318 Rejyort on tlie Agriculture of 



Count Esterhazy's estate, where both wheat and lucerne were 

 much injured by them. The ground truly seemed alive with 

 them, and they might be seen darting to and fro by anyone who 

 would walk a few steps into the standing crops. The country 

 from Kanisa to Fiinfkirchen and Villany was alinost devastated 

 from this cause, the wheat crops being beaten down, and often 

 reduced to a few scattered straws, standing up amid the wreck of 

 a fine wheat crop. M. Elvers, whose farm is noticed on page 328, 

 had suffered much from mice. He had cut trenches 10 inches 

 deep, and 7 to 8 wide, entirely around his corn-fields, to, if 

 possible, keep out the mice. At intervals pots were sunk, so 

 as to form a succession of pit-falls at the bottom of this trench, 

 and then were filled with water. The mice on falling into this 

 trench, as they endeavoured to gain access to the field of grain, 

 ran along the bottom, and fell into these traps in large numbers. 



RuEAL Economy. 



The feudal system was abolished in 1848, and " the whole 

 tenure of land throughout the Austro-Hungarian dominions now 

 rests upon the common basis laid down by the Austrian Land 

 Laws of 1848-9." It was by these laws that the serfs became 

 free allodial owners, while the lords of the soil were reimbursed 

 by the Government for the loss of their feudal rights. The 

 valuation of this loss was made by a Commission appointed by 

 the State, but of this valuation * one-third part was disallowed, 

 and one of the remaining two-thirds was raised by a tax which 

 falls upon the great proprietors themselves. 



It must be remembered that the bondsmen who were emanci- 

 pated from feudal obligations were not tenants, but proprietors 

 ■of their land ; so that the reformation of the land laws of the 

 country did not deprive the great landowners of their property, 

 but merely of certain feudal rights over the property of others. 



The whole area of Hungary is pretty equally distributed be- 

 tween great proprietors and peasants. According to the latest 

 census there are 2,486,255 owners of land, possessing upon an 

 average 18 acres each of productive land (Keleti). These pro- 

 prietors have been classified as follows : — 



Small peasant proprietors (5 — 30 jochs) 2,348,110 



Larger peasant proprietors (30 — 300 jochs) 118,981 



Properties of from 200 to 1000 jochs 13,748 



Estates of from 100 to 10,000 jochs 5,195 



Estates over 19,000 acres 221 



Further, with respect to the area of available land and 



* ' Eeports of Her Majesty's Eepresentatives respecting the Tenure of Land in 

 the several Coimtries of Europe.' Part II. 1869-70, page 2. 



