bles. In the same way,
thousands of hectares are used as horse pastures because horses for
soldiers and other purposes of war fetch good prices. On the other hand,
extensive forests, that can be made fertile, are kept at present for the
enjoyment of the hunting lords, and this often happens in neighborhoods
where the dismantling of a few hectares of woodland and their conversion
to agricultural purposes could be undertaken without thereby injuriously
affecting the humidity of the neighborhood.

Upon this particular point, forestry to-day denies the influence of
woodlands upon moisture. Woods should be allowed in large masses only at
such places where the nature of the soil permits no other form of
cultivation, or where the purpose is to furnish mountain regions with a
profitable vegetation, or with a check to the rapid running down of
water in order to prevent freshets and the washing away of the land.
From this point of view, thousands of square kilometers of fertile land
could be reclaimed in Germany for agriculture. But such an alteration
runs counter as well to the interests of the hierarchy of
office-holders--foresters--as to the private and hunting interests of
the large landlords, who are not inclined to forfeit their hunting
grounds and pleasures of the chase.

To what extent the process of rendering "hands" superfluous is
progressing in agriculture and in the industries therewith connected has
been shown in the palpable depopulation of the rural districts of
Germany. It may, furthermore, be specified that in the period between
1885 and 1890, the decrease of the rural population in 74 districts east
of the Elbe was above 2 per cent.; in 44 of these 74 districts it was
even above 3 per cent. In western Prussia, a decrease was established of
over 2 per cent. in 16 districts, in two of which the decrease exceeded
3 per cent. Especially high was the percentage of decrease in those
neighborhoods where large landlords figure as special dispensations of
Providence. In Wurtemberg, during the period between 1839 and 1885, the
population of 22 peasant districts declined from 29,907 heads to
19,213,--not less than 35.7 per cent. In East and West Prignitz, the
rural population declined during the period of 1868-1885 from 100,000
heads to 85,000,--15 per cent.

The decrease of the rural working population is marked also in England
where, as well known, latifundia property reigns supreme. The
progression in the decrease of