5o 



Large and Small Farms in Prussia. 



The following table* shows the increase in the use of the 

 reaping-machine in Germany during the last twelve years:— 



Percentage of farms on 

 which the reaping-machine 

 was used. 



Farms of 

 124-50 



acres. 



Farms of 



5°-i25 



acres. 



Farms of 

 125-250 

 [acres. 



Farms of | Farms of 

 250-1,250 jmore than 

 acres. 1 1,250 acres. 



i 



In 1882 



In 1894-5 



0'2 



07 



27 

 5-6 



io-3 

 145 



27-9 1 36-5 

 30-8 1 367 



Increase during the 12 

 intervening years 



0 5 



2-9 



4-2 



1 



2*9 0'2 



1 



From this table it is evident that the reaping-machine is used 

 on but a small proportion of the farms, and that its use, even on 

 the large farms, is not increasing to any appreciable extent. In 

 the year 1894-95 it was still used on less than one-third of the 

 farms of 25-1,250 acres. Statistics are also given showing a 

 similar state of affairs in the case of steam-threshers, corn-drills, 

 and manure-distributors. Thus, in 1894-95, on only 567 per 

 cent, of the farms of 250-1,250 acres was a steam-thresher used. 



The reason advanced to explain the small extent to which 

 machines are used is the relative prices of implements and of 

 manual labour ; the present writer can bear testimony that 

 agricultural implements (doubtless on account of the high import 

 duties) are much more expensive, often costing two to three times 

 more in Germany than in England. It appears, further, 

 that those farms which have a reaping-machine only use it 

 for a very small proportion of their corn, i.e., only use it 

 when sufficient manual labour is not obtainable. Many 

 of the machines, e.g., drill-machines, manure-distributors, are 

 used, despite the greater expense, because of the impossibility 

 of obtaining labourers with the intelligence, skill and experience 

 required to do the work properly. 



From a recent article by Brossling+ on the wages obtained by 

 farm-servants in the province of Silesia, based on returns from 



* From " Die Deutsche Volkswirthschaft am Schlusse des IP Jahrhunderts. 

 Bearbeitet in Kaiserl. Stat. Amt., Berlin, 1900." 



I Die Lage der Landwirthschaftlichen Arbeiter in Schlesien am Ende des 19 

 Jahrhunderts. 



