OCCUPYING OWNERSHIP 193 



the holdings which exist in France. To take one or 

 two examples. In the Department of Seine-et-Marne 

 (about the same area as that of Norfolk) Mr. Richard- 

 son states that there are many large estates, and that 

 farms of several hundred acres each, let at high rents, 

 are not uncommon ; but he adds: " This occupation by 

 large landowners by no means excludes the small. 

 There are as many as 10,000 owners cultivating their 

 own soil, and living by it, and 13,000 labourers out of 

 a total of 26,000 who are also landowners." 



The Department of Seine-et-Oise (about the same 

 area as that of the North Riding of Yorkshire) is 

 described as a " country of large estates," but there 

 are " 12,000 owners who work their own land and do 

 nothing else, and there are as many labourers — that 

 is more than half of this class — who are also land- 

 owners." 



In contrast to this, in Franche Comt^ (with an 

 area about equal to that of the whole of Yorkshire) 

 "farm labourers seem hardly to exist, as only 2000 

 are returned." One-fourth of the county is covered 

 with forest, but there are 92,000 holdings, of which 

 50,000 are under 12 acres, and not 800 of 100 acres 

 and over in the whole province. In the higher 

 districts, each village has an important quantity of 

 common land, which allows some stock to be kept, 

 but which does not count in the individual holding. 

 There are some villages which appear to have made 

 some appropriation of the common land, as each 

 householder has an almost equal portion. 



La Brie, a wheat-producing district, nearly forty 

 miles square, has few towns, but the " country swarms 

 with villages, hamlets, farmsteads, and country seats." 



Mr. Richardson refers to the steady rise in the 



