RURAL ECONOMICS. 991 



compensation for improvements, arbitration, daniafre l)y game, freedom of crop- 

 ping, compensation for distnrbance, repairs to bnildings. and record of con- 

 dition at the time of connnencing a tenancy. Tlie text of tlie act lias been 

 l)revionsly noted ( E. S. R.. 20. p. 58S). 



Interim report of proceeding's under the small holdings and allotments 

 acts for the six months ending June 30, 1908, T. II. Elliott (Bd. Agi: and 

 Fisheries [Londoji], Interim Rpt. Proc. Small Hold, and Allot. Acts, June 30, 

 jnOS, i)i>- 92). 



Holdings of farm laborers, Delius { Ijtndw. Wchnbl. Scliles. Hoist., 58 

 < 1908), Xo. o2, pp. S!)0, 891). — As a means of preventing rural <lepopniation, the 

 author believes that the farm laborer must be estal)lished on the land, and 

 that this can l)e done by the erection of suitable houses on land not less than 

 i bectare (about 0.:;i acre) in extent, which property the laborer should have 

 the privilege of purchasing. The cost of such holdings, the furnishing of funds 

 by government and cooi)erative associations, and the moral and economic effects 

 of ownership upon the laborer are brietiy discussed. 



Propositions regarding the improvement of the farm laborer, Stiegeb 

 (J//7^ Dent. Ldtidir. (Icsell., 23 (1908), Xo. .'/J, pp. 391-39',) .—This is a series 

 of 30 propositions dealing with the conditions which should be put in operation 

 for the educational, economic, and social improvement of the farm laborer and 

 his family and their bearing upon the farm labor problem in Germany. The 

 propositions relating to the moral and economic significance of piecework in 

 agriculture have been previously noted (E. S. R., 20, p. 389). 



Measures to be taken in the organization and management of farms to 

 offset the lack of farm help, Dyhkenfurth (Illu-^. Landw. Ztg., 28 (1908), 

 \o. 91, pp. 829-831). — In addition to advocating the laying down of arable 

 land to pasture and the raising of live stock in districts where farm labor is 

 scarce, the author discusses from personal experience his method of farm man- 

 agement. This consists in the winter utilization of men and animals for work 

 usually performed in the spring, the planting of winter crops and crops which 

 follow each other in order of maturity, the greater use of machinery, the per- 

 formance of many kinds of farm labor by piecework, etc. In this way his 4 

 farms have been operated with a less number of laborers and horses than would 

 be possible under conditions which usuall.v prevail throughout Germany. 



The rights of employers when farm laborers break their contracts, Schu- 

 MACiiKK {Dcut. Liiiidir. /'/r.s-.sc, 3.) (1908), Xo. 98, pp. 1021, 1022).— The rights of 

 farmers according to the laws of I*russia and tlie Rhine Provinces, in cases 

 where farm laborers break their contracts, are i>resented and discussed. 



[Mexican farm laborers in the United States], V. S. Clark [Bur. of Labor 

 [U. S.\ Bui. 78, pp. Ji82-.'i8.'>). — Notes are given on the number, distribution, 

 kinds of labor in which emiiloyed, wages, mode of life, and social habits of 

 Mexican farm laborers in the I'nited States. 



"The main value of the Mexican in agriculture is as a temporary worker in 

 crops where the season is short, especially in harvesting cotton, grain, and 

 sugar beets. Mexicans are not likely to be employed the year round by small 

 faruHMs, because the.v are not eiitertaiiu'd in the family like .American. (Jerman, 

 Scandinavian, or Irish laborers of the North. Yet they do not occu])y a position 

 analogous to that of the negro in the South. They are not permanent, do not 

 acquire land or establish themselves in little cabin homesteads, but remain 

 nomadic and outside of American civilization." 



Agricultural imports of the Netherlands (U. S. Dept. Apr., Bur. Statis. 

 liul. 12. pp. ■')3). — Tabulated data of the imiiorts of the Netherlands for the 

 10-year period l.S!»7- 1!)0(). with special attention to agrieiilttn'al imjiorts and the 

 proportion of tliese |iroducts furnished by the United States, are reported. The 



