•388 Glimpse!^ of Fanning in the Channel Islands 
wliereas in Jersey the two classes are nearly equal. It will be 
noticed tliat the preponderance of acres owned by the occupiers 
is much less than that of the number of owners. This is partly 
accounted for by the fact that in Alderney a large proportion 
of the land is rented, and in one small island the whole of it. 
But the chief reason is that there are a great many freeholders 
who own only an acre or two, or sufficient for a house, garden, 
and glass-house. Indeed, a great many working-men buy as 
little as half a vergee (nearly 2^ Guernsey vergees to the acre) 
for a green-house. This latter fact also explains the very small 
average of land to each occupier. The total area of occupied 
land in the bailiwick of Guernsey in 1887 was returned at 
11,773 acres, and the total number of occupiers (owners and 
tenants together) at 2,506. Thus the average area of a holding 
is only a minute fraction over 4§ acres, as compared with about 
7J acres in Jersey. According to " Gardner's Guide to Guern- 
sey," the population of the island in 1881 was 32,607, of whom 
nearly 17,000 resided in St. Peter Port. This gives an average 
of 1,300 people to the square mile for the whole island, a 
density described by the book referred to as nearly three times 
that of any other European State. The population had increased 
since 1871 by a little over 2,000. These figures relating to 
population refer to Guernsey alone. The large number of 
residents from England, living on their property, must add con- 
siderably to the agricultural prosperity of the island. 
The laws and customs affecting the inheritance and sale of 
landed property are almost precisely the same as in Jersey, 
though there are a few variations in the values of and rates of 
interest on the rentes and in the privileges of the eldest son in 
the two islands. Farm-rents in Guernsey range from 3^. to 101. 
an acre, the most common amounts being Gl. to 71., or about 3^. 
less than in Jersey. Of course, where there is a good house, 
with a glass-house as well, on a small spot of land, the rent 
would be higher than the extreme given above as that paid for 
agricultural land. 
A comparison of the cropping of the bailiwick of Guernsey 
in 1867 and 1887 is given on p. 389. 
The decrease in the cultivated area (crops, fallow, and gi'ass) 
must be owing partly to the relinquishing of attempts to culti- 
vate two of the smaller islands. Certainly in Guernsey itself 
there are no signs of land having gone to waste. On the other 
liand, the increased area occupied by dwellings and gardens 
in the island has, of course, been taken out of the agricultural 
land. 
Comparing the following table with the coiTesponding one 
