CHAPTER XIV 



YEOMAN PROPRIETARY, 

 OR OCCUPYING OWNERSHIP 



The system of occupying ownership, as it exists in 

 other countries, has been the subject of much im- 

 perfect and often ignorant criticism on the part of 

 many writers at home. An impression is given that 

 the system involves questions of small farms as against 

 large ones ; of continual subdivision of holdings, of 

 cutting the land "up into patches"; of a ''viorcelle- 

 ment of the soil," etc. As a matter of fact, in con- 

 tinental countries all kinds of tenure, and holdings of 

 almost every size, exist. There are large estates 

 which the landlords themselves cultivate, and other 

 large estates, of which they- cultivate a part and let 

 the rest. There are farmers, peasants, and labourers 

 who rent, as well as those who own, the soil they 

 cultivate.^ 



It is true there are very few of what in England 

 would be called larofe farms. But that arises from 

 the conviction, on the part of continental agriculturists, 

 that large farms are not so profitable and productive 

 as smaller ones.^ The different sizes and kinds of 



^ In some parts of the east of Europe large estates and the tenant 

 system still exist; and where they do exist, agriculture is in a bad state. 



^ Those who wish to know the arguments which, in France, have led 

 to this conviction should read " Des syst^mes de culture en France et de 

 leur Influence sur I'Economie sociale" (M. Passy). M. Passy was an ex- 

 Minister of Finance ; a landowner and a distinguished writer on rural 



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