Note 180 — Chapter IV · LANDED POSSESSION. THE EÐEL, HÍD OR ALOD.

“In the greater part (of Germany), especially in all the populous parts of Southern Germany, the land is tilled by its owners, scarcely any small holdings being farmed out. The possessions of the peasant owners and cultivators are usually very diminutive, and those of the richer lords of the soil, especially in the North, immensely extensive. Lastly, the peasant scarcely anywhere lives upon his land, but in the adjacent village, whatever may be its distance from his fields.” Banfield, Agric. on the Rhine, p. 10.