230
AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
peasant’s mind throughout the year, and checks improve-
ment, which, it is feared, would only create a higher
rate.
A fixed land-tax is, in a prosperous country, absorbed
in the profits realized, and is virtually redeemed by pur-
chase and inheritance. The Prussian government has
not raised the actual land-tax since J838, when M.
Hansemann gives the amount at 10,163,000 dollars.
The published budget for 1844 states the land-tax re-
ceipts to be 10,427,944 dollars, so that at least no aug-
mentation has taken place. The people have, however,
no guarantee that it will not be raised, as the crown
exercises an undisputed right of taxation, and in times of
State emergency it is only on this field that the govern-
ment can fall back.
In the land-tax here stated, the county and parish
rates are included, on the plan of the “centimes ad-
ditionels,,in France. The contribution raised in this
manner from the land is small in proportion to the great
objects obtained through its agency. But the circum-
stance of its being levied from the small landowners
makes it oppressive, and the government early found
that it could only be raised in this manner. There is
little doubt, therefore, that the land-tax in Prussia has
the same effect that it has in Bengal ; and in both
countries the individual energies of the people are
paralyzed by the encouragement of small holdings to the
detriment of all accumulation of capital.
In the Duchy of Nassau a similar state of things pre-
vails. The land-tax is rather below the rate in Prussia,
but the principle of periodical revisions has been spoken
AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
231
out by the Chambers. In 1848 the land-tax rate is to
be reconsidered. The cultivated area of the country
is 1,812,541 Nassau morgens, and is held by 42,676
landed proprietors cultivating their own land. This area
is equivalent to 1,103,000 English acres. Considerable
improvement has no doubt taken place in the mode of
farming, and both the fields and the vineyards yield a
much higher return than was formerly obtained. But
that the great evil of the subdivision of the soil is in-
creasing in the duchy, as elsewhere, is shown by the
annexed little historical sketch of the division of pro-
perty in the Rhinegau, which we owe to the kindness of
an observing friend in office :—
Number of Landed Properties in the Rhinegau District of
Riidesheim.
|
Parish. |
Size. |
Years. |
Land under |
|
1833.1 1844. |
Morgen. | ||
|
1. Riidesheim . |
less than 2 morg. |
441 l472 |
720 720 |
|
2,, 5 >, |
89 96 | ||
|
6 „ 10 „ |
46 44 | ||
|
11 „ 20 „ |
17 13 | ||
|
21 „ 35 „ |
3 4 | ||
|
more than 100 „ |
1 1 | ||
|
597 631 |
720 720 | ||
|
2. Assmannshau- | |||
|
sen . |
less than 2 „ |
108 108 |
236 238 |
|
2 » 5 „ |
10 9 | ||
|
6 „ 10 „ |
9 13 | ||
|
11 „ 20 „ |
5 5 | ||
|
21 „ 35 „ |
2 2 | ||
|
134 137 |
236 238 |