*3 



the small farmer, who has thus to rely exclusively on his 

 own production of these articles. Should the corn, hay, 

 and potato crops turn out satisfactorily, the small farmer 

 can, other things being equal, make a good profit out of 

 the sale of his cattle or pigs ; but when the crops fail, as 

 not infrequently happens, especially on small farms with 

 insufficiency of manure, the animals can no longer be 

 fed, and they are taken to market in poor condition and 

 there sold at almost any price. In such times there is 

 an overwhelming supply of young animals on the chief 

 markets, and the prices sink to a ruinous level. Should, 

 immediately afterwards, the prices rise again, the peasant 

 finds himself in a position of not having any more animals 

 to sell, in consequence of which he is unable to make use 

 of the improved condition of the market.* Thus — to take 

 an example from recent years t — in 1901 the prices for 

 pigs stood at a pretty high level of 46 to 47 marks per 

 100 kilos. In 1904, however, the potato crop turned out 

 very badly, being about 14 per cent, lower than in the 

 previous year. At once the small farmer, who could buy 

 no other fodder on account of the duty, was driven to 

 dispose of his pigs, and the prices sank to 33-34 marks. 

 In the course of 1905 the prices rose again to 44-49 marks, 

 but, the sties being now empty, it was only the big farmer 

 and the Junker, who had been able to withhold their pigs 

 from the market in the previous year, who got the benefit 

 of the high prices. Gradually, however, the peasant, too, 

 succeeded in rearing up a new supply of pigs, but by 

 the time he was beginning to make a good profit there 

 came the partial failure of the crops in 1907, together 

 with the crisis, which reduced the consumption of meat, 

 and he once more found himself with a vast number of 

 animals on his hands which he had to sell or else lose 

 altogether. The prices for pigs sank once more from 



* Gothein, I.e., pp. 10-12. 

 t Janssen, I.e., pp. 98-104. 



