Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 13 - From Marx to Mao

186V. I. LENINThe total number of farms and the total amount of landthey occupied diminished between 1875 and 1884. Thisdecrease mainly applied to the small farms: the numberof farms occupying up to 2.5 hectares dropped from 1,449to 1,109, i.e., by 340, or nearly one-fourth. On the otherhand, the number of the biggest farms (over 25 hectares)increased from 54 to 61, and the amount of land they occupiedincreased from 2,638 to 3,215 hectares, i.e., by 577hectares. Consequently, the general improvement in farmingand the raising of agricultural standards in the givenarea, about which Drechsler goes into raptures, signifythe concentration of agriculture in the hands of a diminishingnumber of owners: “Progress” has pushed out ofagriculture nearly 400 farmers out of 2,219 (by 1884 thereremained 1,825), and raised the average amount of landper farm among the remainder from 4.2 to 5 hectares. Inone locality capitalism concentrates the given branch ofagriculture and pushes a number of small farmers into theranks of the proletariat. In another locality the growth ofcommercial farming creates a number of new small farms(for example dairy farming in suburban villages and inentire countries which export their produce, such as Denmark).In still other localities the splitting up of the mediumfarms increases the number of small farms. Indiscriminatestatistics conceal all these processes, for the study of whichdetailed investigations must be made.The progress of agriculture in the locality described foundparticular expression in the improvement of livestock rearing,although the total head of livestock diminished. In1875, there were 7,208 head of livestock (in terms of cattle);in 1884 there were 6,993. Going by the gross statistics, thisdecrease in the total number of livestock would be a signof decline in livestock breeding. Actually, there was animprovement in the quality of the stock, so that, if we takenot the number of animals, but their total “live weight”,we shall get 2,556,872 kilogrammes in 1875 and 2,696,107kilogrammes in 1884.Capitalist progress in livestock rearing shows itself notonly, sometimes even not so much, in an increase in numbersas in an improvement in quality, in the replacementof inferior by better cattle, increase in fodder, etc.