3. Community of former serfs of Messrs. Muromtzeff, village Durofshtchino, bailiwick Vednofskaya, of the same district. The arrears amount in an average to 42.70 rubles to each householder. The community may serve as an example of the astounding capacity for growth of the Russian peasant’s wool after he has been shorn like a sheep, as the great Russian satirist has it (_Playwork Manikins_, by M. E. Saltykoff). Indeed, in 1881 all the cows in the village were sold for arrears by the _mir_; in 1882 the statisticians found 38 householders, each of whom was again in possession of a cow. However, notwithstanding this capacity of accommodation, in which the Russian peasant approaches the lowest zoölogical species, the village in question is still far from prosperous. Among the 64 families there are 12, _i. e._, about one-fifth, who own neither house nor cattle, and hold no land, having either returned their lots to the community or leased them for payment of the taxes, which comes to the same thing. On the other hand, there are but 27 households, _i. e._, 42 per cent., who maintain a normal standing, _i. e._, have not less than two horses and one cow, and cultivate all the land in their possession. (Cf. _Tables_, pp. 194-199. No. 29; _App._, p. 329.) [52] _Ibid._, Vol. II., part I., p. 264; part II., p. 197. There are in both districts only ten communities in which the taxes absorb the entire rent, and only seven communities of former serfs (out of 562) in which the taxes exceed the rent. On the other hand, there are only 17 communities where the difference is above three rubles; and the maximum reaches 13 rubles in a community of former State peasants who own a tract of forest in the district of Dankoff (_Ibid._, pp. 31, 210, No. 8). The proportion of taxes to rent in this community is as 9.5 to 22.5, _i. e._, the taxes absorb 42 per cent. of the rent in the most favored community. What would the New York landlord or the American farmer say, to such a rate of taxation? [53] _Districts._ _Percentage of families owning_ _No horse._ _Neither horse nor cow._ Ranenburg 36 25 Dankoff 34 25 (_Cf._ _Reports_, Vol. II., part I., p. 255; part II., p. 189.) [54] The numbers designate communities. [55] In these transitional communities labor agreements for pasture are met with side by side with money contracts. In one case a very patriarchal form of relations was observed. The community was admitted to the pasture of the neighboring village for a reception yearly tendered to the latter. (_Reports_, Vol. II., part I., p. 328, No. 27.) [56] Some cases of communal tenure are not included in the tables of the _Reports_, though mentioned in the Appendices; I have added the extent of this tenure, which makes the difference between my totals and those of the tables.