RURAL ECONOMICS 1823 



1314- Metayage on an Umbrian Estate (Italy). — papi c, in vitaiia AgHcoia, 



Year, 53, No. 8, pp. 353-363. Piacenza, August, 15, 1916. 



On the Casalina Estate belonging to the Perugia Agricultural Institute 

 a study was made of labour in its relation to different classes of land. The 

 estate is situated in the Middle Valley of the Tiber, between Perugia and 

 Todi, and covers an area of 1557 hectares (i) made up of : 



750 hectares of drift or alluvial soils in the valley (loams) 



700 " " sedimentary soils on the hillsides (clay or pebbly sand) 



105 " " sedimentary soils on the mountain side (shingle). 



Considering the estate from the point of view of cropping it ma}^ be 

 divided into : 



896 hectares of arable land planted with rows of plane trees and vines every 25 to 30 

 metres ; situated on the flat or on gentle slopes where mowing and reaping 

 machiner}- can well be used ; divided into 36 holdings of 18 to 40 hectares 

 each, held by metayers. 



255 " of arable land planted in vines and olives on the hillsides where horse til- 



lage can be employed but where harvesting machinerj' cannot be used ; 

 divided into 19 holdings of 10 to 18 hectares each and one holding of 37 

 hectares all held by metayers. 

 13 " of special crops (vines, olives, mulberries, nurseries) partly cultivated by the 



estate and partly worked on a system of metayage with the metayers of 

 the other parts of the estate or with labourers from the town of Casalina 

 30 " of permanent grass and of poplar and willow plantations. 



363 " of oak and cherry woods on the hillsides and mountains. All forestry work 



is undertaken by the estate whilst the grazings are in the hands of metaj^ers. 



On all the arable hand, it is estimated that the permanent crop {i. e. 

 vines, olives, etc.) occupies one fifth of the area and that the rest is divided 

 equally between corn and forage crops. Table I gives the value of the ave- 

 rage production per hectare of both crops and stock during the three years 

 1912-1914. 



The returns are very low when compared with those obtained on the 

 be:st farms of Central Italy^ but in order to develop the estate properly it 

 will be necessary to regulate the course of the Tiber which at present does 

 considerable damage to the low-lying land. On the hillsides, noticeable 

 improvements have already been carried out though high yields can never 

 be expected owing to the nature of the soil. The profits on live stock are higher 

 in the hill zone than on the \ov< ground chiefly because in the former no 

 account is taken of the grazing provided by the woods. In Table II is set 

 out the head of live stock and its distribution between high and lowland 

 holdings. 



At Casalina, the system of metaj'age in force is a good example of the 

 old custom of partnership with equal shares : the land, buildings, live and 

 dead stock belong to the landlord ; the smaller implements are mostly pro- 



(i) I hectare = 2.47 acres. 



