricultural production, the various forms of capital, the development 

 of agricultural credit in Spain, and the reforms suggested for reorganization 

 of the rural credit of that country. 



Compensation to tenant farmers in England and Wales for improvements 

 and for disturbance {Intcrnat. Inst. Agr. [Rome^, Mo. Bui. Econ. and Soc. 

 Intel., 5 {1914), No. 7, pp. 89-102). — This article discusses the common law 

 position of the tenant farmer, the legislative changes in regard to his position 

 and further alterations suggested, and concludes that the legislation giving the 

 tenant the right of compensation for improvements and disturbance tends to 

 lead to more fundamental changes in the relations existing between landlord 

 and tenant, and may even lead to the adoption of a different system of tenure 

 altogether. 



Report of the departmental committee on agricultural credit in Ireland 

 {Dept. Agr. and Tech. Imtr. Ireland, Rpt. Agr. Credit, 1914, pp. Xyi-\-407, 

 pis. 3). — This report discusses the types and amount of credit furnished the 

 farmers by various credit institutions and the cooperative credit movement in 

 Ireland. 



Among the findings of the committee were that the veiy large sums on deposit 

 in postal savings banks in rural districts prove that there would be ami)le 

 funds for small rural credit purposes if the confidence of depositors could be 

 attracted, and that the history of the existing cooperative credit associations 

 shows that there is need for state supervision to inspire this confidence. The 

 tendency of a peasant proprietary to incur overindebtedness is deemed a real 

 danger, from which the new tenant purchasers in Ireland should be safe- 

 guarded. A complete system of compulsory registration of title is an abso- 

 lutely indispensable condition of every sound system of real credit. From the 

 borrowing farmer's point of view the absence of an amortization scheme for 

 repayment and the uncertainty as to when a mortgage may be called in are 

 serious drawbacks to the present method of obtaining capital. 



The committee believes that the attention of the new holders should be 

 directed rather to making the ihost of their land by work than by pledging it 

 for the purpose of borrowing. The establishment of a long-term-credit mort- 

 gage institution on Landschaften lines may eventually become a necessity in 

 Ireland if it be not found possible to revise the land-loan schemes of the 

 Board of Works with a view to their greater elasticity and their adaptation 

 to the needs of small farmers. The development also of the agricultural loan 

 schemes of the Department of Agriculture and of the Congested Districts 

 Board, combined with the agency of credit scx?ieties for shorter term loans, 

 should prove sufficient in most cases for the credit requirements of farmers 

 not met by the joint stock banks. The full development of these sources of 

 credit should be thoroughly tested before any experiment based on continental 

 land-mortgage-credit organizations be attempted. 



