The great increase in the productivity of Ger man agriculture is due to improvements in meth ods of cultivation and the increasing use of machinery. Census investigations show that in 1882 836 farms employed steam plows; in 1895 there were 1696 such farms; similarly, the num ber of farms employing mowing-machines in creased from 19,634 in 1882 to 35,084 in 1895; those using steam threshers increased from 75, 690 to 259,364. Of the farms above 12.5 acres in area the majority used machinery. The farms were distributed as follows: The progress of agriculture and the relative importance of the various products are shown in the following table: The two census investigations of 1832 and 1895 have thrown much light on economic changes in the Empire during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. In 1882 there were 5,276, 344 farms and estates (including garden plots), with a total area of 99,281,521 acres, of which 78,748,230 acres were under actual cultivation. In 1895 the number of farms had increased to 5,558,317, their total area to about 106,970,000 acres, and the area under cultivation to 80,351, 832 acres.
The first interesting fact brought out by the stein, Hanover, and West Prussia; the Prussian studs have a high reputation throughout Eu rope. Cattle are raised chiefly in the rich marsh lands along the North Sea, and in the fertile valleys and mountain slopes of Bavaria, Wiirt temberg, and Alsace-Lorraine. The following table shows the growth of the stock-breeding industry in the last two decades of the nineteenth century: above table is the enormous proportion of ex tremely small farms—less than five acres each— which constitute more than 58 per cent. of the total; almost one-third of these are less than one-half of an acre each. At the other extreme are the farms and estates with an area of more than 250 acres each, which con stitute less than one-half of one per cent. of the total. The farms
with an area of less than five acres each, though constituting much more than one-half of the total number, cover but little more than one twentieth of the total area. The large land owners possess about one-fourth of all the agri cultural lands, leaving about three-fourths of the total area in the hands of the three classes whose farms range from five to 250 acres. As a con siderable number of the owners of the fourth class are peasants, it may be said that about one half of the agricultural land of the Empire is in their hands, the land parcels of less than five acres being owned by workmen or people of small means, who use them as garden plots. The large estates are' the property of nobles and capitalists.
More than 86 per cent. of the entire agricul tural land is cultivated by the owners, and less than 14 per cent. by tenants. About 41 per cent. of all the farmers cultivate their own land ex clusively; a little over 31 per cent. cultivate rented land, in addition to their own; the remain ing 28 per cent. cultivate rented land exclusive ly; the proportion of tenants has remained about the same since 1882.
The number of independent agricultural pro ducers increased in the thirteen-year period be tween the two censuses about 12 per cent., from 2,283,033,in 1882 to 2,568,725 in 1895. The num ber of male agricultural laborers in 1895 was 3,239,640. The use of small farms as an aux iliary source of income is increasing. In 1882 3,119,825 persons, including their families, re ported agriculture as a subsidiary occupation; in 1895 their number was 3,648,247, or an in crease of 17 per cent.