the endless sharing out of estates under electoral mainz inheritance law meant that the area of land available for each farmer to work was forever shrinking. while only ten families shared the 310 ha municipal area in 1661, by the mid 18th century there were 50 neighbours (or "nachbarn", as residents were called, as opposed to those who had moved to the community and therefore neither owned land nor had rights) who had to eke out their lives from the soil.