86 AUSTRIA - AGRICULTRAI. ECOXOMY IX GEXER.^L 



cial conditions in the country. The feudal regime estabhshed under the 

 influence of Venetian dominion, Turkish dominion and Slav customs has 

 been preserv^ed until to-da^^ 



The large properties belong todndividuals or to the communes, the latter 

 owning altogether 656,000 hectares or 50 per cent, of the countr>^'s whole 

 area. 



Side by side with the large properties, which are an outcome of the 

 feudal system, properties of very small extent have gradually been formed 

 as follows : 



a) By means of contracts of sale and purchase. The large landowners 

 are not averse from selling their property, for in Dalmatia there is almost 

 always a lack of labour and very extensive areas are therefore left uncultiv- 

 ated. 



b) By means of a distribution among members of a commune of 

 the comnmnal landed property. Hitherto about 12,000 hectares have 

 thus been distributed. 



c) By means of encroachments on the communal property. 



Large and small properties are alike often scattered. Small proprie- 

 tors generally own from three to four quarter or half-hectare plots. Large 

 proprietors often possess fifty scattered parcels of land, sometimes even more. 

 Among the reasons for this state of affairs are the unequal fertility of the 

 lands, the distribution caused b}^ inheritance and the encroachments. 



A small proprietor himself cultivates and realizes the value of his land ; 

 whereas a large proprietor nearly always lets it. The latter himself cul- 

 tivates it and realizes its value only exceptionally, most frequently in the 

 south of Dalmatia, in the province of KanaH where there is an abundant 

 supply of Montenegrin labour. 



Large properties are alwa3"S let in parcels. There are two forms of 

 leases ; a) the ordinary lease which is very rare ; and b) the contract of cul- 

 tivation, a type to which from 85 to 90 per cent, of the contracts conform. 

 Parcels let b^^ these contracts have an area of from one to three hectares. 



The communes, especially those in the northern islands, also let the 

 arable lands which form part of their landed propert3^ Their woods and 

 pasturelands are used by all their members. 



Owing to the lack of labour consequent on the emigrations of recent 

 years an important amount of land admitting of citltivation is lying fal- 

 low. 



The distribution of landed property, as this has been explained, and 

 the method by which it is cultivated, bring us to three further agrarian 

 problems : those nameh', of i) the farming contract, 2) the distribution of 

 communal landed property, and 3) the redivision of lands. 



