31 



With some few exceptions, and those very tew, 

 no rent is paid ; but each occupier, whether a large 

 or a small one, is his own landlord. 



The deviations from this general view are to be 

 found, for the most part, on the banks of the great 

 rivers, where meadows, either for the purpose of fat- 

 tening cattle, or of saving hay, for the supply of large 

 towns near the mouths of these rivers, are let to 

 tenants for money rents. On the banks of the Oder, 

 near Stettin, I saw some meadows let from 10*. to 

 12s. per acre, the landlords paying land-tax. They 

 are said to yield about one ton and a half annually, 

 of hay, when mowed. The after-feed is worth little, 

 from the early floods in autumn, and the deep snows 

 and severe frosts in winter. The hay is not very 

 good, which is attributed to the great quickness of 

 the growth after the frosts disappear. Land of this 

 description is of less relative value than with us, from 

 the severe cold, and its long duration ; from there 

 being scarcely any of the interval of spring, and from 

 the great drought and excessive heat of the short 

 summer. I was informed, that similar land, higher 

 on the Oder, near the cities of Schwet, Custrin, and 

 Frankfort, was let at nearly the same rate. Lands 

 in the vicinity of the large towns, and in other si- 

 tuations, from local convenience may be sometimes 

 let for money rent, but these are exceptions to the 

 general plan, and the whole of such land bears but a 

 very small proportion to that which is cultivated by 

 its owners. 



The domains of the Crown are differently circum- 

 stanced from other land, and are let to Farmers. 

 The greatest part is in the occupation of persons 

 whose ancestors had long held them at low rents, 

 without their being charged to the land-tax or Grand 

 Steuer. When by new laws the taxation on land 

 was extended to the estates of nobles, those of the 

 Crown were included, and charged with the tax. 



