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This article discusses several papers related to economic history of Italy, published in the several journals. In a short paper "La Polonia medievale tra occidente ed oriente europeo," by A. Giesztor, the author examines economic conditions of central Europe, particularly of Poland about A.D. 1000, with particular reference to agriculture. The author decides that Polish agriculture was well adapted for a variety of crops. The paper "La structure economique et sociale de I'etat de I'ordre teutonique en Prusse," sets out to analyse the role that the Teutonic Order had in the life of Prussia. With an indubitable political function the Order showed also its efficiency in the economic sector, revitalizing internal and external commerce to a degree, which the author describes as exceptional. In 1454 the insurrection put an end to its regime in most of the country. B. Geremek deals with the problem of the origins of pauperism in an essay "La popolazione marginale tra ii medioevo e I'eta moderna'." As is evident from the title, the author believes that the problem of pauperism was born in the period of the transformation of society that occurred at the beginning of the modern era.

The article discusses the role of rural organizations in a changing society. The ten papers on which this report is based give examples of the development of rural and agricultural organizations in different parts of Europe but the pattern of change seems to follow everywhere the same general trends. Two basic elements in all formal organizations, functional differentiation and coordination, are put to use in order to fulfill specific functions for the members of the organizations. As the ends to be attained and the functions to be carried out are related to the community or society at large, these organizations are true change agent systems. A pre-requisite for the existence and for the successful functioning of a voluntary organization is that its aims coincide with some joint or shared interest on the part of the members. In a rapidly changing society this basic prerequisite for the functioning of voluntary organizations is threatened, mainly because of the increasing functional differentiation in every aspect of human activity.

This paper discusses the existence of an open-field type of cultivation in Mediterranean lands and in the Atlantic Coastal lands of south west Europe. In certain islands of Brittany, France traces of an open-field type of cultivation still exist. Exposure to the westerly winds retards, and in many cases entirely prevents, the growth of trees, but in sheltered spots they may be found, as well as such sun-loving plants as mimosa, myrtle and vine. The islanders are occupied with fishing and farming. In the Balearic Islands also, the Minorcans are fishermen, while the Mallorcans have been enterprising navigators from earliest times. In all these islands the sillon is the basis of land tenure, and many sillons are cultivated in common. Communal methods of working were also characteristic of other occupations in the islands. The fertility of the soil is maintained by the application of manure in the form of seaweed, and there are very strict regulations concerning the cutting of this plant. In Ile d' Arz, France, with a two-field scheme, the ancient jachère morte has been replaced by the Jachère verte or green fallow. Barley and wheat, both varying in their species as much as the soil varied in its composition, were the cereals most usually grown. The mountains in Greece have limited the extent of the fertile land, and the dry climate has limited its green pastures.

Recent studies by Adelman and by Friedlander and Silver, which have investigated whether regression equations derived from cross-section data can be used to predict the impact of socioeconomic development on changing levels of fertility, are reviewed critically. Regression analyses based on data for 57 countries c. 1960 show that fertility (gross reproduction rate) varies cross-sectionally with region as well as with level of development (as measured by per capita income, percent labor force in primary sector, expectation of life, illiteracy rate). Using equations derived from the cross-section study and time-series data for five European countries during the period that their fertility rates fell, it is shown that predictions about past fertility changes are in error. The results suggest caution in the use of cross-section relations to predict the course of fertility in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article reports on the Third Session of the Working Party on Rural Sociological Problems in Europe, which was held in the Netherlands in August 1968. According to Working Party part-time farming is an important economic and social phenomenon of a dynamic nature, knowledge of which can contribute to the solution of economic, social and institutional problems in a foreseeable future. It further realized that part-time farming is not a uniform phenomenon but its economic and social aspects and implications may vary from country to country, and even within a country from area to area. For these reasons the Working Party felt that it would be unrealistic to agree on limitations in terms of definition, types and the scope of part-time farming. The full report of the German study was presented at the Third Session of Working Party. Considering the significance of such a study to other European countries, various things were recommended, such as socio-economic problems facing women of families engaged in part-time farming, effect of education on farm women and their role in decision making in farm and home life, and problems arising from conflicts of generations living in the same household and measures taken for amelioration.

The relocation of the medieval East Slav state center from the middle Dnieper to the Volga-Oka region was a lateral shift within the potentially most useful agricultural land, rather than a retreat from fertile steppes into the forest. The physical geography of the Volga-Oka interfluve region around Moscow is less inviting, but similar in many respects to the middle Dnieper region around Kiev, and medieval agriculture was highly developed in both regions. The Volga-Don region developed later, but was not merely a land of hunters and herders when political power was transferred. The early Slavic settlers probably had learned about the environment from their Finnic neighbors, and a solid agricultural economy was based upon the use of light plows, for which the light soils were no great disadvantage. The economic strength of the Volga-Oka region was second only to that of Kiev, and it immediately assumed power when the latter fell. The various reasons for the particular success of the little Moscow principality within the region are reinforced by a better understanding of regional trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ireland has been the victim of invasions since time immemorial. The Romans did not conquer the island but Saint Patrick did. From the 5th to the 9th centuries it was a seat of religious learning, from which missionaries went to all parts of Western Europe. A century or so later the Puritan Cromwell came with his war without quarter, in which men, women, and children were slaughtered. His infamous Settlement in 1653 meant in effect that great landed estates were given his English followers, and thus was inaugurated the absentee landlord system that plagued the island for centuries. The consequences for Ireland of this dispossession have been enormous. Except in the district of Ulster, where landholding Anglo-Saxon farmers cultivated their own farms, the system of vast landed estates was disastrous, because the absentee landlords had little interest in agriculture. In the Republic of Ireland today stiff examinations are set, in Irish, for all those planning to teach. Villages where Irish is the mother tongue of everyone are inundated, especially during the summer, with students who come to perfect their Irish before taking their examinations.

Among the current efforts to increase the effectiveness of agricultural advisory work in Europe is a project of the European Productivity Agency (EPA) in the evaluation of agricultural advisory methods and aids. The basic point of view within which the projects in the several countries were undertaken was set forth in a working memorandum prepared in the secretariat of the EPA, and is here reviewed briefly because of its applicability to similar work elsewhere than in Europe.