314 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



that the lots should be of equal value. "When property has been held 

 in undivided shares, and a division has to be made, it is necessary, in 

 justice, that the unit shares of the division should be of equal value. 

 The jirimitive custom was to lay out as many equal lots as there were 

 unit shares to be distributed. Then the proprietors, or their repre- 

 sentatives, took possession, each one, of as many lots as were due to 

 him. There was a rush for the best, and the strongest men got them. 

 Then it was proposed to draw lots, and to distribute the lots of land 

 accordingly. This method, while it prevented quarrelling, did not 

 secure justice. Next, it was proposed that the lots of land should be 

 held in rotation. He who held the first lot one year was the next 

 year to take the second lot, then the third, and so on, until he had 

 taken all the lots, one after another; then he took the first one again. 

 This plan was adopted in many places. Still another plan, very often 

 adopted, was to divide the arable land by sections {Gewannen), each 

 section equally fertile in all parts, and to assign to each unit share an 

 equal portion of every section. Suppose I have a tract of land to 

 divide into three equal shares, and half of the tract is not very good. 

 I separate the good half from the poor half, and divide each half 

 into three equal parts. Tlien I assign one third part of each half to a 

 share. This illustrates the principle upon which the arable land 

 was divided into equal shares by sections. In other cases the share- 

 holders measured off as many acre lots as there were unit shares to be 

 distributed, and assigned one acre lot to each share ; then measured 

 off another set of acres, and distributed them in the same way ; then 

 another set, and another, until all the arable land was distributed in 

 acre lots in equal sections ( Gewannen again) of a large open field. 

 This was a very common mode of dividing the land. Vestiges of all 

 these different modes of dividing the land may be seen, even to-day, in 

 certain parts of Germany, of France, and of England. 



Where the same land was cultivated year after year, it lost its 

 vitality, and became less and less productive. This fact was observed, 

 and it became customary to allow the land which was cultivated in 

 one year to lie fallow the next year, or at least once in three years. 

 Where the arable lots were isolated one from the other, and also 

 where they lay in strips, side by side, every cultivator could divide 

 his land into two or three fields as he pleased. He could arrange a 

 system of rotation to suit himself; but in cases where the arable lots 

 were intermixed in sections {Gewannen), it was necessary to adopt a 

 system of rotation by which all the cultivators would be bound. The 

 system generally adopted was to divide the open field into two or 



