io Rents, Wages, and Profits in Agriculture 



leads to another point, namely, that the 

 land was originally held by a village 

 community, and at first the strips, or long 

 acres, were changed every year. The land 

 was ploughed by the great common 

 plough, and the produce was divided in 

 strips of long acres. The scattering gave 

 each person a share in the good and the 

 inferior land or produce. 



By some this equality in the original 

 holdings is supposed to point to what we 

 should call communism, or equal division 

 of property. And perhaps it was so to 

 begin with. But long before the Norman 

 Conquest of England, the inhabitants of 

 the village community had become serfs to 

 the lord of the manor. And this equality 

 in the holdings had become itself a sign 

 of serfdom. With freedom you get 

 inequality. The holdings were in the 

 nature of burdens, involving so much 



