SURAL ECONOMICS. 509 



RURAL ECONOMICS. 



Some aspects of the organization of French agriculture, \V. <.. A | !>,/,/. 

 Agr. and Tech. Tnstr. Ireland Jour., 5 I 1905), No. ;, pp. 6 Thia article is a 



discussion of agricultural cooperatioo in Prance. 



There are local, departmental, and national organizations in Prance. "The local 

 association is the school of true < >oo p. -rat ion," while the larger associations can secure 

 better terms in making purchases or -ales and in securing favorable conditions of 

 credit or of transportation. The cooperative associations have proved useful in the 

 purchase of manure and seed, in the production of wine and spirits, in the sale of milk, 

 live stock, grain, fruits, vegetables and flowers, in the establishment of credit banks 

 which serve as savings hanks as well as a means of securing loan- at a reasonable 

 rate of interest, in the development of a system of mutual insurance which safeguards 

 the basis of credit, in the promotion of education, and in the improvement of rural 

 social conditions. 



" In French agriculture there is a new organic force which is continually manifest- 

 ing itself in fresh vigorous developments. It is not simply an organization, it is an 

 organism, which is at work. France is a country in which words representing what 

 are called abstract ideas have a great influence and power of expression. The spirit 

 of the new movement is best expressed in terms 'solidarity' and 'mutualiteV 

 The principles of joint action, of combining to help one's self and one another, and of 

 provision for the economic emergencies of life — of, in a word, social foresight — are 

 underlying forces." 



The economics of land tenure in Georgia, E. M. Banes (Columbia Univ. 

 Studies Polit. Sci., 28 I 1905 ), No. /, pp. / -142, dgms. 8). — This is an essay on landown- 

 ership and tenancy in Georgia from the first settlement of the country to the pres- 

 ent time. 



Especial attention is given to the reorganization of southern agriculture after 1865, 

 to the credit system, to the ownership of land on the part of negroes, and to the gen- 

 eral characteristics of the negro farmer. The different plans of farming, based on 

 the relations of the farmer to the soil, are summarized as follows: 



"(1 ) The cropping system, in which the cropper is only to a slight extent manager 

 and capitalist. The cropper is for the most part a Laborer, and ^rets one-half of the 

 crop wages. There are indications that the system has already begun to decline in 

 ( reorgia. 



' 2) The 'third and fourth ' system, in which the renter is the chief manager and 

 important capitalist, and pays the landlord one-third of the grain and one-fourth of 

 the cotton as rent. This system has been rapidly disappearing, so that now it is found 

 Only here and there in the State. . . . 



"(3) The 'standing rent' plan, in which the tenant is managing entrepreneur and 

 capitalist. Under this plan the tenant pays the landlord "a definite amount of the 

 product — usually a fixed number of pounds of cotton. It has shown a great increase 

 during the past decade. 



"(4) The money rental plan represents the highest form of tenancy. In this the 



tenant is managing entrepreneur and capitalist. A- yet this plan does not have a 



wide use in the State, though it, too, is on the increase. . . . 



Small farms operated by owners. . . . Such farming is on the increase in 

 Georgia. 



"(6) The plantation system . . . gives scope for the exer.-ise of a higher order 

 of managing ability than does any of the others. It is farming on a large scale as 



Opposed to farming on a small scale. . . . This method of farming is on the 



increase." 



