210 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



pay.^>2 This is given as an important cause of indebtedness in Not- 

 tinghamshire,^ Somersetshire,^ Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.^ 



Thus it would seem that in 1833 these small estates were very 

 generally encumbered. The indebtedness had been incurred during 

 the period of high prices, and when prices fell the debt was often 

 equal to if not greater than the value of the land. The whole net 

 product would not, in many cases, pay the interest. Where this 

 did not force the yeomen to give up their estates at once, the 

 land usually came into the market at the death of the owner, as 

 no member of the family cared, as a rule, to take up the burden 

 of mortgaged ownership which had come to be looked upon as 

 less desirable than tenancy.^ This fall of prices at a time when 

 mortgages were very prevalent was the immediate cause of the 

 rapid decline in landownership on the part of farmers during the 

 twenties, thirties and forties of the nineteenth century. 



When this land came upon the market it was usually pur- 

 chased by greater landlords, merchants or manufacturers,'^ who 



1 This system seems comparable to Anerbrecht in Germany. 



2 Parliamentary Papers, 1833, Vol. V, question 1704; ibid., 1837, Vol. V, 

 question 5107. 



^ Ibid., 1833, ^ol- ^> questions 12,216-12,219. 



^ Ibid., question 9198. 



^ Ibid., 1836, Vol. VIII, question 1192 et seq. 



* It is a common saying in England that " the lendlord is worse than the 

 landlord." 



' Parliamentary Papers, 1833, Vol. V, question 6699: "As these small estates 

 (in the northern counties) are brought to market do small proprietors step in and 

 buy them, or are they absorbed into large properties ? Frequently absorbed into 

 large properties, but occasionally bought by men who have realized money in 

 trade or in large farms, and who are withdrawing their capital and . . . and invest- 

 ing it in the purchase of landed property." In Kent, question 6412, these small 

 estates are " generally bought by some one who has an estate adjoining." 



Question 2348 : "' As those small proprietors (in the North Riding of York- 

 shire) have sold out, who have become the purchasers .'' In some measure large 

 proprietors that were adjoining, but chiefly tradesmen and shipowners from 

 Scarborough. . . . There is none of it sold to ancient freeholders ; it has changed 

 hands completely, and gone to people who are strangers to the neighborhood." 

 In Cheshire, question 6157, these small properties were "absorbed into larger 

 estates or (purchased) by large manufacturers, who have laid out a good deal of 

 money." Again, in Wiltshire, question 1270, "They are generally bought by 

 gentlemen who have adjoining estates ; there are very few estates now purchased 

 by the yeomanry for occupation." Question 7379 : " When they (the small free- 

 holds in Kent, Surrey and Essex) have been sold, by whom have they been 



