Number of Proprietors. Total area of the
Area of each property properties of each
class.
12 4,017 from 300
to 400 d&ar 1,372,8077 d6c.
13 1,593 >» 400
to 500 708,602 6
14 1,591 500 to 1,000 1,051,1882
15 428 ff 1,000
to 2,000 577,745
16 96 »i 2,000
to 3,000 229,9085
17 56 ft 3,000
to 5,000 214,812 8
18 38 #t 5,000
and more 401,5861
Altogether 546,084 local proprietors,
owning 34,284,669 dicares, or 3,428,466’9 hectares.
Without reproducing the statistics
regarding the second class, we may state that the characteristic trait of
Bulgarian land tenure is the system of small holdings. The land is mostly in
thj possession of peasants. Another fact deserves attention: the nonexistence
of large estates in Bulgaria. Indeed, as we have just seal, the 34,284,669
dicares of the first class are parcelled out into 7,248,648 holdings, that is
about 4 dicares to a holding. As to the properties of the second class, their
total area of 5,490,908*2 dlcares is divided into 733,693 holdings, which
confirms the general rule.
One consequence of this parcelling out of
land in Bulgaria is the growing tendency of the more intelligent peasants to
round off their properties. As yet the attention of Bulgarian legislators has
not been arrested by this fact, and no special law has been passed dealing with
the rounding off of rural properties. Still, it is only just to mention that
the law of 1904 on the management of pasture ground contains certain clauses,
obviously meant to encourage and facilitate the rounding off of small plots of
land. In fact, this law decrees a discount of 40 per cent, in favour of
thepurchasers of small plots, when they come to an understanding with their
neighbours for the rounding off of their respective properties. Both parties
are at liberty to make one another all compensations necessary for the rounding
off of their properties. This law being of so recent a date, it is as yet
impossible to judge of its results.
Land under cultivation
We have seen that the total area of land
under cultivation about 1897 was 3,452,470*65 hectares. There
are two chief categories of cultivation : permanent cultivation (vines, roses,
orchards, natural meadows, etc.) which covers about 477,084 hectares, and
arable land, such as fields, vegetable gardens, fallows, etc., which cover the
greater area, about 2,975,386 hectares. In the latter class are the lands
devoted to agriculture strictly so called.
Our most usual system of agriculture is
that of double sowing, combined with ground tilled but left unsown (fallows).
This system is completed by pastures and natural meadows for cattlerbreeding.
In 1892, of the total area susceptible of cultivation (2,215,312 hectares),
1,272,927 were tilled and sown. At that time, therefore, about 42 50 p.c. of
the arable land lay fallow. Five years later, things were very different; of
2,975,386*21 hectares of arable land 65*11 p.c. (1,968,628*66 hectares) were
sown in 1897. Of the same quantity of arable land, 2,039,81071 hectares (67*60
p.c.) were sown in 1898 and 2,046,796*21 hectares (67*80 p.c.) in 1899. In
other words, the proportion of fallow land has been as follows :
In the eastern provinces, such as Varna and
certain provinces by the Danube, beside the system above described, there are
other combinations in use. According to one of these, the land is sown for
several successive years and then left fallow tor some time. The statistics
which we have just quoted include this class of fallow land which of course,
strictly speaking, are nof fallows. But be that as it may, the above table
shows that during the period of eight years the proportion of sown land has
increased and the fallows diminished, at the rate of 1130 per cent.; which is
an undeniable proof of progress in Bulgarian agriculture.
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