"Tolstoy, Leo - How Much Land Does A Man Need" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolstoy Leo)

myself."

Towards summer he got ready and started. He went down the Volga on a
steamer to Samara, then walked another three hundred miles on foot, and at
last reached the place. It was just as the stranger had said. The peasants
had plenty of land: every man had twenty-five acres of communal land given
him for his use, and any one who had money could buy, besides, at two
shillings an acre as much good freehold land as he wanted.

Having found out all he wished to know, Pakhom returned home as autumn came
on, and began selling off his belongings. He sold his land at a profit,
sold his homestead and all his cattle and withdrew from membership of the
commune. He only waited till the spring, and then started with his family
for the new settlement.

IV

As soon as Pakhom and his family reached their new abode, he applied for
admission into the commune of a large village. He stood treat to the elders
and obtained the necessary documents. Five shares of communal land were
given him for his own and his sons' use: that is to say - 125 acres (not
all together, but in different fields) besides the use of the communal
pasture. Pakhom put up the buildings he needed, and bought cattle. Of the
communal land alone he had three times as much as at his former home, and
the land was good corn-land. He was ten times better off than he had been.
He had plenty of arable land and pasturage, and could keep as many head of
cattle as he liked.

At first, in the bustle of building and settling down, Pakhom was pleased
with it all, but when he got used to it he began to think that even here he
had not enough land. The first year, he sowed wheat on his share of the
communal land and had a good crop. He wanted to go on sowing wheat, but had
not enough communal land for the purpose, and what he had already used was
not available; for in those parts wheat is only sown on virgin soil or on
fallow land. It is sown for one or two years, and then the land lies fallow
till it is again overgrown with prairie grass. There were many who wanted
such land and there was not enough for all; so that people quarreled about
it. Those who were better off wanted it for growing wheat, and those who
were poor wanted it to let to dealers, so that they might raise money to
pay their taxes. Pakhom wanted to sow more wheat, so he rented land from a
dealer for a year. He sowed much wheat and had a fine crop, but the land
was too far from the village - the wheat had to be carted more than ten
miles. After a time Pakhom noticed that some peasant-dealers were living on
separate farms and were growing wealthy; and he thought:

"If I were to buy some freehold land and have a homestead on it, it would
be a different thing altogether. Then it would all be nice and compact."

The question of buying freehold land recurred to him again and again.