30 



Agricultural Holdings in Germany. 



land. The number has also been increased to some extent 

 by yub- division of holdings, in which legislation subsequent 

 to 1882 has been a not unimportant factor. 



An extremely minute sub-division of the holdings according 

 to size has been adopted, the classification comprising no less 

 than eighteen groups, the smallest referring to holdings under 

 about twelve square yards. As may be imagined, the greater 

 proportion of very small areas are gardens. A more con- 

 venient grouping is, however, obtained by dividing the hold- 

 ings into five main classes. Thus grouped the number and 

 area of the holdings in each group are as follows : — 







Agricultural 

 Area. 





Percentage of total. 



Size of Holdings. 



Holdings. 



Total Area. 



No. of 

 Hold- 

 ings. 



Agricul- 

 tural 

 Area. 



Total 

 Area. 



Under 5 acres 

 Under 5 to 12^ acres 

 Under 123 to 50 acres - 

 Under 50 to 247 acres - 

 Under 247 acres and over 



Number. 



3,235,169 

 1,016,239 

 998,701 

 281,734 

 25,057 



Acres. 

 4,465,000 

 8,116,000 

 24,011,000 

 24,375,000 

 19,337,000 



Acres. 



5,966,000 

 10,230,000 

 30,966,000 

 32,495,000 

 27,247,000 



P.c. 



58.22 

 18.29 

 17.97 

 5.07 

 0.45 



P.c. 



5-56 

 10. 1 1 

 29.90 

 30.35 

 24.08 



P.c. 



5.59 

 9-57 

 28.96 



30.39 

 25.49 



Total 



5,556,900 



80,304,000 



106,898,000 



100 



100 



100 



This table brings out clearly how large a number of hold 

 ings are of very small area ; nearly 60 per cent, being under 

 five acres in extent ; although the total cultivated area of 

 these same holdings forms but 5 J per cent, of the whole. 



The relative changes since 1882 are somewhat variable, and 

 not very striking ; the smallest farms have proportionally 

 increased in number and decreased in area ; in the next 

 category the process is reversed ; in medium farms both 

 number and area have increased ; while large holdings have 

 fallen both in number and area. Speaking roughly, there- 

 fore, there has been a slight tendency for the medium sized 

 farms to increase at the expense of both the larger and 

 smaller holdings. 



As regards the modes of tenure of agricultural land in 

 Germany, these are divided in the inquiry into six groups. 

 The number of holdings occupied exclusively by the owner 

 amounts to 40*68 per cent., while the number rented, whether 

 wholly or only in part, amounts to another 46-91 percent. The 

 other groups are small ; and include land of which the occupier 

 takes a portion (usually half) of the raw produce (0-69 per 



