74
AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
short calculation shows the owner whether he does bettei`
to retain a farm in his own hands or to let it to a tenant,
and trade and manufactures open to all persons other
sources of industry and gain besides agriculture. Before
the French invasion the term of a lease used to vary be-
tween twelve and twrenty-four years, with a surrender
clause at the end of half the term. The French lawyers
(perhaps rather the diminished credit which their invasion
caused) introduced shorter terms, that have since been
adhered to. Three, six, and nine years, with a surrender
clause for every third year, are now common terms.
That farming originally here obtained on the Metayer
system, or for rents of half the produce of the land, is
evinced by one of the names still used to designate a
small farmer, viz., “ Halbwinner,” or one who gains half
the produce. Such contracts are still to be found here
and there on a small scale, but money-rents are now pre-
valent in the whole of this district. The sums agreed
for vary both according to the size of the holding and its
situation. We were told of a large estate of nearly 1000
acres that wras let for 2800 francs, while small lots in the
immediate vicinity brought as much as 50 francs per
acre. In such cases it is difficult to learn without minute
inquiry what burdens devolve upon the tenant besides
the rent, for he frequently undertakes all the responsi-
bility for roads, schools, churches, &c., to which the land-
lord is liable. In the neighbourhood of the estate men-
tioned lies another, 300 morgens in extent, which pays
six francs per acre. But these sums give no correct idea
of the value of land at present, it being impossible to
procure small well-situated lots under 10 dollars, and
AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
75
larger farms, with suitable buildings, at less than 5 to G
dollars per Piussian morgen, or English acre, where the
situation offers no remarkable advantages.
The period of entering here is usually the 1st of May ;
occasionally, how ever, the 9th of No∖ ember. The going-
out tenant leaves dung and straw behind him, and claims
the winter corn sown, which must not cover more than
one-third of the arable land. There are no other valua-
tions, and the outlay for fencing is confined to the clearing
a few ditches, quickset hedgeshaving disappeared on the
traveller’s leaving the Belgian frontier.