EFFECT OF FKAGMENTATION 71 



Cases IX. and X. show the state of affairs in Gujarat 

 — holdings which average only 4 or 5 acres, fields 

 of an acre divided into eight or nine separate plots, 

 and extreme cases where fields of less than an acre 

 contain as many as twenty-five separate plots. In 

 the west Deccan the case is similar, though the evil 

 has not developed so far; and even in the tracts 

 where the pressure of the population on the soil is 

 much less, it is clear that the same causes are tending 

 to produce the same effects. 



To sum up the evil effects of excessive subdivi- 

 sion and fragmentation of land, they may be stated 

 as follows : — 



1. They impede current cultivation and waste time. 



2. They prevent permanent improvements to the 

 land. 



3. They prevent a man from living on his farm. 



4. They prevent any orderly organisation of labour 

 or capital. 



5. They frequently result in second crops not being 

 grown. 



6. They sometimes send land out of cultivation 

 altogether. 



7. They cause enmity amongst neighbours leading 

 to litigation and permanent feuds. 



8. They produce a generally uneconomic situation. 

 If it were only a small proportion of the land that 



was so split up the matter would not be serious ; but 

 in many tracts the great bulk of the land is affected 

 in this way, in other parts the tendency towards 



