The name is absent

AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.

would have induced many to turn their attention to other
modes of obtaining their living, if the land had not thus
been given as a bribe to continue in their comfortless
condition. Germany with its diminutive holdings of
land is certainly better off than Ireland would be were
“ fixity of tenure ” to sanctify the holding of a potato-
garden. But the principle is the same ; setting aside
all questions relative to security of property, it can do no
good to devise expedients for bolstering up and preserv-
ing antiquated forms whose insufficiency occasions a pres-
sure. Relief must be sought, where population presses,
in an extension of the field of industry, as has been done
in this part of Westphalia. The present state of hold-
ings in the county of Mark and the adjoining districts has
formed itself under the double influence of a rich pro-
prietary and of growing industrial activity. The largest
landowners were, as has been said, the clerical founda-
tions. Their property was better defined than that of
lay lords, for none could be alienated. In a country
suited to grain cultivation it was soon discovered that a
certain area of ground could be better, that is to say, more
economically cultivated, than too small divisions of
the land. The progress from the extensive cultiva-
tions (still found in Hungary, Poland, and North Ger-
many), where one central farm had several outworks
on a large scale attached to it, to the more moderate divi-
sion of the surface, by making separate farms of the out-
works, can in the history of these clerical foundations be
clearly followed. Up to the period of the sale of the
domains by the crown, the distinction remained between
the head farm, or “ Oberhof,” and the dependent farms,
although held by different tenants, in testimony of the

AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.

old system. The size of none of these farms was reduced
below what a respectable tenant could manage, and in
this condition the clerical foundations surrendered their
trust to the crown. The rapid sale of all these holdings,
which has been noticed, occurred after trade and manu-
factures had opened other sources of employment for the
people. Iron and steel were in great demand during the
French sway, and for some period after its expulsion.
Of late years the coal-mines, which are found in the
country on the banks of the Ruhr, have given a fresh spur
to exertion. These circumstances could not but exert
great influence on the size of estates, and accordingly we
find holdings averaging a fair size. The usual allotments
are from 100 to 200 acres. The face of the country in
the neighbourhood of the Abbeys of Essen, its tributary
Steele, and of the romantically situated Werden, may be
termed poetically agricultural. The holdings can be
traced as to size by the mixture of copse and timber,
which shelters the farm on the wind side, if the neigh-
bour’s wood does not enclose it there. The house, roomy
and handsomely painted, with its wide-stretched offices,
takes up more room than an Englishman would think
economical. Haggards and stack-yards are rare, although
getting into fashion.

A drive or walk from Essen to Werden on the Ruhr,
or in the opposite direction, will prove a treat to the
traveller, and will justify our praise of the appearance of
the country. We visited a seat situated about five miles
to the east of Essen, where the hospitable proprietor
opened for us a rich store of information. It was easy to
detect the land he cultivated himself from that which
was farmed out to cottiers or labourers, and he declared
his intention of resuming, at the first opportunity, what

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