RURAL ECONOMICS. gQ 



sold to two small laolders. In addition 2,674 acres had been let or arrange<l to 

 be let to 17 cooperative small holdings associations, who had sublet the land 

 to their members, and 1,648 applicants had been provided with over 20,000 acres 

 by private landowners direct, mainly through the instrumentality of the coun- 

 cils. The laud which has been acquired but not yet allotted will probably 

 provide for another 2,000 applicants, so that assuming that the associations 

 have sublet their land to not fewer than 200 tenants, which is a moderate esti- 

 mate, it will be seen that the act has resulted in the provision of land for 

 approximately 6,600 applicants in two years. 



" During 1909 3,598 fresh applications were receivetl by county councils for 

 63,523 acres, bringing the total number of applicants since the act came into 

 operation up to 26,883, and the total quantity of laud applied for up to 437,124 

 acres. Of these applicants 15,191 had been provisionally approved for 216.863 

 acres up to the end of 1909." 



Interesting reports are given on some of the small holdings already estab- 

 lished, together with detailed information as to the prevision for small holdings 

 in each county. 



In the report on allotments it is stated that the total quantity of land held 

 for the purpose of allotments by the various local authorities in England and 

 Wales on December 31, 1909, was 26,764 acres, of which 5,687 acres were the 

 property of the councils, and 21.077 acres were leased. This laud is let to 

 90,550 individual tenants, 21 associations, and 1 committee. 



" The number of applications received for allotments in 1909 was 16,996, 

 the total quantity applied for being 6.048 acres; 2,407 acres were acquired, as 

 compared with 1,253 acres in 1908, and 5.818 individual applicants and 9 asso- 

 ciations were provided with allotments by local authorities, in addition to a 

 large number of applicants who were provided with allotments on land pre- 

 viously acquired." 



The relation of cooperation to small holdings {Jour. Bd. Agr. [London'\. 

 n (1910), No. 5, pp. 395-397). — A discussion of the advantages of cooperation 

 for the success of small holdings in England, summarized from the report of 

 the small holdings commissioners for 1909 as noted above. 



The small agricultural holding in France, its present position and pros- 

 pects (Dcpt. Agr. and Tech. Instr. IreUnid Jour., 10 {1910). No. 1,, pp. 662- 

 669). — The data contained in this article have been derived from an address 

 by J. Ruau, minister of agriculture in France (E. S. R., 21, p. 189) and a 

 monograph on agricultural small holdings in France (E. S. R., 22, p. 395). 



The new agrarian laws in Boumania, Hitier {Bui. 8oc. Nat. Agr. France, 

 70 {1910), No. 6, pp. 501-516).— The author describes the gradual lowering of 

 the economic condition of the peasant class in Roumania from the period of 

 emancipation in 1864 to 1907, which culminated in the agrarian revolution of 

 that year, and discusses the main features of the laws of 1907-8 relating to 

 agricultural contracts, rural banks, and limiting the extent of farm holdings, 

 which were passed for the purpose of correcting the abuses affecting the 

 agricultural classes. 



The economic and social significance of these laws is pointed out, one of the 

 most strilciug results being the formation of farm laborers' associations which 

 rent or purchase large farms and conduct their operations. The success of 

 these associations is shown by their growth. On December 31, 1904, they 

 numbered 17 and paid rent amounting to $57,900, while on January 31, 1909, 99 

 of such associations operated about 189,000 acres and paid about .$607,000 in 

 rent. The method of conducting these farm associations is briefly described. 

 See, also, the following article. 



