The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

230 RUSSIA IX EUROPE.some of the labourers have become owners, and since 186G the distribution of theChurch and Crown lands has begun with those wdio had hitherto received nothing.Analogous steps had been taken in the small towns and hamlets. Before 1864 nomore than 13 of the 468 towns stood on ground belonging to the burgesses, all therest being the property of the nobles or the Crown. Of these so-called towns337 have been changed to rural villages, and the ground assigned to the peasantry.These agrarian reforms have been followed by important results. In 1872 theextent of arable land granted to the peasantry amounted to about one-third ofPoland, and over one-tenth was communal property. Each peasant family ownson an average over 20 acres, and in the ten years between 1864 and 1874 thelaud brought under cultivation was increased by 1,360,000 acres. Over 2,000,000individuals, including the families, now share in the possession of the land ; theFig. IIS.— Movement or the Polish Popvlation- from 1816 to 1876./rffltl