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be in writing and witnessed; otherwise they will be
regarded as binding for ten years. (2) A valuation
must be made when the tenant takes or gives up
possession. (3) All dues, especialty labour, must be
specified and fixed, though rent in kind may be paid
either in a fixed quantity or as a certain proportion of
the harvest. (4) Improvements must be paid for
according to valuation, making allowance for reasonable
profit accruing from them; improvements on a large
scale may not, however, be made without permission of
the owner. Hereditary tenancies continuing for more
than two generations are not encouraged by modern
legislation.
Besides the torp-holders there is a class not mentioned
in the official statistics. These are the smaller cottagers,
the “backstugusittare,” who, together with kindred classes,
number, according to a careful private calculation, about
100,000. Most of these cottagers have also a small
patch of land, usually pasturage for one or more cows.
In many countries the labourers would be happy if,
like these Finnish cottagers, they had cows which gave
sufficient milk for the family. Many of these cottagers
are very poor; others are better off. Some aim at
becoming torp-holders by reclaiming waste land. Many
workmen have not even a cottage, but live in rooms in
other people’s houses.
The situation of this large class, which has no home
of its own, is often a very unfortunate one. In former
times these “inhysingar” and their families were often
in a most curious and precarious position. The Pauper-Law
required that some householder should be responsible
for them, and that they should not move out of
their own parish unless they could get some one to give
security for them. This hindered their freedom of
movement, as did the old Poor-Law in England. The
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