IN HOLLAND 35 



Edwin A. Pratt, a British writer on present day problems in 

 Agriculture, a friend of tenancy rather than ownership, has much 

 to say concerning peasant proprietary at home and abroad. 3 He 

 criticises the "excessive degree to which the subdivision of small 

 properties has been carried" in France, Generation after genera- 

 tion this subdivision has gone on. Says Pratt: 



"Even again a property of 20 to 25 acres may be represented by 30, 40, 

 or 50 small patches and parcels scattered over an entire commune ... In 

 the cultivation of these scattered fragments of land the practice followed by 

 successive generations of peasant proprietors of France has been to produce 

 a little of everything vines, vegetables, corn, oats, barley, hemp, etc. on the 

 same soil irrespective of its suitability for such crops, the great idea of the 

 cultivator being that he should avoid spending any money on the supply 

 of his domestic wants . . . But the work of cultivating, mainly by hand, 

 so many separate morsels of land, for the production of so many differ- 

 ent crops, represents a degree of toil that has often been only slavery under 

 a different name." 



Pratt quotes Lafarque, Lavergne, Michelet, Verney, Lecou- 

 teaux, and other French writers to bear out his contentions. 

 Financially, says Pratt, the French peasants are in a bad way, 

 since "few of the peasants hold their land free of mortgage, 

 and many of them are heavily indebted besides." And in spite 

 of the recent advance in agricultural unions and cooperative 

 enterprises, says Pratt, "the fundamental disadvantages, both 

 moral and material, inherent to the system of peasant proprietary 

 still remain." 



In Holland. Speaking of Holland the same writer says: "In 

 Holland the position brought about by peasant proprietary is, in 

 some respects, still more acute than in France." Here most 

 "farms" are under four acres in size, and very few contain over 

 ten acres. The Dutch landowners are generally satisfied with a 

 return of two and one-half to three per cent. The small holdings 

 of a farm usually comprise, not one piece of land, but many differ- 

 ent strips or parcels. The parceling of the land into these long 

 strips is clearly illustrated in Pratt's book by a reproduction of 

 the plan of the commune of Vledder (Drenthe), Holland. The 

 average dimensions of a strip of land in one part of this commune 

 is 380 yards by 14 yards. In one instance there is a length of 

 428 yards to a breadth of 4 yards. Another strip shows a length 

 of 1275 yards and a width of 22 yards. Mention is made of one 

 wealthy farmer whose holdings comprise 90 acres, consisting of 

 78 separate strips of land in different parts of his commune. 



3 Pratt, E. A. The Transition in Agriculture. London, 1909. John 

 Murray, Publisher, one shilling. 



