Note 137 — Chapter X · THE MODERN AGRICULTURAL CLASSES.
Reading edition
In the table below the percentage of old men is contrasted in the several groups of landholders, with a view to the division of the peasantry into the classes above mentioned:
Households (D. of Korotoyak). Classes. Total in the district. Old men above 60.
Strong farmers. I. Farmers laboring. II. Proletarians. III. Total. Rate to the number of households.
Landless....11} 482} 161} 89
Owning from 1 to 5 dessiatines211371477
Owning from 5 to 15 dessiatines146042504111
Owning from 15 to 25 dessiatines56} 8422} 299} 1025} 3431} 5117
Owning above 25 dessiatines287192028
Total10010010010010014
The relative number of old men above 60 is four times greater in the uppermost than in the lowest class of landholders (28:7). The absolute number of old householders belonging to the two lowest classes is the half of the average in the district (8:16), while the uppermost class numbers twice as many householders as the average, and in the two upper groups taken together the number of old householders exceeds the average by 50 per cent. (51:34). Now, the bulk of the class of strong farmers is made up of these two groups, and one-half of the old householders range among the very same groups, constituting there a very noticeable minority. On the contrary, one-half of the proletarians range among those groups in which old people cut no figure numerically.