FRANCE. 



267 



queiit advance of prices, can only be explained by the extreme division 

 of land property in this country. 



It originated at the time of the French Revolution, when all the es- 

 tates belonging to the nobility (nearly the whole territory) were confis- 

 cated and sold at auction. Then the succession law embodied in the 

 French civil code aggregated the effects of this first parceling of the 

 territory. 



It provides that each heir can claim to receive his share of the inher- 

 itance in kind, and that the share allotted to each should contain 

 an equal distribution of the constituent parts of the estate, real and per- 

 sonal. 



It is easy to imagine to what extent the working of this law has di- 

 vided landed property in France since the beginning of this century. 



Again, the French peasant allows the great desire, inherent to his 

 nature, of owning the ground that he cultivates to allure him into pur- 

 chasing small lots at rates which large land owners could not obtain for 

 their whole property. The latter finding that they can by selling their 

 land piecemeal realize profits from 20 to 30 per cent, larger, do not hes- 

 itate to dispose of it in that way. 



The consequence has been, that while real estate at one time acquired 

 almost incredible value (from $2.00 to $1,000 per acre, and for some ex- 

 ceptionally productive land as much as $1,600), nearly all the soil has 

 fallen into the hands of the peasantry, who excel at reaping from the 

 earth all that industry can achieve, but who too often lack the means 

 of carrying on agriculture on a large scale. It is estimated that from 

 75 to 90 percent, of the cultivated land of France belongs to what is 

 called "petite culture," that is, to that class of farmers who work their 

 own land with no other help than that of their children. 



At the same time those who do not own land in their own right, or 

 have none to expect by inheritance, flock to the cities where they find 

 better remuneration for their work and thus contribute, together with 

 the necessities of the military service in this country, in making scarcity 

 of help one of the most serious grievances of French agriculture. 



For this reason we see that almost all the productive land of the 

 country is devoted to such culture as may be expected to give the best 

 results under the smallest outlay. 



A schedule of the share occupied by each important branch of agri- 

 culture may here be of interest : 



