Agricultural Administration in Austria-Hungary. 683 
?ver size being inscribed in the Grundbiicher. " Grossgrund- 
besitz " is in that country merely a colloquial term for large pro- 
perties — and only large properties, but has no legal or formal 
isignification. 1 
The owners of seignorial properties constitute special classes 
of electors, both to the Austrian Parliament (Reichsrath) and to 
the Provincial Diets, separate representation being accorded to 
• all landowners paying land-taxes of not less than 50, 100, 200, 
and 250 florins, according to the provinces in which their 
estates are situated. (Females in possession of their own pro- 
perty are entitled to vote under this franchise.) 
The largest seignorial properties are those of Prince 
Schwarzenberg (504,000 acres), the reigning Prince of Liechten- 
stein (-174,000 acres), the Archduke Albert (300,000 acres), 
the Emperor (200,000 acres), and the Archbishop of Olmiitz 
(1 36,250 acres). The largest proportion of the seignorial pro- 
perties is found in Bohemia, in Moravia, and in Galicia. 
In these provinces the great proprietors have from time im- 
memorial possessed estates of wide extent. Most of these 
domains may be reckoned, on the average, at not less than 10,000 
acres of arable laud, and from 6,000 to 10,000 acres of wood- 
land. In Bohemia alone there are 63 estates, with an average 
of more than 14,400 acres each ; and the area of many is 
as much as 60,000 acres. In Galicia, agaiu, three-fifths of the 
whole productive surface is cultivated by large proprietors, 
whose estates vary in extent from 1,000 to 2,000 acres. Exten- 
sive properties belonging to religious foundations also prevail in 
the Bukowina, where, however, they chiefly consist of woodland. 
Nearly all these properties belong to the high nobility ; and, 
as a rule, they are farmed by the owners, with the aid of a 
director and an elaborate staff of managers. In the fertile 
provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, however, where are the 
great sugar-factories, portions of estates are sometimes let out 
to the companies or individuals who exploit these factories. 
Thus, the Wischau sugar-factory, near Briinn, in Moravia, 
managed by a company of shareholders, has 1 0 farms in its 
total occupation of 5,800 acres, 1 of which belongs to Her 
Imperial Highness the Archduchess Maria Theresa, 2 belong 
to the Archbishop of Olmutz, 2 to the heirs of a baron, 2 to 
each of two ritters (chevaliers), and 1 to a religious founda- 
tion. Another large factory, with dependent farms extending 
over 7,050 acres, at Lundenburg, on the borders of Moravia and 
1 The law as to transfers of land, mortgages, leases, rent, the like, will be 
dealt with when the actual practice of agriculture in the country is discussed 
in a future paper. 
