468 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



fields barefooted, is apt to consider it as a proof of extreme 

 destitution. He is, however, in error it is the custom of the 

 country. A well-to-do farmer's daughters, who are stylishly 

 dressed on Sundays, will work barefooted during the week. The 

 same observation applies to the rye-bread, which the country 

 people eat, as a rule, simply because they have done so for cen- 

 turies, although they can often afford to eat wheaten bread ; 

 which, by the way, is coming into more general use at present. 



In my work on the rural economy of Belgium I made some 

 reflections on the indifferent condition of the Flemish peasants, 

 from which inferences adverse to peasant proprietorship have 

 been drawn. These conclusions are erroneous. The evil arises 

 from the fact that there are too few small proprietors and too 

 many small tenants among the peasantry of Flanders. 



If you want to find a district in Belgium where the peasants 

 are well off, you must go to Lower Luxembourg. There the land 

 is divided out into a multitude of peasant properties, almost the 

 whole of which are cultivated by the owners themselves. Each 

 of these manages his own farm, and under the shadow of his 

 fruit-trees enjoys in security what he earns by the sweat of 

 his brow. This is a kind of rural opulence, due not to the 

 possession of large capitals, but to the abundance of rural prod- 

 uce. No one is rich enough to live in idleness ; none so poor as 

 to suffer from want. The peasant there is also more enlightened 

 than in Flanders, and more independent. The situation is nearly 

 the same as that of the Canton of Grisons, in Switzerland. 



A few figures will indicate the contrast between Flanders and 

 Luxembourg ; in each of the two provinces I shall select a 

 normal district. 



Flanders. District of St. Nicholas, in the Pays de Waes. 

 Farm-labourer's wages, i franc lo centimes per day. 



,, , , , f by owners, 6556 hectares 

 Area of land worked-^ , ^ ^01 



L by tenants, 3 1 ,689 hectares 



Luxembourg. Bouillon and Paliseul district. Farm-labourer's 



wages, 2 francs per day. 



' ,, , , , f by owners, 1 0,600 hectares 



Area of land worked \ ^' ' ^, 



L by tenants, 1 563 hectares 



