ON AGRICULTURE TO DENMARK 39 



x4ct. Ill the case of the purchaser being a son, son-in-law, or 

 grandson, these conditions are somewhat modified. 



The widow of a proprietor may remain in possession of a 

 holding, if she takes over the liabilities of her late husband towards 

 the State. Should she marry again, she may only remain in 

 possession if her husband fulfils the conditions under the Act. 



In the event of the holding being left by will of the proprietor 

 to one of his children, the beneficiary, if he be a sou, or in the case 

 of a daughter, her husband, should he be in a position to comply 

 with the requirements of the Act, shall take over the liabilities to 

 the State. In that case the amount which the heir shall pay to 

 the co-heirs in respect of the possession (of the holding), must not 

 in the will be fixed at a higher sum than the deceased had paid 

 as repayment of the mortgage. No joint ownership is allowed in 

 any one holding. 



Should the beneficiary under the will not desire to take up the 

 holding, or should the deceased proprietor die intestate, any of the 

 other heirs may arrange with the remainder of the family to take 

 over the farm along with the attendant liabilities to the State. 



In the event of confiscation of the property by the State, it 

 may be sold free of the restrictions set forth in the Act. 



It is interesting to note the increase in the number of freehold 

 peasant farms during the last half century. In 1850 there were 

 66,841 peasant farms, of which 45,000 were freehold, and in 1895, 

 the relative positions stood at 75,321 and 60,000. This, it will be 

 observed, was prior to the passing of the Small Holdings Act of 

 1899, and since that date the number of allotments owned by 

 peasant proprietors has enormously increased. 



Regarding the acquisition of land for the purposes of the Act, 

 in some districts there is no difficulty in obtaining it, while in 

 others, such as the Aarhus District, where the value of land is 

 high, it has proved to be a very difficult matter to get suitable land 

 at a price sufficiently low to make the holdings pay. Generally the 

 land has been taken from ordinary farms, several farms having 

 been split up for this purpose into " State Houses " as they are 

 called. The majority of the holders have succeeded extremely well, 

 the very rare exceptions being those who were not capable men. 



During the passing of the Act of 1904, there was considerable 

 conflict between the Common House, which mostly consists of 

 peasants, and the Upper House, in which the large land-owners 

 have the majority, as to the maximum size of the farms. The aim 

 of the Lower House was to create holdings of such a size that the 

 whole time of the owner and his family would be taken up in the 

 working of them, and that they would be thus independent of out- 

 side labour. On the other hand, the large estate owners wished to 

 keep the maximum so low that the small proprietors would be 

 compelled to depend on outside labour during the busy time of the 

 year, and in this way provide a larger amount of labour, the 

 scarcity of which is sometimes very much felt on the larger estates. 

 The Lower House ultimately carried their point. 



