674 Agricultural Administration in Austria-Hungary. 
Exigencies of space compel me on the present occasion to 
limit my remarks to what may be called the administrative part 
of Austro-Hungarian agriculture : the systems of land-tenure, 
the different classes of proprietors, the central and provincial 
control over agricultural matters, and the various agencies — 
such as the Ministry of Agriculture, agricultural schools, experi- 
mental stations and societies — for the general advancement of 
agriculture in the Empire. In short, I propose to give in the 
following pages as complete and accurate a statement as possible 
of what the State does for the agriculturist. The other side of 
the shield — an examination of what the agriculturist does for 
the State by contributions to its support in the shape of land 
tax, surtax, house tax, tax on earnings, consumption taxes on 
food, liquors, sugar, and other commodities, and indirect taxa- 
tion generally — must be reserved for a future occasion, as must 
also any description of the actual cultivation of the soil in the 
different provinces. 
Kaces and Population. 
Austria-Hungary is a curious agglomeration of races, creeds, 
languages, customs, and interests. We are accustomed to think 
of the Austrians as being all Germans, and of the Hungarians 
as being all Magyars. But the Czechs, Poles, Ruthenians, 
Croats, Roumanians, and Serbs have also to be reckoned with ; and 
the first-named, who constitute at least two-thirds of the popula- 
tion of Bohemia, have of late been strongly asserting themselves, 
and agitating for a measure of independence that the Vienna 
Government seems disinclined to grant. The following statement, 
taken from the last decennial Census of 1880, shows in the briefest 
and most telling way the great variety of races amongst the sub- 
jects of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty the Kaiser- 
Konig Francis Joseph, and indicates one of the initial difficulties 
of governing the Empire : — 
Nationalities 
Austria 
Hungary 
Germans .... 
. 8,005,452 
1,972,115 
Bohemians (Czechs), Moravians 
and 
Slovaks .... 
. 5,1 81, Gil 
1,892,800 
Poles 
. 3,239,350 
Kuthenians .... 
. 2,794,554 
360,051 
Slovens 
. 1,140,548 
S0.401 
Serbs and Croatians 
503,371 
2,359,708 
Italians .... 
668,053 
Roumanians • 
190,799 
2,423,387 
Magyars .... 
9,887 
0,47s. 71 | 
Gipsies ..... 
82,256 
Others ..... 
83,940 
Total 
. 21,794,231 
15,739,375 
