2io Agricultural Credit in Hungary. [july, 



Hungary is a country which is essentially agricultural, some 



68 per cent, of the population being engaged in, or dependent 



on, agriculture and its allied industries. 



Agricultural -phe total area is nearly 81 million acres. 

 Credit in r £ .... / . , , 



Hungary.* °* which 70 millions is classed as land under 



cultivation, including, however, over 22 

 million acres of forest. Looking at the distribution of the farm 

 land according to the size of the holding as shown in the follow- 

 ing table, it will be seen that large, medium and small farms are 

 well represented : — 



Size of Holding. 



No. of Holdings. 



Area in Acres. 



Average 

 Area in 

 Acres. 



Up to 7 acres 

 From 7 to 143 acres 

 From 143 to 1,430 acres ... 

 Over 1,430 acres 



1,459,893 

 1,311,218 

 20,797 

 3,977 



3,646,700 

 28,763,000 



8,447,000 

 18,517,000 



22 

 406 

 4,655 



Passing over the first of the categories given, which in a large 

 number of instances are merely allotments, the small farms, 

 with an average area of 22 acres each, account for nearly one 

 half of the cultivated surface ; the third division, described in 

 •the official statistics as " medium farms," represents about 14 

 per cent, of the farmed area, while the areas worked in holdings 

 of nearly 1,500 acres and upwards cover no less than 31 per 

 cent, of the agricultural land. From these large estates, which 

 form one of the typical features of Hungarian agriculture, came, 

 as might be expected, the earliest movement in the direction 

 of providing loans for agricultural purposes, when in the year 

 1862 the needs of the great agriculturists and landowners led 

 them to form the National Land Bank (Boden Credit Institut). 

 According to the first of its Articles of Association,-]- the object 

 is to procure safe credit for landed property, the owners of 

 which are associated in mutual and unlimited liability. A 

 guarantee fund of £140,000 was subscribed by 209 "founders/' 

 who took shares of 5,000 florins (£417), 10 per cent, being paid 



* See also articles on Agricultural Credit Banks, May, 1905 ; Agricultural Credit 

 in France, June, 1905 ; and Village Banks in England, June, 1905. 

 t See Land and Agricultural Banks. H.C. 115 of 1898. 



