THE LAND SYSTEM OF FRANCE 429 



fallow ; and it belongs to a state of commerce in which sales of 

 land were rare, changes of proprietorship equally so, and ideas 

 of making the most of landed property commercially non- 

 existent. It is right to observe, however, that in many parts 

 of France, although the stated period of tenure is commonly 

 short, the farm really remains commonly in the same family 

 from father to son, from generation to generation, provided only 

 the rent is paid. Now, indeed, with greatly rising prices of 

 agricultural produce, there is a steady and general augmentation 

 of rents ; and complaint is much oftener made by tenants of the 

 rise of rents than of the shortness of leases ; first, because the 

 tenant is seldom turned out if he farms at all decently and lives 

 in moderation, as he usually does ; and secondly, because the 

 tenant has very often already some land of his own, has almost 

 always, if no land, some money saved to buy it. He is not, there- 

 fore, in apprehension of being turned out naked on the world ; on 

 the contrary, he would sometimes hesitate to accept a long lease, 

 having in view setting up altogether for himself as a proprietor. 

 Again, although no legal customs of tenure for unexhausted 

 improvements remain in France, where the Code has swept away 

 all customary laws, yet compensation for some unexhausted im- 

 provements exists under the Code. In the case of manure, for 

 example, laid on by the outgoing tenant, he gets compensation, 

 calculated in proportion to the time during which its unexhausted 

 forces ought to yield profit. Again, where the farming is a joint 

 concern between proprietor and tenant, under the form of cattle- 

 lease called cheptel, if the value of the joint property has been 

 increased by the tenant, he is entitled, at the expiration of the 

 lease, to half the additional value. For improvements, however, 

 in the nature of drainage and irrigation no right of compensation 

 of any kind exists ; and the absence of it furnishes in part the 

 explanation of destructive droughts even in the best-cultivated 

 parts of F'rance. Under peasant proprietorship, in parts both of 

 Germany and France itself, the most perfect system of irriga- 

 tion may be found. Peasant proprietorship, coupled with, and in 

 a great measure caused by, a good system of land transfer, is in 

 truth the great redeeming feature of Continental land systems. 



