90 RUSSIA - AGRICULTURAL ECOXOMY IN GENERAL 



As this table shows, the peasants who had bought lands from the Peas- 

 ants' Land Bank or the administration of the State domains were more 

 generously supported with money than those on the nadiel land ; but on 

 the other hand the former were obliged when they took over their lots to 

 pay in advance out of their own means lo per cent, of the purchase price, 

 and 15 per cent, of them were in consequence left destitute of possess- 

 ions and therefore much in need of help. On the whole financial support 

 was extended to a relatively small number of the peasants and the number 

 of gifts made was too trifling. The average sum of money received was 105 

 roubles a homestead, against which must be set the average cost of moving 

 a homestead, setting up buildings and carr3dng out improvements, namely 

 238 roubles a homestead. Thus the giving of financial support was in no 

 sense a philanthropic enterprise and could not act as a bait to the peasants 

 to fall in with the reforms of the Land Readjustment Cominission. 



§ 8. The economic position of the new peasants' holdings 

 in severalty. 



In order to understand the economic position of the new farms held 

 in severalty the investigators of these made a great point of establishing, 

 by searching questions and tests, the value of the improvements made by 

 the peasants on their holdings after the settlement, and that of their build- 

 ings, their cattle and all their possessions. A comparison thus became 

 possible between the position of the farms before and after the settlement. 

 It has appeared in general that in the farms situated on lands of the Land 

 Bank and the State domains the value of improvements, buildings and live 

 and other stock is, in comparison with that existing before the land settle- 

 ment — that is before the pieces of land were bought — distinctly higher than 

 itisinthecaseof the farms in severalty on wrff/?>/ land. This is not surpris- 

 ing since we know that the farms of the first category are twice as large 

 as those of the second (§ 6) , and are moreover of earlier origin and held on a 

 peculiar basis. A comparison of the economic positions of the two kinds of 

 farms is possible only under reservation, and should be made not as between 

 farms but as between areas. 



a) Improvements and Buildings. 



With the remodelhng of farms and tenures and the settlement of the 

 land, what may be called the psychological relation of the peasant to 

 his holding alters. The awakened sense of ownership gives rise to the wish 

 to employ the land economicallj'- and make the smallest plot as productive 

 as possible. Marshes are drained, stony soil is rendered tillable, land over- 

 grown with bushes is cleared. Although when the enquiry was made most 

 of the farms had enjoyed the new conditions only for from three to four years, 

 more than a third of the farmers in severalty of nadiel land, 75 per cent. 



