land.

A new class of small owners also has sprung up, who, dwelling in or
near towns and railway stations, have bought small freeholds. The
return of the owners of land of 1872-6 gave the following numbers of
those owning land in England and Wales[584]:

Total number of owners of: Number. Acreage.

less than one acre 703,289 151,171
1 acre and under 10 121,983 478,679
10 " 50 72,640 1,750,079
50 " 100 25,839 1,791,605
100 " 500 32,317 6,827,346

The great majority of the first class here enumerated, those owning
less than one acre, do not concern us, as they were evidently merely
houses and gardens not of an agricultural character, but a large
number of the second class and most of the other three must have been
agricultural, though unfortunately no distinction is made. It will be
seen, therefore, that there were a considerable number of small
owners in England in 1872, and their numbers have probably increased
since. Many of them, however, are of the new class mentioned above,
and there appears to be no doubt that the number of the peasant
proprietors and of the yeomen of the old sort has much diminished,
especially in proportion to the growth of population.

FOOTNOTES:

[562] Cf. supra, p. 163.

[563] R. Marshall, _Rural Economy of Yorkshire_, p. 17 et seq.

[564] Slater, _English Peasantry and Enclosure_, p. 7.

[565] It was stated in the _Report of the Committee on Enclosures_
(1844), p. 31, that the ordinary expense of obtaining an Enclosure Act
was from L1,000 to L1,500. In 1814 the enclosure of three farms,
amounting to 570 acres, including subdivision fences and money paid to
a tenant for relinquishing his agreement, cost the landlord nearly
L4,000.--_Agricultural State of the Kingdom_ (1816), p. 116.

[566] _Enquiry into the Propriety of Supplying Wastes to the better
Support of the Poor_, p. 42.

[567] The usual clause in Enclosure Acts stated that the land should
be 'allotted according to the several and respective rights of _all_
who had rights and interests' in the enclosed property, and expenses
were to be borne 'in proportion to the respective shares of the people
interested'.

[568] pp. 8 et seq. Slater, _op. cit._ p. 113.

[569] Cf. Marshall's account of the common-field townships in
Hampshire at the end of