[65] Indeed, we find the mir in some instances playing the part of land broker. The community of former serfs of Prince Shtchetinin, in the village of Sergievskee Borovok, Ranenburg, rented a field of 434 dessiatines (1172 acres), at 16 rubles the dessiatine, and re-rented one-third of the tract at a commission of from 3 to 4 rubles per dessiatine (i. e., from 20 to 25 per cent.), and even more. (Reports, part I., p. 316, No. 10. Cf. also p. 289, No. 15, etc.)
No doubt this business could be as successfully performed by any East Side New York real estate and land improvement agency, as by the Ryazañ peasant communists.
[66] Ibid., Vol. II., part I., p. 264.
[67] This is shown by the comparative data concerning tenure at will among the two main divisions of the peasantry:
| Classes and Districts. | Tenants. | Land leased. | Tenants to population, per cent. | Land leased to land owned, per cent. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Households. | Per cent. | Dessiatines. | Per cent. | |||
| Ranenburg. | ||||||
| Former serfs | 4392 | 83 | 15337 | 84 | 34 | 20 |
| Former State peasants | 893 | 17 | 3010 | 16 | 11 | 3 |
| Dankoff. | ||||||
| Former serfs | 3205 | 83 | 11078 | 81 | 32 | 17 |
| Former State peasants | 676 | 17 | 2765 | 20 | 13 | 4 |
[68] The table includes 62 per cent. of the total area of rented land, the data for the classification being furnished by the statements in the Appendices to the Reports for the districts in question.
[69] We find this tendency very pronounced in the gubernia of Voronezh:
| Districts. | Area rented. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| For money rented, per cent. | For share in crops, per cent. | For labor and money, per cent. | Total, per cent. | |
| Zadonsk | 86 | 7 | 7 | 100 |
| Korotoyak | 88 | 12 | .. | 100 |
| Nizhnedevitsk | 94 | 4 | 2 | 100 |
(Cf. Statistical Reports, Vol. IV., part I., Vol. V., part I.; Vol. VI., part I., Table of Rented Land.)
[70] Here are some instances: