Land Problems and National Welfare 



produce one single hundredweight of sugar. I 

 will give what I believe to be the reasons why 

 agriculture flourishes in Germany and is declining 

 in England. 



" German agriculture owes so much to England 

 — to mention only the improvement of the land 

 by drainage and the systematic breeding of 

 cattle and cultivation of wheat, which we learned 

 from England — that I should be glad if these 

 articles contributed towards discharging even a 

 very small portion of the debt of gratitude. In 

 my opinion the development of the German 

 agriculture has been favourably influenced by 

 four forces; namely, a suitable division of owner- 

 ship, the abandonment of the extensive method 

 of cultivation for the intensive method with the 

 help of science, the combination of agriculture 

 with industry for the production of sugar, alcohol, 

 and starch, and finally protective tariff" legisla- 

 tion. Two-thirds of the land in Germany used 

 for agricultural purposes is owned by peasants, 

 the other third is in the hands of the great 

 landowners. 



" By far the greater portion of this land is 

 farmed by the owner; only a small portion is let to 

 tenants, and this little is mostly owned by the 

 State or by public institutions which endeavour 

 to leave it as long as possible in the hands of 

 the same tenant or his family. The result of 

 this division of ownership is a great stability ; 



40 



