6 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 



In England, all estates that are larger than what a single family can take care of, 

 are cultivated by day laborers, and men who work by the job : — in the South of France 

 and in Italy the land is so divided that Dienstboten are rarely found, and the small 

 farms held by lease are cultivated simply by the family of the lessee. But in Germany, 

 where the division is not carried so far as in the two last countries, and where we do 

 not usually meet with such large estates as in the first of them, agriculture in ail the es- 

 tates which are not cultivated on the soccage principle is carried on by tiie Dienstboten. 



7. The number of persons in service (Dienstvolk) depends on the 

 mode of husbandry adopted ; on the amount of labor which one can ac- 

 complish by day-laborerSj and those who work by the job ; and on theii 

 diligence. 



In the Egarten and Dreifeld modes of husbandry, with a fallow which must first 

 be broken up in June, one needs the least number of hands, but he also produces the 

 least. In such circumstances we allow eight men to one hundred yokes (about one 

 hundred and forty-two acres) of plough-land, if we call in extra help of day-laborers, 

 for mowing the meadows and threshing. In the system of rotation of crops, the 

 number is not unfrequently doubled. 



In Upper Austria in a very well-managed husbandry of one hundred yokes of 

 plough land, and thirty yokes of meadow, I have found four hostlers, one house ser- 

 vant, two boys, four day-laborers, and seven maids ; thus allowing thirteen men to 

 one hundred yokes of plough-land. The rotation is, 1 Fallow, 2 Wheat, 3 Barley, 

 4 Clover, 5 Wheat, 6 m^ixture of Vetches, Oats and Barley, &c. The people were 

 very industrious. 



In Carinthia it is otherwise. There they number more people for service because 

 they cultivate a greater variety of fruits, have no fallows, and because, too, the la- 

 borers are of a more indolent disposition. It is sometimes quite usual to employ on 

 the estates from twenty to twenty-five men and women, Dienstboten, on one hundred 

 yokes of plough-land, Avith which are connected from forty to fifty yokes of meadow- 

 land. The cutting of the grain is here done, in a great measure, by day-laborers, 

 and those who labor on the soccage principle, (Froehner). The rotation is, 1 Po- 

 tatoes, Millet, Corn or Maize, 2 Wheat, 3 Rye, 4 Barley, manured, 5 Clover, 6 

 Wheat, 7 Rye. The farms of the peasantry (Bauern) in Carinthia are small, from 

 ten to twelve yokes of plough-land, and three to four of meadow. On these are 

 usually the peasant, his wife, and three laborers. Schwertz found the proportion 

 similar in Alsace, for he says that they number on the great farms as many laborers 

 as they have horses. But he mentions elsewhere, th^t for fifteen and a half acres is 

 allowed one horse, which is 1S.6 for one hundred yokes. Farms of forty acres, = 13.8 

 yokes, have four horses and also four laborers. 



That a man in land-husbandry, as in any manufacture, needs so much the fey/er 

 laborers in proportion to its extent, and that great farms on this account, must yield 

 the greatest pure profit, because the cost always lessens of management and culti- 

 vation, without necessarily injuring the quality of tlie work, is a fact universally 

 acknowledged, and easily seen. 



[It is difficult to reduce the German measures to English measures. A yoke 

 (loch) of land, which is a common measure in Austria, is equal to about 1.422 acre 

 English measure, from which the computations above given m.ay be reduced to their 

 value in our measure. Thus one hundred yokes of land are equal to one hundred 

 forty-two and two tenth acres. It will be convenient sometimes to retain the terms 

 employed for measure, without translation, though in tlie more important c^es the 

 equivalent will be given in our modes of computation. There are many estimates, 

 both in Thaer and Veit, of the number of laborers required for the different species 

 of labor. Some of these will probably be given hereafter. — Tr.] 



8. The cash value of a day's work of a Dienstboten, may be obtained 

 by computing the cash value of his cost or board, lodging, clothing and 

 wages, taken together, and dividiiig the sum by the number of days' 

 work. 



That tlie day's work of a Dienstboten must be higher or lower according to the 

 different countries and years, must be seli-evident. Podewill, has examples of such 



