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tf
THE
AG EtO.ULT URE
RURAL ECONOMY
OF
FRANCE, BELGIUM, HOLLAND,
AND
SWITZERLAND;
FROM PERSONAL OBSERVATION.
BY
HENRY COLMAN,
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND,
OF THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF FRANCE,
AND OF THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES.
it *»
«Without forage no cattle; without cattle no manure; without manure no crops.”
ae i FLEMISH PROVERB.
’ BOSTON, Mass.:
ART::vUR D. PHELPS, WASHINGTON STREET.
MDCCCXLVIII.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by
HENRY COLMAN,
Citizen of the United States,
in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
PREFACE.
Tus treatise is respectfully commended to the candour of
the reader. It was deemed a high eulogium when it was
said of one on a memorable occasion, “ She had done what
she could.” The author claims no higher merit than having,
in the most anxious manner, exerted his humble talents, and
availed himself of all the means within his reach, to accom-
plish his undertaking in a practical, useful, and acceptable
manner.
In treating of séfne subjects, many minute details are
omitted, because he was not willing to tax his readers’
attention with things already perfectly familiar. In regard
to any agricultural operation, or crop, or improvement, the
most full, explicit, and practical directions are given, and
every peculiar feature brought prominently forward. Many
things are omitted because they are of doubtful utility, or of
uncertain authority. His great object has been, not to
publish theories, but to state facts; and the determined
results of enlightened, exact, and conclusive experiments.
A2
1V PREFACE.
There is some miscellaneous matter in the book; yet he
claims for it, if it have any, the merit of being strictly
and highly practical. Even the miscellaneous matter, he
hopes, will not be found without its use; and if it serve to
establish some moral sentiment, incidentally suggested by the
subject, or to relieve in any degree the monotony or tedium
of what might otherwise be, to many readers, unattractive,
he trusts that an attempt thus to mingle the “agreeable
with the useful” will not be severely judged. The great art
to which the work is devoted is every day acquiring new
importance, in its connexion with the economical and moral
condition of civilized society ; and he consoles himself with
the reflection, that the labours of a good portion of a life not
short, devoted to advance and elevate this great art, if they
serve only to awaken the ambition, and stimulate the exer-
tions of those more competent to the task, will not have
been thrown away.
London,
July, 1848.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 1
II. Frencn Acricutture - . ‘ 20
III. Sor anp Asprct ib.
1V. Crores ‘ : % 38 22
VY. Tue Forests or FRANCE ‘ ‘ A ‘ SOB:
VI. A Frencn Lanpscare 24
VII. Tue Frencu PEasantry . 25
VIII. Size or Farms, anv Division or PRopeRTY 27
IX. MeasurEs or THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF
AGRICULTURE : 41
1. Department of Agriculture . ib.
2. Statistical Returns ‘ ; ib.
3. Inspectors of Agricultural Districts 42
4. Importation of Improved Stock ib.
5. Agricultural and Veterinary Schools 43
6. Agricultural Societies and Show ib.
7. An Agricultural Congress ib.
8. Conservatory of Arts and Trades 44
9. Society for the Improvement of Wool 45
X. Paris Markets ib.
1. Corn Market ib.
2. Meat Markets ‘ F é : epee
3. Market for Eggs, Butter, Cheese, Vegetables, Frnits,
Poultry, Fish, &c. F : ; ib.
4. Market for Forage . 47
5. Horse Market 48
6. Flower Market 49
v1
XI.
XII.
XIII.
xT.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XV TL.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Tue CuLture oF FLowers, Botany 49
1. The Floral Magnificence of England 53
2. The Flower Gardens of Paris 54
3. The Gardens of the Palaces ; ‘ a aS
4, Rural Embellishments in France, Holland, Belgium,
Germany, and Italy 56
ABATTOIRS OR SLAUGHTERING HouskEs 64
Tue Fittn oF Paris . 69
Nieut-So1.—PouprETTE 73
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION . 79
1. School at Grignon 85
2. Veterinary School at Alfort 110
3. Agricultural Colony at Mettray . 117
4. Colony at Petit Bourg . 121
Crops 123
1. Wheat ib.
2. Spelt 150
3. Rye 154
4. Barley 157
5. Oats ‘ 160
6. Meslin, or Méteil 163
7. Maize ; Indian Corn ib.
8. Buckwheat 165
9. Millet ib.
10. Clover ib.
11. Lucerne 167
12. Sainfoin . 168
13. Beets for Sugar ib.
14. Silk : : 4 5 ‘ 174
15. The Vine , 5 A j : . 184
16. Olives : : : : 189
GENERAL Views OF FRENCH AGRICULTURE 190
FarRM NEAR VERSAILLES 194
Farm Accounts ; : 195
AcricuLture or Betecium anp Ho.Lianp 199
THE Soin F 200
Tue Dykes anp Poxpers ; ib.
Tue Water Macuinery or Mitts 5 . 204
FiemisH AGRICULTURE 205
Tue Sort; anp Size oF Farms 5 A 207
THe CuLTivaTION oF THE Soil, TRENCHING, PLOUGHING,
AND MANURING 208
1. Deep Cultivation ib.
CONTENTS.
Liquid Manures, and means of saving ‘them
2. Subsoiling
3. Draining
4, Mixing the Soil
5. Rotation of Crops
6. Manuring
7. Liquid Manure
8. Cleanness of Cultivation
XXVII. Manures
1. Mineral Menkes
2. Vegetable Manures
3. Animal Manures
4.
5. Compost Heaps
6. Jauffret’s Manure ;
7. General Remarks on Wanites
XXVIII. Crors
1. Colza .
2. Navette
3. Poppy
4. Cameline
5. White Mustard
6. Flax
7. Hemp .
8. Tobacco
9. Hops .
10. Madder
11. Woad.
12. Weld.
13. Carrots
XXLIX. IMPLEMENTS OF Hiveni none
XXX. Spapr HusBanpRy
XXXII. Live Srocx
1. Oxen and Cows
2. Goats
3. Asses
4. Horses
5. Swine
6. Sheep
XXXII. Datrizes
XXXIII. Farm-Hovuses
XXXIV. Swiss FarMinc
XXXV. Horwyt. IrricaTion
XXXVI.
AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL At
Horwy.
Vill CONTENTS.
PAGE
XXXVII. Lopi’s BeNEvoLENT EstTABLISHMENT . F . 289
XXXVIII. INstirUTION FOR RECLAIMING Vicious CHILDREN . 291
XXXIX. Conpirion or THE Poor anp LasourING CLAssEs . 292
XL. Important Pracricat ConcLusions . : . 297
1. Thorough Draining and Deep Cultivation . « “abe
2. Manures : ; : : : » 1b:
3. Soiling of Cattle : : : = . 298
4. Improvement of Live Stock “ - A iD:
5. Improved Articles of Culture : : . 299
6. New Articles of Culture 2 : ; - ab:
Appenp1Ix—l. II. Select Farms f : ‘ : . 803
CONTINENTAL AGRICULTURE
AND
RURAL ECONOMY.
I. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
AGRICULTURE is the first and most important of all arts.
Though not more honourable nor more innocent than many
other arts and professions, yet it is perfectly innocent, and is
as honourable as any. That likewise may be said of it, which
can be said of few others,—it is essential to human subsist-
ence. We shall find few persons in the community who do
not at once assent to this; but often the assent is merely
formal, and is not that deep and established conviction
which should, much more than it does, prevail throughout
the community; and especially amongst those who, gifted
either by talents or station, have most concern in moulding
human destinies, and in adjusting the interests, and forming
the condition of society.
The affecting and extraordinary events of the last two
years should have their due influence upon every reflecting
mind. In a single country, by the loss of a single crop, at
least five hundred thousand persons have perished amidst
the accumulated horrors of starvation, or the diseases engen-
dered and aggravated by famine. Ireland has its millions of
fertile acres untilled, and its millions of strong hands unem-
B
2 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
ployed. Had the agriculture of Ireland been what it should
be, this terrible event—and one more terrible does not darken
the pages of history—could not in all human probability have
happened.
The essential character of the agricultural art is constantly
pressing itself upon our attention. I have had from my
childhood an inclination for rural pursuits. I have followed
the plough many a day with a freedom and a buoyancy of
spirit which seemed to have no counterpart but among the
winged denizens of the air, who hovered around me, and
with their thrilling notes cheered me on my way, and made
the woods echo with their melody. I have cast the dry seed
into the teeming earth, and watched its first bursting above
the ground, and its gradual progress to maturity, recom-
pensing every grateful attention bestowed upon it, until it
poured its ripened treasures into my lap, with a grateful,
and, I may add without presumption, a religious elevation of
soul which no language could adequately express.
We may be told that agriculture is a purely material and
sensual art, and does not deserve a place among the humane
arts. To a mind material and sensual in all its habits, every
thing becomes material and sensual in the lowest and most
degrading sense of those terms. But its rational pursuit is
not incompatible with high intellectual attainments and the
most refined taste. Whatever occupies and absorbs the mind
exclusively, is, of course, unfavourable to any great excel-
lence in other pursuits. Agriculture, pursued as a mere
branch of trade or commerce, or a mere instrument of wealth,
will be found to have influences upon the mind, narrowing
and restricting its operations and aspirations, corresponding
with any other of the pursuits of mere avarice and acquisi-
tion, and which even those of the learned professions, when
pursued wholly with such views, are sure to have. But when
followed without exclusive views to mere gain or profit, it is
far from being incompatible with a high state of intellectual
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 3
cultivation. Many of the sciences are the handmaids of
agriculture, and serve as well as ennoble it. Its practical
pursuit, though it occupies, yet it does not exhaust the
mind ; but, within certain limits, inspirits and invigorates
all its faculties. A spiritual mind may spiritualize all its
operations; a religious mind sees in its wonderful and curious
processes and their marvellous results, many of the adorable
miracles of a beneficent Providence. That a profound study
of the agricultural art, and an intimate acquaintance and
familiarity with its practical details, are not incompatible
with a high degree of intellectual improvement and culti-
vation, we have too many living examples of this union to
leave us to doubt ; and the immortal names of Cicero, Bacon,
and Washington, show, from their own assertions, that minds
highly gifted of Heaven have found their richest pleasures in
rural and agricultural occupations and pursuits ; and in com-
pany with many others, in ancient and modern times, form a
magnificent constellation of learning, genius, and taste, shed-
ding their splendour upon this useful art.
When I hear this art spoken of with a sort of disdain, as
wholly sensual and material, I would ask, What is there with
which man has to do which is not material and sensual ?
All his organs of perception are material and sensual ; all of
that which he calls purely intellectual or spiritual, without
the power of giving any intelligible definition of what he
intends by it, is directly connected with, moved by, con-
trolled by, and dependent upon his physical organization ;
and is vigorous as that is vigorous; healthy only as that is
healthy ; lives only by being well fed and well cared for.
Eyen the pious clergy, who caution us so strongly against
secular pursuits, and against seeking things earthly and
temporal, without the labours of the husbandman, without
beef and bread, without wool and silk, without milk and
honey, since manna has ceased to come down from heaven
by night, and the rock no longer pours forth its crystal
B2
A, PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
treasures at the touch of the prophet’s wand, could give us
neither their prayers nor their exhortations ; the pious hands
could not be raised to Heaven for its benediction, and the
eloquent lips would become dumb.
I believe the agricultural profession is highly favourable to
good morals; I shall not presume to say more so than any
other ; but it will not be too much to say more so than many
others. Perhaps it will be said, that the agricultural dis-
tricts of England and other countries yield their full propor-
tion of crime. I will not peremptorily deny what is often
confidently asserted ; but I am not ready to concede to it
until other proof than I have yet received is furnished. As
far as my own personal observation and experience go, my
conviction is the reverse of this. Two fruitful sources of
crime are to be found in excited passions and in powerful
temptations. Agricultural occupations, so far from exciting,
tend to exhaust and allay the passions; and the retirement
and seclusion of the country present fewer temptations than
the tumultuous life, the opportunities for vicious association,
the disorderly hours, and the infinite variety of attractions
and engagements of city life. Among, however, a degraded
population, poor and half-fed, without education, without
any interest in the soil, without friends to take an interest
in their welfare, without any sentiment of the value of cha-
racter, without self-respect, accustomed to pass their unoccu-
pied time in drinking-houses and in degrading pleasures, and
treated and lodged without distinction of sex, and without
any regard to the common decencies of life, it is not sur-
prising to find a nursery and hot-bed of crime, where it
shoots up in startling luxuriance. My acquaintance with
many of the villages and rural districts of England and Scot-
land satisfy me that the favourable moral influences which
might be looked for from rural life and agricultural pursuits,
are there found in full operation ; and under a system of
more general and improved education, and especially under
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 5
institutions which would give those encouragements to labour
which are the most powerful motives, as well as the proper
rewards of industry and good conduct, these influences might
be expected to be even more general.
Let me speak of a district or country with which I have
been many years familiar’: it is a purely agricultural
district ; it contains nearly a million of inhabitants; its
climate is cold and severe ; its soil, with some exceptions,
of moderate fertility, and requiring the brave and strong
hand of toil to make it productive. It has public and free
schools in every town and parish, and several seminaries of
learning of a higher character, and where the branches of a
useful and literary education are taught at an expense so
moderate, that it is placed within the reach of persons even
of the most humble means. It has every where places of
religious worship of such a variety that every man may
follow the dictates of his own conscience, where religious
services are always maintained with intelligence and de-
corum, sustained wholly by voluntary contributions ; and
sects of the most discordant opinions live in perfect harmony,
recognising in their mutual dependence the strongest grounds
_ for mutual forbearance and kindness. Taken as a commu-
nity, they are the best-informed people I have known ; and
they have numerous and well-chosen circulating libraries in
almost every town. They have no connexion with any large
market; and the produce which they have for sale, goes
through intermediate hands to the great marts. They have
few or no poor, and those only the emigrants who may stroll
there from neighbouring provinces. The sobriety of the
people is remarkable; they are every where a well-dressed
people ; their houses abound in all the substantial comforts
and luxuries of life; and their hospitality is unbounded.
They understand their rights and their duties, and have
1 The state of Vermont, United States.
6 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
often distinguished themselves by an extraordinary bravery
and manliness in their vindication and defence. No where
is public order more maintained, or public peace better
preserved; large portions of the inhabitants never bolt a
door, nor fasten a window, at night; and in a village of some
thousand inhabitants, I have known a garden stored with
delicious fruit, with no_other fence than one which served as
a protection against cattle, as entirely secure from intrusion
or plundgy, as if it had been surrounded even with a prison-
wall bristled with chevaux de frize. In this state crimes
are comparatively rare; courts of penal justice have little
occupation ; the prisons are often without a tenant, and there
has been scarcely a public execution for half a century.
From such an example of a community almost exclusively
agricultural, I have a right to claim for agricultural and
rural life, all the beneficial moral and social influences to
which its enthusiastic admirers pretend.
The present excited state of the civilized world ought
more than ever to call the attention of philanthropic in-
dividuals and of governments to the immense importance
of agriculture. I have been in France during the exciting
scenes of a political revolution, in which I have seen
very many thousands of workmen without the means of
support from their labour, and large bodies of them actually
dependent upon public charity for their daily bread. It is
not the dangers to public liberty and order, growing out of
such large unemployed and destitute multitudes, which so
much disturb me, as the actual suffering to which they are
exposed, and the melancholy future that les before them.
In London I have encountered, with an extreme depression
of heart, thousands of squalid, ragged, miserable poor, with-
out resource but from crime or charity. A distinguished
manufacturer in one of the most industrious counties in
England states that there are at least five hundred thousand
operatives without employment, and many on the borders
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 7
of starvation: tradesmen and professional men will tell you
that every trade and profession is overstocked ; and one is
daily saluted with the melancholy, not to say presumptuous
exclamation, that there are too many people. This reminds
one of the sad shipwreck of the French frigate, the Alceste,
when many of the wretched survivors, who were floating
upon a raft composed of fragments of the ship, deemed it
necessary to their own safety, to drive by force a large por-
tion of their suffering companions into the sea—a sad and
horrible alternative !
It would be more than absurd in me to attempt to
prescribe a remedy for evils upon which so many sagacious
heads and philanthropic hearts have concentrated without
success their powerful energies. But I will point out what
I deem the true cause of this great evil, and leave to wiser
minds to suggest a cure. One thing is certain; as matters
go on, the evil must extend itself, and become every day
more aggravated and terrible, unless some remedy is devised.
The remedies for the wretched, or, if not wretched, the
unfortunate condition of the labouring classes, which have
been proposed in Paris by men whose good intentions I
would not distrust, and which have been so fully and
publicly discussed, are absurd, impracticable, and mischievous.
The interference of government in limiting or fixing the
hours of adult labour; in attempting to establish a rate of
wages irrespective of the time employed; in proposing to
equalize the wages of all trades, and determining the same
rate for the skilled and the unskilled, the active and the
indolent ; the proposition to furnish the unemployed with
work at the national expense, and to destroy private com-
petition by the establishment of national workshops, are all
of them attempts which are sure to defeat themselves, and
which are as impracticable for the end which they propose,
as to attempt to chain the wind, or to stop the flowing of the
tide.-—None of them touch the true cause of the evil.
8 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
Must we affirm, then, that there are too many people in
the world ; and that thousands and millions are born into it
for whom there is no place at the table of a beneficent
Providence? Why, in France there are more than nineteen
millions of untilled and unoccupied acres, and in England
more than eight millions, all capable of yielding food and
clothing to countless human beings; and here and in other
lands there are millions of acres, for the want of labour
which might be applied, that produce not a moiety of what
they might be made to produce. In ancient Rome, seven
acres were the ordinary size of farms on which a family
might be sustained. In Flanders, on a soil which was once
sterile, but which human labour has made productive, two
and a half acres will give ample support for a man and wife
and three children, or what is considered equal to three
grown-up men and a half; and add to it three acres more,
which this amount of labour is more than sufficient to
cultivate, and you add a considerable surplus for other
purposes.
The great cause, then, of the evils complained of, is, that
the cultivation of the earth is deserted; and that such
innumerable multitudes pour into cities and towns, and,
filling every profession and every mechanical art and trade,
destroy each other by a competition in articles of which
the demand is necessarily limited. There may be too many
physicians, too many lawyers, and too many ministers, for
them all to get a sufficient and an honest living: and too
many hatters, and too many printers, and too many shop-
keepers ; for, besides that these persons furnish more of a
particular article or service than the community require,
their work is in general only formal; they only manufacture,
they do not produce; they do not, like the grower of bread
and of clothing, create that which may be said to have a
substantial and permanent value. For when was the time
when there was too great an abundance of the materials—
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 9
I mean particularly of those which can be kept from year to
year—for food and clothing, for human subsistence and
comfort. As long as this state of things continues, there
must be misery in the community ; as the population
increases, this misery must increase.
In cities, money becomes the standard of prosperity.
Wages are paid in money; money is the instrument of
subsistence, of gain, and of pleasure. Avarice, under these
circumstances, becomes stimulated to excess, and often leads
to crime. Men’s happiness becomes dependent upon that
which has no intrinsic, but only an arbitrary value,—a value
which is always capricious and continually changing. If
men could be induced to cultivate the earth, and, trained
to the simple habits of laborious and rural life, be satisfied
with what that affords them, if they would measure their
prosperity and wealth, not by so many shining pieces of gold
or silver, which they have hoarded in their closets, but by
the produce of their labour in bread and clothing, and the
various and innumerable simple luxuries of life, with which
a kind Providence so often blesses the labours even of the
most humble, how changed would be their condition! If
they could be as well satisfied to breathe the fresh air of their
native mountains and forests as the corrupt and pestilential
atmosphere of crowded streets and confined dwellings, from
which both sun and light are shut out; as well content to
enjoy the simple and healthful sports of the country as the
exciting and exhausting pleasures of city life; if their taste
could be better satisfied to contemplate the verdant fields,
waving with crops or enamelled with flowers, than carpeted
and gilded halls; if they could be taught to prefer skies
painted with clouds of brilliant hues, and studded with stars
whose lustre never grows dim, to palaces blazing with arti-
ficial lustres and adorned with the far inferior magnificence
of man’s genius and taste; if, indeed, by any possible
means, you could induce men and women, and, above all,
10 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
the young, to love the country; if, in a word, you could
keep them in the country by an attachment to its simple
labours and recreations, and prevent their crowding cities to
repletion, and thus destroying by competition the ordinary
professions and trades which prevail there, where so many
vigorous young men, and so many fair and blooming maidens
rush in, like flies in a summer evening into a blazing taper,
to find too often the grave of their health, hopes, happiness,
and virtue, what an immense gain would be achieved for
morals and for humanity !
But while matters continue otherwise, while such millions
of acres remain unoccupied, while such thousands upon
thousands crowd into the learned professions, and into the
mechanical arts and trades, and fill cities to repletion, under
the powerful stimulus of a vain ambition, an inordinate
avarice, or a love of excitement, luxury, and pleasure as
inordinate and unrestrained, we shall continue to complain
of a superabundance of population; and that superabundance,
wherever the wave accumulates, will bring with it crime and
misery. The decrees of Divine Providence cannot be violated
with impunity. Every inordinate and unrestrained passion
will yield its bitter fruits. Every infraction of the laws of
man’s moral constitution will be followed with its just and
inevitable penalty.
To my mind, then, the great causes of the evils of which
society, especially in the old countries of Europe, is every
where complaining, are primarily those which are now pointed
out,—an excessive crowding of the professions, trades, and
mechanic arts, creating a most baneful competition, and an
entirely false assumption, which every where fixes itself in
men’s minds, that pecuniary wealth is the true standard of
prosperity. Competition, which, when excessive, is so
hurtful and serious in the mechanic arts and trades, is, in
agriculture, always a good. Under proper management the
earth cannot be made to produce too much. It is a generally
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 11
received theory, that as yet there has been no surplus produce;
that what is grown in one year is, upon an average, only
sufficient for that year; and that one year’s entire failure of
the crops would cause the destruction of the human race. I
shall not speculate upon this theory, which, possibly, may be
well founded, but which Heaven forbid that it should be put
soon to experiment. In some years there may be a surplus
of some products, and then there may be a dearth of others.
But I have never known too much grown: I have never
known the great mass of mankind enjoying too much bread,
or too much clothing, or too many of the substantial com-
forts of life. If they get the comforts, or their substantial
necessities are supplied, then certainly we should desire that
they should have the luxuries of life in addition,—above all,
those simple luxuries which are the produce of their own
honest labour, and to which that circumstance alone will
always give a peculiar zest.
Can any thing be done to remedy or abate this great evil,
and to turn aside this rushing current, which threatens to
accumulate in such masses of frightful misery ? This is a great
inquiry for the philanthropist, and for all governments which
have at heart the only proper object of government, that is,
the welfare of the governed. The Divine Providence often
punishes human cupidity and madness by its judgments ;
but war, disease, famine, and floods, which sweep away their
tens and hundreds of thousands, are dreadful curatives.
They seem only temporary in their operation. They lay
waste instead of fertilizing. They make man’s heart sink
within him ; and they leave behind them nothing consolatory
or hopeful. No reflecting mind, at least no mind with any
experience of human life, will suppose for a moment that any
effectual remedy can be at once discovered or applied. It is
only the madness, or enthusiasm, if the milder term is more
fitting, of a French revolutionist, which dreams that the
whole form and relations of society can be suddenly changed,
12 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
and that the next morning’s sun shall rise upon a cloudless
sky, bringing back the golden age, dispelling all the fogs
and mists of night, drying up all the sources of human
misery, and pouring out a flood of universal peace, plenty,
and happiness.
While human weakness and passions remain what they
are, no complete remedy is ever to be even hoped for. It
does not yet appear that Heaven designed that man should
realize an optimism in this world. To our humble views it
seems to be the aim of Divine Providence, by the limitations,
uncertainties, imperfections, and trials of this state, to
stimulate a virtuous ambition, and to arouse the minds of
the well-disposed to all possible exertion to ameliorate the
condition of their fellow-men. There is one great encourage-
ment to every philanthropic attempt. Little as any indi-
vidual, or any combination of individuals, can effect, yet I
believe truly that no benevolent exertion, however humble,
ever failed to produce some good; and experience con-
stantly shows that seed, which has been cast into the
ground, may lie long concealed, may not show itself above
the surface even during the life-time of those who planted
it, to gladden their eyes, yet it may yield, though a late, an
ample harvest.
Every one knows the power of public opinion, and how all
the world are influenced by fashion, or what is called general
sentiment. I have heard of a man who was asked, as is
common on leaving church, “ How he liked the preacher ?”
His honest reply was, that “he did not know; he had not
heard any body say.” This homely anecdote illustrates a
striking element in the human character ; and shows how
much our judgments, and consequently our actions to a
certain extent, depend upon the rank which most things hold
in public estimation.
I wish to see an agricultural life, much more than it is,
the choice of men of fortune, of influence, of talents, occupying
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 3
the higher positions in society; and this, not as mere dilettante
or amateurs, but as plain, active, practical husbandmen ;
men, not merely to come on deck in some fine sun-shiny day,
to admire the ship with all her canvass filled, and all her
streamers flying, as a beautiful object of art, and, in a spasm
of poetical frenzy, to enjoy the deep green of the ocean, and
its graceful undulations, and its ruffled waves; but who
understand perfectly the art of navigation, who “know every
rope in the ship,” the nature and stowage of the cargo, and ,
the place and duties of every man in the company.
I have devoted weeks, and months, and years, In my
humble way, to recommend this noble art, to vindicate its
claims to the attention of those who have at heart their own
and the welfare of the community, to show that it is a source,
if not of large, yet of reasonable profits ; that as an occupation
it is as honourable as it is useful; that it conduces to health
of body and peace of mind; that rural pleasures are, to a
well-disciplined mind, among the last to cloy and exhaust it,
and wholly pure and innocent ; but especially, that a strictly
agricultural life, under those reasonable limitations which
apply to every other pursuit, is not incompatible with the
pursuit of science and the cultivation of a refined taste ; so
that men of fortune, talents, and liberal education, who now
sacrifice their fortunes in the idle pastimes and frivolities of
city life, and their health and peace of mind in its feverish
excitements, and the competitions of a diseased vanity and
ambition, would find in the simple and hospitable habits of
rural life, health and vigour of body and mind, and that inde-
pendence of money and of time, and opportunities for general
reading, or the prosecution of any favourite science, which it
is almost impossible to find in the crowded haunts and the
eternal and ever-varying round of city engagements and
pleasures. The most gifted minds accomplish comparatively
little, and fall far short of what might be hoped and expected.
The most humble contributions may not be without avail in
14 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
affecting the mass of public opinion and sentiment. J am
happy in thinking that I have sometimes struck a sym-
pathetic chord in some generous minds ; and under any and
every discouragement, I console myself with the perfect and
serene consciousness of having laboured at a purpose wholly
disinterested, innocent, and useful.
What governments should do in the case is a most im-
portant question. A great portion of the governments which
have existed, have been little else than an unmitigated curse
to mankind. The accumulation of wealth, the acquisition of
territory, family aggrandisement, purposes of purely selfish
ambition, the mere pomp and luxuries of life, military
domination and despotism, have been almost the sole pur-
poses aimed at by the governments of the world. The only
legitimate purposes of government are the security and
welfare of the governed ; but how little have these been
regarded! how often entirely overlooked! Holding, as I
do, all offensive war of every description, and under any
pretext, as a crime against humanity and against God,
one’s heart bleeds at the recitals of history, which seem
little else than recitals of bloody conquests and human
slaughter, of wasted fields, of famishing millions, and of
sacked and burning villages. If the millions and millions
of labouring hands, of sacrificed lives, and of hardly-earned
treasures, which have been worse than squandered upon
these wicked objects, had been devoted to the subjuga-
tion and cultivation of the waste places of the earth, and,
instead of attempts to destroy, society had devoted itself to
attempts to save life, and to the production of food and the
multiplication of the comforts and innocent luxuries of man-
kind, how different would have been the result !
What an extraordinary’ moral anomaly, if so it may be
called, does France at this moment present; a nation on
the verge of bankruptcy burdened with excessive taxation,
with an army of four hundred thousand men, and more than
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 15
nineteen millions of acres of unoccupied land, all susceptible
of cultivation, and of feeding and clothing millions! Does
Great Britain furnish no parallel to this monstrous fact ?
With an increasing national debt, whose payment is perfectly
hopeless, a weight of taxation the subject of universal com-
plaint, millions upon millions lavished upon her armies and
navies ; workhouses and prisons filled to repletion ; thousands
and hundreds of thousands upon the verge of starvation ; and
in the two great islands, resplendent with the brightest lights
of civilization, more than thirteen millions of acres of un-
occupied land, and even her cultivated soil, with an improved
agriculture, capable of sustaining in plenty three times the
number of those who now draw nourishment from her breast.
What a singular conjuncture of circumstances !
Are not these monstrous facts; deeply distressing to
philanthropy ; deeply wounding to human pride? We may
well ask, If in two of the most enlightened, the most civilized
and the most polished nations which have ever existed,
nothing better has been attained, or rather so much remains
unaccomplished for human comfort ; such a mass of human
crime and misery remains unreached and unalleviated, have
we not some reason to ask, what are the blessings, and what
are the triumphs of civilization? We have a right to demand
whether the true ends of government and society have been
answered ; whether it has really reached the limits of its
power for good ; and whether it has not yet to study the
arts of peace and the public welfare. The expenses of
fortifying Paris and of providing its armaments would have
converted a whole department into a garden, teeming with
the substantive comforts and luxuries of life. The enormous
expenses of the wars, under the empire, of which now little
remains but triumphal arches stained all over with human
blood, and splendid monuments to the glory of one of the
great butchers of the human species, would have converted
the whole of France into a fruitful field ; planted every where
16 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
schools, churches, colleges, and smiling villages; filled her
every where with the industrial arts, and with monuments
of taste ; banished, under the blessing of Heaven, all want,
where there was industry to collect, and frugality to use the
products of nature’s bounty; and put it in the power of every
one of her thirty-six millions of people to sit down in peace
and comfort under his own vine and fig-tree. The moneys
expended in the naval armaments of Great Britain, in the
preparation of munitions of war, in the support of her navies
and armies in any year of her history, what would not they
have done in subduing and making her waste lands pro-
ductive! The sums expended for her defence of Ireland, for
the repression of disorders, in'a great measure consequent
upon her wants and miseries, and the vast sums bestowed
upon that wretched country in charity, the necessity of which
springs directly and wholly from its neglected and wretched
agriculture, what would not they have accomplished in drain-
ing her bogs, in enriching her meadows, in changing her mud
hovels into comfortable cottages; in warding off the grim
horrors of famine, and in raising millions of human beings,
sunk, as I myself have witnessed, in a lower degradation
than that in which it seemed possible that human life could
be sustained, to the common level of humanity, and even to
a high measure of comfort and civilization !
What then shall government do to remedy the dreadful
evils under which civilized society is now groaning aloud ;
and one part of God’s family is impiously complaining that
He permits another portion, though with equal rights as
themselves, to come into the world; and our cities, from an
excessive competition or production in the pursuits of
mechanical industry, or in the learned professions, are every
where teeming with masses of misery and crime? I do not
say that an extended and improved agriculture would prove
the only remedy ; nor that it would prove a certain remedy ;
but I believe it would prove effectual to a certain and large
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. } 7
degree ; and I demand to know what single remedy will
prove more efficient. To whatever degree, be it more or less,
to which it is extended, it increases national wealth; it
multiplies the means of subsistence ; it withdraws men from
the competitions of trade and manufactures ; and, above all,
it attaches men to the soil, and so far gives a pledge of order,
loyalty, and patriotism.
The efforts of government, then, should be directed to give
every possible facility and protection to this art or pursuit ;
to render land accessible ; to break up those tenures under
which, by various provisions, worthy only of a barbarous
age, land is kept out of cultivation; to alleviate, as much
as possible, the burdens upon land ; to assist in all those
great improvements, which are too vast for individual effort ;
to diffuse agricultural knowledge; to promote agricultural
education ; to learn and translate the improvements and
crops of other countries ; and by honours and premiums to
encourage an emulation in the only art in which emulation
is not only innocent and harmless, but always useful to all
parties ; and thus to stimulate cultivation and improvement
in every branch of this art and habits of domestic economy,
by every practicable means. What governments can do on
a large scale, landlords and proprietors may do perhaps
more efficiently and successfully within their own domains.
May they feel the great responsibility which their situation
imposes on them! If any one of the great nations of Europe
would give but half the attention and half the expense to
the improvement of its agriculture, which it now bestows
upon its military preparations and improvements, we might
expect an equal proficiency in the one art as in the other.
Which should be preferred, whether it. be better to save
life or to destroy, I leave to the judgment of my readers.
It is now only a few months since I passed a day at
Waterloo. I saw, waving with their luxuriant crops, the
fields which had been enriched by torrents of human blood :
‘ 6
18 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
“ I stood upon the grassy mound under which tens of slaugh- -
tered thousands lay entombed. I have a profound reverence
for that heroism which bares its bosom in defence of right,
justice, and freedom ; but I have no respect for that tiger-
ferocity which delights in human carnage, and that mad
enthusiasm which follows, reckless of its own and of other
lives, the phantom which men call military glory. The
cannon’s roar, the waving plumes, the burnished helmet, the
bristling bayonets glittering in the sunshine, have no charms
for me. I took in my hands a skull pierced by a ball, which
the plough had recently turned up. I thought for a moment
of the burning passions, the fiery hate, the thirst for revenge,
for conquest, and for blood, which had filled and swelled in
this little casket,—the noblest production of Divine power,—
when death instantly demanded the account. Other associa-
tions rushed upon the mind. I thought of some once cheerful
fireside made desolate ; of some aged mother robbed of her
staff; of a widow cast friendless upon the world ; of orphan
children, and of weeping friends. And this, said I to myself,
is military glory ; these are the trophies of war. I found the
springs of feeling beginning to be deeply moved. I turned
my eyes at once to other neighbouring fields of conquest
which I had recently left. I had seen millions of acres, by
an enterprise truly grand, a courage most heroic, a labour
most indomitable, rescued from the sea, and its proud waves
repelled ; barren sands converted into fruitful fields ; and
where the ocean held its profitless sway, and the winds and
waves and tempests were accustomed to spend their mingled
and destructive violence, the calmness and security of rural
life every where triumphant ; fields crowned with plenty, and
speckled every where with rejoicing herds; and cities and
villages swarming with busy and happy thousands, and rich
in all the arts and luxuries of civilized and refined life. I
did not need to ask myself, what conquests are the most
noble ? ;
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 19
I hope my kind reader will not deem these reflections
misplaced, as preliminary to the somewhat dry task and the
plain matters of fact to which I now invite him. One of the
most distinguished agriculturists which England ever pro-
duced said, “that the best way of improving agriculture was
to go abroad and see what other people were doing.” I have
been now some time in Great Britain and on the Continent,
that I might see what other people were doing, and learn
from personal observation the true state of the agriculture
and the rural economy of the old world ; that I might pre-
sent to the agricultural community in my own country and
in other places matters of instruction and examples for imita-
tion, if such were to be found; or subjects of congratulation
if their own improvements have already placed them in
advance, and left them nothing to learn. A full survey of
European agriculture is a task for many minds, for many
years of observation, and for higher talents and acquirements
than I could bring to the work. Yet I shall deem it no
mean honour to contribute any useful service to so important
an object. It will be understood that I enter the field only as
agleaner. It is said that the gleaners often bring home the
heaviest and the ripest heads of grain, because these are the
first to drop from the stalks. I shall be but too happy if the
analogy should be found to hold in my case.
I shall begin with sketches of French agriculture, and
these will be followed by, and sometimes intermingled with,
sketches of Flemish and Swiss agriculture, and other observa-
tions which may have suggested themselves in the course of
my tour. There may be found some deficiencies, because I
mean to state nothing, unless otherwise declared, which has
not been verified by personal observation ; but, on the other
hand, there will be this advantage, that such statements
rest upon a responsible authority. My great object will be
to give almost exclusively information of a practical cha-
racter; but if occasionally there may appear some slight
c2
20 FRENCH AGRICULTURE—SOIL AND ASPECT.
digressions, my kind reader will regard them only as water-
ing places on the journey, where the traveller loosens the
reins and dismounts for a moment in a dry and dusty road,
that he may renew his progress with more freshness and
vigour,
Il. FRENCH AGRICULTURE.
The agriculture of France is its great and commanding
interest. Its manufactures and commerce are considerable ;
but its manufactures are mainly concerned in the fabrication,
and its commerce in the transportation and exchange, of the
products of its own soil. I should have no difficulty in
giving the statistical returns of the agriculture of France,
but this comes only in a limited degree within my province ;
and a long table of mere numbers would convey little
instruction to my readers. It is of great advantage to
France, however, that it procures these returns regularly ;
and thus, as in the late scarcity of grain and in the failure
of the potato crop, enabled the government to provide early,
with a humane foresight, against the sufferings which were
likely to follow. It is sufficient to say that France has
nearly thirty-six millions of inhabitants; and that in ordi-
nary seasons she is able, to a great extent, to feed her own
people from her own soil,
III. SOIL AND ASPECT.
The agriculture of a country of necessity corresponds to
its climate, soil, and aspect. Besides these physical con-
ditions, it depends upon many circumstances of a political
or moral character, and others which may be termed acci-
dental. The territory of France, stretching through nearly
eight degrees of latitude, is susceptible of a great variety of
SOIL AND ASPECT. 21
cultivation. On the eastern side it feels the cold influences
of a range of mountains covered with perpetual snow ; on its
western side its climate is softened by the vicinity of the
broad Atlantic ; its northern portions gather humidity from
the ocean which bounds it ; its southern portions enjoy the
sunny influences of an early spring and an almost tropical
summer, and of the vapours which rise from that most
beautiful of all waters, the Mediterranean, which laves its
shores. Its territory is traversed in various directions by
several magnificent rivers, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Loire,
the Garonne, the Seine ; and many minor tributaries, which,
if they have not the magnitude of many of the rivers of the
western world, afford nevertheless great facilities for inland
navigation and transportation; and, at the same time,
present on their banks a large extent of alluvial land of the
most productive quality.
While the soil of these alluvial lands is most excellent, the
soil of the high grounds, as far as it has come under my
observation, is of an inferior quality. It is in general
strongly calcareous, with the lime or chalk forming almost
the entire surface. In dry weather, such lands suffer from the
drought, and in wet weather nothing can be more unpleasant
to work. Large portions of land likewise are found composed
almost wholly of a yellow echry sand or gravel, mixed at the
same time with an aluminous substance, and apparently highly
charged with iron, which constitutes a soil very unfriendly
_to vegetation. Of soils purely aluminous or clayey I have
met with few; but there are many of a mixed character,
with a loam of considerable thickness on the surface. These
are capable of great improvement and productiveness. In
some parts of the country, lime and gypsum (sulphate of
lime) are abundant ; and marl of an unctuous and enriching
quality is found in many places.
29, CROPS.
IV. CROPS.
The common crops of France are wheat, rye, barley, oats,
beans, and potatoes ; but its peculiar crops are, beets for
sugar, grapes for wine, and silk. Leguminous crops or esculent
vegetables, excepting to a comparatively small amount, for
human food, are little cultivated ; oats and barley, it seemed
to me, only to a limited extent ; buckwheat, in the poorer
parts of the country, in a small measure ; and although the
southern portions of France, or more than one-half of the
kingdom, would produce Indian corn, it does not appear to
be largely cultivated, and its value seems imperfectly appre-
ciated. Hay, or grass for hay, cannot be said to be largely
cultivated ; but there are extensive meadows, which are left
in permanent grass. Of the grasses cultivated for feeding,
lucerne (if it may be called a grass) and sainfoin occupy the
first place. The former, when cut green, forms the principal
food of the stock during the summer, and when dried makes
also an excellent fodder. Vetches do not appear to be
extensively cultivated, the preference being decidedly given
to lucerne. Beans and lentiles are cultivated in some
districts. Hemp, tobacco, and flax, are likewise grown ; but
they cannot be considered as prominent crops. Cabbages
are sometimes largely cultivated for stock ; turnips rarely ;
and few fields of ruta-baga of any great extent, have ever
met my eye. I have seen large crops of colza and rape, but
they do not predominate.. It must be understood that I
make these observations with great diffidence. France is a
large territory: different portions of it, in all their habits,
differ much from other portions. It would require years to
give a thorough and perfect account of its husbandry, instead
of a brief and cursory examination, which is all that my limits
admit of.
THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. 23
V. THE FORESTS OF FRANCE.
In travelling through France one is constantly impressed
with the immense tracts of land which are in forest. The
forest connected with the palace at Fontainbleau, only about
fifty miles from Paris, is said to contain 35,000 acres; the
forest connected with the palace of Chambord, 20,000 acres.
There are other forests in France of great extent, some of
them being portions of the national domain, and many of
them the property of individual proprietors. They are not,
however, kept merely for show, or luxury, or sport. The
heath or common lands, in France, which remain open and
unproductive, are returned as 19,499,180 acres, or about one-
seventh part of the whole surface of the kingdom. The fuel
generally used in France is wood or charcoal. There are, it
is said, large deposits of mineral coal in France; but they
are not extensively worked, or are not easily accessible,
though their value is beginning to be appreciated. Wood,
therefore, is grown for fuel, and comes to market by means
of the great rivers and canals in the form of wood or coal ;
so that these forests are regularly and gradually cut off for
timber or fuel, and either re-planted or suffered to grow
again from the old stumps. The law permits the proprietors
to cut off their wood only once in eighteen years; and this
under the control of a government inspector, who requires
that it should be cut clean, leaving only such trees as may
be valuable for ship-timber or for other purposes, which the
government claims a right to take for its own uses at an
equitable price. Under these excellent arrangements the
supply of fuel is constantly kept good, and the price of wood
has scarcely varied for a quarter of a century. In the cities,
and in many parts of France, wood is always sold by the
pound ; and it is curious in Paris to see the immense arks
of charcoal and wood which come down the Seine, and piles
24 A FRENCH LANDSCAPE
of wood in the city, covering acres of ground, and on a level
with the tops of the highest houses. The value of the
timber in these immense forests is likewise great. Although
throughout France the principal and almost universal mate-
rial for building is stone, yet much timber and boards are
wanted for floors and roofs, and various purposes ; and
many large proprietors think that they cannot make a
better provision for their children than by planting forests, or
preserving and cherishing such as they already have.
VI. A FRENCH LANDSCAPE.
A French landscape is peculiar. A large portion of the
territory is comparatively level, with few great inequalities.
The appearance resembles that of some of the large prairies
of the. United States ; for in a great portion of France fences
of any kind are unknown. Here and there a large farm-
house, or what is called a chateaw or castle, meets the eye,
with its customary appendages: but the labouring people
chiefly live in villages, which seem scattered about like
islands, and are generally known by the spire of the church
overtopping the cluster of houses. The French villages more
resemble compact towns than country villages; the streets
are ordinarily paved; the houses are placed directly upon
the street ; and though there are usually or frequently
gardens attached to the houses, it is remarkable that there
are no trees either for shade or ornament in the streets.
Yet the great roads through the country, which are usually
as straight as they can be made, furnishing a paved way in
the centre, and two side paths which are unpaved, are com-
monly lined with trees on each side for many miles.
THE FRENCH PEASANTRY. 25
VIL THE FRENCH PEASANTRY.
Excepting with the ereat farmers, where there are small
buildings for the residence of the permanent labourers
ordinarily in the court-yard, or immediate neighbour-
hood of the great house, the peasants generally live in the
villages, and sometimes go long distances to their work.
They rise early, and among their first duties are those of
religion ; their first visit being, in most cases, to the village
church, which is open at all hours. I have often met them
there in the morning, when it was scarcely light enough to
see the way; and I have found crowds of them in the churches
at night, after their return from labour, when, with only one
or two lamps burning over the altar in the church, it has been
so dark that the dress of persons could not be distinguished
until you came within arm’s length of them. It is the
beauty of the Catholic religion, that, although it is in a
degree social, it is at the same time individual and personal
in its character; that although the ceremonials of the worship
are of a splendid, and often gorgeous description, yet the wor-
shipper seems regardless of every thing but his own particular
part in the service, which he performs silently, and generally
with an intensity and an abstractedness which are remark-
able ; and in churches whose splendour and magnificence it
would require a brilliant pen to describe, I have seen
labouring men in their frocks, and with their spades upon
their shoulders, and market-women with their baskets upon
their arms, go into the churches, and after performing their
devotions, and evidently with no other object in their
thoughts, go away to their labours.
In all parts of Europe the women are as much engaged in
the labours of the field as the men, and perform indiscri-
minately the same kinds of_labour. Having been much
among the peasantry and the labouring classes both at home
and abroad, I must in truth say, that a more civil, cleanly,
26 THE FRENCH PEASANTRY.
industrious, frugal, sober, or better dressed people than the
French peasantry, for persons in their condition, in the parts
of the country which I have visited, and especially the
women, I have never known. The civility and courtesy,
even of the most humble of them, are very striking. There
is neither servility nor insolence among them ; their economy
is most remarkable ; drunkenness is scarcely known ; their
neatness, even when performing the dirtiest work, is quite
exemplary ; cheerfulness, and an innocent hilarity, are pre-
dominant traits in their character. In these respects they
furnish a striking contrast with a considerable portion of the
Scotch agricultural labourers, who are dirty and squalid to an
excess ; with many of the English, who are servile, broken-
spirited, and severely straitened in their means of living ; with
the poor Irish, who are half-clad, and in a half savage condition,
and to whom truth and fidelity are ordinarily words without
meaning; and with the Italians, who, to raggedness and
squalidness and proverbial indolence, add a strength of
passion which brooks no injury, real or supposed, and inspires
in a stranger a fearful sense of the insecurity of life.
The wages of the French peasantry are in general from
a franc to a franc and a half per day to a man, that
is, ten to fifteen pence, or twenty to thirty cents; and to
women about four-fifths of the former sum, or about eight
pence or sixteen cents. In this case they ordinarily provide
entirely for themselves. In harvest, however, or under ex-
traordinary circumstances, they are provided for in addition
to their wages. Coffee and tea are scarcely known among
them. They drink no ardent spirits. Their usual drink is an
acid wine not so strong as common cider, and this mixed
with water; they have meat but rarely ; occasionally fish ;
but their general provision is soup, composed chiefly of
vegetables and bread. Bread, both wheat and rye, is with
them literally the staff of life. With all this they enjoy a
ruddy health; and the women are diligent to a proverb.
SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY. 27
They seem unwilling to lose a moment’s time. I have
repeatedly seen them carrying heavy burdens upon their
heads, and at the same time knitting as they went along.
VIII. SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF
PROPERTY.
The size of farms in France has been a subject of much
discussion. The right of primogeniture has ceased to exist
there; and since the great revolution, the law has or-
dained that the land possessed by any one at his death
should be equally divided among his children. This did not
take place without a hard struggle against it on the part of
the great proprietors, nor without many predictions of ruin
to the agriculture of France, from the infinite subdivisions
which the land was likely to undergo, and the small size to
which farms were about to be reduced. The law, however,
has been maintained, and, as far as I have been able to
observe, with the happiest results to France’. It was pre-
dicted, that, under such an arrangement, no system of exten-
sive agricultural improvement could be attempted ; and that
small proprietors being thus multiplied, and the labourers
themselves becoming proprietors, the lands of the country
1 Tn France the total number of taxed landed properties is stated, in 1835, to
have been 10,896,682, and these were again divided into 123,360,338 separate
pieces of land. It is supposed, however, that of heads of families occupying
estates, which combine many of these smaller divisions, and which consequently
become merely nominal partitions, there are about 5,000,000. Now, allowing an
average of four to a family, it will be seen that there are 20,000,000 of people
in France directly interested in the property of the soil. The number of pro-
prietors of the soil in England, who hold landed property yielding a rent of 1000.
sterling per year, is stated, at the saine time, at 38,000 ; and the whole number
of proprietors of the soil in England and Waies is rated at 200,000, and in the
whole United Kingdom at 600,000. The extent of the United Kingdom is
about two-thirds that of France.—Statistique Générale de la France, par
Schnitzler, tom, iii. p. 11.
28 SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY.
were destined to go into the hands of men without capital,
too ignorant to understand or learn the best modes of culti-
vation; and without the power of applying, even if they
knew, them.
These objections are not wholly without force; but as this
subject possesses considerable interest for many persons, I
hope to be excused for enlarging upon it. It happens with
respect to many things which are deemed evils, or from —
which evil consequences seem likely to result, that there is a
compensating or balancing power at work, which, if left free
to operate, of itself corrects the irregularities, restores the
equilibrium, and prevents the evils apprehended. If all
France were to be cut up and divided into pieces of ground
of the size of a table-cloth, as from the comments made upon
this law by those who know nothing of its actual operation
one would suppose was likely soon to be the case, we should
expect a state of things extremely adverse to the national
prosperity. But it must be remembered, that while the law
requires an equal division of the land among his children
at the death of a proprietor, it does not require that the land
should remain thus divided. The appropriation of it is left
optional with those who inherit it; and in this, as in other
cases, they will be governed by their interests, their con-
venience, and other nameless circumstances by which human
conduct is ordinarily influenced. A father dying and leaving
several heirs, sons and daughters, it is scarcely probable that
they will all wish to devote themselves to agriculture ; and
this too when the parts of such property growing out of this °
division would be, either of them, too small, under any cir-
cumstances, for the support of a family. The result is, as we
should expect it would be in such case, that some one of
the heirs purchases the rights of the others, and the farm
remains in its integrity.
What, then, is the advantage of such a law? It is that it
leaves this matter, as it should be left, to the choice of the
SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY. 29
parties concerned ; and that it in fact prevents the too great
accumulation of landed property in the hands of individuals.
There can hardly be a greater evil, in countries where labour
is abundant, and population presses hard upon the means of
subsistence, than that immense tracts of land, which might
be made productive, should be locked up in the hands of in-
dividuals who will neither use the land themselves, nor suffer
it to be used by others. It seems a violation of natural right,
justice, and humanity ; and there are many circumstances
in the condition of society in the old world, which indicate
that it must be modified or abandoned.
One of the first duties of society is to give to every man
a perfect security in the enjoyment of the fruits of his own
industry ; but it is equally the duty of society to secure to
every man disposed to labour an opportunity, as far as
possible, fully and effectually to exert that industry. The
ends which governments ordinarily aim at for themselves, is
the protection of property ; and almost all laws, being made
by men of property, have this for their great object. But
wealth is ordinarily quite able to take care of itself ; and the
object of government should be to protect poverty, which
constantly requires protection. The true wealth of a com-
munity is its labour, its productive labour. A man is not
the richer for houses which he cannot occupy ; lands, which
he cannot use; money, that he cannot spend. He might
own a continent in the moon, but what would that avail
him? He might die of starvation in the vaults of the Bank of
England, or in the undisturbed possession of the richest of
the mines of Peru. Labour is the great source and instru-
ment of subsistence and wealth. Labour, therefore, honest
labour, should be, under all circumstances, the great object of
the protection and encouragement of every just government,
Laws should be such as to secure to labour, as far as possible,
an open field for exertion. Such is the tendency of the laws
of France respecting the posthumous division of landed estates.
30 SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY.
The laws of primogeniture, by which large landed estates
go exclusively into the hands of the eldest son, and laws
of mortmain, by which lands are for ever appropriated -to
particular uses, are laws of a different description. The
law of primogeniture seems to many persons essentially
unjust in the favoritism which it implies, among those who
obviously have equal claims upon parental kindness and
impartiality. The law of mortmain and perpetual devises,
by which extensive landed estates are locked up and appro-
priated in perpetuity to particular uses, has met with many
warm combatants. They ask, and with what reason I shall
leave to the judgment of my readers, Was not the land given
to man, that from it, by his labour, he might obtain a subsis-
tence, which, in truth, can come from no other source? Now
shall any man, or set of men, so monopolise and appropriate
this land that it shall not be available to these objects? It
would seem that the earth belongs to those who possess it ;
and that, when a man once quits it for ever, his rights in it
should cease ; yet society admits the remarkable fact, that
men who died centuries ago, shall determine how the land at
present shall be used and appropriated ; or that it shall not
be used nor appropriated at all.
It does not come within my province to enter upon matters
of dispute, which, in a period full of questions and inquiries,
seem to be assuming importance, and are becoming matters
of private and public discussion. I am well aware of the
necessity of giving as perfect a security as human society
admits of to the rights of property ; but these rights, it would
seem, should be held in subserviency to a still higher right,
and that is, the right to live. That which a man produces
by his industry or toil, by his skill or genius, exerted without
prejudice to the equal rights of another man, is his own; it
is his exclusively, and it should be his in perpetuity ; that is,
the appropriation of it should be his, and should be uncon-
trolled excepting so far as to prevent its application to an
SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY. 31
immoral object, to an object prejudicial to health or life, or
to the public peace and welfare. But the appropriation of
the soil itself to any object in perpetuity, the shutting it up
from use, the prevention of its occupation for purposes
of human comfort and subsistence, seems incompatible with
those natural rights with which the Creator endowed man
when he commanded him to till the earth, that he might
from it obtain a subsistence. The laws in many of the states
of the United States, when the property of a debtor is seized
for the payment of his debts, very properly take care to
leave him in the possession of the tools of his trade, that he
may still provide for his own, and the subsistence of those
dependent on him. A law which would rob him of his tools,
—and while the community and his duty to himself and his
family require that he should by his labour provide for him-
self and them, should virtually put it out of his power to
exert that industry,—would be of the same character with
that which, under any pretence or form, in the midst of
hungry and starving thousands, excludes them from the
use of that soil from which Heaven designed they should
get their bread, and from which only it can be obtained.
It is one of the great effects of the revolution which gave
independence to the United States, and of the great French
Revolution, that it broke up these restrictive laws, and in
general left property in land to follow the usual course of
other property ; and, above all, made it universally attain-
able.
In the United States, where land is abundant, and where
countless millions of acres must remain for countless years
unoccupied, laws restraining the monopoly’ of land are far
less necessary ; but even in the United States they should
have a care to guard against the perpetual appropriation of
land for any objects whatever, whether under the plea of
pious or of moral uses, as in fact a direct violation of the
rights of every generation to, judge for itself, and to judge
32 SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY.
only for itself what shall or shall not be maintained ; and
secondly, as conferring a power which experience shows is
liable to gross and injurious abuses.
A principal objection urged against this subdivision of
land is, that it prevents any system of extensive improve-
ment of the soil by the great processes of modern discovery,—
draining and subsoiling. This argument has some force ; but
we may hope that in many cases the owners, seeing their
own interests clearly concerned in such improvements, may
combine their forces to effect them. In many of these small
holdings, likewise, the cultivation being by the spade and not
by the plough, the land will be trenched as a substitute for
subsoiling, and an equal productiveness secured. Where
such improvements are obviously demanded, and they might
be too great for individual effort to accomplish, there seems
no reason why the government itself should not undertake
them, assessing the expense upon the different owners of the
land in such forms as would be equitable, and made payable
at such periods as would render its discharge easily prac-
ticable.
It is objected likewise that these small farmers, having no
capital to apply in the cultivation of their lands, and being
of a class not likely to be acquainted with modern improve-
ments in husbandry, their agriculture will probably be of an
inferior character. These objections must be allowed some
weight; but then the holders of these small parcels are
acting under the most powerful of all stimulants, that of
their own immediate self-interest. They themselves being
the owners of the soil, whatever improvements it receives,
and whatever crops it produces, must accrue directly to their
own benefit. The holding being small, it becomes the more
important that it should be forced to the greatest extent, in
order to meet their wants. This circumstance will prompt
to the greatest exertions in procuring from eyery available
source, and in saving their manure for the enriching of their
SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY. 33
small farms. Labour and economy thus applied, may be said
in themselves to constitute a valuable and active capital.
But in place of speculations let us revert to facts, and in-
quire how this system has actually worked in France. It
has produced a great revolution in the tenure of property ;
but from the best inquiries I could make among the most
intelligent and candid, I found a unanimous and emphatical
acknowledgment of its beneficial results. In what may most
properly be called the rural districts, that is, a district some-
what remote from large towns and villages, there are found
farms in size from one hundred to five hundred, seven hun-
dred, and a thousand acres and upwards; and so it seems
likely to remain. The law, though it requires a division of
the real estate among the heirs, does not make it compulsory
to continue such division. The law in fact does little else
in such situations than, so to say, to bring the land into the
market, and leave it then to be disposed of according to the
circumstances of time and place.
But in cases of partition we may suppose a farm of twelve
hundred acres divided among four heirs; they would have
farms of a respectable size ; divided again it would leave
farms of seventy-five acres each, which perhaps may be con-
sidered the average size of farms in New England, and ex-
ceeding the average size of Flemish farms. Even another
division of the same number of parts might take place, and
twenty acres would correspond with the size of many of. the
most productive farms in Belgium. Many persons in arguing
against such an arrangement, proceed upon the supposition
that the division is to be infinitesimal. But this is absurd ;
and, as I have already remarked, the evil of too great a sub-
division has always a tendency to correct itself, and to stop
where it would become positively mischievous. This is found
to be the case, as I have remarked, in the strictly rural dis-
tricts. But a person passing through the environs of large
towns and cities will perceive: that the division has proceeded
D
34 SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY.
very far; the fields often appear like patch-work, and are cut
up into very small pieces. This is exactly as it should be.
These pieces are owned by small gardeners, who supply the
markets with fruit or vegetables, and who, on account of its
limited extent, carry their cultivation to a high perfection,
and often in the number, variety, and quantity of their crops
on these small pieces of ground, astonish one by their success.
Very often these pieces of land are owned by persons engaged
in severe mechanical trades in the cities, who find health and
needful recreation in their cultivation. One thing is quite
certain in such cases—that no land thus situated will be left.
uncultivated ; and under the system of minute economy to
which it is subjected, will unquestionably be rendered as pro-
ductive as possible.
If we look at large farms in Great Britain,—I mean farms
of hundreds of acres, with the exception of some of the best
cultivated districts, such as the Lothians in Scotland, for ex-
ample, or the counties of Northumberland, Lincoln, and Nor-
folk, and only some farms in these counties, we shall find
that even these are by no means always fully cultivated ; and
that, either for want of skill, or enterprise, or capital, large
portions of them are wholly unproductive. This is far less fre-
quently the case with small farms, for the simple reason that
the owners cannot afford to neglect their land, and that the
management is much more easy. It is to be ‘added likewise,
that in very small holdings of six, or ten, or twenty acres,
the great expense of a team, and of costly implements is
dispensed with. In some parts of England, though very
rarely, but in many parts of the Continent, and especially in
Switzerland, the small farmers use their milch-cows for work,
thus getting a double advantage from them; and a milch-
cow, used tenderly, and treated liberally, may be worked
from four to six hours a day without injury to her milk.
This saving is a great circumstance. On large arable farms
it may be calculated, that from a fourth to a third of the
SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY. 35
produce must be counted for the support, and equipments,
and cost of the teams. The saving of this expense is a great
affair; and this is accomplished on small holdings where
‘cows are kept, which pay the expense of their keeping by
their labour and their calf; or where, as in many cases, the
whole cultivation is performed by human instead of brute
labour—by the spade instead of the plough. I believe, there-
fore, it will be found, that in a fair comparison, the small
farms are in fact more productive than the large ones; that
they are managed at less comparative expense, and, in pro-
portion, leave more for human consumption.
If thus much may be said of the economical results, still
more may be said of the beneficial moral influences of such a
system. Of all the influences which operate to promote
exertion, industry, and good conduct, none certainly is more
powerful than the hope of bettering our condition ; and I
may add, without undertaking to give a reason for it, as an
established truth, that nothing inspires more self-respect, as
connected with a feeling of independence, than the possession
of property, and especially the possession of a fixed property
inhouse or land. This effect-is constantly seen in the labour-
ing classes among the French. They are extremely ambitious
of getting a piece of land; and perhaps too much so, after
once coming into possession, of extending their possessions.
This stimulates them to industry, and induces the most rigid
economy. The subdivision of property or of land in France
renders this practicable, which, in other countries, where the
right of entail prevails, or where property is held in large
masses, and guarded with extreme jealousy, is out of the
question. There is a wise foresight likewise in this matter
in respect to the security of public order and the peace of the
country. The persons of all others least likely to engage in
projects of revolution certainly are those whose property
must in every case be endangered by such revolution ; whose
possessions are fixed, and not transferable from one place to
D2
36 SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY.
another at pleasure. Their estates constitute the strongest
pledge of their loyalty and patriotism. The more property is
divided in a country, the more equally it is held, or rather,
that it should be attainable by all on equal conditions, the
greater security is there for the rights of property ; the more
are concerned in the preservation of the public peace. The
humblest agricultural labourer in France may look forward,
by industry, sobriety, and economy, to become a proprietor
and a holder in fee-simple of some portion of the soil which
he cultivates. There is, therefore, the strongest inducement
held out to good conduct ; and the beneficial influence of this
condition of things upon the character of the French pea-
santry cannot be doubted.
Few things have struck me more forcibly than the differ-
ence in the condition of the agricultural population of France
and that of Great Britain—a subject to which I have already
referred. I have never seen a more healthy, a better-clad, or
a happier population, than the French peasantry. Something
may be ascribed to their naturally-cheerful temperament, and
something to that extraordinary sobriety, which every where
in a remarkable degree characterizes the French people ; but
much more, I think, to the favourable condition in which this
law, which renders attainable the possession of a freehold in
the soil, places them.
I am extremely averse to making any unfavourable com-
parisons ; and I am quite aware that my judgment may be
at fault; but I shall offend no candid mind by the calm
expression of my honest opinion. The very poor condition of
a large portion of the English agricultural labouring popu-
lation must be acknowledged. The acquisition of property
is, in most cases, all but impossible. The great difficulty,
where there is a family, is to subsist ; in sickness they have
no resource but private charity or parish assistance ; and they
have in most cases nothing to which they can look forward
when the power to labour fails them, but the almshouse.
SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY. 37
I believe there is an equal amount of philanthropy, and as
strong a sense of justice and humanity among the English,
as among any people; but it is not to be expected that in
any country where wealth constitutes the great and most
enviable distinction, and where, by various circumstances,
avarice is stimulated to the highest degree,—that the great
mass of the community should be either philanthropic, or
humane, or just. Wealth is almost every where, in what is
called civilized, and too often miscalled Christian, life, the
great instrument of power. Power is a dangerous possession,
and always liable to abuse. The only security against this
abuse is the division of power; and to give the humbler
classes the means of helping themselves.
In Great Britain, as I have already said, the rural labour-
ing classes are placed in circumstances of hardship and dis-
advantage. It would be ordinarily quite idle for them to
aspire to the ownership of land. Philanthropic and benevo-
lent persons in various parts of the country have given them
small allotments; though some have endeavoured to limit
these allotments to one-eighth of an acre, and many farmers
have combined in denouncing the allotment system, and
have refused to take leases where the labourers were to be
allowed allotments. The beneficial effects of these allot-
ments, both upon the comfort and morals of the labouring
classes, have every where been acknowledged; but under
the best circumstances, the allotment system can never be
a substitute for that by which the ownership of the land is
itself attainable.
I will not contest the point that great» improvements can
only be expected to take place on large estates and with
the help of large capital ; yet, on estates of a medium size,
such as a hundred or even fifty acres ; these are, perhaps, more
likely to take place than on estates of a much larger size, as
being ordinarily more within the reach of most men—the
majority of farmers being men of restricted capital. The
38 SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY.
immense improvements in dyking and embankments, and
in redeeming land from the sea, which have been made in
Holland, and in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, in Eng-
land, could only have been effected by the union of large
bodies of proprietors. No single fortune is any where com-
petent to such enterprises.
I will not deny that under a system of large farms more
produce may be for sale; and, in a commercial view, more
money will be made, and larger fortunes accumulated. But
I cannot agree that the wealth of a community, held as it
ordinarily is held, is the standard of its prosperity. That
undoubtedly is the happiest condition of society, where none
are over-rich, and none extremely poor; where one is not
continually offended by those striking contrasts of enormous
wealth and extreme destitution, which some countries pre-
sent. That condition of society is undoubtedly above all
others to be preferred, where the power of bettering our
condition, is, as far as possible, equally enjoyed by every
man, and certainly not denied to any one; and where every
possible encouragement and facility are given to the exertion
of this power. It is often a great charity to help our neigh-
bour ; but the best and wisest of all forms, in which this
charity can be exercised, is that, when a man helps his
neighbour to help himself.
If we look at agriculture in a commercial view, and in
this light English and Scotch agriculture is to be considered,
its operation upon the condition of the labourers is often
severe. I have found among the landlords and proprietors
in England and Scotland, in a large proportion of cases,
where they farmed their own estates, many examples of the
most just and kind treatment, in paying their labourers
liberal wages, in providing for them comfortable cottages,
and in treating them in the kindest manner in seasons of
sickness or in old age. But though there must be innumerable
exceptions, this perhaps cannot be said of tenant farmers,
SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY. 39
and especially occupiers of large farms, where, in proportion,
much less labour is performed by human hands, than on
farms of a smaller size. I shall do no injustice in saying
that the great object of the tenant farmers, and this, perhaps,
may grow out of their heavy rents, is to have their labour
performed at the least possible expense. Beyond this, after
the work is done, and the wages paid, they take only a slight
interest in the welfare of their labourers, excepting to guard,
by every possible means, however severe, against their coming
upon the poor-rates. The condition of the working people
in parts of Devonshire and Dorsetshire, as has been estab-
lished by unquestionable evidence, is truly deplorable. I
will only add, that if there exists a more wicked, inhuman,
oppressive, and demoralizing system than that of the gang
system in Norfolk county, of which I have given a full and
unquestionable account in another place, where the cottages
of the poor labourers have been removed from the large
estates, and the people have been driven into a crowded
village, and are wholly at the mercy of the farmer or the
gang-master, I have yet to find it. In physical comforts,
the condition of the slaves in the southern United States is
a paradise in comparison with it. I have no hesitation in
holding up such an atrocious system to public indignation.
It is said these people are free to choose what they will do.
That is to say, they may work upon the terms prescribed to
them or they may die. This is the only freedom of choice
left to them. There is no alternative or remedy. What
freedom is this? What slavery is more galling? There is
always a great outcry when workmen combine to raise, or to
prevent the reduction of, their wages. Should there be no
remedy against masters who combine to reduce or keep down
the price of labour? The answer given in all such cases is
that their rents are high and their taxes heavy ; and there-
fore labour must be pressed down to the lowest possible
point. They are in the power of their masters as much as
40 SIZE OF FARMS, AND DIVISION OF PROPERTY.
if they were their own property. The extreme exactions of
avarice and the abuse of power follow of course. I shall not
go farther upon this subject ; but I have only to add, that such
practices in any are most oppressive, unjust, and inhuman,
and when farming cannot be pursued without involving such
wrongs, a just and honest man will abandon it.
The condition of the French peasantry is wholly different
from this; and their evident improvement is greatly owing
to the law of which we have been speaking. The French
labourer may not only be a holder, but a proprietor of land.
This elevates him at once in the social scale, and inspires
him with that self-respect, which is the most powerful element
of virtue. The English agricultural labourer looks forward
in despair; the French agricultural labourer is cheered by
the buoyant hope of improving his condition. This stimu-
lates to industry, frugality, and temperance. The French
revolution abolished all feudal rights, and entirely changed
the relation of master and servant. The French people,
haying once got a knowledge of their rights, are not likely
soon to lose that knowledge. The recollection of the horrors
of the first revolution, and the suddenness and entireness of
the second, beyond all question exert a wholesome influence
upon the government. That influence is likely to be con-
tinued. The government of France holds the only just
relation which any government can sustain towards the
people. They are not the masters, but the servants of the
people; endowed with sovereignty, not for their own personal
aggrandisement and power, but for the welfare of the people
whom they govern; and any marked departure from this
character will be sure to be early rectified by remedies strictly
popular, and well understood in France, but too hazardous to
be lightly provoked’.
1 This passage was written some months before the Revolution of February,
1848. I have deemed it best not to alter this or the following accounts.
MEASURES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 4]
IX. MEASURES OF THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE
IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
The measures of the government for the advancement of
agriculture have much to recommend them, if they are
carried out in an intelligent and faithful manner.
1. DepartTMENT oF AGRICULTURE.—In the first place, there
is a department of agriculture, the secretary or minister of
which, being one of the first men in the kingdom, is expected
to look after this great interest ; to obtain statistical returns
of agricultural] produce from all parts of the kingdom ; to
learn what is the condition of the art; what improvements
have been made; what improvements are most required ;
-and what is the condition of the agricultural population.
2. SratisticaL Rerurns.—The statistical returns of the
produce of France have been recently completed, and show
a work of immense industry and labour. It is obvious
that such a work can present only an approach to exact-
ness; but even that is of great value; and it will be
found that some facts have been brought out, in respect to
the average increase of the crops, which are in the highest
degree encouraging. These returns have been obtained by
a direct application to well-informed and confidential indi-
viduals, in different parts of the country, who have made
their returns to the central bureau in Paris. A great variety
of subjects have been embraced in them, such as the amount
of land in cultivation ; the amount of land devoted to dif-
ferent crops ; the manure applied ; the quantity of seed em-
ployed, and the average yield. It extends, likewise, to the
number of persons engaged in agriculture, and the number of
domestic animals reared or kept in every department, with a
great variety of agricultural and commercial information, sub-
42, MEASURES OF THE GOVERNMENT
sidiary to, and connected with the subject, of a very interest-
ing character, and of equal utility. This magnificent work
does the highest honour to the government, and to the per-
sons employed in its execution.
3. Inspectors oF AGrRicuLTURAL Dustricts.—The next
provision made by the government is the division of the
kingdom into four agricultural districts, to each of which
an intelligent and experienced agriculturist is appointed,
as inspector or commissioner, whose duty it is to go through
his district annually at least, observe carefully its con-
dition, and report it to the government; and at the same
time, in his journeyings, communicate every where advice
and information, as he may see that they are needed. This
is certainly an admirable mode of dispensing knowledge and
exciting emulation ’.
4. ImpoRTATION oF IMPROVED Stock.—The government like-
wise have imported from other countries some of the most
valuable animals, such as bulls and stud-horses; and stationed
them in different parts of the country, that the farmers may
avail themselves of the advantages which they offer for the
improvement of their stock. On account of the large de-
mands made by government for horses for the cavalry, this
becomes a matter of great importance. Whether the keeping
of bulls would not be better left to private enterprise, is a
question much debated. That which belongs to the public is
seldom cared for like that which belongs to an individual ;
but the government have met this objection by disposing of
their improved animals occasionally at public sales.
1 At one time several persons were employed by the government to visit
foreign countries for the purpose of seeing their improvements, gathering
agricultural information, and bringing home such plants and seeds as were
likely to be useful to the country. It is proposed by the provisional goyern-
ment to revive this excellent plan, March, 1848.
FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 43
5. AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY ScHoots.—France has
likewise several agricultural schools, established in different
parts of the kingdom, of which I shall presently give an
account, designed to furnish a complete scientific and prac-
tical education in agriculture. In addition to this they have
veterinary schools, where comparative anatomy is thoroughly
studied, and the diseases of all the domestic animals most
carefully treated. These likewise may be supposed to grow
in a great measure out of their army, where the medical
treatment of their horses is obviously of great importance.
6. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES AND Suow.—In various parts of
the country agricultural societies are established, and assisted
by the government, for the purpose of diffusing information ;
and these will, in all probability, extend themselves. A
society in Paris, composed of some of the first men in the
kingdom, meets regularly twice a month for the discussion
of agricultural subjects, for the report of improvements,
and, at the end of the season, for the bestowal of premiums.
An agricultural show was undertaken the last year at
Poissy, the Smithfield of France, where some excellent
native, and some very good improved stock, though not to a
large amount, was exhibited ; and here I saw sheep of the
very best, and most profitable kind, especially for such a
country as the United States, where good mutton, and par-
ticularly fine wool, are in demand. These were pure Merinos
of a very large size, well-proportioned and fat, and with
fleeces of an excellent quality. I have never seen animals
of the kind combining more valuable properties. It is
intended that these shows, of which this was a first attempt,
should be continued annually.
7. An AGricuLTURAL Coneress.—Previous to this show, an
Agricultural Congress, composed of more than 300 gentle-
men interested in agriculture, and sent as deputies from
44 CONSERVATORY OF ARTS AND TRADES.
different parts of the country, had been sitting in Paris for
a fortnight to discuss practical questions in agriculture, and
likewise political questions bearing upon it ; which was done
with great ability. At Poissy, the Minister of Agriculture
distributed premiums of large amount; and every circum-
stance indicated an active, an increased, and increasing
attention to this great subject.
8. ConseRVATORY OF Arts AND TRrADES.—Paris is, in the
next place, distinguished by its direct means of scientific in-
struction. It has what is called a Conservatory of Arts and
Trades. This is, properly speaking, a school for the indus-
trial and mechanical classes. Here is a complete collection
of models or of examples of agricultural buildings and
implements—to say nothing of other arts—not only of those
in use in France, but specimens of the best of every descrip-
tion which are used in foreign countries. Here, under
accomplished professors, courses of agricultural lectures, or
rather of chemistry and mechanics as applied to agriculture,
are regularly given, to which access is entirely gratuitous,
the professors being supported by the government; so that
here is presented to inquisitive minds the best means of
learning the application of science to agriculture. Perhaps,
in the science which involves the connexion of chemistry
with agriculture, no country has made so great advances
as France, as the labours of Chaptal, Boussingault, Payen,
and other distinguished men decisively show. If agricultural
chemistry could make men good farmers, the French should
take precedence of all others. How far the facts conform to
this supposition I shall leave to others to judge; because I
have no wish to put my head into the lion’s cage: though I
am compelled to say in passing, that the best arable farming
which I have ever seen, the cleanest, the most exact, appa-
rently also the most productive and economical, is in coun-
tries where there is, technically so called, no science, and
PARIS MARKETS. 45
implements only of the most ordinary description; I mean
Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland. I shall take occasion to
remark upon this fact in another place.
9. Socrery ror THE ImMpRoveMENT oF Woot.—Besides the
Society of Agriculture, which meets in Paris twice every
month, and is the centre of the correspondence of all the
agricultural societies of the country, there is likewise a So-
ciety for the Improvement of Wool, who twice a year bestow
valuable premiums upon persons who have made the greatest
advances in the improvement of the fleeces of their flocks.
This society has its public exhibitions of wool, and has un-
doubtedly accomplished much good.
X. PARIS MARKETS.
1. Corn Marxet.—Paris concentrates much within itself
that is extremely interesting to an agriculturist. Its mar-
kets are in the highest style of convenience, neatness, and
abundance. The market for the sale of all kinds of grain is
a circular stone building two stories in height, and 126 feet
in diameter, surrounded by high galleries for the storage of
flour, the unground grain being in the centre on the floor,
and covered in by an iron roof of admirable architectural
construction. The building is completely fire-proof. The
grain is always brought to market in sacks, and the building,
it is said, is capable of containing 10,000 sacks. There are
to be found here wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, beans,
peas, lentils, and vetches. Bureaus, or small offices, are
ranged round the circle on the inside for the factors, or
salesmen; and, as in almost every other department of
business in France, women are’as much employed in the
sale of grain as men; and there can be no doubt they
manage with admirable skill and address. Sharp trading
46 PARIS MARKETS.
seems often the characteristic of the sex; excepting only
where the affections are concerned. The Corn Exchange
is held here two or three times a week.
2. Meat Markets.—The meat markets are of the neatest
possible description ; but they are scattered about in shops.
The beef in Paris, in point of fatness, is much inferior to the
English ; yet it is of a fair quality. The mutton is likewise
very inferior to the English. Some persons complain of the
English beef and mutton, especially the Dishley mutton, as
being much too fat, and therefore attended with great waste.
Veal in France is not killed until it is full six months old,
and is of the very finest description. The meat-shops in
Paris are shut in by doors of iron grating, so as to admit a
free circulation of air at night, with cloths covering the meat
to ward off the dust ; and they are visited every morning by
the police, and undergo a strict examination, so that, if there
is any meat of a bad description, or which has remained on
hand too long, it is at once condemned and seized. The
butchers in Paris are licensed, and laid under heavy bonds
to conform to the police regulations; and the meats and
other articles brought ito Paris are subject to a duty,
collected at the barriers, which goes towards the improve-
ments of the city.
3. MARKETS FOR EGGS, BUTTER, CHEESE, VEGETABLES, FRUITS,
POULTRY, FISH, &c.—The market of the Innocents’, as it is
called, is one of the largest in Paris. This market is to
undergo great alterations, and a very large sum is in reserve
to build it upon the most extensive and magnificent plan.
This market comprises not only the great fish market of
Paris, but also the egg market, the butter and cheese
markets, the potato market, the onion market, and the
1 Being the site of an old convent or nunnery.
PARIS MARKETS. 47
general vegetable and fruit markets. The sellers, with
searcely an exception, are women, very sharp, very busy,
and of course very talkative. Looking down upon the whole
area from the magnificent fountain in the centre, it would
be difficult to find a more gay and animated scene. The
fountains in Paris are one of its most remarkable features ;
and no principal market is to be found without its continu-
ally-flowing fountain.
The vegetables, butter, eggs, fish, and many other things,
are always disposed of at auction early in the morning to
the retail dealers. The vegetables in Paris are excellent.
Carrots, and turnips, and onions, are not so large as in
England and the markets of the United States, because the
French deem the large-sized vegetables not so good for
eating as the smaller-sized. It is remarkable likewise that
there is hardly any season of the year when almost any
description of vegetables may not be found in the markets of
Paris ; and in the middle of December green peas, asparagus,
string beans, and strawberries, may be purchased in quantities,
which shows the perfection to which the art of gardening is
carried among them.
The fruits exposed in the markets of Paris are of a superior
quality, pears especially, for which the French have long
been celebrated. The St. Michael and the St. Germaine
pears, which, in the United States, have almost wholly
failed, from having, as has been supposed, completed their
period, are here still in perfection, which would seem to
contradict this theory, and leave some other cause to be
discovered for the extraordinary failure of these excellent
fruits. I have not been able to ascertain any thing in
respect to the culture of any of these articles, which is not
familiarly known to all cultivators.
4. Marker FoR Forace.—I have spoken of the grain
market in Paris; it has likewise its hay and forage mar-
48 PARIS MARKETS.
kets, where extensive sheds for protection against the wea-
ther are furnished. These articles, as in England, are
sold in small bundles of a fixed weight. I shall, perhaps,
surprise some of my American readers if I inform them,
that hay, in small packets or bundles, is often sold in
Paris at the groceries. I refer to this fact for an oppor-
tunity of making a remark, which, hereafter, if it has
not now, will have some importance in the United States ;
and that is, that where hay, for example, is bought in such
small quantities, it is likely to be expended with an extreme
economy. No observing American comes from the United
States to Europe, without soon becoming convinced, that
economy of living is no where so little understood as in his
own country; and that for nothing are the Americans more
distinguished, than for a reckless waste of the means of sub-
sistence. The refuse of many a family, in the United States,
even in moderate circumstances, would often support in com-
fort a poor family in Europe. When persons buy tea by the
ounce, and wood by the pound, and hay by the handful, it is
quite obvious that these articles will be expended with far
more frugality, than where the store is less limited and seems
inexhaustible. While meanness is contemptible, a rigid
economy avoiding all waste, is a great virtue. The inhabit-
ants of the United States enjoy an abundance for which they
cannot be too grateful; but which is very little understood
in Europe, where, with a large portion of the population,
including many in the middle condition of life, it is a con-
stant struggle to live, and to bring even their necessary ex-
penditure within their restricted means; and where the
constant inquiry is, not what they want, but what can they
afford,—not what they will have, but what can they do with-
out.
5. Horse Marxerr.—Paris, besides its grain and cattle
markets, has likewise, weekly, its horse market, for the sale
THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS.—BOTANY. 49
of horses, mules, and asses, where immense numbers of
every description are brought, and change hands; and where
the morality is probably upon a par with that of the trade
in horses in other parts of the world, of the green-spectacle
character as exemplified in the Vicar of Wakefield.
6. Frowrr Marxets—The flower markets are another ex-
traordinary feature in Paris. These are held at all seasons
of the year, in three different parts of the city, twice a week,
and in the most favourable season comprise a collection of
flowers and plants as beautiful as the climate admits of. It
is stated, on good authority, that occasionally there are
exposed in a day, in Paris, for sale in these different markets,
not less than 30,000 pots of flowers, the value of which is
estimated at full 9000 dollars, or 1800/1. sterling. With the
strict notions of utility entertained by some persons, such facts
may seem scarcely compatible.; but, if we may judge that to
be useful, which gives us a pure and perfectly innocent plea-
sure, certainly there is no luxury whatever which should be
looked upon with more favour. There are distinct markets,
held likewise at proper seasons, for the sale of trees, orna-
mental and fruit-trees, and flowering shrubs and plants, pre-
senting an extraordinary and beautiful variety.
XI. THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS.—BOTANY.
Perhaps I have already said in other places as much as my
readers will bear with patience, of the cultivation of flowers.
Yet I must crave a further indulgence. I must urge it on
grounds of utility, on grounds of taste, and, above all, on moral
grounds. My words will reach many dwellers in the country,
who, amidst their daily severe labours and toils, are sighing for
some relaxation, and some refreshment of the soul. They
want something which shall relieve the dull monotony of
E
50 THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS.—BOTANY.
their daily toil; something which shall interest their cares,
their thoughts, their imaginations, I will add, their affections.
They require that which, so far from wasting, shall invigorate
their strength. They require a pleasure which shall be
inexpensive, and easily attainable, and innocent, and which,
enjoyed to its utmost extent, so far from satiating and ex-
hausting either the body or mind, shall not weary the former,
and shall enlarge, recreate, and elevate the latter, and fill it
with the purest delight. All this is at hand in the cultiva-
tion of flowers. The taste which leads to it is among the
most pure and the most innocent which can be indulged,
and where it does not interfere with imperative duties, is
unexceptionable.
I cannot say that, as a science for study, botany is ordi-
narily presented in a-form interesting to general readers.
The general classificatiow of plants, and the scientific distine-
tions which are made between them; the physiology of plants,
so far as it is understood, which admits us at once into some
of the most wonderful and beautiful secrets of nature ; the
different modes of culture which different plants require ;
their peculiar adaptation to various soils and climates, so
strikingly as it displays the benevolent adaptations in the
works of a wise and omniscient Providence; the acclimation
of different plants, and the curious changes which, under such
acclimation, they undergo, and by which, like many animals,
they are brought from a savage into a domesticated state ;
the presence of certain plants in certain localities, found no
where else, and where their presence would seem indispen-
sable to render such places habitable to human beings ; the
economical uses of different plants for food, for clothing, for
building, for mechanical purposes, for naval purposes, for fuel,
for colouring, for light ; the medical uses of different plants,
so extensive as it is found to be in every pharmacopeeia ; the
infinite variety of fruits not for subsistence merely, but for
luxury: the uses of plants in the fine arts, for imitation, for
THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS.—BOTANY. 51
adornment, and for taste ; the chemical qualities or properties
of plants in their particular uses, and in their general influ-
ences upon the atmosphere which we breathe, in the gases
which they take in, and those which they exhale; the
control and influence which human sagacity and power have
been able to exert over the vegetable world in acclimating
plants, in propagating them, in fructifying and engraft-
ing, and changing the different species; all these matters
directly involved in the science of botany, render it one
of the most interesting of studies; and, even in its pre-
sent imperfect state, it is the business of years to master
it. The extensive discoveries, likewise, which have been
made of fossil plants, in particular geological formations,
which, as compared with present existing species, lead to so
many curious inductions in regard to the past condition
of the earth, open to the mind many interesting subjects of
inquiry. It is as obvious, likewise, that the establishment of
a common scientific and technical language, by which the
description of a plant, wherever found, shall be every where
understood, and the plant, when met with, recognized, is of
the highest importance. But botany, as it is commonly
taught in schools, and as it appears in botanical works in
general use, seems little else than a vocabulary of arbitrary
and technical terms, in a language not generally understood,
creates usually but little interest, and is of little. practical
utility. Within my limited knowledge, the botanical work is
yet to be written, which shall present the subject in that
natural, plain, instructive, familiar, comprehensive, elevated,—
I hope I may add, without offence to science,—popular form,
which would give to rural pursuits and recreations, and to the
culture of ornamental as well as of useful plants, an interest,
a utility, a delight, even to humble minds imperfectly
educated, infinitely beyond what they are now found to have
with many persons, in other respects of cultivated taste and
enlarged knowledge.
E 2
5a THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS.—BOTANY.
But putting aside this view of the subject, in which it
cannot be expected that the study of botany should
become general or even frequent, the simple cultivation of
flowers without any skill or knowledge in technical botany,
can scarcely be too strongly enjoined upon the dwellers in
the country. While I would urge it upon the wealthy pro-
prietor, if there were occasion for it, I would with still more
earnestness press it upon the small farmer, and even upon
the cottager and the labourer, who, in the United States,
if he will, may always have his house and his garden, humble
as they may be, and, I may add, his acres, to devote, as he
chooses, to purposes of utility and recreation. .
No farmer, in my opinion, should be without his fruit and
vegetable garden, to which he should be able to look for a
large portion of the daily supplies of his table ; for profit,
as matter of economy, for health, comfort, and luxury ; and
a part of this, or a portion additional, should be devoted
to the cultivation of flowers and plants for ornament. I do
not mean that the great labours of a farm should be inter-
mitted for the care of the garden, as some persons profess to
fear that in such case it would be ; but they may ordinarily go
hand in hand together, and the one serve in truth to advance
the other. France is not without such beautiful examples.
On every well-regulated farm there should be hours of recrea-
tion, when at least the most severe and harassing labours of
the farm should be for a while relaxed. I know that there —
are seasons of the year when such a remission could hardly
be expected. But there are seasons when there is ample
leisure ; and in almost every household, and on almost every
farm, there are what may be called supernumerary hands,
women and children, to whom such cares would always be a
welcome occupation, and a healthful pastime.
On grounds even of interest, a proprietor may find upon
consideration, that he is essentially a gainer by every thing
which improves the appearance of, or serves to embellish his
FLORAL EMBELLISHMENTS. 53
estate. This may be a small matter in England, where
estates are held to keep; but it is worthy of much reflection
in the United States, where almost all estates seem to be
held to sell. There may be most expensive embellishments
which should never be undertaken without being maturely
considered ; there may be embellishments in very bad taste,
against which it would be difficult to prescribe any other
remedy than that which improved education brings with it ;
there may be embellishments of a costly yet of a perishable
nature, which certainly are not to be chosen ; but embellish-
ments planned in good taste, corresponding with the general
character and uses of the property, greatly improve the value
of an estate, far beyond their cost. Shade-trees, ornamental
and flowering shrubs, are always easily attainable ; and may
be considered as permanent improvements, which give a real
and durable value to an estate.
In speaking thus on this subject, among the great variety
of tastes which I may be expected to encounter, I know there
are many to whom I cannot look for sympathy. They, I
hope, will at once turn these pages over, and leave them for
persons who take an interest in these subjects. These rural
embellishments are common in Europe; but they are not
appreciated, or, if appreciated, they are not yet so general
as they should be in the United States. I wish they might
be universal.
1. Tur Frorat Maeyiricence or Enetanp.—In England
they prevail every where, and render the country extremely
beautiful. There is not a country-house without its shade-
trees, its ornamental hedge-rows, its shrubby avenues, its
parterres of flowers, its trellises of vines of the most beautiful
description ; sometimes covering all the sides and the roofs of
the houses with their thick matting of foliage, suspending their
rich tresses over every door-way, climbing every corner, peep-
ing into every window, and covering it with their graceful
54 PUBLIC GARDENS.
drapery as a curtain, and hanging in thick masses of green
and gold, intermingled often with flowers and fruit of the most
exquisite richness and beauty from the edges of the roof, and
from every angle and projection, where they can fix their grasp.
I have seen nothing to surpass the admirable and charming
diversity, and beauty, and richness, of these embellishments as
Ihave found them all over England ; not unfrequently at the
residences of the lower classes as well as those of the rich and
noble. Ihave found often the humble cottage of the humblest
labourer adorned with vines of unsurpassed luxuriance ; the
sweet-briar exhaling its delicious odour under the windows,
and roses, and geraniums, and syringas, and dahlias, disputing
your passage to the door. These are the petted children of
his industrious wife and daughters; and he looks at them
with honest pride, and drinks in their odours with the sweeter
relish, because they are trained by hands which disdain no
useful labour; and can be enjoyed in all their fragrance
and beauty without giving pain to a single human being.
Better than all this, they are to every passing observer the
outward and infallible indications of the industry, frugality,
neatness, and good economy, which reign within.
Wherever circumstances admit of it, every considerable
country-house in England has likewise its conservatory, in
which, at least, the female part of the houschold shelter those
objects of their care, which are too tender to bear exposure ;
and find recreation and keep alive the remembrance of the
summer's glories and magnificence, when winter utters his
hoarse voice without doors, and commands all that has life to
retire before his sweeping and icy blast.
2. THE FLOWER GARDENS OF Parts.—THE GARDEN OF PLANTS.
Paris is not only distinguished for its beautiful flower mar-
kets, but for its beautiful flower gardens, which may be said
to be almost unrivalled. The Garden of Plants, so called in
Paris, in extent, in number and variety of plants, in scientific
PUBLIC GARDENS. = 55
and instructive arrangement, in the perfect condition in
which it is kept, and in the extent of its conservatories, is
probably unequalled. It is not only completely adapted to
botanical instruction, but likewise to public recreation,
combining with these objects as perfect a Flora as science
and taste, aided by the ready patronage of the government,
have been able to collect and maintain. The most useful as
well as the most ornamental plants may here be found and
studied in all their aspects and varieties, and in all their
habits and uses.
3. Tur GARDENS OF THE PaLaces.—There are magnificent
flower gardens likewise connected with the national build-
ings or palaces in Paris and its vicinity, which, with a
liberality that eminently characterizes the French in all
their public establishments, are open to the public for
study, for pleasure, and for recreation; and in pleasant
weather are crowded with persons who appreciate and enjoy
them. In most of these gardens, the scientific as well as
the familiar name is attached to the plant, together with the
class to which it belongs, and the country of which it is a
native. The gardens attached to the palaces of Versailles
and St. Cloud, and more distant at Fontainbleau, are among
the great sights of France. They exhibit the most splendid
triumphs of genius, skill, and taste, in rendering, as far as
these can do it, the beauties of nature even more beautiful,
the magnificence of nature even more magnificent; and
seem, in their shady avenues and their green lawns, their
superb trees and their flowers of superlative beauty, in their
statues exhibiting the triumphs of the sculptor’s art,—an art
all but divine; and in their splendid fountains, combining,
with the most extraordinary brilliancy, what is most ex-
quisite in design and graceful in motion, to rival, if not to
surpass, the splendid and poetical descriptions of the golden
age.
56 PUBLIC GARDENS AND WALKS.
4, Rurat EMBELLISHMENTS IN FraNnczE, HoLtanp, BeLerum,
GERMANY, AND Iraty.—The country in France is very far
from being as picturesque and beautiful as that of a great
part of England. The deep verdure of England, owing to
the constant humidity of its climate, and somewhat to the
character of its soil, which is adapted to retain the moisture,
is not to be looked for in France, where the soil is to a great
extent calcareous, and where the droughts of summer are
often long and severe. I have already remarked likewise
that the villages in France wear by no means a rural aspect.
But France is not without its beautiful country-houses and
villas, presenting often, in their construction and adorn-
ment, examples of almost unsurpassed taste ; and none of
them without the charming embellishments of parks and
gardens, lawns and fountains, shrubs and flowers. Some of
the best farms which I have visited, farms of several hundred
acres in extent, have not been without some of these
delightful appendages.
In passing through Holland, among persons whom we
are sometimes pleased to call the stupid Dutchmen—and,
in my opinion, there was never a greater misnomer, as I
shall presently show—one is charmed with the multitude of
residences, ornamented in the highest degree with shrubs,
and vines, and flowers of extreme beauty and luxuriance.
At Brussels, at Leyden, at Utrecht, are botanical gardens,
supported by public munificence, of great extent, and where
no pains are spared to carry the culture of plants to the
highest degree of perfection. At Antwerp, and at the
Hague, there are public promenades, and gardens, and
parks, laid out with trees, and shrubs, and flowers, with
taste and liberality, kept in the neatest manner, and open
constantly to the recreation and enjoyment of the public.
The environs of Frankfort on the Rhine may be pronounced
a region of perfect enchantment. The whole city, certainly
one of the cleanest and,handsomest which I have seen, is
PUBLIC GARDENS AND WALKS. 57
surrounded by a wide belt of large extent, and furnishing
not only many walks, but drives for several carriages abreast,
of trees and flowering shrubs, and flowering plants of the
greatest variety, combining the richness and glory of the
vegetable world as far as the climate admits of it. This
charming promenade is opened always freely to the public
for health, recreation, and delight. The public, thus freely
admitted, never dream of defacing a statue, or disturbing a
fountain, of breaking a shrub, or plucking a flower. Indeed,
I can almost believe, that the richest fruit might hang there
-untouched—such is the sentiment of propriety in which these
people have been trained, and the conviction deeply impressed
upon their minds, that what is intended for the common and
unrestricted enjoyment of all, should be protected by com-
mon consent. In Milan, and Turin, and Florence, and all the
principal cities of continental Europe, as far as I have seen,
the same taste for rural embellishments prevails, and the
same liberality in opening these grounds and gardens to the
free enjoyment of all. In the neighbourhood of Rome, a
prince ', one of the rich men of the sovereignty, gives up his
whole villa, comprising a large extent of the most richly
ornamented and embellished grounds, to the free enjoyment
of the public.
In England, with the exception of the magnificent parks
of London, which, for their extent, and in some parts for their
beauty, can scarcely be too much admired, these places are
not open to the public. The splendid exhibitions of the
botanical societies can be shared only at an expense quite
beyond the means of the great mass of the community ; and
are thus arranged with an evident intention to exclude them.
If the acquisition of money for the payment of premiums,
to encourage emulation, be the object, this object would not
be defeated by admitting the public on succeeding days or
1 Prince Borghese.
58 PUBLIC GARDENS AND WALKS.
on other occasions, freely or for a small fee. The squares in
London, full as they are of beautiful shrubs and flowers, are
nevertheless all kept under lock and key, and the public are
wholly excluded. I must except from these remarks the
magnificent grounds of the Duke of Devonshire at Chats-
worth, to which access is free; the Arboretum at Derby,
of which I have spoken in another work, and which
the liberality of a spirited merchant has expressly conse-
crated to public use; the Royal Gardens at Kew, and the
charming grounds at Hampton Court, near London, which
are open to the public under proper restrictions. There may
be many others, which have not come within my knowledge.
A spirit is evidently growing up in England, which will
presently show itself in the most ample provision for the
gratification of the masses. This great people are not want-
ing in philanthropy ; and though highly conservative in all
their arrangements, and phlegmatic and slow in coming to
their convictions, are sure to follow them, when they are
once determined.
I am aware that most of these squares are private pro-
perty ; but it would be a noble charity, small to those who
give, but great to those who receive it, to allow the poorer
classes to enjoy them, at least at fixed times, and under proper
restrictions. The admirable police of London would easily
guard against any irregularity or nuisance; and, indeed,
where people are accustomed to such indulgences, no person
thinks of committing a trespass. I believe the English
people have as high a sense of honour and justice as any
people living, where confidence is reposed in them. It is for
want of this confidence that persons are often led to do
wrong. No better use can be made of wealth than to
multiply the rational and innocent pleasures of the poorer
classes, to improve their taste, and to elevate their characters.
A philanthropic mind can find no higher gratification than
in giving pleasure to others; and the indications of the
PUBLIC GARDENS AND WALKS. 59
times strongly show that this use of wealth is becoming as
necessary to its security as it is conducive to its true enjoy-
ment.
I must add again, that the parks of London, including
Kensington Gardens, for extent and beauty, are no where
surpassed ; and the neatness and order in which the grounds
and walks are kept, is, in the highest degree, exemplary. The
government likewise have opened a new park of large extent,
Victoria Park, in a part of London where the poorest in-
habitants reside, for their health and recreation; and are
fast progressing in its embellishment and improvement.
They have other plans for providing public grounds for the
inhabitants, which are as creditable to the liberal views of
the government, as they are serviceable to the health, and, I
will add, to the moral improvement of the population.
But what are we to say in the United States, where, in
a country in which the rapid acquisitions of wealth almost
realize the fables of romance, and where old cities are be-
coming crowded, and cities and towns are fast multiplying, to
be filled with the children of industry and toil, there is very
little or no provision of this kind for the public health and
recreation ; or for the improvement of the public taste and
education by ornamental and embellished: gardens and
grounds? This seems to me a cardinal omission; and it
is not a little humiliating, that while, under monarchical
and despotic governments, the most liberal provision is
made for these objects, and the freest liberty accorded ; yet
in a republican country, where the people have all the power
in their own hands, they will do nothing for themselves. It
requires no great sagacity to foresee, that with our rapidly
increasing population this improvidence, to use no stronger
term, will be to be deéply deplored, and when those who
come after us will learn how much more easy it would have
been to prevent than to cure an evil or supply an omission.
This subject is one of great importance, and especially in
60 PUBLIC GARDENS AND WALKS.
a country where institutions are in the progress of formation,
which are to affect the destinies of unborn millions; and
where no childish and slavish reverence for antiquity pre-
vents the most independent inquiry into what is just, what is
expedient, and what is useful. Too much pains cannot be
taken, too much attention cannot be given, and scarcely too
much expense incurred, in providing rational and wholesome
pleasures and recreations for the poorer, and especially the
labouring, classes of the community. The rich can always
find for themselves the means of pleasure and enjoyment. If
they do not exist near home they can seek them abroad ;
and they are often so crowded and surfeited with them that
enjoyment itself becomes almost a toil. It is wholly different
with the poor and the labouring classes. They are ordinarily
fixed in their residence, and have little power of locomotion ;
their lives are commonly passed in almost unceasing labour ;
their residences in general in cities are in the compact and
most crowded quarters, where ventilation is imperfect, and
where the cheerful and invigorating light of the sun is often
shut out, and where consequently strength is more rapidly
exhausted ; diseases are engendered ; the comfort of living is
not known; life itself is abridged; the decencies of life are
forgotten or trampled upon; moral disease and crime follow
in the rear of physical suffering and privation ; and a gan-
grene appears upon the social body, spreading through all the
circulations its disastrous influences. Every effort should be
’ made, and all pains should be taken, that these labours may
be relaxed; and that some innocent and wholesome re-
creation should be provided for these children of severe and
almost unceasing toil. Public gardens, and shaded and orna-
mental grounds should be established, and every effort be
made to render them accessible and attractive. These people
are almost in danger of forgetting that there are green fields,
and blue skies, and trees which offer a refreshing shade, and
flowers which combine the most delicious perfumes with the
PUBLIC GARDENS AND WALKS. 61
richest beauties of form and colouring, and warm suns, and
glittering stars, and floating clouds of every form and hue,
which, in their expansive folds, and in their brilliant and
gorgeous colourings, seem the fit emblems of that abyss of
glory, where the Divine Majesty has fixed his throne, and
into which human presumption has not dared to penetrate.
I would do all that can be done to bring these people “out
of darkness into this marvellous light.”
The recreations of the labouring and poorer classes,
especially in cities, are generally of the lowest character.
This is particularly the case in England, where large num-
bers of the labouring population, either in the town or its
neighbourhood, give themselves up to gross excess. In
many of the mechanical trades, the workmen, who are
usually paid off on Saturday night, do not return to their
employment until Tuesday morning, with their senses stu-
pified, and, usually, their earnings expended, and their
families unprovided with bread. From what I have been
able to observe, it is different in France. The public grounds
and gardens, of the most beautiful description, are thrown
open to the public, and, especially on Sunday afternoons, are
crowded with well-dressed men, women, and children. At
Versailles, at St. Cloud, in the Champs Elysées, and the
Garden of Plants, the Garden of the Tuilleries, and of the
Juuxembourg, where not only these beautiful grounds, but
the public galleries and palaces, are also open, I have seen
several times, on a Sunday, thousands, tens of thousands,
twenties of thousands, enjoying the walks, the flowers, the
lawns, the shades, the fountains, the statues, the paintings,
the most beautiful productions of ancient and of modern art.
Here are persons of every grade in society, and thousands of
blooming and happy children and young persons; but not a
flower is ever plucked, not a twig broken, not a statue
defaced, simply because every thing is put under the pro-
tection of their honour. Here is not the slightest irregularity
62 POPULAR EDUCATION.
or want of perfectly good manners any where apparent; no
crowding, no shouting, no loud talking, no swearing, no
drinking, and no drunkenness ; and the people at the close
of the day retire quietly to their own homes, or mingle
in the evening in some innocent festivity. This has always
given me unaffected pleasure, and I do not know how, by
these people, the Sunday afternoon can be more rationally _
spent.
It is obvious what a gain there must be to public morals,
whenever we can draw men from pleasures of a low and
purely sensual character, ruinous alike to health and morals,
and utterly destructive of all self-respect, and give them a
taste for pleasures of a purer, and, I may add, a spiritual and
intellectual character. The pure and simple love of nature,
- so liable to become extinct amidst the harassing cares, and
labours, and frivolities, and sensual indulgences of city life, is
among the most wholesome sentiments which the mind can
cherish. The love of the beautiful, of the curious, of the
erand and sublime in nature, can never become injuriously
excessive; and as it is, in its own character, perfectly
innocent, so we have reason to thank the Great Author of
nature, that its resources, and the field of its application, are
absolutely unbounded and inexhaustible.
For my own part, I look upon all these establishments as
one great branch of public education. Men are not in-
structed merely by books and masters, by schools and set
lessons, but by every thing which meets the eye and the ear,
and especially all which meets the eye and the ear directly,
without the intervention of any other agent. Few persons,
in even the humblest condition of life, can range through a
fine and extensive botanical garden, or through a museum of
natural history in any of its forms, without gathering much
useful instruction; but especially without having their
curiosity excited, some thirst for knowledge awakened and
stimulated. This being once put upon the scent, will often
POPULAR EDUCATION. 63
pursue the chase with interest and pleasure, and as often
with eminent success. What is more gratifying to our self-
love than any triumph in such case? and what pleasure is
more innocent, more pure, and more intense oftentimes, than
the pleasure, under such circumstances, of acquiring know-
ledge? Compare with such gratifications the purely sensual
pleasures and low indulgences which engage a large portion
of mankind, how infinitely do they transcend them! The
one transient and perishable, always stimulating to ex-
cess, and that excess always pernicious, exhausting to the
animal vigour, ruinous to health, and but too often the
blighting, the degradation, and the ruin of the whole mind.
Not so with the pleasures of refined taste, of intellectual
progress and attainment. The more knowledge is acquired,
the more the capacity and facilities of knowledge are in-
creased. The more the mind is exercised, the stronger it
becomes. The more the taste for intellectual pleasures is
cultivated, the less likely is man to become the slave of his
lower appetites and passions. Then, what a great gain
will it always prove to the labouring classes, if labour can
be something more than mere mechanical drudgery and
toil! What a gain it must be, if, in the midst of almost
unremitted labour, requiring only a mechanical dexterity,
which practice soon renders easy, there are resources within
to alleviate this monotony of toil, or rather to make us less
sensible to it; and if, in the intervals of labour, the mind
finds means of recreation, intellectual, alluring, delightful -
recreation, which draw it away from all painful reflections
upon what most persons will consider the hardships of a life
of constant toil!
I am most anxious that in cities and in the country
much should be done—indeed, that every thing should
be done which can be done—to educate and so to elevate
the labouring classes. I want that they should be treated,
not as too often they are treated, as mere animals and
64 ABATTOIRS OR SLAUGHTERING HOUSES.
machines, to be used and applied as we have the power
and inclination to use and apply them ; but as beings who
have minds as well as bodies—minds destined to be im-
mortal ; and who should be rendered capable of self-direction.
I cannot think that their duty would be less faithfully,
because it would be more intelligently, performed. What-
ever benefits the humbler classes must essentially benefit
those above them. In agriculture we have learnt one great
and important lesson, which seems destined to confer the
greatest benefits upon the art, that when, as in subsoiling,
the lower strata are loosened, their superabundant moisture
drained off, and the air admitted, they become prepared to
be mingled with the surface soil; and thus the whole is
enriched, and its productiveness greatly increased: so in
society, just in proportion as the humbler classes are edu-
cated, improved, and elevated, the whole mass of society
is enriched and benefited.
XII. ABATTOIRS OR SLAUGHTERING HOUSES.
There are other establishments in Paris which are inti-
mately connected with agriculture; and among these the
abattoirs or great slaughtering houses deserve to be con-
sidered. There are at least five of these large slaughtering
establishments for cattle in Paris, just at the barriers of the
city. No cattle are allowed to be driven through the streets
of Paris unless it be very late at night, when the streets are
empty ; and no person is allowed, under any circumstances,
to slaughter cattle in the city. These abattoirs are enclosed
by high stone walls, excepting at the entrance, where there
is a handsome iron paling ; and the space covered by each of
them embraces some acres. These are magnificent estab-
lishments. The enclosure of one of them, for example, and
they are all built upon the same model, though not all of
( pe a! ie
i
Or ne : Ga
equal size, is 645 feet in one direction, and 570 in th
other. I shall take the liberty here of borrowing a detailed
account of the arrangement of one of them which I have
repeatedly visited. In front of it is a small promenade
planted with ornamental trees; and the enclosure contains
twenty-three piles of building. At the entrance are two
pavilions containing the offices of those persons who have
the management of the establishment. To the right and left
of the central court, 438 feet in length by 291 in breadth,
are four immense slaughter houses, separated by a road
crossing the enclosure ; they are each 141 feet long by 96
broad, and include respectively a flagged court, on each side
of which are eight slaughter houses for the use of the
butchers, by whom the keys are kept. Each slaughter house
is lighted and ventilated from arcades in the front walls.
Above are spacious attics for drying the skins and preparing
the tallow; and, to preserve coolness, a considerable pro-
jection is given to the roofs. Behind these slaughter houses
are two ranges of sheds containing sheep-pens, and at the
extremities are stables for about 400 oxen. Each of these .
buildings contains a loft for forage. These masses of build-
ing form the sides of the court. At the end is a commodious
watering-place and pens for cattle and sheep, besides two
detached buildings, each traversed by a broad corridor which
communicates with four melting houses, below which are
ABATTOIRS OR SLAUGHTERING HOUSES.
cellars containing coolers. Beyond these, parallel with the
outer wall, are two buildings raised ‘on cellars, in which the
skins are kept, and near them, in front of the entrance, is a
double reservoir for water, 228 feet in length, built in solid
masonry, and resting on arches, which form stands for carts.
There is also a Triperte, or building for washing and boiling
tripe and calves’ feet.
Cattle and sheep, on coming to Paris, are immediately
driven to one of the abattoirs, and there kept at the cost of
F
66 ABATTOIRS OR SLAUGHTERING HOUSES.
the butcher. The meat is taken to the shops in the city during
the night. The slaughtering at one of the abattoirs, for
example, may be estimated at a weekly average of 400 oxen,
300 cows, 600 calves, and 2000. sheep. The establishment is
superintended by a resident inspector of police, and gives
employment, independently of the butchers and their ser-
vants, to eighteen individuals with their families. Houses
for the residence of the workmen and managers are within
the court-yard, with handsome grass-plats, trees, and a foun-
tain in the centre. This description gives, however, a very
imperfect idea of these truly grand, convenient, and useful
establishments. The buildings are all of stone, with roofs
of brick-tile upon iron rafters, so as to be completely fire-
proof; and the neatness is such that, excepting in the boil-
ing houses, one is not in the smallest degree offended by any
noisome odour. Every part of the animal is taken care of
and turned to some use, and there is no waste of any kind
whatever. The blood and waste manure are all received into
cisterns, to be applied to some useful purpose ; and an abun-
dance of water always at command, enables them to keep the
slaughtering places, which are neatly paved with flagging-
stone, entirely clean. The whole is under the immediate
direction of the city government: and there are so many
checks, that there is scarcely a chance, as there is no motive,
for fraud. The salesman finds his animals slaughtered in
the neatest manner, and the proper returns accurately made.
Such establishments are most important in their bearing
upon public health ; and I should most truly rejoice to see
them taking the place of those private establishments in the
neighbourhood of our large cities, and in England in the
large cities themselves, which are odious in all their rela-
tions, and which often poison the atmosphere to a great
extent. The public inspection of the establishment by
disinterested parties prevents the sale of diseased meats,
ABATTOIRS OR SLAUGHTERING HOUSES. 67
which there cannot be a doubt is carried to a great extent,
and with perfect recklessness, in many private establishments
in some countries, where they are secure from observation.
Such establishments as these abattoirs would be greatly for
the satisfaction, if not the advantage, of the farmers of the
United States, who, driving or sending their cattle to the
market, must now, in most cases, resign them to the pur-
chaser; and, without any opportunity of seeing them either
slaughtered or weighed, must rely upon his honesty for a
true return of the weight; a reliance not always of the
surest kind.
It is curious to remark, in connexion with this subject, the
slow progress of improvement, and the obstinacy with which
persons adhere to old customs and usages, however objection-
able. The abattoirs of Paris have now been established
more than thirty years; and yet London, perfectly aware of
their eminent advantages, and so distinguished for its social
improvements, and claiming a monopoly of what are called
the comforts of life, submits to the terrible nuisance of a
crowded cattle market in the midst of its thickest population,
to and from which cattle are driven at all times of day and
night, to the great terror, and often at the peril of life and
limb, of the passengers. Slaughter houses are to be found in
all parts of the city, even the most fashionable, into which
cattle are driven directly through the front doors and pas-
sages of handsome residences ; the Newgate market is com-
pletely underlaid with subterranean slaughter houses of an
odious description ; the blood, and much of the animal refuse,
so valuable in an agricultural point of view, passes into the
common sewer, either to check the current and produce
disease, or it goes on with other filth to poison the waters of
the Thames: and in one of the largest and most populous
streets in London, for some distance the side-walk is lined
with slaughter houses, where the killing of the animals is
open to every passer-by, and where the very gutters, as I
F 2
68 ABATTOIRS OR SLAUGHTERING HOUSES.
have often seen them, are red with blood. The London
markets have very imperfect protection against the sale of
diseased meats; and diseased animals in Smithfield meet
with a quick disposal at a lower price to persons who
in various forms disguise the meat, and impose it upon
the humbler classes. Indeed, in all that concerns the
cleanness, the preparation, and the economy of human food,
and the pre-eminent neatness of those who sell as much
as of the articles which they sell, the French—I speak
particularly of the Parisians—are within my knowledge,
excepting only the markets of Philadelphia, without a rival.
They are, indeed, scarcely approached. No part of the
animal is lost; every part which is capable of being con-
verted into human food, is prepared for use; and even the
cold meats, the fragments and remnants of the table, which
are sold in the markets to the poor, are always presented in
a clean and inoffensive manner’.
Besides these establishments for the slaughtering of cattle
and sheep, there are abattoirs for the slaughtering of swine,
distinct from these, but upon the same plan.
I have observed nothing particular in the mode of killing
cattle in Paris; their heads are brought to a ring, and they
are then stunned with an axe, and the throat is cut. I do
not know that a mode of killing producing less suffering has
as yet been devised; but Iam not without hope that even
this mode may be improved on. When we consider the vast
amount of animal life which the wants and luxuries of man re-
quire to be daily taken, humanity is greatly concerned in the
* The Londoners, it seems, are just waking up to the utility and importance
of establishing abattoirs in the neighbourhood of the city ; though strange to
say, they have suffered an admirable establishment of this kind at Islington, con-
veniently situated and excellently arranged, to lie useless and to go to decay.
Since the above was written, a project for the removal of the Smithfield
Market has been defeated, and a public dinner been held to celebrate the
triumph of the successful party. It ought to have been given in one of the
subterranean slaughter houses of Newgate Market.
THE FILTH OF PARIS. 69
diminution of the suffering attending it. Since Divine Pro-
vidence has recently revealed to man an inexpensive method
of suspending sensibility, so that the most painful surgical
operations are endured without suffering, and even without
consciousness ; and the first discovery has been succeeded
by one as effectual, and even more simple and of more
easy application, I see reason to hope that it may be applied
to the lower classes of animals, to save them, in the cases
referred to, the pangs of death; and thus an immense
amount of animal suffering be prevented. If there are any
who regard the subject with indifference, and look upon the
suggestion as ridiculous or useless, I can only say that with
such persons I have no sympathy whatever.
They have a practice in Paris which I have not seen any
where else. When the skinning of the animal is commenced,
a large bellows is inserted under the skin, by which it is
inflated, and becomes much more easily separated from the
flesh than by the ordinary process of skinning with the
knife.
XI. sTHE FELTH OF PARIS:
There remains one establishment to be spoken of, directly
connected with, and of great importance to, agriculture, as
well as to comfort and health ; but which, having no other
than a disagreeable interest to many of my readers, I fore-
warn them at once to pass it over; though a French writer
humorously observes, that “a book written upon assafcetida is
in itself no more offensive than a book written upon roses.” In
some respects, the habits of the French, both in their houses
and the streets, are execrable and abominable. No familiarity
in any degree reconciles a delicate mind to them; and ex-
posures are frequently witnessed in the public streets, which
are absolutely brutal, and which in England (not in Scotland),
70 THE FILTH OF PARIS.
and in most parts of the United States, would be regarded as
indictable. Yet Paris, in other respects, is an eminently
clean city ; and even in these matters is evidently improving,
and is, with the exception of Milan, Turin, and Genoa, vastly
in advance of the Italian cities. Rome, Florence, and Naples
can hardly be considered other than as three great public
necessaries, where the most sacred places are scarcely free
from nuisances, which shock all decency and reverence ;
and the old towns of Edinburgh, and Glasgow, and Dundee,
may fairly claim an unenviable position in the same rank.
This subject considered in a philosophical and practical
view, is of the first importance. It would be altogether a
false, in truth, a mere affectation of delicacy, to hesitate to
treat 1t as its Importance demands. In all the arrangements
of Divine Providence, nothing strikes the reflecting mind with
more force than the beautiful circle of mutual dependence
and reciprocity in which every thing proceeds; so that the
humble elements perform their part, and the most elevated
and brilliant can do no more ; and the part of the former is
as essential to the common well-being as that of the latter.
Look at a heap of manure, composed of every offensive
substance which can be congregated together, reeking with
detestable odours, and presenting a mixed mass of objects
utterly disgusting to the touch, the smell, and the sight. Yet
this is the food of the vegetable world ; containing all the
elements of richness, nourishment, health, and beauty. All
these, the plants know how to separate, to analyze, to digest,
and appropriate, and with a skill distancing the sagacity of
science, they will return it purified and sublimated in bread,
and wine, and oil ; in flowers of exquisite colouring and beauty ;
in perfumes the most odorous which nature’s toilette can
furnish ; in fruits luscious to the taste ; and, above all, in pro-
ducts indispensable to life, and full of health and strength.
The farmer, standing in his barn-yard, knee-deep in its offen-
sive accumulations, may proudly say, “Here is the source of
THE FILTH OF PARIS. ria!
my wealth ; that which has fed my cattle shall now feed my
crops ; that which has given fatness to my flocks shall now
give fatness to my fields.” A mysterious power is ever ope-
rating in every department of nature; suffering nothing to
fail of its use; “gathering up the fragments, that nothing
be lost ;” and providing for the various wants of the infinitely
79
varied forms of life to which existence has been given, and
from whom, if the Creator should, for one second, withdraw
his guardian care, the whole must instantly perish.
The refuse of a city may be considered as of at least five
different kinds ; first, the ordinary refuse of a house, such as
fragments of vegetables, remains of food, bones, rags, and a
thousand miscellaneous and nameless substances; second,
the remains of fuel, such as ashes and soot ; third, the refuse
of different trades, workers in leather, workers in bone,
workers in horn, soap-boilers, glue manufacturers, workers in
hair and in wool, sugar refineries, and the innumerable other
trades always to be found in the busy hive of a city ; fourthly,
the dung of the domestic animals, cows and horses; and
lastly, human ordure or night-soil. I shall say little of some
other substances which have been used for purposes of ma-
nure ; but it is well known that many grave-yards have been
ransacked for the purpose of gathering up their mouldering
relics, and that many hundreds of tons of human bones have
been transported from the field of Waterloo to England for
the purpose of enriching the cultivation. It cannot be
denied in this case to be a more rational, humane, and, I will
add, Christian use, than that to which they were put in the
bloody arena, where they were first deposited.
In Paris every species of refuse is husbanded in the most
careful manner. No refuse is allowed to be thrown into the
streets after a very early hour in the morning, nor until after
ten o'clock at night. This refuse consists of what may be
called the house-dirt, and is laid in heaps in front of the
houses near the gutters. A very numerous class of people,
72, THE FILTH OF PARIS.
called chiffonniers, consisting of as many women as men, with
deep baskets on their backs, and a small stick with a hook
at the end, carefully turn over every one of these heaps,
selecting from them every article of bone, leather, iron, paper,
and glass, which are thrown at once into their baskets, and
being carried to their places of general deposit, are there
again examined and assorted, and appropriated to any spe-
cific application for which they may be suited. These per-
sons appear like a most degraded class; they inhabit par-
ticular quarters of the city, and the interior of their habita-
tions is such as might be expected from their occupation.
The profession descends in families from father to son, and
from mother to daughter. They are a most industrious race
of people ; and many of them may be seen, even at midnight,
with their lanterns, taking advantage of the first pickings,
and anticipating the labours of the coming morning; and
with the earliest dawn they are sure to be found at their
tasks. No article of food escapes them ; and they call the
street their mother, because she often thus literally gives
them bread. Though their occupation is necessarily dirty,
yet they are almost always comfortably clad, and are never
ragged. They never beg, and disdain to be considered ob-
jects of charity. They are licensed by the city authorities,
for which some trifling sum is paid, and for which they must
be recommended for their sobriety and good conduct. They
have their particular districts assigned them, and are very
careful to prevent all foreign intrusion.
The chiffonniers having done their work, next come the
sweepers and collectors of dirt. Every inhabitant of Paris is
required, under a penalty, to have the side-walk in front of
his place of business or residence carefully swept every morn-
ing. ‘The sweepers of the streets in Paris are almost univer-
sally women, who, with long twig or birch-brooms, sweep the
streets thoroughly, and all the accumulations are taken in
carts to be transported to the great places of deposit. . The
NIGHT-SOIL.—POUDRETTE. 73
women assist as much in loading the carts as the men.
These women appear to work extremely hard, carrying always
a long broom in their hands, and a shovel fastened to their
backs, to be used as occasion may require. The gutters in
Paris are washed out every morning by fountains which are
placed in every street,.and what these sweepers are not able
to collect for the carts, they are careful to sweep into the
drains leading into the common sewers. I have looked at
these people and at the chiffonniers often with great interest ;
and, filthy and disgusting as their occupation necessarily is,
I have always felt in my heart a sincere respect for per-
sons who, poor as they are, would be ashamed to beg; and
who, by the severest and most useful labour, are proud to
obtain for themselves and their families, though a very
humble, an honest living. All this refuse is transported to
places appropriated for its deposit, where it remains until
it is decomposed, and is then sold to the farmers for
manure.
XIV. NIGHT-SOIL.\_POUDRETTE.
The disposal of the night-soil in Paris is a different affair,
and occupies a large class of persons. In the crowded
parts of London and Paris such an appurtenance to a
house as an open yard is not always to be looked
for, and the houses are built in immediate contact with
each other. The accommodations for the family are neces-
sarily within doors. In England there are water-closets
closing with a trap, and of most exemplary neatness. In
Paris, with some exceptions, they are not water-closets,
but mere cabinets ; and from habitual neglect, which seems
too generally to prevail among the middle and lower classes,
filling the house with a detestable odour. In many of the
houses in the Scotch cities, and houses not always of an in-
ferior description, will it be believed, there are no accom-
74 NIGHT-SOIL.—POUDRETTE.
modations of this sort within or without doors. The
refuse of the family used to be thrown from the windows
at night, not always to the perfect safety of the unwary
passenger, and is now commonly carried into the gutters
in front of the houses, after ten o’clock at night, to be taken
up by the night-carts in passing. Can it be surprising that
fever and disease annually remove a large portion of the
population of such places ?
In London this refuse passes off into the common sewer’,
and from thence mixes with the water of the Thames. It is
calculated that this refuse, which may be said to be worse
than lost, would be sufficient to manure annually more than
a million acres of land, if it could be applied. I have in
another place referred to an association formed in London,
with an enormous capital, for the purpose of applying the
liquid portions of it ; but the progress as yet made does not
warrant any public report. The passage of this fecal matter
into the sewers does not remove all offence ; for in London
the odour from the traps or ventilators of the sewers, which
are necessarily frequent, is in warm weather disagreeable and
odious. Though the habits of the English are eminently
cleanly, yet, judging from the sanitary reports, the condition
of things in some of the poorer districts of London, and in
several of their manufacturing towns, is most objectionable and
degrading’. Paris, in some respects, then, has the advantage
1 The extent of these sewers may be judged of from the fact, that one day in
London I saw a man emerging from an opening in Hay Street, near Berkeley
Square, with a bunch of candles in his hand, who told me he had travelled
seven miles under ground. The sewers are about five feet in height, and of a
proportional width, being the segment of an oval with the bottom cut off,
thus Q. This probably was an exaggeration ; but it must require a good deal
of courage to have ventured even half that distance alone, although it is an
undoubted fact, that there are many persons in the habit of daily exploring the
sewers, where they sometimes find prizes of value. What an employment !
2 The worst parts of Paris and the worst habits of Paris are, however,
entirely distanced by some parts of London, eminently cleanly as it is in many
NIGHT-SOIL.—POUDRETTE. rg)
of London, and, indeed, of every city which I have been in,
excepting the cities of Holland and Belgium—in that all
this fecal matter is saved, and certainly with less offence in
its removal than could have been supposed possible.
In general it is removed by what is called the atmos-
pheric process. The cart is placed at the door in the street ;
a long leather hose is extended from the vault to the cart ;
and, the air being exhausted, the fecal matter in a semi-fluid
state passes directly into the cart. The whole affair is
managed, not absolutely without offence—for that at present
seems impossible—but certainly without any offence which
is avoidable. The men bring their working-dresses with
them, so as never to appear in the streets otherwise than in
decent attire. The vehicle in which this fecal matter is
conveyed, is a very large, tight cask, or sometimes several
tight casks: the horses, harnesses, and the whole equipment
are of a neat and perfect description; and in most cases
would never be detected by a stranger, if either he were not
informed of their uses, or did not read the inscription of the
objects to which they are devoted on some part of the
other parts. Hear what the philanthropic Lord Ashley has recently said in his
place in parliament :—
* He should read a description of a court which he had witnessed himself.
It was in such places that a large mass of the community dwelt. In one of
these courts there were three privies to 300 persons ; in another there were
two to 200 people. This was a statement made by a medical man. In a place
where these public privies existed, scenes of the most shocking character were
of daily occurrence. It would scarcely be believed, that these public privies
often stood opposite the doors of the houses ; modesty and decency were almost
altogether impossible.””—Times of June 7, 1848.
The “ cabinets d’aisance sans odeur,”’ which are to be found in many parts
of Paris, and which are always kept in the most cleanly condition, but which
are often spoken of with sneers by strangers visiting Paris, are to be highly
commended as useful and important public accommodations. An eminent
medical gentleman once assured me, “that a very large portion of the worst
maladies which he had to deal with, arose out of improper neglect in this
matter, growing out of inconvenient arrangements or a false delicacy, which
should be got rid of.”
76 NIGHT-SOIL._—-POUDRETTE.
vehicle. In no case is any offensive matter left in the
streets, or permitted to escape from the carts, until it arrives
at its place of deposit.
The carts arrive at their destination before, or as soon
as day-light. This place is near one of the barriers of the
city. The fecal matter is here suffered to run out upon an
extensive piece of ground, flattened and made hard like the
bottom of a brick-yard. Here it remains until the liquid
portion runs off into an artificial basin, from whence as much
as is wanted is taken for the purpose of extracting the sal-
ammoniac. The rest escapes into the canal in the neighbour-
hood. The solid matter becoming dry is then broken up,
turned over, re-broken; and this process goes on until it
becomes so dry as to be easily reduced to powder, when it is
laid up in heaps of which immense masses are accumulated.
It is thus almost entirely deprived of odour, and may be
handled without offence. In this condition it is sold to the
farmers, who remove it either in open carts, or in bags or
casks. I cannot say that this place (which occupies several
acres of ground), or its neighbourhood, is without offence ;
but it is inhabited chiefly by persons who get their living by
the operation ; and to whom, therefore, the offence is not so
great. After the first drying, when it forms a thick and
hard crust, it is broken up by the plough, and afterwards by
the harrow ; and this operation is necessarily several times
repeated. In the end it passes through a thorough sifting.
As many women are employed here as men; and the
labourers are principally of the lower order of Germans,
whose industry and acquisitiveness are usually remarkable.
A great many children are likewise employed ; and the
search after prizes of value is always animated. As to the
healthiness of the occupation, its early processes are un-
doubtedly perilous both to health and life; and many a
poor fellow perishes in the vaults, into which they are some-
times compelled to descend ; but I found an overseer on the
NIGHT-SOIL.—POUDRETTE. Te
spot, who said he had been constantly employed there for
eighteen years, and had never suffered even a day's illness.
The municipal arrangements in Paris seem to me, in
various matters, commendable. For effecting the process
spoken of, so important and indispensable to health, comfort,
and even life, there are three contractors, men of large
capital, who take the whole enterprize of cleansing the city
in this matter upon themselves. The city is divided into
four districts. The contractors are laid under heavy bonds
to provide horses, carts, and workmen ; never to remit the
work excepting one night in seven, Sunday night, and they
are paid so much by the cubic foot, by the owner of the
house whose vaults they cleanse. They do not begin their
work before eleven o’clock at night, and they must leave the
city before day-light. The men are divided into parties of
five; and each man has his particular office, and is known
among them by a distinct name. The corporal or overseer,
constituting one of the five, directs the whole operation, and
gives his aid as occasion may require. The man, whose
duty it is to descend into the vault, always does it at the
risk of his life, from suffocation. They are liable also to
suffer from an inflammation of the eyes, which makes them
blind for several days, in which they frequently weep blood,
and which is attended with extreme suffering. The whole
number of persons employed in these services in Paris, ex-
ceeds two hundred. They constitute a people by themselves,
and the employment goes down from father to son. Their
wages are from twenty to twenty-five francs a week, or from
four to five dollars, or one pound sterling. A notice is given
at the proper office, by the owner of a tenement, that his
vault requires to be emptied, and the service is immediately
attended to.
I have gone thus at large into these homely details for
several reasons ; first, for their bearing upon agriculture ; for,
perhaps, no manure is so valuable. We send ship after ship
78 NIGHT-SOIL.—POUDRETTE.
into the Pacific Ocean, to bring home that for which we have
a substitute equal, if not superior in efficacy, at our own
doors. Secondly, because the information how the removal
of this matter is performed in such a city as Paris, may be
of use in other cities, where it is generally left to private
enterprize, with very imperfect apparatus and preparations ;
and is often slovenly and offensively performed. I confess
that, in the third place, I have been moved by some moral
reasons, because I would lose no favourable opportunity of
calling the attention of the richer and more favoured classes
in society, to the condition of their more humble brethren in
many departments of human industry, upon the results of
whose labour they live ; and who peril their lives, and pass
their days and nights in the most humble, the most severe,
and often the most odious and disgusting services, to secure
the health and comfort: of those elevated above them; and
receive in the form of compensation for labours so perilous and
offensive, that which serves only as a bare subsistence. -It is
said, that the wives and children of the men who perform the
most dangerous part of these services, when their husbands
and fathers leave home at night, show the same anxiety for
their safe return, as if they were leaving upon some perilous
voyage by sea.
Various methods have been tried for the purpose of dis-
infecting this substance; but, either from their inefficacy
or the difficulty and expense of procuring them, are seldom
used. Quick-lime thrown into the vaults is said to destroy
the best parts of the manure ; but, by many persons, however,
it is greatly approved. Charcoal-dust, burnt tan, peat-ashes,
the mud from the bottom of rivers or ditches burnt or dried
in ovens, have all been used, as it is reported, with success ;
and may be recommended not only as disinfectants, but as
useful additions,
The Parisian arrangements are far from being perfect. In
London at present every thing of this sort is lost. In Paris
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 79
only the solid portion of the excrementitious matter is saved
for manure, whereas there is no doubt that the urine is of
far greater comparative value than the solid portions. Vari-
ous attempts have been made to save this in such a form that
it might be easily transported ; and in London, manures are
sold under the name of urates, which are only urine com-
bined with plaster or gypsum: but the quantity of urine
taken up in such cases is so small, compared with the weight
or bulk of the article, that in this respect it is considered
of little efficacy or value. Chemistry would perform an im-
mense service for agriculture, if it could discover a means of
combining this substance in some portable form, and in which
its efficacy might be preserved. One of the circumstances
constituting the great value of guano, and of the dung of
birds, separate from the particular food on which they
live, is that their excrements being voided under one form
only, the element of urea is inseparably combined with the
other matters.
I shall not trouble my readers at present further on this
subject ; in which I can only say I have been anxious to give
no offence even to the most delicate mind, and must claim
their indulgence if I have not succeeded. I shall now proceed
to other topics.
XV. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
The subject of agricultural education has received much
attention in France ; that attention is increasing, and new
institutions are growing up, to which the Government
promptly lend their aid. The subject is of so much import-
ance, that I deem it proper to give an enlarged account of —
the leading establishment for this object which have come
under my notice. ;
What is intended by iehes ee education should first be
80 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
determined: and I beg my readers to go with me in settling
our notions on this subject.
There are in Europe, and I believe in the United States
also, two strong parties in agriculture ; the one, who are all
for practice, and who disdain the aid of science ; and the
other party, who rely upon science, technically so called, to
solve all the operations in agriculture, and to furnish theo-
retical principles upon which they may be conducted with
confidence and certainty. These parties, like the ultras of
all sects, are in general in bad humour with each other, for
which there seems no just cause. By a better understand-
ing of each other’s views, they might co-operate to the
essential interests of the object which they profess to
seek.
What are the claims of practice ?, One would suppose from
the observations of some men, that agriculture is a modern
art, a recent discovery, in which eyery thing is to be learnt,
and of which mankind have now, for the first time, to acquire
the true principles. Such flippancy as this can only grow
out of egregious ignorance or self-conceit. The agricultural
art is coeval with the human race. It has always been prac-
tised, at least as far as human history extends. It may be
pronounced the only universal art ; and it has been matter
of attention, inquiry, and experiment from the beginning
and always. Nations, indeed, whom we are pleased to call
semi-civilized, such as the Chinese, for example, have carried
the art to a high degree of perfection, as is shown in
their power of supporting an immense population on their
own soil. The agriculture of every civilized country is the
growth not of years but of centuries; and the peculiarities
which mark the agriculture of different countries, may be
traced to their peculiarities of soil or climate, and the local
habits, customs, or necessities of their inhabitants. Expe-
rience is the sure foundation of knowledge and skill. That
which has been suggested and confirmed by repeated trials,
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. sl
and always with the same results, may be considered as
established ; and, with or without any other reason, may be
safely taken as the foundation of practice. The general
practice of agriculture in all countries rests upon such
grounds as these, upon successive trials, upon observations
repeated over and over again, upon results which have been
determined for years and centuries. It would be the height
of folly to disregard these lessons. It is often said, by way
of reproach, of the farming community, that they never de-
part from the established track, and that they do only as
their fathers did before them. So far from considering this
as a reproach, it should be regarded as evidence of the
soundness and wisdom of their judgment. The presumption
is always in favour of that which has been long pursued. It
would be absurd to attempt the study of any art or science,
without first ascertaining what is already known and deter-
mined. It would be folly to discard truths and principles
which long experience has established; and a still greater
folly to exchange that which has been found to answer, for
that which is as yet untried, and whose success or certainty
is consequently matter of doubt. Experience is of all other
teachers the most to be relied on in every practical art. It
is wise to adhere to practices which our fathers adhered to,
provided those practices were successful; and it is ridiculous
to assume, that practices which have prevailed for centuries
have not always much to recommend them.
Then, on the other hand, to whatever respect long esta-
blished practices may be entitled, it is extreme stupidity and
bigotry to reject improvements which may offer themselves ;
or to suppose that we have even approached perfection in
any thing ; or to suffer any reverence for what has been done,
sanctioned though it may be by the highest antiquity, to
stand in the way of further progress.
Agriculture may be considered in two respects as a science ;
first, as a science of facts ; and next, as a science of principles.
G
82 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
The practice of agriculture, wherever it is skilful and success-
ful, though pursued, as it may be, by persons in other matters
ignorant and uneducated, is founded upon the knowledge of
a vast variety and mass of facts, which long practice, the
practice of centuries, has ascertained, developed, and con-
firmed. These facts refer to the climate of a country, the
nature of the soil or of different soils, the crops to be grown,
the rotation of crops, the modes of culture, the application
of manures, the care and uses of the crops, and a variety
of other like matters. These constitute the science of
agricultural practice. Now any man above the condition
of a mere labourer, any man having any pretensions to the
character of a farmer, must know these facts; and the more
he knows of them, the more skilful and successful is his
practice likely to be. He may gather them from reading,
from conversation, from tradition, or from observing the
practices of others. It would be extreme folly to reject these
aids; and to suppose that they must all be gathered from
his own practice and experience. The life of a single man is
not long enough to establish all the practical truths relating
to these matters, many of which can have been determined
only after years of experience. This is agricultural science ;
and the more a man has of this knowledge—the more
scientific he is in this respect, so much the more improved
and productive is likely to be his agriculture, Let him
gather this knowledge from any and every source, where it
is likely to be found in an authoritative form ; from books or
from men, from observation at home and abroad. To refuse
it, coming in any authentic form, is truly an evidence of in-
corrigible stupidity ; and I have in my mind’s eye many
men, without any pretensions to literary education, who,
from their practical familiarity with these subjects, and the
vast amount of facts which they have accumulated, may be
pronounced scientific agriculturists. We are accustomed to
call them, by way of eminence, practical men: but their
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 83
practice grows out of and is regulated by their knowledge ;
and is successful in proportion as it is suggested and directed
by this knowledge.
* But there is another kind of knowledge, which may be
called, by way of distinction, the science of principles. The
highest of all occupations, to which the human mind can
devote itself, is to study “the causes of things.” To an
inquisitive mind, the regularity of certain effects and results,
their constancy and uniformity, show that they are the
subjects of certain general laws, established every where
throughout the material creation. Such a mind desires to
know to what extent these laws prevail; how they operate ;
by what circumstances they are affected ; and, above all, how
far they may be controlled or directed by human agency,
and turned to advantage. Of the great agents in nature,
man is constantly availing himself; and by these means has
acquired a power, in respect to which, no human sagacity has
been able to predict where it shall end. Fire, air, and water,
are the handmaids of science, and wait to do her pleasure ;
and more recently, electricity performs miracles at her
bidding. Within a half century, a new science has sprung
up, which, more than any other, professes to investigate the
phenomena of the material world, and to dive into the nature
of things. It has accomplished already an infinite amount for
many of the arts. Why should not agriculture avail itself of
what it has done, and can do ?
The intelligent farmer has many subjects of inquiry ; the
nature of soils, and the differences of different soils, with their
adaptation to different plants ; the nature of manures, and
their comparative differences, with their various forms of
application ; the nature of the products themselves, and their
adaptation to the purposes for which they are used; the
breeding of animals, the fattening of animals, the improve-
ment of races of animals and different species of vegetables ;
the effects of light, heat, frost, rain, dew, and electricity upon
G2
84 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
vegetation ; and innumerable other subjects connected di-
rectly with the culture of the earth, are important, and
beyond all doubt directly practical matters of investigation,
which it is the immediate province of science to examine,
and, if possible, determine. Why should not the intelligent
farmer seek to avail himself of this aid, and gratefully re-
ceive it? The mathematician may not be able to hold a
plough, and yet he may be able, from principles of science,
to direct the artist in the construction of that implement, so
that it shall perform its work in the best manner, and at the
least expense of time and power. The chemist may scarcely
know one plant from another ; and yet, from the investigation
of the properties of different substances, he may teach the
farmer so to combine his manures, or his materials for
manure, as to produce the greatest effect. The philosopher
or astronomer may not know a single rope in a ship, he may
not so much as know the stem from the stern; and yet,
without his laborious and abstruse calculations, the most
skilful navigator would find himself entirely bewildered upon
the trackless ocean. Science is often flippant and conceited,
and holds in too little estimation the lessons of experience.
Practice, on the other hand, with an obstinacy which seems
almost incorrigible, often disdains the teachings of science,
and shuts the door upon that light, which might make its path
more clear, its progress more certain, and its results more
successful. Here is a gross error on both sides. Science and
practice should be friends to each other. The most scientific
man, who has no knowledge of the practice of agriculture, in
undertaking the management of a farm, is likely to fall into
serious mistakes, and wholly to fail in his enterprise. The
most successful practical farmer, who knows well how things
should be done, as far as experience has settled that point,
might derive a great advantage from understanding why
they should be so done ; and such knowledge leads to a vast
increase of his power. Will any man pretend that agriculture
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 85
has reached its maximum? Let us listen to one great fact,
stated by an eminent French writer. The wheat now grown
in France. supplies with bread a population greater by one
half than that in the reign of Louis XV.; yet it does not
occupy a larger space of ground than it did at that time.
Indeed, the actual extent of land under cultivatien in wheat
at the present time, is less by at least twenty-three per cent.
than it was sixty or eighty years ago. So that the agri-
culture of that time, which occupied in wheat a surface a
quarter or a third larger than what is occupied in the same
cultivation at the present day, did not produce more than
sufficient to supply a population ten or twelve millions less
than what is supplied at the present time’, This shows an
immense progress and improvement in agriculture; and if
this is not to be credited to science, technically so called, it
is to be ascribed at least to a more inquisitive and intelligent
cultivation ; that is to say, to the application of the mind to
this great art. I desire only that the farmers should have
their minds awake and open in the study of the great prin-
ciples of the art by which they live ; and that they should
be willing to receive, from whatever source it may come, that
light which is now carrying forward all the other practical
arts of life—I will not say to perfection, for that may always
remain beyond the reach of human power, but with a
rapidity and success which have never been known before.
1. Scooot at Grignon.—The principal establishment for
agricultural education is at Grignon, about twenty miles from
Paris. It consists of an estate of 474 hectares, or about
1200 acres, with a large dwelling-house upon it,—formerly,
I believe, a royal seat,—and other necessary buildings, which
have been erected since its endowment. It was ceded by
the French king, Charles X., for a term of forty years, to a
1 Vide Statistique de Cereales de la France, par M. A. Moreau de Jonnés.
86 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
society of gentlemen specially interested in agriculture, who
have the management of the institution, and, by private
subscription, have supplied the funds for conducting it *. The
government are represented in the management of the estate.
They provide all the instruction, by paying the salaries of
the professors and superintendent ; and they support some
pupils. The pecuniary results for the last few years have
been favourable; and all profits go to the support of free
pupils, or to increasing and extending the benefits of the
institution, which is capable of accommodating seventy pupils.
The term of residence is fixed at two years, though it will
be seen, from the course of instruction adopted, a much
longer time is requisite to acquire a thorough education in
the branches prescribed.
The institution at Grignon is designed to supply instruc-
tion both in the science and practice of agriculture, and the
constitution and arrangement of the school seem admirably
adapted to this end. The students in general are from that
class in life who depend upon their own exertions for a live-
lihood. This is as it should be. In the United States we
have no other class, and, from the present arrangements of
property, are not likely to have. Long may this wise and
happy arrangement continue! In a great portion of Europe,
a large part of the community are little else than beasts of
burden. As long as they live, they must carry upon their
backs those who do not choose to maintain themselves. It
is a pity they could not put their burden down, and make
1 The sum raised by private subscription amounted to 300,000 francs, or about
60,000 dollars, or 12,0007. sterling. The rents paid to the government for the
estate are the same as were paid by the farmers who previously held it. The
substantial or permanent improvements upon the estate are estimated by a
commissioner once in five years, and are to go, at the end of the lease, in
acquittal of the rent. The money subscribed by individuals was given to the
institution. On this capital, employed on the farm, an interest of sixteen per
cent. has been realized, which goes, as above stated, to the benefit of the
institution.
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 87
them “go themselves.” Their doom, however, is fixed; and
with the present distribution of political power, and the
present moss-covered institutions respecting property, there
is little chance of an alteration. In England and in France
a class exists of which at present, in the free portion of the
United States, we know nothing; and it may be some time
before they are required. These are the persons who manage
the estates of large proprietors; who in England are called
bailiffs or stewards; in France, agricultural engineers.
Grignon may be said to be particularly designed to educate
this useful class. At the same time, there are among the
pupils several who seek this education for the management
of their own estates ; and these agricultural engineers are
themselves, without doubt, hoping presently to become pro-
prietors. In the south of France, land is held generally
under what is called the mettayer system, or what is known
in the United States as taking land upon shares. After
certain deductions, the half of the produce is returned to the
proprietor as the rent of the land. In either case such
education must be highly valuable. In the case of a tenant,
that he may be able to obtain the best return from the land,
and, in the ease of the proprietor, that he may know what to
require, and how properly to direct the management of his
estate.
The term of residence at Grignon is fixed at two years ;
but the pupil remains three months after his studies are
completed, in order to digest and draw up the entire manage-
ment of an estate, and describe its details in every depart-
ment.
The students are divided into classes denominated inter-
nals and externals, or resident and non-resident. The former
reside entirely in the house, where they are lodged and
boarded, and pay about 800 francs, or 32 pounds, or 160
dollars, per year. The externals, or non-residents, provide
for themselves, or lodge at the houses of the neighbouring
88 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
farmers, and pay a very small amount for their instruction.
This arrangement is particularly designed to benefit poor
scholars. Both classes are equally subject to the general
discipline and rules of the institution ; and are alike engaged
in the same works and studies.
There are lectures every day in the week. At the com-
mencement of each lecture, the professor examines the pupils
on the subject of the preceding lecture; and they are
required ‘often to take notes, and present a written report of
the lecture. Besides the professors, there are two monitors,
who have been educated at the school, who labour with the
pupils in the fields. They are expected, and it is their duty,
to question the pupils on the subjects which have been
" treated in the lectures ; to show their application ; to illus-
trate what may have been obscure ; and, in short, to leave
nothing unexplained which is liable to misunderstanding or
error. There are two public examinations annually, in
which the scholars are subjected to a rigorous questioning in
what they have been taught. If, at the end of two years,
their conduct has been approved, and their examination is
met successfully, they receive a diploma from the institution.
They are not only employed in the general work of the
farm, but particular portions of land are assigned to indi-
viduals, which they manage as they please, and cultivate
with their own hands; they pay the rent and expenses of
manure and team, and receive the product or its value from
the institution. Certain of them are appointed in turn to
take care of the different departments of the farm for a
length of time—such as the hog establishment, the sheep
establishment, the cattle, the horses, the implements, &c. &e.
They have likewise adopted a practice, which seems much to
be commended—that of employing workmen, shepherds,
cow-herds, &c., from foreign countries ; as, for example, from
Belgium and Switzerland, that they may in this way become
acquainted with the best practices in those countries.
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. ; 89
The time is thus divided and arranged among them :—
they rise at four o'clock in summer, and at half-past four in
winter. They go immediately into the stables to assist in
the feeding, cleaning, and harnessing of the teams, and the
general care of the live stock, according to their respective
assignments. At half-past five they take a light breakfast ;
at six o’clock they go into the halls of study, and here they
remain until eleven o’clock ; at half-past six they attend a
lecture, or course of instruction, which occupies them until
eight o’clock ; at half-past eight they are occupied in reading
or in making notes of the lectures which they have heard,
and the monitors before spoken of are present to render
them any assistance required ; at half-past nine o’clock
there is another lecture or course of instruction for both
sections, which occupies them until eleven, when they take
their second or principal breakfast. From noon until five
o'clock, the pupils are occupied in labour or practical opera-
tions. The professors, from time to time, take a section, and
employ them in land-surveying, in drawing plans, and in
levellings ; others are occupied in mineralogical or in bota-
nical excursions, or in inspecting the management of forest
lands ; others are occupied by their teacher in the practical
management of farming implements, in the management of
teams in the field, in sowing, and other general operations of
husbandry, in a field devoted to these purposes ; and a section,
to the number of twelve, are every day employed in the
direct labours of the farm, in ploughing, digging, harrowing,
&c. &e. They work in company with the best labourers,
that they may observe and learn their modes of executing
their work. They are required to be attentive to every
operation that is performed; and to present a full report of
each day’s work to the director-general.
At half-past five in winter, and at six in summer, they
take their dinner. At seven o'clock in the evening they go
again into the halls of study. From seven to half-past eight
90 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
o'clock there is another course of instruction, or a repetition
of what they have had before. Until nine o’clock they are
occupied in their journals, or in making notes of their lec-
tures. At nine o’clock the sleeping rooms are lighted, and
they retire for the night.
There are several distinct professorships. The Professor of
Practical Agriculture gives two courses ; the one written, the
other oral ; and, like the lecture of a clinical professor at the
bed-side, it is given in the fields. This professor understands
not only how a thing should be done, but how to do it ; and
he can put his hand to every form of agricultural labour,
such as ploughing, harrowing, sowing, managing the teams,
feeding the animals, handling every instrument of agriculture,
buying, selling, &c. In the words of his commission, his ob-
ject is at the same time to form the eye and the hand; to
teach his pupil how to learn ; to command, to direct, and to
execute. ‘To this end it was necessary to form a complete
agricultural organization for practice, independent of the ex-
ercises attached to the departments of the other professors.
The farm is composed of
Avableland;aboutwicen wich ol yr ereOaeres
Land in wood and plantations . . . 3865 ,,
lnrigated meadows . . . Be
Gardens, including vedeiaiblel bonne
cal, fruit garden, orchards, mulberry
plantations, osiers, and nurseries. Q8ung:
Ponds and water-courses . . . . . Loe
Roads and lands in pasture . . . . bOI
Occupied by buildings. . . ... Os 7
The animals on the farm include
Animals of draught or labour of differ-
enpdands.<i: jaeuypenehniwls wel < 18
Oxen for fatting J 10. Seb si 20
Cows of different ages ind races, ‘end
different crossés: s00)) . ia A. oo 100
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 91
Sheep, embracing the different kinds . 1100
Swine establishment .. . 100
There are likewise on the Bataliehintat workshops or
manufactories, if so they may be called,—
For the making of agricultural instruments ;
A threshing-house and machine for grain ;
A dairy room for the manufacture of different kinds of
cheese and of butter ;
A magnanerie, or establishment for silk-worms ;
A stercorary for the manufacture of compost manures.
To all these various departments the attention of the stu-
dents is closely called, and they are required to take some
part in the labours connected with them.
Besides the farm belonging to the establishment, there is a
field of one hundred acres devoted exclusively to the pupils,
and principally to the culture of plants not grown on the
farm. Here they make experiments in different preparations
of the soil, and with different manures.
Every week two scholars, one of the second and one of the
first year, are appointed to attend particularly to the general
condition of the farm. Their business is to examine con-
stantly the whole establishment; the works that are going
on in every department; to look after the woods and the
plantations; the gardens; the horses; the fatting cattle;
the dairy ; the sheep-fold; the swine; and the hospital;
and to attend to the correspondence and the visitors. This
service lasts a fortnight, and there is a change every week,
taking care always that there shall be one scholar of the first
and one of the second year associated. They attend to all
the labours on the farm, and to all the communications
between the principal director and inspectors and the la-
bourers. In the veterinary or hospital department of the
establishment, they assist the surgeon in all his visits and
operations ; take notes of his prescriptions; make up and
attend to the administration of his medicines; and observe
92 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
particularly the sanitary condition of the stables and build-
ings, where the live stock, sick or well, are kept.
On Saturday evening, each scholar, to whom this duty has
been assigned, makes to his fellow-pupils a full verbal report
of what has been done. This report is transcribed into a
journal designed for that purpose; and thus a continued
history of the entire management of the farm is kept up.
The whole school is divided into sections or classes of twelve
each: six of two and six of one year’s standing ; and these
sections are constantly under the direction of the Professor of
Practical Agriculture.
As the establishment at Grignon may be considered a
model agricultural establishment, it may be useful to go
more into detail in regard to the course of instruction pur-
sued here.
Once a week there is an exercise, which embraces every
thing relating to the management of the teams and the
implements.
First, for example, in the different modes of executing any
work, and using the utensils employed. The harness, the
collar, the traces, and how attached, the shaft-horse or the
cattle attached to the load, and the adjustment of the load
to their backs ; the yoke, the single yoke, the double yoke ;
the pack-saddle ; the harnessing of a saddle-horse ; the team
for ploughing ; the team for harrowing ; the team for drawing
loads ; the team for waggons and for carriages with all their
appurtenances: every one of these matters is to be practi-
cally understood, as well as the whole management of the
team in action.
In ploughing, the turning the furrow, its inclination, its
breadth and depth ; the laying out of fields; the manage-
ment of large and small fields; how to make the first
furrow, and to finish the last furrow ; to lay the land flat, to
break it up in clods ; to plough it at a certain angle, to lay
the land in curved furrows: these are all considered, and
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 93
make part of the instruction given. The preparation, equip-
ment, and use of every agricultural implement—such as
ploughs, harrows, rollers, scarifiers, cultivators, sowing ma-
chines, trenching machines; the practice of sowing, the
different modes of sowing, whether broadcast, by dibble, or
in drills ; the application of manure both as to time, mode,
quantity, and preparation, and the composting of manures,
are matters of inquiry and practice.
The cutting of grasses; the making of hay, and the con-
struction of stacks ; the harvesting of grain, by the scythe
or by the sickle ; appendages to the scythe, called commonly
the cradle; and the grinding of scythes; the making of
sheaves, and of shocks, or stacks; and the loading and the
stowing away of grain, are matters to be understood.
A practical attention is required to every form of service
on the farm; in the cow-house; the horse-stables; the
fatting-stalls ; the sheep-fold; the styes ; the poultry-yard ;
the threshing-floor ; the stercorary ; and the store-houses for
the produce of the farm of every description. The duties in
this case embrace not merely the observation of how these
things are done, but the actual doing of them until an expert-
ness is acquired.
Leaving the practical department, we come now to the
course of studies to be pursued.
For admission into the institution some previous education
is demanded, and the candidate is subjected to an examina-
tion before the principal and one of the professors.
First, he is required to present an essay upon some subject
assigned to him, that his knowledge of the French language
and grammar may be ascertained.
It is necessary, next, that he should be well grounded in
the four great rules of arithmetic; in fractions, vulgar and
decimal ; in the extraction of the roots; in the rules of
proportion and progression ; and in the system of measures
adopted in France.
94 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
In geometry, he must be well acquainted with the general
principles of straight lines and circles, and their various”
combinations ; and with the general measurement of plane
surfaces.
In natural philosophy, he must understand the general
properties of bodies ; and be acquainted with the uses of the
barometer and thermometer.
Candidates for admission must bring with them certificates
of good character and manners, and must be at least eighteen
years old. They are rigidly held to an attendance upon all
the courses of instruction at the institution ; and have leave
of absence only on the application of their parents or guar-
dians.
The studies of the first year are begun with a course of
mathematics. Geometry and trigonometry are made a par-
ticular subject of attention ; embracing the study of straight
lines, and circular or curved lines on the same plan; the
admeasurement of surfaces; the use of the compass; the
recording of measurements; the delineation of measure-
ments ; the surveying of open fields, of woods, of marshes,
of ponds or lakes; comparison of ancient land measures
with those in present use; the use of the square, the chain,
and the compass; the elevation of plans; the construction
of scales, and the ordinary divisions of landed properties.
The study of various plans in any form; solid measure ;
conic sections, their principal properties, and their practical
application ; the theory and practice of levelling; the
method of projections and their application ; cubic measure
of different solids, of hewn stones, of rough stones; the
measurement of loose or broken stones, of sand, of lands
excavated, of ground filled in, of stacks, and of heaps of
manure ; the cubic measure of trees standing, and of felled
trees, of beams, and every kind of carpenter’s work, of fire-
wood, of walls, arches, and ditches or dikes ; the ascertaining
of the capacity of carriages, waggons, carts, wheel-barrows,
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 95
pails, troughs, barrels and casks, basins or ponds, and differ-
ent vessels in use, and of granaries and barns, and the deter-
mination of the weights of bodies. To all this is added a full
course of trigonometry. They are accustomed likewise to
the familiar use of the scale, of the square, of the compass,
and of the compasses for delineation, and are often occupied
_in superficial and in profile drawing.
The next course of instruction embraces embankments, the
force of earths and liquids, or their pressure, at rest or in
motion.
The materials employed in masonry ; their uses and appli-
cation in building—embracing stones, bricks, lime, sand, mor-
tars, cements, plaster ; and all the various modes of building.
The laying of walls for foundations ; the erection of walls ;
the supports requisite; and the construction of passages,
enclosures, and arches; the different kinds of woods, their
absolute and relative strength; their duration, and the
modes of preserving them; every kind of carpenter’s work ;
the construction of floors, staircases, scaffoldings, and ex-
terior supports ; the constructions of roofs, in timber, with
thatch, rushes, shingles, tiles, slates, zinc, or bitumen ; the
paving of roads, the formation of barn-floors, with clay or
composition of bituminous substances which form a hard
and enduring surface, are subjects of inquiry.
Next comes instruction in the blacksmith’s shop, in the
use of the forge, and the other implements of the trade; and
in the various applications of iron and steel, of copper, lead,
and zine.
They are instructed, likewise, in the manufacture and use
of leather and cordage ; and in the various details of paint-
ing and glazing. The prices or cost likewise of all these
different processes, are, as far as practicable, ascertained ;
and the modes of estimating such work are explained.
The next course embraces the elements of natural philo-
sophy ; and this includes chemistry, geology, and mineralogy.
96 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
First, the general properties of bodies, their divisibility,
elasticity, and porosity or absorbent powers; and the special
influence of this last circumstance upon the character of an
arable soil.
The following are all subjects of study: bodies in the
mass; the weight of bodies; means of determining the
density of bodies and their specific gravity; the physical
properties of the air; of atmospheric pressure ; and of the
construction and use of the barometer.
The study of hydrostatics ; the pressure of liquids in their
reservoirs, and against dikes and embankments ; hydraulics ;
capillary attraction ; the use of siphons and pumps.
The study of heat in all its various phenomena. Its effects
upon solid and liquid bodies, and the changes which it makes
in their condition; the phenomena of fusion, ebullition, and
evaporation ; of vapours ; of the hygrometer or measurer of
moisture, and the utility of the instrument ; the conducting
powers of bodies ; of metals in particular ; of free or radiating
heat ; application of heat to furnaces or kilns ; laws of cold
applied to bodies ; power of emitting and of absorbing cold ;
measure of heat ; means of determining the mean tempera-
ture of any place ; influence of heat and cold upon vegeta-
tion; means of preserving certain vegetables from frost ;
construction and use of the thermometer.
Meteorology. Explication of the phenomena of dew ; of
white frosts; of clouds ; of rain ; of snow; their various in-
fluences upon harvest, and the whole subject of climate.
Study of light. Progress of light in space ; laws of its
reflection; laws of its refraction; action of light upon
vegetation. The subject of vision. The polarization of
light ; the explication of the rainbow, and other phenomena
of light ; the prism.
Study of electricity. Conductors of electricity ; distribu-
tion of the electric fluid in nature ; power of the electric rods
or points ; electricity developed by the contact of bodies ; of
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 97
galvanic piles; their construction and uses. Atmospheric
electricity ; its origin; the formation’ of thunder clouds ;
action of electricity upon vegetation; of lightning; of
thunder ; of hail.
Chemistry. Simple bodies ; compound bodies ; difference
between combination and mixture; atomical attraction ;
cohesion ; affinity; what is intended by chemical agents.
Explanation of the chemical nomenclature, and of chemical
terms.
The study of simple bodies. Of oxygen ; its properties ;
its action upon vegetation, and upon animal life. Nitrogen,
sulphur, chlorine, carbon, hydrogen; their action upon
vegetable and animal substances; their uses in veterinary
medicine, and their influence upon vegetation.
The study of compound substances. Chemistry as applied
to air and water; their importance in agriculture ; their in-
fluence upon the action and life of plants and animals ; the
acids,—the sulphuric, the nitric, the carbonic, the chloric ;
the alkalis,—lime, soda, potassium, ammonia ; their applica-
tion in various forms. The salts in chemistry, and their
various applications and uses; their importance as consti-
tuent parts of the soil, or as improvements.
The subject of marls and of earths, and of various substances
deemed favourable to vegetation. Under the direction of
the Professor of Chemistry, the students are taught to make
analyses of different soils and marls.
To this is added a course of Mineralogy and Geology. This
embraces the general properties of minerals ; the physical,
chemical, and mechanical character of mineral substances the
most common.
The study of the distinctive properties and situation of
those mineral substances which are most extended over the
globe, and which are the most in use; such, especially, as the
carbonate of lime ; comprehending stones for building, for the
making of reads and walls, lime-stones, marbles, sulphate of
H
98 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
lime, or plaster of Paris ; and all the variety of mineral sub-
stances ordinarily found, and of use in agriculture or the
arts.
A course of Geology follows this, embracing all the leading
features of the science, with a special reference to all sub-
stances or conditions of the soil connected with agricultural
iniprovement.
In this case, the professor makes frequent excursions with
the pupils, that they may become familiarly acquainted with
the subjects treated of in the lectures, and see them in their
proper localities ; so that the great truths of geological science
may be illustrated by direct and personal observation.
Next follows a course of instruction in horticulture, or
gardening.
Of the soil; the surface and the subsoil, and practical con- -
siderations relative to their culture and products.
Of the climate ; the temperature, the aspect and local con-
dition of the land in reference to the products cultivated ; the
amelioration of the soil, and the substances to be used for that
object, with the modes of their application.
The various horticultural operations, and implements em-
ployed ; and manner in which they are to be executed. The
employment of water in irrigation; modes of enclosing by
ditches or walls ; walls for the training of trees ; trellises and
palings ; and of protections against the wind.
The different modes of multiplication ; sowing, engrafting
by cuttings and by layers, and practical illustrations of these
different processes. The culture of seed-bearing or grain-
producing plants; the choice of them; their planting and
management ; the harvesting and preservation of the crops.
Under this head comes the kitchen-garden, and the choice
of the best esculent vegetables for consumption ; the nursery,
and the complete management of trees from their first plant-
ing; the fruit-garden, considered in all its details; and the
flower-garden.
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 99
The general results of gardening ; the employment of hand,
or spade-labour ; the care, preservation, and consumption of
the products, and their sale. The gardens at Grignon are
upon a scale sufficient to supply all practical demonstra-
tions.
The next division embraces the botanical garden. Here
the whole science of botany is treated in its principles, and
their practical application. The study of vegetable organiza-
tion, with a full account of the prevailing systems and
nomenclature of botany, and the classification of plants.
Vegetable physiology, in all its branches, and vegetable
anatomy ; comparison of plants in their native and cultivated
states ; influence of cultivation in developing and improving
plants ; the propagation of plants in their natural condition,
or by artificial means ; the subject of rotation, or change of
crops.
The practical application of these botanical instructions ;
and especially in the examination of plants or vegetables
which may be useful in an economical view.
The garden of the establishment embraces what is called a
school of trees ; a school of plants for economical and com-
mercial purposes; and a school of plants for common use.
These are all carefully classed and distinguished by their
proper names. The pupils are accustomed to be led into the
gardens by the professor, that his instructions may be fully
exemplified and confirmed.
The next branch of science taught at the school is vete-
rinary surgery and medicine. This embraces a course of
anatomy and animal physiology. It comprehends a full
description of all the animal organs; and demonstrations
are given from subjects, destroyed or obtained for that pur-
pose. The functions of the different organs are likewise
described ; the organs of digestion, respiration, circulation,
and the organs connected with the continuance of the
species.
H 2
100 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
Every part of the animal, external and internal, is shown,
its name given, its uses explained; its situation in relation to
the other organs ; the good points, the faults or defects in an
animal; the peculiarities of different races of animals, with
the modes of discriminating among them.
The choice of animals intended for different services,—as
in horses, for example, whether for the saddle, the race, the
chase, the carriage, the road, the waggon, or the plough.
Next, the treatment of the diseases of animals ; the medi-
cines in use ; their preparation, and the mode of applying or
employing them.
The next subject of instruction embraces a complete
system of keeping farm accounts and journals, with the
various books and forms necessary to every department.
From this the pupil proceeds to what is called rural
legislation, embracing an account of all the laws which
affect agricultural property or concerns.
I shall give a specimen of some of the topics treated of
in this department.
The civil rights and duties of a French citizen, and the
constitution of France.
Property, moveable or immoveable, or, as denominated
with us, personal and real; of the divisions of property ;
of its use and its obligations.
Of commons ; of laws relating to forests ; of the rights of
fishing in rivers ; and of hunting.
The laws relating to rural police; to public health ; to
public security ; to contagious or epidemic diseases.
The rights of passage of men or animals over the land of
another ; if any, and what.
Of crimes. Theft in the fields; breaking or destruction
of the instruments of agriculture ; throwing open enclosures;
destruction or removal of bounds. Laying waste the crops
by walking over them ; inundation of fields by the stoppage
of streams, or the erection of mills. Injury or breaking of
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 101
public roads and bridges. Poisoning, killing, or wounding
animals.
The duties of country magistrates ; guards or justices of
peace. Of courts of law.
Of contracts, general and specific. Contracts of sale and
prohibitory conditions. Of leases of different sorts. Of hiring
labour ; of the obligations of masters and servants. Of cor-
porations, and the laws applicable to agricultural associa-
tions.
Of deeds, mortgages, bills of exchange, commissions, and
powers of agency and attorney ; insurance against fire, hail,
and other hazards. Of the proof of obligations; written
proof; oral testimony ; presumptive evidence ; of oaths. Of
legal proceedings ; of the seizure of property real or per-
sonal, and of bail.
The instruction proceeds under various courses, and I
have so far given but a limited account of its comprehen-
siveness, and the variety of subjects which it embraces.
The study of the different kinds of soil, and of manures,
with all their applications, and the improvements aimed at,
take in a wide field. Under the head of soils there are the
argillaceous, the calcareous, the siliceous, turf-lands, heath-
lands, volcanic soils, the various subsoils, loam, and humus.
Under the head of manures, come the excrements of
animals, all foecal matter, poudrette, urine ; the excrements
of fowls; guano; noir animalisée; the refuse of sugar-
refineries ; the relics of animals; oil-cakes ; the refuse of
maltings ; tanners’-bark ; bones, hair, and horn; aquatic
plants ; green-dressings.
The application likewise of sand, clay, marl, lime, plaster,
wood-ashes, turf-ashes, soot, salt ; the waste of various manu-
factures ; mud and street dirt.
The plants cultivated for bread ; wheat, rye, barley, oats,
buck-wheat, millet, rice, and the modes of cultivating them.
102 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
For forage,—potatoes, beets, turnips, ruta-bagas, carrots,
artichokes, parsnips, beans, cabbage.
Lucerne, lupins, sainfoin, common clover, trifolium incar-
natum, vetches, peas, lentils, and plants for natural meadows
and for pasturage. .
To these are added, cobra, rape, poppy, mustard white and
black, hemp, flax, cotton, madder, saffron, woad, hops, to-
bacco, chicory, teazles.
The weeds prejudicial to agriculture, and the insects which
attack the plant while growing, or in the granary or barn.
The production of milk ; and, as already said, the making
of butter and cheese.
The production of wool ; tests of its fineness; classing of
wools ; shearing of sheep ; weight of the fleece ; washing of
wool before or after shearing ; and every particular in refer-
ence to the subject.
The fatting of beef, mutton, and pork. Choice of animals
for this purpose; nutritive properties of different kinds of
food ; in what form to be given; grains entire or ground ;
roots cooked or raw, green or dry ; the value of the pulp of
beet-root after the sugar is expressed ; refuse of the starch
factories ; of the distillery ; of the brewery ; fatting by pas-
ture or in stalls; comparison of the live weight with that of:
the animal when slaughtered.
Care and management of the various kinds of domestic
poultry.
Care and management of bees, with the construction of
hives.
Care of silk-worms, and their entire management.
All these studies are pursued in the first year of the °
course ; and the time is so arranged as to afford the diligent
pupil an opportunity of meeting his duties, though the
period is obviously too limited for the course prescribed.
The second year enjoins the continuance and enlargement
of these important studies; the higher branches of mathe-
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 103
matics and natural philosophy ; an extended knowledge of
chemistry ; and a thorough acquaintance with mechanics,
- when the scholars with their professor visit some of the
principal machine-shops and factories in Paris, or its environs,
in order to become practically acquainted with them.
The students are further instructed in the construction of
farm-buildings of every description ; in irrigation, in all its
forms; in the drainage of lands; in the construction of
roads ; in every thing relating to farm implements ; and in
the construction of mills and presses.
~ As I have said, organic chemistry is largely pursued with
the various manufactures to which it is applicable; and
animal physiology and comparative anatomy are very fully
taught.
These studies are followed by a course of what is called
agricultural technology. This embraces the manufacture,
if so it may be called, of lime, of cement, of bricks; the
preparations of plaster; the making of coal by various
processes ; the making of starch; the making and purifica-
tion of vegetable oils; the making of wines, of vinegar, of
beer, of alcohol, of sugar from the beet-root, including all
the improvements which have been introduced into this
branch of manufacture ; and the pupils, under the direction
of the professor, are taken to see the various manufac-
tories of these articles, so far as they are accessible in the
vicinity.
The whole subject of forests, of nurseries, of fruit-trees,
ornamental trees, trees for fuel, trees for mechanical pur-
poses, are brought under the student’s notice. This is a
great subject in France, where wood has an extraordinary
value; where immense extents of ground are devoted
solely to the cultivation of trees; and where consequently
it is most desirable to understand the proper kinds of wood
to be selected for the purpose in view ; the proper mode of
forwarding the growth of the trees; and of removing them
104 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
without prejudice to their restoration. Under this head
comes the culture of
Trees for fuel.
Trees for timber.
Trees for house and ship-building.
Trees for fruit, including all the varieties adapted to a par-
ticular climate.
Trees for their oily matter ; such as olives.
Trees for their bark; to be used in tanning, and other
purposes.
Trees for their resinous properties ; such as pines.
Osiers and willows for making baskets.
Mulberry-trees for the support of silk-worms.
Next to this comes the culture of vines, and the establish-
ment and care of a vineyard—a subject of great importance
in France.
I have already spoken of the veterinary course of instruc-
tion. This embraces the whole subject of the breeding and
rearing of animals; their training, shoeing, and harnessing,
and entire management.
Under the head of farm-accounts, the establishment itself
at Grignon is made an example; the accounts of which are
kept most accurately by some of the students, and open to
the inspection of all.
A journal of every thing which is done upon the farm is
made up every night; and these accounts are > fairly trans-
ferred into a large-book.
To this is added, a particular account of the labours per-
formed, and the occupation of each workman on the farm.
Next, a cash-book, embracing payment and sales, which
are adjusted every fortnight.
Next, an account with the house ; charging every article
supplied or consumed.
Next, a specific account of each principal department of
the farm ; such as the dairy, with all its expenses and returns;
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 105
the pork-establishment; the granary, &c.; which are all
balanced every month, so that the exact condition of the
department may be known.
As the students are advanced, more general and enlarged
views of the various subjects of inquiry are given ; such as,
The taking of a farm, and the cultivation or management
to be adopted.
The influence of climate and soil.
The crops to be grown; and the rotation of crops.
Agricultural improvements generally.
The devoting of land to pasturage ; to dairy husbandry ;
to the raising of animals; to the fatting of cattle; to the
growth of wool; to the production of grain; to the raising
of plants for different manufacturing purposes; or to such a
mixed husbandry as may be suggested by the particular
locality.
The use of capital in agriculture; the mode of letting
farms; cash rents; rents in kind; rents in service; laws
regulating the rights and obligations of real estate ; the con-
veyance of real estate ; with the various forms of culture in
large or in small possessions, or on farms of a medium size.
I have extended, perhaps beyond the patience of my
reader, the account of the Agricultural School at Grignon,
and yet have given an imperfect and abridged statement of
the subject matters of instruction and study at this institu-
tion. The institution at Grignon may be considered as a
model establishment; and a thorough education in the
various branches referred to, must be, to any young man, an
important and invaluable acquisition.
The question comes up, Will such an education make men
better farmers? It must be their own fault if it does not.
There may be some branches of the prescribed course, which
may not appear to have a direct practical bearing ; but there
is not one without its use; if not directly, yet indirectly
subservient to agricultural improvement ; and if not imme-
106 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
diately applicable to practice, yet intimately connected with
the agricultural profession, adapted to increase its power,
utility, and dignity, to elevate and adorn it.
The commonest workman may perform the servile labours
upon a farm with far more skill and success than the most
accomplished scholar. A plain, practical farmer, with little
education, may better succeed in the management of an
ordinary farm; he may obtain better crops; his animals-
may be better fatted; and he may have, at the end of the
year, more money in his pocket, than another farmer with
ten times his knowledge, but without his practical skill.
It is admitted likewise that many men of highly cultivated
minds, and of what may be called enlarged knowledge in
agricultural science, have failed in the practical management
of farms; and the result of their operations has been Joss
and discouragement. It must be admitted, at the same
time, that the dunces have as often failed. I believe there is
no hope of success without some practical knowledge. Men
of cultivated minds often fail from relying too much upon
notions purely theoretical, and from a general and almost
universal prejudice, without any just foundation, that, while
other arts and sciences have made progress, agriculture has
made little or no progress, and that the whole system of
practical agriculture might be improved, or at once altered
to advantage. This prejudice is obviously unreasonable,
when we consider that years and centuries have been devoted
to this art. But such persons do not fail half so often from
their science, or even from agricultural theories, as they do
from the want of a business talent, or what is commonly
called tact. Some men almost always succeed in whatever
they undertake, as far as success depends on themselves ;
some men almost always fail. This in general is called
luck ; but it arises from a peculiar natural gift ; or, in the
opposite case, from some natural deficiency. Education and
practice will do much towards improving the faculty, and
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. LO7
somewhat towards compensating its deficiency, where such
deficiency exists; but they can never wholly supply its
place. It consists, as far as I have observed, in a sagacity
which takes the future always into account with the
present; in a sound and comprehensive judgment, which,
for example, looking into a machine, sees all its various
parts, with their various relations to each other, and their
mutual checks and balances ; in a fixedness of resolution,
which, having determined its object, is not diverted from it
but by the strongest reasons ; and in an aptitude and facility
of action or operation that takes advantage of every thing
which it can beneficially use for its purposes ; always float-
ing with the current instead of struggling against it; spreading
its sails to every even the gentlest favourable breeze ; and
conforming to the laws of nature, as far as they are ascer-
tained, instead of attempting, with an ambition and self-
conceit as idle as presumptuous, to contravene or to alter
them. Minds, in other respects highly gifted and improved,
often fail from the want of this tact. But, other circum-
stances being equal, how can any man who has any intelli-
gence doubt that knowledge and study will prove as available
in agriculture as in any other art or science ?
It would seem idle to argue so obvious a point as this, were it
not continually called in question; and continually demanded,
What has science done for agriculture? It might be sufficient
to ask in reply, What has ignorance or stupidity done for
agriculture, or any thing else? All the improvements which
are ever made depend upon two things,—inquiry and observa-
tion. The inquiry into facts, the observation of these facts,
when ascertained, constitute science. In science, facts are
all that are of any real value. The more inquiry is extended,
the more observation becomes exact, so much is our power,
and so much is the chance of success creased. The savage
in his canoe, venturing out upon an untried sea without
compass or chart, may, by mere chance, by favourable winds
108 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
and currents, reach his desired port ; but how inferior is his
chance of success, compared with the almost certainty with
which the experienced and instructed navigator ventures
abroad, who brings all the aids and lights which art and
science proffer him to direct his course; and who, under
their guidance, takes his aim daily ; measures his progress ;
fortifies himself against accidents which may befal him ; and,
with as much exactness as applies to any thing human,
reaches his destined port! It is often asked, What has che-
mistry done for agriculture? It has given us theories of
manures, and analyses of soils and of vegetables, which, to
say the least, are highly curious and interesting ; and which,
if experiment should verify them, may lead to important
results ; it has taught us modes of applying some manures,
by which their activity becomes more prompt, and their
efficacy is increased; it has led to the saving of many
materials for manure which were before wasted. But admit
that it has yet accomplished little in comparison of what was
expected from it, or what it professed itself able to do; per-
haps too much was expected ; perhaps it professed an ability
beyond what it possessed. But an intelligent mind will
allow that it presents one of the most efficacious means of
inquiring into and of determining many of the phenomena
of agriculture, and may ultimately lead to valuable dis-
coveries. It is true that the most eminent agricultural
chemist of the day failed in his attempts to furnish a
manure exactly adapted to the wants of every species of
crop, and which should give out its nutriment in such
measure, and at such time, and only in such measure and
at such times as the crop required. It was a bold at-
tempt, confidence in which bordered upon credulity, be-
cause he undertook to control and regulate forces and
influences which are entirely beyond human reach. If my
presumption may be excused in attempting to criticise the
writings of this distinguished individual, to whom science
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 109
is under such great obligations, I must say that one great
error seems to run through all his writings, which is, in sup-
posing that vegetation is a purely mechanical and chemical
process, which may be explained as any other mechanical or
chemical process may be explained. It may be so; but the
fact remains to be proved. When I see a hundred differ-
ent plants, differing in form, flower, fruit, duration, and
nutriment, some of the most wholesome, and some of the
most poisonous qualities, upon the same square yard of land,
each, preserving perfectly the identity of its species, not in
any respect commixing with others, and taking only the
elements which belong to it, and only in the exact proportion
which it requires, however simple it may prove to be when it
is explained, as every thing is simple when thoroughly under-
stood, it does not appear to me that the solution is yet
approached by chemistry, or by any other science. Yet
chemical science, from its searching nature, and from what
it has already accomplished, seems, of all others, the science
most likely to solve, if they ever are to be solved, these hidden
secrets of nature. It is not, however, for the agriculturists of
France to deny the value of chemistry, since they are in-
debted to chemistry for the discovery of sugar in the beet,
and the means of extracting and fabricating it, which now
forms with them so large and valuable an article of produc-
tion and commerce.
It seems superfluous to add, that all improvements must
come from the application of the mind to the subject. The
more the mind is cultivated, the more is man’s power over
nature increased. One science helps another. The more a
man knows of any one thing, the more likely he is to know
others, and the more power he has of acquiring other know-
ledge. The course of education at Grignon is adapted to
furnish the mind with knowledge of a highly practical cha-
racter, which in the country there is constant occasion to
apply. To a man of curious mind, resident in the country,
110 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
such an education may be said to make every object by
which he is surrounded alive, and to multiply infinitely his
resources of interest and pleasure. It will prevent that stu-
pidity which the monotony and tranquil character of rural
pursuits have often a tendency to bring upon the mind, and
which is sometimes made an objection to them. It will pre-.
vent many low and purely animal pursuits, into which now,
for want of mental occupation, men in such circumstances
are liable to indulge ; and it will contribute to elevate and
adorn the pursuits of husbandry, and render it one of the
most attractive, as all will admit it to be among the most
useful, moral, and honourable professions.
2. VETERINARY Scuoot at ALFort.—I must not, in this
connexion, pass over the veterinary schools of France.
There are three of these institutions in France, and they
furnish all the advantages to be expected from such
establishments. The three veterinary schools established
by the government of France are at Alfort, Lyons, and
Toulouse, and comprise 600 students. The average num-
ber of horses kept on them is 1332; viz. 838 stallions,
127 mares, 212 colts, 99 fillies, and 56 draft horses’.
The one at Alfort is that which I have had the pleasure
of inspecting.
This establishment is beautifully situated on the river
Seine, near the village of Charenton, about six miles from
Paris. The buildings for the different objects of the insti-
tution are spacious and well contrived, and the grounds
sufficiently extensive and judiciously arranged. Like other
governmental establishments in France which have come
under my observation, the institution is upon a grand scale, |
and complete in all its parts. The government of France, ina
liberal manner, avails itself of the talents of the most com-
1 Statistical Report.
-
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 11)
petent men in every department, and of all the advantages
which science and art can afford; and it spares no expense
in the perfect execution of whatever it undertakes. It adds
to all this, as is every where to be seen, a refinement of taste
in the arrangement of the most ordinary subjects, which in-
creases the expense only in a small degree, which does not
abstract at all from the solidity and substantial character of
the work itself; but relieves that which would otherwise be
monotonous, if not offensive, and renders often the plainest
subjects attractive.
The school at Alfort is designed to furnish a complete
course of instruction in veterinary medicine and surgery ;
embracing not horses only, but all the domestic animals. A
student at his entrance must be well versed in the common
branches of education; and a full course of instruction
requires a residence of four years. The number of pupils is
limited to three hundred. Of these, forty are entirely sup-
ported by the government. These are educated for the
army; and are required not only to become versed in the
science and practice of veterinary medicine and surgery, but
likewise in the common. business of a blacksmith’s shop, as
far as it is connected with farriery. Students can be
admitted only by the nomination or with the consent of one
of the great officers of government, the minister of commerce
and agriculture. The expense of board and lodging is about
fifteen pounds, or eighty dollars a year; the instruction is
wholly gratuitous, the professors being supported by the
government.
The establishment presents several hospitals or apartments
for sick horses, cows, and dogs. There are means for con-
trolling and regulating, as far as possible, the temperature of
the rooms, and for producing a complete and healthy ventila-
tion. There are stables where the patients may be kept
entirely alone, when the case requires it; and there are
preparations for giving them, as high as their bodies, a warm
112 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
bath, which, in cases of diseased limbs or joints, may be of
ereat service. There is a large college with dormitories and
dining rooms for the students; houses for the professors
within the enclosure; rooms for operations upon animals,
and for anatomical dissections; a room with a complete
laboratory for a course of chemical lectures ; a public lecture-
room or theatre; and an extensive smithery, with several
forges fitted up in the best possible manner. There are,
likewise, several stands, contrived with some ingenuity, for
confining the feet of horses, that students may make with
security their first attempts at shoeing, or in which the limb,
after it has been separated from its lawful owner, may be
placed for the purpose of examination and experiment.
An extensive suite of apartments presents an admirable,
and, indeed, an extraordinary museum both of natural and
artificial anatomical preparations, exhibiting the natural and
healthy state of the animal constitution ; and, likewise, re-
markable examples of diseased affections. The perfect ex-
amples of the anatomy of the horse, the cow, the sheep, the
hog, and the dog ; in which the muscular integuments, the
nerves, the blood-vessels, and, indeed, all the parts, are
separated and preserved, and exhibited, by the extraordinary
skill of an eminent veterinary surgeon and artist now
deceased, who occupied the anatomical chair of the institu-
tion, exhibit wonderful ingenuity in their dissection and
preservation, and present an interesting and useful study,
not to the medical students only, but to the most ordinary
as well as the most profound phuosophical observer. I
have seen ‘no exhibition of the kind of so remarkable a
character.
The numerous examples of diseased affections, preserved, as
far as possible, in their natural state, strongly attract observa-
tion, and make a powerful appeal to our humanity in show-
ing how much these poor animals, who minister so essentially
to our service and pleasures, must suffer without being able
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. Maks:
to acquaint us with their sufferings ; and how often they are
probably compelled to do duty, and driven to the hardest
services by the whip or the spur, in circumstances in which
a human being would not be able to stand up. A great
number of calculi or stones, taken from the bladders of horses
after death, are exhibited, of a large size, and, in some in-
stances, of a very rough exterior, which must have exces-
sively irritated and pained the sensitive parts with which
they came in contact. One of these stones was larger than
the head of an ordinary man, and weighed, as I was in-
formed by the attendant, thirty-eight pounds. I am aware
how severely this account may tax the belief of my readers,
but I assure them there is no exaggeration, though I should
have found great difficulty in believing the fact had I not
seen the stone. It is scarcely possible to overrate the suffer-
ing which the poor animal must have endured under such
an infliction ’.
The department for sick dogs, containing boxes for those
which require confinement, and chains for such as require to
be kept in the open air, and a cooking apparatus and kitchen
for the preparation of their food, was spacious, well-arranged,
and contained a large number of patients. Any sick animals
may be sent to the establishment, and their board is to be paid
at a fixed rate of charges ; twelve sous or cents, or sixpence
per day for a dog; and fifty sous or cents, or twenty-five
pence, for a horse, including medicine, advice, and attend-
ance. In cases of epidemics or murrain prevailing in any of
the districts of France, the best attendance and advice are
sent from these schools to assist in the cure, and especially
1 Facts of this nature strongly demonstrate the importance of pure water for
our brute animals as well as for ourselves. Such diseases are most likely to
occur in a country where the waters are strongly impregnated with lime. In
Paris, where of all places which I have seen they appear least demanded by
any excess of modesty, or even sense of common decency, it is said, that since
the erection of public urinals along some of the principal streets, the diseases of
gravel or stone in the human subject have greatly diminished.
114 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
to watch the symptoms and progress of the malady. In
countries where large standing armies are maintained, and
where of course there are large bodies of cavalry and artillery
to be attended upon, as well as waggon-horses for carrying the
supplies, the importance of veterinary surgery is vastly
increased ; but in countries where no standing armies exist,
the number of horses kept for use or pleasure, and of other
domestic animals, bears a much larger proportion to the
number of human beings than we should be likely to infer
without inquiry ; and renders the profession highly important.
A large and select library belongs to the establishment,
and a garden for the cultivation of medicinal plants, and
likewise of the grasses employed in agriculture. A farm is
likewise attached to the place, on which instruction is given
in practical agriculture, and numbers of various kinds of
animals are kept for the purpose of breeding the best, and
illustrating the effects of crossing. Some selected animals of
domestic and of the best foreign breeds, horses, bulls, cows,
and sheep, are kept for this special object. On one occasion,
when I visited the institution, there was a public sale of
bulls of the improved short-horns, which had been raised
upon the place; and of some bucks of the best breeds of
England, the Leicester, the South-down, and others from a
cross of the Leicester with a large-sized Merino. I saw at
Grignon the cross also of the South-down with the Merino.
These crosses presented examples of improved form, of large
size, and of a great quantity of wool of a good, but not of a
very fine, quality. These were the result of a first cross ;
how far it may be successfully continued is not determined.
Attempts of this kind, to intermix breeds of a decidedly
different constitutional character, as far as my inquiries
have been extended, have not been satisfactory after a first
cross. These animals belonged to the Government, and were
sold, not with a view to profit, but to the general improve-
ment of the breeds of France. In this excellent mode, the
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 115
Government provides, in respect to horses, cattle, and sheep,
for the propagation through the kingdom of the most valuable
races. The minimum price was fixed upon the animals as
they were brought forward, and they went into the hands of
those who made the highest advance, and who were required,
under certain conditions, to keep them for the purposes of
breeding’. Besides these sales, the best description of horses
and neat cattle, studs, and bulls, owned by the Government,
are at the service of the farmers upon the most liberal terms,
for the improvement of their stock.
In England, the veterinary establishments are maintained
by private subscription. Perhaps, in general, that which is
left to private management under the stimulus of personal
interest is better cared for than that which is wholly public
property ; but as in this establishment there is no want of
liberality on the part of the Government, so there seems to
be no want of fidelity and diligence in accomplishing its
objects. The students are numerous, and the professors
eminent for their scientific and practical acquirements.
I have spoken in another place of the veterinary profession,
and of what great respect a person is worthy, who, with
talents suited to give him a high rank in any other depart-
ment of medical science and practice, has the manliness and
humanity to devote himself to this most humble and yet
most benevolent service. The fable of Androcles extracting
the thorn from the foot of the lion, is a beautiful lesson of
disinterested and amply-requited kindness. The practitioner
in these cases is not to expect any open expressions of grati-
tude ; yet one can hardly doubt—indeed, in the canine race
it is most evident,—that there may exist a deep sense of
kindness where there is no power of acknowledgment ; but
such services are sure to find their best reward in a good
man’s own heart.
1 The expense to the Government of supporting the three veterinary schools
is said to be about 492,000 francs, or 100,000 dollars per annum.
12
116 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
I consider it a duty to lose no favourable occasion of
protesting against all cruelty to dumb animals, and to speak
for those who have no power to speak for themselves. In
institutions of this kind, there may be danger of making
experiments on living and sentient subjects, which are not
demanded for the high purposes of science. Such experi-_
ments, as far as they are useless or wanton, or as far as
experiments even of a most important nature are conducted
with indifference to the suffering of the patients, or with the
infliction of unnecessary pain, must be regarded as cruel and
criminal. A dog was shown to us who had been inoculated,
by way of experiment, with the virus of the hydrophobia.
The lessons to be drawn from such an experiment may be
highly important. It is a fact deserving notice, that a
remedy against one of the most frightful and fatal epidemics
to which mankind were ever subject—the small-pox—has
been derived from one of the most humble, yet one of the
most useful, of the domestic animals. Several applications
have been made here with the sulphuric ether; and surgical
operations have been performed upon patients under its
influence, without any apparent suffering. This discovery
seems an immense gain to humanity.
It is always with a degree of alarm that the unpractised
look at the apparent indifference and insensibility to the
pain and suffering of their patients, to which familiarity and
practice seem to bring the most eminent operators in
surgery ; who, after a long practice, evidently acquire a
relish for what appears to be the most painful part of their
duty ; seem to lose the consciousness that they are dealing
with flesh and blood ; and cut for the stone, or amputate a
limb, with as much calmness as they would bore a hole in a
log, or cut off a stick of wood. Perhaps this indifference is
the very security of that steadiness of hand so essential to
success. It must require a compassion or humanity of the
highest order to preserve a delicate sensibility, and resolutely
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to avoid giving needless pain; or, under the plea of ad-
vancing science, making useless and severe experiments
upon animals, where life has only a pecuniary value, and
where the wishes or feelings of the subjects of these opera-
tions cannot be consulted. Every wanton act of cruelty, or
the infliction of unnecessary pain upon a dumb animal, is
a crime ; involving at the same time the grossest meanness ;
inasmuch as we have them wholly in our power, and know
them to be incapable of resistance or complaint.
3. AGRICULTURAL Cotony at Mezrrray.—There are two
other institutions for agricultural education in France, which
I visited with great interest, and a notice of which will not, I
hope, be unacceptable ; the one at Mettray, near Tours,
about 150 miles, the other at Petit Bourg, about twenty
miles, from Paris.
Let me say, in passing, that France abounds in philan-
thropic institutions. There are no public almshouses ; and I
have met with comparatively few mendicants, excepting blind
persons, persons incurably lame or deformed, and incapable
of supporting themselves. I have been much impressed with
the difference, in this respect, between France, and England,
Scotland, and Belgium, which three countries, particularly in
the cities, swarm with beggars; and Ireland especially,—fated,
wretched, degraded Ireland,—which is scarcely to be placed in
comparison with any other country. This difference is, I
think, in some degree owing to the industry, frugality, simple
habits, and, above all, temperance of the French country
people; virtues in which they are excelled by no people whom
I have known; it seems to me only just to add, a general self-
respect, which leads them to look upon mendicancy, and even
the reception of charity, as disgraceful. I have no doubt,
likewise, that the power of acquiring land conduces very much
to industry and frugality.
Though there are in France no almshouses or poorhouses
118 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
established by law, as in Great Britain and the United
States, it is not to be forgotten, that various parts of the
country (and Paris especially) abound in them, there are
hospitals for the reception of the sick, the impotent, the
insane, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the old and decayed,
those who have served their country in the army and navy,
and others labouring under afflictive dispensations of Divine
Providence.
I may go further, and say, that I believe, from my own
observation, there is no country where more is dispensed in
private charity ; and the poor themselves, as I have seen in
many instances, seem always ready to share their pit-
tance with those who are poorer than themselves. I am
told that this is the consequence of the prevalent religion,
which places charity or alms-giving among its works of merit.
IT honour the religion, then, for the good which it does, and
content myself with recommending to those who profess a
different faith, to read again, at their leisure, the beautiful
parable of the good Samaritan.
The colony at Mettray was founded in the spirit of the
good Samaritan, which succours the wounded and forsaken
traveller by the way-side, takes him home, and there nourishes
and cherishes him. This establishment grew out of the
compassion of two gentlemen of high rank and fortune, who
were moved to essay what could be done for the rescue of
unfortunate, condemned, and vagabond boys, to save them if
possible from destruction, and give them the power of
obtaining an honest living. It is not consistent with my
plan, in this place, to go further into the account of the
institution, than as a school of agriculture, though the
directors propose three objects of instruction: to qualify
their pupils for farmers, sailors, or soldiers. The discipline of
the institution is military. They have a full-rigged ship of
ample size in the yard, that boys designed for naval life may
here take their first practical lessons ; and they have a well-
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 119
stocked farm of five hundred acres, which is under direction
to be cultivated by the pupils. The institution is situated
in a healthy part of the country, and’ near a large market-
town. ‘They employ an educated and experienced agricul-
turist as director of the farm. The first object is to render
it productive, that it may go as far as it can be made to go
towards defraying the expenses of the institution ; the
second, to instruct the boys in the best and most improved
methods of husbandry. The institution had its foundation
in private subscription, and though in its commencement it
had many difficulties to struggle with, it has now a firm
establishment’. Besides a farm, there are connected with
the institution a large garden, an extensive nursery, and a
manufactory for the fabrication of all the implements,
carriages, &c., which are used on the farm. The boys are
likewise employed in the making of the shoes, caps, clothes,
and bedding, which are required, and many fancy articles
which serve for sale, and give them occupation, when by any
circumstances they are prevented from out-door labour. The
number of pupils is at present 450. It is not intended to
keep them after sixteen, but they are willing to receive them
at the earliest convenient age. I saw several not more than
_ six or seven years old. They live in families of forty or
fifty, in separate houses, under the care of a respectable man
and his wife, who give them their whole time. This seemed
to me a most judicious provision. They have a guardian
with them in the fields, who always works with them. Many
of them have been condemned at courts of justice for some
petty offence, and many of them, orphans and friendless, have
been taken up in the streets in a condition of miserable
vagabondage. The discipline of the institution is altogether
1 The Vicomte de Courteilles gave a large estate, and M. De Metz, a dis-
tinguished philanthropist and a royal counsellor, besides sacrificing his high
situation at court, lives among the children, and gives, the greatest of all
charities, his whole time, his hand, his head, and heart, entirely to this object.
120 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
moral and paternal. Confinement, abstinence, solitude, and
disgrace, constitute the chief punishments ; but there are no
whips, nor blows, nor'chains. It has been so far eminently
successful. A boy, who had been early familiar with punish-
ments and prisons, and now for some time a‘resident at
Mettray, was asked, Why he did not run away from Mettray ?
His memorable answer was, “ Because there are no bolts nor
bars to prevent me.”
When one looks at the innumerable herds of children,
turned, as it were, adrift in a great city, not merely tempted,
but actually instructed, stimulated, and encouraged, in crime,
and observes them gradually gathering in and borne onwards
on the swift current with increasing rapidity to the precipice
of destruction, until escape becomes almost impossible, how
can we enough admire the combined courage, generosity, and
disinterestedness, which plunges in that it may rescue some
of these wretched victims from that frightful fate which
seems all but inevitable? I do not know a more beautiful,
and scarcely a more touching, passage in the Holy Scriptures
than that which represents the angels in Heaven as rejoicing
over a repenting and rescued sinner. It is, indeed, a ministry
worthy of the highest and holiest spirits, to which the Supreme
Source of all goodness and benevolence has imparted any por-
tion of his Divine nature.
If we look at this institution even in a more humble and
practical view, as affording a good education in the mechanical
and agricultural arts, its great utility cannot be doubted ;
and much good seed will be sown here, which, under the
blessing of God, is sure to return excellent and enduring
fruits.
I should have said before, that there is connected with the
institution a hospital which was a model of cleanliness,
good ventilation, and careful attendance ; all the services of
which were rendered by those indefatigable doers of good,
the Sisters of Charity.
—"
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. BIA) |
4. Cotony ar Prrrr Boura—Another institution of a
similar kind to that at Mettray, is about twenty miles from
Paris, at a place called Petit Bourg. It was once a palace,
built by a profligate king for a profligate woman, but now is
converted into a school of charity,—certainly a better use.
It is not designed for criminals or the condemned, but for
vagabond children, fatherless, motherless, and friendless ;
and is to be regarded as a place for the prevention rather
than the cure of crime. The farm contains about seventy
acres ; and though an expensive purchase, and a house much
too magnificent for a pauper establishment, yet the large
rooms in the house, and the various spacious appendages,
have been easily converted to the useful purposes of the
institution. The nearness to the capital, where the sub-
scribers to the funds principally reside, and therefore can
have constant access to it, and a quick market for the pro-
duce in fruit and vegetables, are compensating circumstances
for the exorbitant cost of the land. No person is received over
sixteen years of age, or kept beyond twenty-one. The cost
of maintaining a pupilis twelve pounds sterling, sixty dollars ;
and they are paid for by individual subscribers, or out of the
common funds. Seventy pupils are now maintained here;
and the applications are far beyond their power of receiving.
The children are trained to agriculture, to gardening in its
various branches, and some of them to different trades, as
tailors, shoemakers, capmakers, blacksmiths, and carpenters.
The farming was of a kind to be immediately productive, and
was well managed. The cows at this establishment, as, in-
deed, in most parts of the continent which I have visited,
are soiled,—that is, fed in the stables constantly ; and were
of a superior description. There were two kinds which
particularly attracted my attention, under the designation
of Norman and Flemish. In appearance and promise I
have seldom seen any superior. I could obtain no exact
returns; but the Flemish was remarkable for size, and
122 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
stated to be equally remarkable for her product in milk’
and butter.
With a view to encourage their exertions, the pupils have
a portion of their earnings put by at interest, for their
benefit ; and which they receive, if, at the close of their
term, they leave the place with honour; but not if they
are dismissed for faults or crimes, or if they leave irregularly,
and without permission. I hope it will not be deemed out
of place if I remark here in passing, that the discipline of
the institution is intended to be wholly moral and paternal.
Light penalties, which affect the mind, and which are designed
to operate upon the self-respect of the offender, and to affect
his character and standing, are found much more effectual
than any corporal punishments. A public court, at which
the master presides, is held among the pupils once a week,
when the daily records of the institution are looked over.
Here the deficient or guilty are called to account by their
companions, and the penalties decreed. This, which may be
called a court of honour, has proved signally effectual.
There are, besides Mettray and Petit Bourg, several other
institutions on the same plan in different parts of France.
They cannot be too strongly commended ; and this seems a
kind of philanthropy without fault. Let me add, with
reverence, that if it were a mission worthy of a Celestial
Messenger to seek and to save those who were perishing,
what can be more a duty than, in our humble measure, to
imitate a Divine example’.
1 Some of my readers may be interested in the subjoined anecdote, which I
received: from the benevolent director of the establishment :—Among the re-
wards given at the institution, and those, extraordinary as it may seem, most
coveted and deemed most honourable, are what are called tickets of favour.
These only entitle the possessor to obtain some mitigation of punishment for an
offending companion by bearing it himself. In one case, at the strong solicita-
tion of the parents, a very unmanageable boy had been received into the insti-
tution. Silence is always strictly enjoined at meal times. This boy, after
repeated admonitions, persisted in violating this rule, when a monitor took him
CROPS. 123
I have deemed it useful to go thus fully into the matter of
agricultural education in France, as the subject attracts
much attention in England and the United States. The
provision made in France for this object is obviously of a
most liberal character, and the arrangements are made with
equal judgment and wisdom.
I pass now to other topics.
XVI. CROPS.
The crops cultivated in France are the usual cereal grains,
wheat, rye, barley, and oats; but what may be called the
peculiar crops, yielding an immense pecuniary value, are
wine, silk, and sugar.
1. Wueat.—In gross amount, the wheat grown in France
constitutes an immense crop. With the exception of Russia,
from which no accurate statistical returns have been ob-
tained, and in European Russia comparatively little wheat is
grown, the bread used being chiefly of rye, it is stated, that
more than half of the wheat grown in Europe is produced in
by the collar in order to remove him from the table. The boy instantly stabbed
the monitor, so as to endanger his life. For this offence he was sentenced to
some months’ imprisonment and seclusion upon short allowance. After being
some time confined, the boys solicited his release ; the boy who had been
wounded among the rest, and who had a right to claim a favour. After repeated
refusals, the master at length consented, upon condition that the boy who had
been wounded should take his place, and suffer out the time which remained to
complete his sentence. This being agreed to, and the wounded boy taking the
place and the penalties of the criminal, the culprit was appointed to the duty of
attending upon him by carrying him his food. The confined boy finished the
time to which the criminal had been sentenced. In the meanwhile the culprit,
witnessing the sufferings of the boy whom he had injured, and his magnanimity
in undertaking to suffer for him, and the kind and forgiving conduct of the
whole school towards him, was so deeply affected by it, that it appeared to have
worked an entire reformation of character, and he became and had continued
for a long time one of the best boys in the school.
124 CROPS.
France. From the best statistical accounts that can be ob-
tained, the wheat annually produced in the United Kingdom,
England, Scotland, Ireland, is 111,081,320 bushels.
In France itiis?)\). 7 20.) 1) Palos !660/000 rr
The amount of seed ordinarily sown to the acre is from
two to three bushels. The return of crop for the seed sown
is represented as, in the best districts, averaging 6°25 for
one; in the least productive 5-40 for one; but the mean
average return for the seed in the principal wheat-growing
departments is reckoned at 6:07 for one. These accounts
must be considered as uncertain. Any person having ex-
perience in the case, knows how difficult is even an approach
to accuracy. My readers may be curious to know the calcu-
lations which have been made in regard to some other coun-
tries in this matter.
NORTH EUROPE.
Countries. Year. Increase for seed sown.
Sweden and Norway .. . 1838 . . 450 for one.
Benimarke a: a6 ol) Sere 1827) fae 1G s
Fuissiawavcood -harvesh 4 even 1Show eek 15 3
wiProvance of Tambof.. 1821, = 4:50
, Provinces north of 50°
Ley C6 Ve ee ae: I SNe Tu ch Wa as ie
Bolarncty iby terud: mies Reese, Shh habeowed. ways Pe
Bnolanders Yenret emer # S80 9 .
SOOLIAMG van bocce we ease ame ss
Trelandhs, cob tates wit dex to ee 2b Ca i
Ekolland? AAS iilmsah een Oper WET LDS”. Art LTO ie
Belem es le ec ee Lose: LT sf
eV EMG nie Mie bce do dital coPaduny! L827 sap iehenene
Permlocian ay" Bron bie caps de G. yh ONG S
BAUS ees a ee LD. ee
gary. sh a Ss elles wily LBM pale one a
CROPS. 125
Switzerland, 1825, lands of an inferior quality, 3; of a good
quality, 8; of the best quality, 12:
France, inferior lands, 3 ; best lands, 6.
CENTRAL EUROPE.
Countries. Year. Increase for seed sown.
See ee se ee ORO | 5 GO for one.
Remus ek LOO WS LO 5
Tuscany Ee ey ae vet a GO m
emisor duicea; | Ww eC, CS ch
Piedmont. Plains of Marengo — .. 4to5d ,,
Bologna Damp — 15 .
Roman States. Pontine Marshes, 20; ordinary lands, 8.
Kingdom of Naples—best districts, 20; ordinary lands, 8.
Malta—the best lands, 38 to 64; ordinary lands, 22, 25, 30°.
It is obvious how difficult it must be to arrive in this case
at any thing like exactness. The quantity of seed employed
on the same extent of land is very different in different
countries, but the product cannot always bear the above
proportions to the amount sown. That I may be understood,
let us look at Malta, where a return of 64 for one is
given for the best lands. Are we to infer that in such case,
if two bushels were sown to an acre, the ordinary proportion
in France, the product would be 128 bushels per acre? or, if
three bushels were sown, as in the best cultivation in Eng-
land, the crop would be 192 bushels? In Ancient Egypt, the
return is represented as 100 for one; in Byzantium, as 150
for one; in Ancient Libya, as 300 for one. No certain
conclusions can be founded upon such statements. The
distinguished traveller, M. Humboldt, states the average
product of wheat in Mexico as 25 to 30 for one, and this on
1 Statistique des Cereales de la France, par M. A. Moreau de Jonnés.
Paris, 1843.
126 CROPS.
table-land elevated 8000 feet above the sea; and that, even
on large farms, he fowtd it 50 and 65 for one. In the
Antilles he states the production of maize, or Indian corn, as
300 for one. But I have seen in several cases in New
England, in the culture of Indian corn, a return of 400 for
one; that is to say, the hills being three feet apart each way,
a peck of Indian corn would be sufficient seed for an acre.
If 100 bushels of grain is in such case produced on an acre—
and this sometimes happens—this is clearly a return of 400
for one.
Of the average yield of wheat in France it is not possible
to form a conclusion on which entire reliance may be placed.
Until a very large district can be taken, and the crops and
land actually measured, no certainty can be attained; and
then of course it must vary much in different climates, or
expositions in different seasons, and under different modes of
culture. At present it is altogether matter of conjecture, and
it would be difficult to find two men of independent judgment
who would agree in the case. The average yield in England
I have heard stated by men of political standing, claiming to
be well informed on the subject, at not more than fifteen
bushels per acre. An eminent agricultural writer placed it
at eighteen bushels some years since ; men of sanguine tem-
perament rate it at over thirty bushels. These evidently are
wholly conjectural estimates. In France it is stated in the
best districts to average twenty-two bushels. This rests upon
similar authority. It would be of immense importance to
any government to know the exact product grown in any
county or district, or in the whole country ; and this might
be obtained by compelling, on the part of the owner or culti-
vator, an actual return of his crop ; but it is of little use to
found such returns on estimates purely conjectural. There is
another point in respect to this cultivation which the agri-
cultural societies might obtain, and which would be of great
importance; that is, first, the smallest yield ordinarily
OROPS. 127
obtained, and, next, the largest yield actually obtained, with
a detailed history of the culture in each case; the causes of
the inferiority in the former, and of the superiority in the
latter, as far as they can be ascertained. Reluctant as most
men are to state them, yet, as much benefit may be derived
from a knowledge of the causes of failure as of success; and
in the latter case, every one must see the importance of
knowing what can be done, that every stimulus may be given
to an emulation which in agriculture is always wholesome,
and a great instrument of success. In England, fifty bushels
per acre were reported to me, on the best authority, as the
yield upon a large farm in a very favourable season. More
than eighty bushels have been reported, upon what is deemed
ample testimony, to the Royal Society of England, as the
product of a single acre’. In France I have had, upon the
best authority, reports of forty bushels, forty-four bushels,
and seventy-two bushels. It is beyond all doubt that the
crops in England have, within a few years, considerably
increased ; and, by the official returns in France, where much
pains have been taken to render them accurate, it appears
that within eighty years, while the population has increased
in the proportion of twenty-one to thirty-three millions, the
production of wheat has more than doubled ; which shows an
improvement in the comforts of the people. It is further
stated, upon good authority, that the product of an acre of
land is ordinarily double what it was three-fourths of a
century ago; which shows a most gratifying improvement
in the agriculture of the kingdom. It is an instructive
fact, that the product of wheat in France has increased
sixty-three per cent. since the close of Napoleon’s wars—a
1 It is almost impossible to get any exact return from an English tenant-
farmer of his products, for the reason that he will give no occasion to his land-
lord to raise his rent. In countries where the amount produced is a subject of
such great importance, and where the population is pressing so hard upon the
supply, an accurate return of the yearly product should be induced by some
pecuniary encouragement, or otherwise made compulsory.
128 CROPS.
fact which shows, in a most striking manner, the interruption
which war brings into the useful arts of life, and the priva-
tions and wretchedness which are sure to follow in its train.
There have been in France, as every where else, discussions
as to the origin of wheat, many persons maintaining that it
is an inferior plant in its natural state, and that its present
condition is the result of artificial cultivation. The specula-
tion will do neither harm nor good. There is little reason
for the supposition ; and it seems extraordinary that similar
changes are never witnessed at the present day. It is
certain that the wheat cultivated at the present time does
not differ from that found in the pyramids of Egypt.
There are nearly thirty different kinds of wheat cultivated
in France, including both autumn and spring varieties. In
respect to this distinction, there is little doubt that, by
a careful selection of the earliest ripe, after a time, the
autumn may be converted into a spring wheat; and the
spring wheat being repeatedly sown in the autumn, would
presently lose its properties of early ripening. It would be
imprudent to prescribe any particular species for universal
or for general use, as the different kinds are adapted to
different localities, some being much earlier than others, and
therefore, though yielding a less product, ripening before the
droughts of summer, and escaping, in some degree, the
dangers of blight ; and others being more susceptible to
injury from frost. The white wheat of Flanders is a highly
esteemed variety ; and is said to be the same as a wheat
known in England by the names of the Eclipse wheat, the
Wellington, and the Talavera. It is highly productive and
beautiful, and is particularly suited to lands of the richest
quality. The white wheat of Provence is pronounced the
most excellent variety for the quality of its grain; its straw
is very tender, and therefore liable to be lodged ; and it is
too delicate for a cold climate. The Lammas wheat is of an
excellent quality ; early in its ripening; it sheds its grain
CROPS. 129
easily in the field; it therefore requires to be cut early. It
is very susceptible to injury from cold. These are all winter
wheats ; but what is called a spring wheat in Europe is a
wheat which should be sown in February ; whereas, in the
United States, that only is called a spring wheat which may
be sown, with a surety of its ripening, in any part of March
or April.
The Tuscan wheat, used in the manufacture of the cele-
brated and beautiful Leghorn bonnets, is a spring wheat, with
very short heads, and produces little grain. The Victoria
wheat, of a good quality, and brought to France from Columbia
in South America, and represented as ripening in sixty days,
- was not found, in France, in advance of the common wheats
of the country. I imported, some years since, a wheat from
Spain, highly commended for its rapid growth and early
maturity, but in these respects it showed no superiority over
the kinds ordinarily cultivated in the country.
_ We are already, in the United States, in possession of
many beautiful kinds of wheat. I can only add, if we could
import a few of the French bakers to instruct us in the
useful and important art of making bread, it might prove a
signal advantage. I believe no where is so good bread to be
found as in France; and this, not in the cities only, but
throughout the country ; even at the meanest village tavern
you will ordinarily find bread of the best quality.
The Egyptian wheat, which I have seen growing several
times in the United States, and which is known by its pro-
ducing several heads upon the same stalk, is highly produc-
tive on rich land. Its flour, however, is not highly esteemed.
It does not well bear the cold. It is liable to degenerate,
and to produce, at last, only one head.
A large portion of the soil of France is unfavourable to
wheat, from its excessive dryness. Though, beyond doubt, a
soil partially calcareous is favourable to wheat, yet this
quality in excess is unfavourable. The soil for wheat cannot
K
130 OROPS.
be too good, though it would seem as though there were
exceptions to this remark in some of the rich alluvions of
the West; but it may be made too rich by manure, and
especially by manure applied in too green a state. It is in
general the custom to apply the manure to the previous crop,
though in many cases, and especially where liquid manure is
attainable, it is applied immediately before the sowing of the
crop. This was particularly the case in the instance which I
have given, of seventy-two bushels being produced to an acre.
A naked fallow is sometimes resorted to in France, espe-
cially where the land abounds in weeds, and more particularly
the squitch-grass', which peculiarly infests the old lands in
Europe. The quantity sometimes ‘collected from land, in
what are called even good farming districts, is surprisingly
great, and would lead one to infer, in some cases, that it was
the principal crop grown.
As to the crop which is deemed best to precede wheat, I
shall give the opinions of the best farmers in one of the best
cultivated districts in France. Where tobacco has grown,
wheat succeeds to great advantage. The cultivation for
tobacco is clean and careful, and the manuring abundant.
Wheat follows hemp with equal success, because the cultiva-
tion of hemp is equally clean with that of tobacco, and it is
even more strongly manured; but the straw of wheat which
follows hemp is not so abundant as after tobacco. Wheat
after cabbage yields less straw than after some other crops,
but more grain*. Beans are by some farmers regarded as a
crop propitious to wheat, but not so favourable as those crops
to which I have referred; and by others it is believed to
produce less grain, and that of an inferior quality. After
Indian corn the wheat gives a good grain, but an inferior
1 Triticum repens.
2 “Tt is calculated that 120 sheaves of wheat grown after cabbages, will
give more grain than 150 sheaves grown after tobacco.”—Scherwz, “ Culture
D’ Alsace.”
CROPS. 181
amount of straw ; but in some localities it is represented as
giving an equally good product in grain and straw. After
lucerne, wheat is cultivated to great advantage ; the lucerne
strikes a deep tap-root, which greatly enriches the ground
when it is turned in. Wheat succeeds well after clover, if
the clover is good ; if the clover is poor, the crop of wheat is
likely to be inferior, which is in other words only saying, if
the land is rich, the crop will be good ; if in poor condition,
the result will correspond. Potatoes are generally condemned
as a crop to precede wheat. In parts of France where wheat
is grown every second year, potatoes are frequently the
intermediate crop; and then the wheat, as well as the
potatoes, are manured. After turnips, wheat is stated to be
richer in straw than in grain. The rotation differs in many
places, sometimes wheat occurring every other year, and
sometimes only twice in six years.
I cannot look upon these various statements with all the
confidence which some persons place in them. A presump-
tion is always in favour of the general and long continued
practice of any country ; yet it is far from being an infallible
test of what is good or best, because it is by no means certain
to be the result of experiments carefully made, and as care-
fully noted. ‘Two or three great points, however, seem to be
fully settled; that the land for wheat cannot be too deeply
cultivated, nor too thoroughly manured, in the crop of the
preceding year; and that it cannot be too thoroughly cleaned.
Mr. Coke of England, afterwards Lord Leicester, offered a
large reward to any person who would discover a single weed
among his crops, after their usual cleaning. The wheat
plant sends out descending, as well as lateral roots. After
land has been thus well prepared, it is not deemed best to
plough more than two or three inches for the sowing of
wheat. By many persons, in climates where the frost heaves
the land deeply, it is deemed best to cover the seed of
autumn-sown wheat by the plough. Where the land has
K 2
132 CROPS.
been ploughed in the autumn, it is advised only to harrow
the land in the spring, and harrow in the seed upon land
thus prepared, and press it closely with a roller. Land is
frequently after being sown trodden by men, but better by
sheep: a practice to which I have referred in my remarks
upon English husbandry.
In England, certainly by all the best farmers, wheat is
sown in drills with a machine. These machines are in
general, like many of the agricultural implements of England,
where they admit of being so, heavy, complicated, and ex-
pensive ; but they do their work in an admirable manner;
and many of them are contrived so as to sow the manure,
when in a state of powder, at the same time as the seed.
Many of the French farmers sow their wheat in drills, and
by a machine, but not of a very improved character. In
Switzerland I found drill machines, invented and made in
the country, not expensive, which certainly performed their
work well. Experiments have been made in France of
planting wheat in hills, six inches or more apart, by a hoe ;
making the hole, and dropping several seeds in the hill, as
Indian corn is often planted in the United States. There
must be obviously a great saving of seed by this mode; and
the result has been pronounced successful; but I have not
been able to get full information. It was said to be by this
mode that a crop of seventy-two bushels to the acre was
produced. The crop, while growing, was manured with
liquid manure, and was kept thoroughly clean. This re-
sembles somewhat the mode of planting by a dibble in
England. Such a mode would, at first sight, be strongly
objected to in the United States, because of the labour
which it would require. There is often a difficulty in the
United States of procuring labour for any consideration ; but
other things being equal, a wise farmer would not ask simply,
what the labour would cost, but whether the result would
compensate the labour.
CROPS. 133
The quantity of seed sown to an acre is ordinarily two
bushels, more frequently less than more. The quantity
depends somewhat upon the nature of the soil, a larger
quantity being sown upon inferior than upon good soils.
Somewhat depends likewise upon the time of sowing. If
sown early in September, the plants have a longer time to
grow, and tiller more abundantly than if sowed later. Early
in September is the time ordinarily recommended for sowing
wheat, where the previous crop can be got off and the ground
be made ready. In situations where the winter is severe,
late sowing is strongly recommended, so that the wheat may
make little or no progress before the early spring. In this
way the crop is secured from the injury of the frost, which,
when it destroys the young lateral roots, is extremely un-
favourable if not destructive to the crop. The wheat crop
does not suffer from the severity of the cold where it is
uninterrupted, but from alternate freezings and thawings.
When the ground is expanded by the frost, the small roots
of the young plants are broken and mutilated, and the plants
being often thrown out of the ground perish.
The diseases common to wheat in the United States are
equally common in Europe, the smut, the rust, and the mildew.
A remedy or rather preventive of the first, in almost all cases
successful, is well known in the United States,—the washing
wheat in brine, and sprinkling it with lime. Probably, the only
advantage of the brine over simple water is, that its adhesive
nature makes the lime stick to the seed. A solution of
green copperas is equally effectual; and sometimes arsenic
is used. The last is objectionable, from the danger of having
the substance about the premises. The wheat may be pre-
pared two or three days before sowing, but it must not be
allowed to become heated. If laid in a heap upon the floor,
it should be occasionally stirred.
The rust and the mildew seem mainly due to atmospheric
causes. When the wheat is particularly forced by alternate
134 CROPS.
sunshine and rain, attended with extreme heat, when every
species of vegetation is urged to the top of its speed, and
especially where the land itself is very rich and the air
stagnant or confined, it seems as if more sap were forced
into the plant than it could dispose of, the vessels burst, and
the plant in truth dies of repletion. My own experience and
observation seem fully to confirm this theory. The blight
of mildew is a different affection. The causes are not well
ascertained, and the preventives equally undetermined. A
distinguished German clergyman or pastor, and I may be
allowed to add in passing, that to no profession has agriculture
been more indebted for its improvements, after long and
careful observation is of opinion, that three causes may
produce it; the state of the atmosphere, when the plant is
in a particular stage of its growth ; an unfortunate choice of
the time of sowing; or the particular condition of the soil.
He has found that, in the same neighbourhood, the wheat in
some fields has been badly affected, while in others it has
escaped the mildew. This circumstance seems opposed to the
atmospheric theory ; yet in the same country, the state of the
atmosphere may be different in different positions and aspects
of the field. Every one must have experienced this in passing
along a public road in an evening; without a thermometer
we become sensible in different places to great variations
of temperature. With us in New England late-sown peas
seldom escape the mildew, or what is called the blue mould,
which has seemed to me attributable to the heat of our
autumnal mid-day sun, followed by the chilliness of our
autumnal evenings and their abundant dews. The same
theory may account for the facts which he mentions in
regard to sowing. He has sown wheat in September, which
has suffered slightly from mildew ; in October, in the same
year, which has suffered severely ; in November, which has
entirely escaped. The circumstances in these cases are not
all given. It is, therefore, difficult to make up a judgment ;
CROPS. 135
but one would infer that the late-sown wheat was carried
beyond the susceptible season. The influence which the
condition of the soil may have upon the health of the plant
in this matter, or how far it may be affected by the manure
employed, are points not determined. In one district in
Alsace it is said the farmers find their wheat liable to suffer
from mildew, when it follows clover which has been highly
manured ; but the manure customarily used in this case is
the manure of hogs, to which some are disposed to attribute
this result. Nothing seems more uncertain, or rather more
imperfectly defined than agricultural facts, excepting it be
agricultural theories. In order safely to deduce a valuable
or practical truth from facts, the facts must be accurately and
exactly determined and observed; but few men have this
patience of observation. All the circumstances under which
they occur, likewise, should be known and considered. Few
men have the capacity to discover and comprehend them ;
and, in many cases, it must be confessed that, in our present
state of knowledge, they are with difficulty ascertained. This
disorder is clearly not propagated as smut is; and liming the
seed has no effect in preventing it. This farmer is of the
opinion that it does not depend upon the manure employed ;
at the same time he is in favour of turning in a crop of
clover as manure for wheat, rather than to apply animal
manure. Some persons confound the diseases of rust and
mildew. The result is much the same, but the appearances
are different ; the crop being in both cases nearly ruined.
In the case of rust, the wheat becomes suddenly attacked and
the stalks covered with literally a red rust, the grain ceases
to fill, and becomes shrivelled. In the case of mildew, the
plants become covered with a whitish mould, and the stalks
themselves become discoloured in various places, and turn
black, as in a limb where mortification has taken place.
I have obtained no information as to what is called in the
United States the Hessian fly, from the eggs having been
136 CROPS.
supposed to have been brought to the United States by the
Hessian soldiers, who were the mercenaries of the British
government in the American revolution. I cannot learn that
it is known here. The grasshoppers, or, as they are here
called, the locusts, become destructive to a wheat crop, when
the grass fails in the fields. The grain-worm, of which I
have given an account in my State Reports, and in other
publications, does not appear to be known on the Continent,
though they have heretofore suffered from it in England’.
Such scourges seem often temporary or periodical.
I have spoken of the quantity and the preparation of ‘the
seed. It is said by some that shrunken seed, or seed im-
perfectly ripened, will germinate and serve for another crop
as well as that which is perfectly sound. I believe it may be
considered as an established axiom, that perfect seed is
always to be preferred to that which has any defect. In
many provinces new wheat is always preferred for sowing ;
but many experienced farmers advise to sow wheat which is
a year old, as a security against smut ; for though the crop
may have been smutty, from which the seed in such case is
taken, the smutted ears are said, in the course of the year, to
lose their germinating power, and do not communicate the
disease to those grains with which they come in contact. A
farmer, however, can hardly excuse himself for neglecting to
take the prescribed precautions against smut in the prepara-
tion of the seed, which have been usually found effectual ;
1 | believe there is an effectual remedy against this destructive insect, under
whose ravages I have known the most promising crops completely ruined. The
fly, from whose egg this insect or worm is generated, appears first at the time
when the wheat is in flower. If at that time the growing crop is slightly
sprinkled with newly slaked lime sown broad-cast over it, it will commonly
save the crop. It will either prevent the fly depositing his egg, or by its
causticity it will destroy it. The mode is of no importance compared with the
result. The destruction of the crop is not evident until the time for harvest ;
and then, though the external appearance may be perfect, there will be found
in the grain or kernel a small yellow worm or maggot which has completely
destroyed it.
——— rrr
CROPS. 13%
and it is obvious that if old seed is used in preference to new,
a larger quantity is required to guard against the failure of
such as have become effete. In some provinces, they deem
it necessary to change their seed once in two or three years.
But the reason given by some persons for this practice is, that
the cultivation in these departments is slovenly and negli-
gent, and so the wheat degenerates. I think experiments
have fully demonstrated as applicable to all plants, that
where the cultivation is good, and the kind itself good, we
have only carefully to select from year to year the very best
for seed, and there will be found no necessity for changing
the seed ; and the crop itself will be likely continually to im-
prove. In some cases, and especially where the cold is severe,
and the winds are strong, it is advised to plough in the seed-
wheat to the depth of about three inches. The best culti-
vators advise this always, especially where the lands are
light ; but it is a slovenly mode, as practised by some, to sow
it upon the stubble of a preceding crop, and merely harrow it
in. If nothing else, the benefit arising from the decayed
stubble or the clover, when turned under as manure, is thus
almost wholly lost. Wheat which is to be sown on a clover
stubble* is advised to be sown two or three weeks earlier
than that which is sown after tobacco or hemp, that it may
gain strength ; and it is the custom where wheat is sown
after tobacco, to spread the stalks of the tobacco crop upon
the field, where they remain until the spring, when they are
removed. Ido not know the advantage of this, unless as a
protection against the cold.
Nothing is more prejudicial to the success of a wheat crop,
1 Wheat manured by turning in a green vegetable crop, is supposed to have
less strength, and is therefore more apt to become lodged, than that grown.
after a crop which has been manured with rich animal manure. The occasion
of the stalk of wheat being tender, and the wheat therefore more liable to fall,
is said to be owing to a deficiency of silex in the soil. But there are few soils
where this deficiency exists. I give these opinions as opinions resting upon
respectable authority, but without vouching for them.
138 ; CROPS.
than excess of wet ; either stagnant on the surface, or in the
soil. Ihave as yet met with no cases of underdraining or
subsoiling in France, but the value of this immense improve-
ment will presently be understood. Where the soil is clayey
and wet, wheat is sowed in beds or stitches, and the drains
between them kept clear. Experiments have been made in
some parts of France for the irrigation of wheat, and with
success, where a porous soil or a sufficient drainage imme-
diately carried off the water ; but of course it operated most
injuriously where the soil or the surface retained too much
wet.
The cultivation of spring wheat, unless the land is pre-
pared in the autumn, is liable to many objections. The
spring season is crowded with labours which must then be
accomplished or not at all. Land ploughed in the autumn,
which is, from its position or the nature of the soil, liable to
retain the water of winter, is difficult to be worked even by
the harrow in the spring, and in an unhealthy condition for
being sowed. Spring wheat, though making an equally good
flour, and for some purposes more esteemed than any other,
seldom yields so abundant a crop as autumn-sown wheat.
In some instances, wheat is carefully weeded and cleaned
in the spring; but this, in examples under my observation,
has not been executed by a machine, nor very perfectly done.
Nothing can be more beautiful than the cultivation, in some
parts of England and Scotland, where wheat is sown in per-
feetly straight lines by a machine, and then carefully cleaned
by ahorse-hoe. Though I have seen good crops of wheat in
France, the cultivation in numerous cases was far from
being clean. When the early-sown wheat is far advanced in
the spring, it is sometimes mowed ; but this practice is not
approved. It is sometimes fed down by sheep, and with
great advantage ; but it is advised not to put horned cattle
upon it. This feeding of the wheat should be done, however,
only when the crop is very luxuriant, and before May.
CROPS. 139
The wheat is sometimes manured in the spring on the
surface, where liquid manure is easily obtained. Ashes,
wood ashes, either crude or leeched ashes, are applied to
wheat with the greatest benefit. This is done in the spring
when the wheat is harrowed. The harrowing of wheat in the
spring, when it is a few inches in height, is practised and
strongly commended by the best farmers. I have full confi-
dence from experience in its utility. In England, where the
wheat is cleaned and cultivated by a horse-hoe or scarifier,
this is an effectual substitute; but where wheat is not
cleaned by a machine, or where it is sown broad-cast, the
practice of harrowing it with an iron-tooth harrow of con-
siderable weight, and that two or three times, is strongly
commended. This practice is said to have been suggested
by accident to a common farmer, who, having sown clover
upon his wheat in the spring, was afraid that in some cases
the seed would not take, and ventured to harrow it in. He
found to his surprise that the wheat which he had harrowed
was much superior in the end to that which the harrow had
not passed over. It is a general practice in some of the
districts of France, to sow clover in the spring upon the
wheat. This is a well-known practice in parts of New Eng-
land, where it is sown upon the snow; and, I am sorry to
add, sown in many cases in the chaff from the barn-floor,
when, of course, a variety of weeds and worthless plants are
sown with it. The dung of domestic birds, pigeons, or barn-
door fowls, where it can be obtained, is sown with much
advantage upon the growing wheat in the spring.
Where spring wheat is sown upon land ploughed in the
autumn, which has not suffered from wetness, it is not
necessary to replough it, but to put the seed in simply with
a harrow and a roller. It has seemed to me that the
European farmers sometimes labour their lands too much,
as in turning in a clover or stubble crop or a grass sward,
they take pains to break the sward, and bring all the
140 CROPS.
vegetable matter to the surface, to be burnt in some cases, or
to be dried and exhaled in others, instead of leaving it to its
natural decay under the soil, and its conversion into food for
the growing crop. They are hardly aware of the amount of
this vegetable matter, as demonstrated by an eminent farmer
in New England, and a farmer who would be eminent any
where, who found, by actual measurement and calculation,
that the vegetable matter in a common closely-fed, field,
or meadow, weighing the roots as well as the tops, amounted
in an acre to full thirteen tons *
The manures applied to wheat are a matter of great im-
portance. Different wheats, or wheats grown in different
localities, differ very much in their nutritious properties, or
in the quantity of good bread which can be obtained from
them. The valuable and nutritious qualities of wheat are
supposed to depend on the proportionate quantity of gluten
and albumen which it contains. This is ascribed by many
persons to the nature of the soil in which it has grown, and
to the kind of manure which has been applied to it. This
theory is altogether probable, and perhaps sufficiently estab-
lished to induce us to act in reference to it; and, therefore,
to apply manures which are likely to contribute to the grow-
ing plant the elements required. But many other things
may come into operation, such especially as the climate and
temperature, and other influences which are as yet imper-
fectly understood by us. The quantity of flour yielded by
different wheats varies considerably, as the millers well
understand. <A distinguished French chemist, in examining
21 different kinds of wheat, found that the average yield
in flour was as 79 of farinaceous matter to 100 pounds of
crude grain. But this flour differed very much in its consti-
tuents in different kinds of grain. In actual nutritious
matter, the difference in different wheats was found to be as
' Mr. Phinney, of Lemington, Massachusetts.
CROPS. 141
fourteen to twenty-one. These were wheats grown in differ-
ent countries, and. different latitudes. If this difference
depended wholly upon climate, it would of course be entirely |
beyond our control.
In wine countries, it is known that in different localities
the same species of grape produces a wine of an altogether
different quality and value from what it does in others.
The kind of grape, the mode of culture, the degree of ripe-
ness, the mode of making the wine, the age of the wine, and,
doubtless in many cases, various artificial processes, affect to
a degree the quality of the wine produced ; but, beyond all
this, there is something in the locality which is believed to
determine its character. The celebrated wine, known as
Constantia, is the product of a very limited territory at the
Cape of Good Hope. In passing up the Rhine, there was
pointed out to me the estate of Prince Metternich, where
the celebrated Johannisberg wine is produced; and it is
produced no where else; and from this circumstance its
production is a source of immense profit. These facts seem
to demonstrate the truth of the reply made always to my
inquiries in relation to the subject, that there is something
as yet unascertained, some peculiarity in the climate, aspect,
or soil, from which the product derived its characteristic
properties. The same or similar circumstances may operate
upon the quality of wheat ; and it is obvious, as far as they
are strictly local, dependent upon the climate and aspect,
or upon any peculiarities of the soil which do not exist any
where else, or upon any causes as yet unascertained, they
are beyond our reach.
But that the qualities of the wheat grown depend to a
considerable degree upon the kind of manure employed, there
can be no doubt. Some experiments in reference to this
matter, made by a German farmer, may be interesting to my
readers.
142 CROPS.
Wheats manured as underneath produced as below:—
Gluten. Starch.
1) With human:-urine, 2) 3). (So 9 as ie Bake
2: ' 3, oxen’s blood’ * 2) 2° *S/"S4a aia
3 |}, human exerements) 5° 2 (383: (74
4.\',, dung of sheep)! 2) 229 fine
er (iy - dats att. wile QO ae ee
OR gs % horses 2) 7-13) 2 Seas
RES 3 ppigeons Aa: yi Qh 2 eee
Satis 5 COWS Tite) | apy ly eae ee
9\Soilmot manured, 2°. . | 2) Ge )eGhre
Iam unable to say how far these experiments are to be
depended on; and how far they have been confirmed by
other experiments made with the same intention. Two
things are quite remarkable in respect to them ; the one is
the different qualities of grain grown with manures of the
greatest efficacy, and that grown without any manure, being a
difference of nine and thirty-five ; and the comparatively low
result of pigeon’s dung, which is generally rated very highly,
and supposed to take its place with guano. The manner in
which the animals whose manure was used for these experi-
ments were fed, 1s a circumstance which may have materially
affected the results: for the qualities of the manure of the
same animals, under different courses of feeding, may be
expected to be composed of different elements, and so to give
different results; so complicated necessarily are all experi-
ments of this kind.
The farmers in France are behind no others in what may
be called, technically, agricultural science ; and some of those
eminent men, who are sometimes called farmers of the closet,
have gone into the most exact and minute mathematical
calculations as to the actual amount of certain mineral
1 Cours D’Agriculture, par Gasparin.
CROPS. 143
elements, which are supposed essential to the growth of the
crop, or of any particular crop; and next, as to the amount
of these mineral substances, which any’ particular crop
carries off in the straw, and in the grain. They then pro-
ceed to determine the exact amount of these substances,
which must be restored to the soil in order to keep up its
fertility. The first point is determined by analysing with
great chemical exactness a portion of the soil; the second,
by analysing a portion of the crop, of the straw, and the
grain; and these premises being obtained, the third is of
course matter of plain inference. These calculations are
curious and ingenious, and if vegetation or the growth of
plants were as simple an affair, and as well and as easily
understood as many pretend that it is, these facts would
have a most direct and immediately practical bearing. One
of the most eminent of these calculators, however, himself
admits that the application of these facts, or rather the rules
deduced from them, is an operation difficult, delicate, and
which only the most skilful persons can undertake’.
In the present very imperfect state of our knowledge of
vegetation, I am free to express my conviction, that they will
answer no other purpose than that of mere curiosity and
amusement. In the analysis of a soil, for example, if we
suppose that a cubic foot is taken, this may be a very in-
adequate representative of other parts of the field. If the
soil is taken from the surface, or that part of the soil which
is cultivated, yet there is the soil under this, into which the
roots of the plant may extend themselves, and which may
contain elements of which we are not apprised. In the
chemical analysis of a soil, it is known, likewise, that much
of the active portion, all the vegetable portion, is dissipated
by heat, and no account is obtained of it but by the loss in
weight. The analysis of a soil, likewise, though it may give
1 Gasparin’s Course of Agriculture, vol. ili. p. 405.
144 CROPS.
all its component parts, is sure to destroy their combination,
and disturb the relations which they held to each other.
There is another great omission in this case. Notwithstand-
ing all the analyses which have been given of soils and
products, where the amount of mineral elements removed have
been most particularly determined, yet I have met with no
_ instance of the analysis of a soil immediately after the
removal of the crop; by which, on comparison with its
condition at the time of sowing, the actual loss could be
detected. This is a great desideratum, which we may hope
will presently be supplied. The assumption of one most
eminent agricultural chemist, that vegetation is nothing
more than a simple chemical process, according as the science
is now understood, is remarkable for its boldness ; but the
proof certainly is not at present complete. I think he might
as well have said that animal life is purely a chemical pro-
cess, as that vegetable life is such an one. That which
proceeds with such perfect regularity, that of which we can
understand so many of the rules and principles by which it
is governed and directed, that which we can to so great a
degree control and regulate by the observance and application
of these rules, is a matter which, we may presume, is not
absolutely beyond the reach of the human faculties, and which
we may hope, in the progress of inquiry, will presently be
understood ; but when all the phenomena of vegetable life
are considered, and even some of the most familiar, we find
ourselves quite as much at a loss to comprehend the pro-
cesses, as to understand, in respect to animal life, what first
sets life in motion? how are the bones framed? how are the
muscles packed ? how is the wonderful machinery of accretion,
digestion, circulation, and assimilation arranged and im-
pelled ? and how is it that, by ten thousand of what we call
accidents, all this may be arrested or broken up, and the
whole return to its original elements? The same remarks
apply with equal force to vegetable as to animal life, and
CROPS, 145
how far we must go before we reach the final and the first
Cause, no human sagacity has as yet approached a solution.
A great many exact calculations have been made in
reference to the weight of straw compared with the weight
of grain, and the weight of stubble, when wheat is reaped
with a sickle, compared with the whole weight of grain and
straw. These results must, in different cases, be so affected by
the seasons and soil, by the amount of crop, by the time which
the plant has had to mature itself in, by the height at which
the grain is cut, and by the condition of the straw when dry,
that it would be difficult to draw any practical rule from them.
In ten different experiments made in reference to this point,
which have been shown me, no two agree.
In respect to the manures proper for wheat, I shall say
something in another place. Every one seems to acknow-
ledge the value of potassium, the principle which is found in
common wood ashes. This accords with the result of my
own experience and observation ; for when called upon, in
the way of my official duty, to examine the modes of culti-
vation and manuring, in no less than thirty-six hundred
experiments in the culture of wheat, I found that wherever
ashes were used upon the field, their efficacy was emphatically
commended. The chemical analysis of wheat, taking straw
and grain together, gives only a small proportion of this
principle in the whole mass, such as 2 parts in 300; but
this seems evidently indispensable. Whether it is absolutely
necessary in a certain proportion, as food of the plant, or
whether it operates in preparing other matters in the soil to
become food for it, I shall not presume even to give an
opinion. I must submit to minds qualified by the high
attainments of science, to follow out inquiries so subtle, and
at the same time so curious.
I have occupied the attention of my readers a long time
on the subject of the culture of wheat, because of its immense
importance. In the United States we cannot be said as yet
L
146 OROPS.
to have known want; but in the years 1812 and 1816 there
was, throughout the whole of New England, an almost entire
failure of the crop of Indian corn ; and it was not until such
experience came upon us that many persons were fully sensible
how much and how essentially this product entered into our
daily wants. The wheat crop has become infinitely more im-
portant, for, with the exception of the slave states, I do not
know a district of the country where it does not form by far
the principal food of the population. But one has need to
have lived in Europe through a famine to know the immense
importance of any great and general article of subsistence ;
and the suffering among the mass of the community, which
follows even its scarcity, still more the miseries and horrors
which its total loss brings upon them. It is a fact which, as
long as human memory endures, will stand out in bold relief
on the darkest pages of history, that, in the years 1846 and
1847, in a country not so large as New England, by the
blight of a single crop, not less than 116,000 of human beings
actually perished by the awful death of starvation, not
to add the thousands, I may add safely the hundreds of
thousands, who were swept away by diseases engendered by
unwholesome or insufficient food ; and not to recur to the
awful sufferings of the thousands and thousands who had
strength enough to struggle through this trial, and in the
midst of this dreadful shipwreck were just able to reach the
shore.
With a rapidly increasing population in all parts of the
civilized world, the production of bread is obviously the first
object to be sought after, alike by the statesman and the
peasant. I scarcely dare give the calculation of the immense
amount which would be realized in any great country, by the
single saving of a bushel to an acre, in the quantity of seed
ordinarily sown’. The same result would follow if an addi-
} The annual amount of seed for wheat sown in France is estimated at
32,491,978 bushels. [lf
CROPS. 147
tional bushel could be produced in the annual average yield
of the wheat crop. Even this simple result would be an
ample compensation for all the labours and expenses of
all the agricultural societies now existing in the world, and
the premiums by which, in any country, the Government
have aimed to enlighten and stimulate production. I have
not a doubt that, under an improved culture, not only may
there be such an increase as to defray all additional expenses,
but to add an average increase of five bushels to an acre. It
is impossible to exaggerate the advantages which would
result from such an improvement.
In looking back upon what I have written on the culture
of wheat, it may not be without advantage to revert to some
prominent points.
The soil in which wheat is grown to most advantage is a
deep aluminous soil, but not so clayey as to prevent its
being thoroughly cultivated. It requires, therefore, a good
mixture of calcareous or siliceous matter. A soil of excessive
lightness or looseness is not favourable to wheat, and a hard
-and impermeable soil equally uncongenial.
The soil cannot be too deeply cultivated for wheat. The
roots of the wheat plant descend perpendicularly, and spread
themselves laterally and broadly in search of food. It would
be a mistake to plough too deeply for wheat at the time of
its being sown; and it is always useful to roll or tread the
If we could suppose a third of this saved, the
saving wouldamount to ... . . 10,863,959 bushels per year.
Suppose an annual increase of the crops of fee
bushels per acre, this would give an in-
erease of production of. . . . . . 54,319,795 bushels.
Add this, under improved sieaisaniines' to the
amount of seed saved, and the result
Wouldibe! sat mennntey ns. "OO. ldea,,04 bushels:
fi believe, under an improved agriculture, this is quite practicable. What
economical object could be more worthy of the Government of a country than,
by every means within its reach, to encourage such production ?
Een
148 CROPS.
soil after it is,sown ; but it is desirable that it should find a
deep mellow bed below ; and this is the case when it suc-
ceeds such plants as madder or tobacco, or especially where
the soil has been deeply and thoroughly trenched.
Wetness is peculiarly unfriendly to wheat. Surface water,
that remains long upon the land; or wetness, which stagnates
and remains long in the soil, are highly prejudicial to wheat.
This gives the great value to the Deansten system of draining
and subsoil-ploughing. The water which falls in such case
soaks immediately into the ground and is carried off. Where
there is no subsoil-ploughing, and where the soil is of a
retentive nature, the laying up the soil in narrow, slightly
rounded beds or stitches, so that the water may pass off at
once by the intervals, is highly important.
Wheat land cannot be too clean, or be kept too clean from
weeds ; and for this reason it should follow a crop which has
been kept thoroughly weeded. The small kinds of clover
may be advantageously sown with or upon wheat in the
spring. This will not impede the growth of the wheat ; it
in some measure serves to keep down weeds ; it protects the
ground, in hot climates, from the great power of the sun, after
the wheat has been cut; it furnishes some food for stock,
after the wheat has been harvested ; and it enriches the land
greatly, when it comes to be ploughed in.
Wheat should be sown in drills four to six inches apart,
or better dibbled, or sown in hills, which is not an excessive
labour, where it is done by skilful and experienced hands. In
any event, whether sown broad-cast or in drills, it should be
cultivated, and the ground carefully stirred by the harrow
or the scarifier.
Early sowing is strongly recommended in warm climates,
so that the crop may come off before the extreme heats of
summer; but it is advised, in cold climates, to sow wheat
quite late, that it may not make any, or but slight progress,
so as to be exposed to the severe frosts of winter, but be
OROPS. 149
ready to show itself with the earliest spring. The climate of
Great Britain is deemed peculiarly favourable to wheat, be-
cause of its equable temperature, and its humidity. The
plant grows a longer time, and is longer in maturing itself.
The harvest in England and Scotland comes off ordinarily a
month later than in the United States, where the extreme
heat of summer often renders the plant prematurely ripe.
The wetness of the climate in the former, however, makes
the harvest more precarious.
Of manures for wheat, it is ordinarily best that they should
be given with the preceding crop. Green, or coarse manures
from the stables, applied directly to wheat, are universally
deemed objectionable. The effects of lime on the soil may
be considered as threefold; first, in dividing a tenacious soil,
and rendering it friable ; second, in preparing the vegetable
matter in the soil for the nutrition of the plant ; and, in the
third place, some portion of it may be taken up with advan-
tage by the plant itself. The principle of potassium in. the
soil, in the form of common wood-ashes or otherwise, seems
always highly beneficial, and almost indispensable. Liquid
manure, urine diluted with water, is sometimes applied to
the growing crop with great advantage. I have known also
the water in which flax has been rotted applied with remark-
able success.
The harvesting of wheat should take place rather early
than late ; that is, while there is a degree of greenness about
it, rather than to wait until it becomes perfectly dry, as in
such case much will be lost in shelling out. In the former
case, it becomes ripe in the shock; and it seems well esta-
blished that, when cut early, it makes better bread, and
more is obtained from the same quantity of flour.
These are the great axioms which I have gathered in
respect to the cultivation of wheat on the European conti-
nent. The importance of the subject will be a sufficient
apology for my pursuing it at this length, though I may have
150 CROPS.
added little to the knowledge which exists in my own coun-
try; and though, in many parts of the United States, as
I well know, the practice may be already highly improved.
When all its various uses are considered, the ease of its culti-
vation, the great amount, under good and liberal culture, of
its production, and the few accidents or maladies to which
the crop is liable, and more than this, the amount which it
returns in manure to the land, I know no plant or crop so
valuable as that of Indian corn (maize), in countries where
the climate admits of its ripening; but wheat has the universal
pre-eminence in public estimation ; its use in civilized coun-
tries is daily becoming more general, and is taking the place
of all coarser grains; and, in a commercial view, as well as
an article of subsistence and luxury, it will continue to occupy
the highest place among the cereal grains.
2. Sprtt.—There is cultivated in parts of France and in
Flanders, an inferior kind of wheat, called spelt (in French
épeautre*), which mainly differs from other wheat in that it
retains the husk on the grain, until separated by a machine.
It is in many places used for bread ; and in nutritive matter,
as far as chemical examination goes, it bears a proportion to
wheat of thirty-nine to fifty. It is said to exhaust the soil
much less than wheat, but this point is controverted by high
authority. It will yield well on a poor soil, and for this it is
often chosen ; but it will afford, also, an ample compensation
for good treatment. The straw is stiffer than that of wheat,
and though harder, is preferred by cattle. It will bear to be
cropped once or twice in its early growth for green forage,
and is deemed excellent for this purpose. It endures the
drought like rye, and will grow well upon lands which are too
light and dry for wheat. The difference between the weight
of the grain of spelt with its husk on, compared with wheat,
1 Triticum spelta.
CROPS. 151
is as forty-two to seventy-six ; and the ordinary difference
in price is as seventy-two to one hundred, allowing for the
extra expense in hulling and grinding. Under very good
cultivation it is stated to yield about thirty bushels to the
acre, with the hull, or in the husk.
Of this grain there are two kinds ordinarily cultivated, the
red and the white. Some of each kind are bearded, and
some without beard; and there is a spring and an autumn
variety, although, by careful selection of the earliest ripe, the
autumnal is without difficulty converted into the spring
variety. It is said, likewise, that under a negligent culture,
the beardless will become bearded, and that under a good
culture and a rich soil, the bearded will lose its awns. The
red variety is preferred, as more hardy, and suffering less
from wet or cold, as giving a stronger and more abundant
straw, being less subject to disease, and producing a better
flour.
The quantity of seed required to an acre is double of that
for wheat, because it is sown in the husk. A crop of hemp
is sometimes taken from the land; if this is got off early,
turnips are then sown, and after the turnips, spelt. If the
crop of potatoes are kept clean, spelt is sometimes sown after
them; in which case the land is not ploughed, but simply
dragged or scarified, and the spelt merely harrowed in. If
it is deemed necessary to manure the land in such case, the
manure is spread on the potato ground, the seed then sown,
and both thoroughly harrowed in.
With the husks adhering to the grain, spelt is said to
furnish a substantial and excellent provender for horses.
The straw being very strong, it is much sought after for
the manufacture of hats. It is not a saleable grain in the
markets, because wheat is generally preferred, and because
the millers object to the grinding of it.
I have heard of a crop of ninety-four bushels to the acre,
but I lack faith in results so extraordinary. In comparing
152 CROPS.
this with wheat, it is to be remembered that this was mea-
sured in the husk.
The proportions of spelt in the straw, without taking any
account of the stubble, are given as follows :—
- Grain-cleatiec) cc nd ara: ce a einen
Plugkks: «9 ae'es bi. ue waa sie cha ie eae
SSGREIW. VAs ee, cn en get ety ala), i a nT
Loss pete oh aa ict aah ta hed, aoc Beer
100-00
And 100 parts of the grain in the husk give as follows :—
Gramcclean =; se Ye Le
Masks. ee eee
Loss) ee ee eee eee
These results can be considered only as approximations to
exactness, as they must be affected by a variety of circum-
stances.
There is a smaller and inferior kind of spelt’, which is
only cultivated where it is thought too poor even for rye or
oats, but which yields very little. The flour of this grain is
excellent for some domestic purposes, and it is thought to
pay the little care and labour which it receives.
I have often remarked, that there are certain persons or
classes in society occupying a humble and menial condition,
whose services are indispensable, and of whose services all
classes are always ready to avail themselves. Their services
likewise are always tendered willingly, and with a demand only
for the smallest compensation. We consider them as doomed
to oceupy the condition in which they are placed; and we
never think, under any circumstances, by any pains-taking
in their education, or any indulgence of those aspirations to
| Triticum monocacun.
CROPS. 153
rise which we sometimes sec kindling in them and almost as
suddenly going out, like the sparks of an expiring fire, of
raising them to a higher condition, or of placing them among
their aristocratic superiors. This seems to me precisely the
condition of spelt-wheat and of rye. They are in themselves
most valuable grains, but we never think of giving them any
but the hardest treatment. They make very fair returns in
a poor soil, without manure, and with very negligent treat-
ment. We pretend to think that they are adapted only to such
soils, or such soils adapted to them ; but we do not take the
pains to see what they would do, or what they would become
under the best cultivation. I believe it is with plants as I
believe it is with men, that in the works of the Creator, the
law of progress is applicable to every living thing ; that the
maximum of improvement, if improvement be not absolutely
infinite, has yet in no case been reached ; that it is the great
duty of life to see what can be done in this respect for our-
selves and for others; and that in the vegetable and the
animal world, in the physical and the intellectual nature, we
know as yet little of what culture and education may do for
the most humble and the most despised.
I hope the kindness of my readers will pardon me if for a
moment I extend these moral analogies. The more the cul-
tivation of what is called the inferior grains is extended and
improved, the more the wealth of the community is increased,
the more are the means of subsistence and the comforts of
the poor extended, and the more enlarged become our means
of improving the culture of the superior grains. The superior
classes in the community, who now too often look with
jealousy upon the advancement, and, as they sometimes term
them, the encroachments of the lower classes, in this respect
commit a great error. In proportion to the improvement
and elevation of the community around them, is their own
condition improved. All intellectual and moral good is of a
self-multiplying and reflective character. Would a farmer
154 CROPS.
take credit for leaving a large portion of his farm in a rude
and neglected condition? It might place his improvements
in a stronger light by contrast, but would it be a contrast in
any respect to his advantage? Would it not be much more
to his wealth, honour, pride, and happiness, to see every part
of his domain presenting the brilliant indications of enlight-
ened and improved culture? and would the improvements
and productiveness of the inferior in any respect prejudice
those of the better portions ?
3. Ryz—Rye is very extensively cultivated in Europe—
in Great Britain to a small extent; on the Continent, and
especially in the northern portions, it forms a principal part
of the bread of the people. In Germany, in Belgium, in the
cold and mountainous districts of France, and in Russia, it is
their main dependence. To the Flemish it has been a great
source of wealth through their distilleries, not only in the
liquor extracted from it, but in the number of swine and
cattle supported and fatted in these distilleries, and the
abundance of manure in this way produced. There is a
debtor side to this amount in the Pandora’s box of evils,
which such a product always opens upon the community, in
the crimes, and misery, and degradation, of which it is the
fruitful source ; but I shall leave this, as somewhat foreign
from my subject, to the sober calculation of my readers’.
1 The distilleries in Holland, under the imposts of the Government, and the
heavy duties upon the introduction of their produce into France, have been
almost entirely destroyed.
Each of these distilleries in the course of a year fatted 180 head of cattle.
The amount of grain consumed at each of them was estimated at 276,765
bushels. ‘These establishments, besides the powerful stimulus which they gave
to cultivation, in the market which they afforded for the grain produced, fur-
nished likewise the most abundant supplies of the richest manure.
There was this advantage also arising from them, that in case of scarcity or
famine, the immense supplies of grain which they always had on hand, were
diverted from the manufacture of gin to the supply of bread for the people.
This was giving the loaf instead of the scorpion.
CROPS. 155
The bread from rye is not deemed so nutritious as that
from wheat, but it is healthy and good; and a distinguished
German maintains that it has a sovereign efficacy for persons
whose nervous organization is exhausted or deranged by
sedentary pursuits or intense application to study.
Rye succeeds even on a light and dry soil. A clayey, or
wet, or calcareous soil is not congenial to it. It grows well
even upon a sandy soil, where scarcely any other grain will
succeed. There is no grain cultivated which yields so large an
amount of straw ; and this renders it valuable for litter and
for the means of further enriching the soil. The straw is valu-
able for many other purposes ; and particularly for thatching
both houses and stacks of grain. In France, vast amounts are
used in protecting their wine, when it is transported from
one place to another, from the sun, and in covering other
merchandise on its way to market. It is said that four
crops of rye do not exhaust the soil so much as three of
wheat ; and, indeed, it has come within my own experience
in the United States, that where rye has been cultivated for
a considerable term of years successively on the same land,
and early clover has been sown upon it in the spring, and
ploughed in with the stubble in the autumn at the time of
sowing for the next crop, the land, without any other applica-
tion, has been in a course of gradual improvement, and the
yield of rye continually increased. This is a common prac-
tice among the best Flemish farmers, and highly approved.
Of the rye cultivated, there is the winter and the spring
rye, which differ from each other only in the time of sowing,
excepting that the rye.sowed in the autumn is more pro-
ductive than that sowed in the spring, having a longer time
to grow in. The rye, which I have described in another
place as the St. John’s-day rye, and which has been recently
introduced into England, is known in France as the multi-
caulis or many-stalked rye. It is sown in June, and will
bear cutting two or three times for green forage, and yet
156 OROPS.
yield a good crop. It has the property of tillering or spread-
ing from the root very abundantly, though it is maintained
by some farmers that other kinds of rye, managed in the
same way, would show the same properties ; and the multi-
caulis rye sown late in the autumn loses this property. The
erain of the multicaulis rye is not so saleable in the market
as other rye, from its small size.
The general cultivation of rye is so well understood, that I
need not enlarge upon it. The best farmers advise not to
apply fresh barn-manure to the crop, but prefer that which is
decomposed, or that it should follow a crop which has been
well manured and cleaned. It does not succeed well on
lands subject to fogs, and, therefore, they cultivate little of
it directly in the neighbourhood of the Rhine. The straw is
abundant, but-the grain does not fill well.
The principal disease to which rye is subject is the ergot,
in which the kernels of the grain become swollen, and form a
black horny substance, well known among medical men as
a powerful agent. This prevails much more in some years
than in others ; and when care is not taken to separate it from
the grain before it is ground, which can be done by careful
winnowing or sifting, it is productive of fatal disease, driving
often to insanity, and producing mortification in the limbs.
The spotted fever, a species of plague which prevailed in
parts of New England with such a melancholy fatality in
1812, was attributed to the use of this diseased grain. In
1816 it was fatal in some parts of Germany ; and it is said
that in one case, where the soldiers in garrison were fed upon
bread made from this diseased grain, a tenth part of them
died.
The subject of harrowing rye in the spring, so urgently
recommended in the cultivation of wheat, is a point con-
tested by intelligent farmers, some strongly recommending,
others as strongly opposing the practice. If the rye is far
advanced, it certainly cannot be advisable ; but the authority
CROPS. 157
by which the practice is enforeed is so high and practical,
that I should be strongly disposed to try it, where the con-
dition of the rye admitted of it. The spring-rye yields a
crop inferior, both in quantity and quality, to that which is
sown in the autumn. I have spoken of the multi-caulis rye
as a valuable forage when sown in June, and cut green. Its
earliness in the spring would give it a value in the United
States, but later in the season we have a substitute in Indian
corn, altogether superior.
The ordinary weight of a bushel of rye is from fifty-five to
fifty-seven pounds, and the proportion of grain to the straw
and chaff is as 100 to 292. These proportions, however,
must be obviously affected by the size of the plant, and the
height at which it is cut. The culture of rye has seldom had
half justice done to it. The colour of the product is, I believe,
mainly dependent upon the nature of the soil in which it is
grown. There is a prejudice against the black bread made
in many parts of the country ; but the white rye produces a
bread scarcely differing in appearance from wheat, and of
ereat sweetness. For feeding animals it is of much value;
when cooked, one pound of rye is rated as equal to three
pounds of hay ; and I have a friend in France, who would be
esteemed as one of the best farmers in any country, who
‘keeps a large number of horses, and feeds his horses upon
rye-bread, whenever the relative prices of hay and rye render
it eligible.
4, Bartry.—Barley is not largely cultivated in France, as
wine forms the principal drink of the country. The use of
beer, however, is said to be extending, and consequently the
cultivation of barley.
There are said to be three kinds of barley, in reference to
the season of sowing ; winter barley sown in autumn, spring
barley, which is advised to be sown as early as possible on
the opening of the spring, and a kind which is sown still later,
158 CROPS.
under the name of summer barley. There is also another
division into six-rowed barley and two-rowed barley, and
these two kinds have their sub-varieties. There is a kind
called the celestial barley, to which the husk is strongly
attached ; but which, when threshed, becomes what is called
a naked barley, the husk falling off, and the grain itself
being semi-transparent. It is a good bearer, but ripens late ;
and in general, the naked barleys, though cultivated for soups
or for domestic uses, are not much sought after in the mar-
kets. There is another kind, called the coffee-barley, which
is also a naked barley, the grain of which is stated to be as
heavy as that of wheat, but the straw is not strong, and it is
liable to be lodged. It is threshed with difficulty, and it is
very subject to smut.
The kinds usually cultivated are the common six-rowed
and the common-two rowed barley. This latter grain is
extremely hardy, and was found cultivated in Lapland, as
high as 67° 20’ north. The winter barley is said to produce
a much heavier crop than the spring-sown ; and where the
spring barley is sown, it is advised to get it in as early in
March as possible. The quantity of seed employed is one-
third more than that of wheat. In many rotations it follows
wheat ; and in such case it is strongly urged to turn under-
the stubble as soon as the wheat crop is removed. The
neglect to do this for any length of time will be greatly to
the disadvantage of the succeeding barley crop.
The soil for barley cannot be too rich or too well culti-
vated ; and it should be kept as clean from weeds as possible.
No plant is more rapid in its vegetation ; and, therefore, if
manure is applied to it, it should be in that decomposed
state that it may be immediately available for the uses of the
plant. This, of course, applies more to spring than to winter
sown barley, which has a longer time to grow in. The soil
for barley should not be a hard soil, or one apt to be baked
by the sun, as the roots of the plant have a tendency to
CROPS. 159
spread themselves, and therefore demand a loose and friable
soil. Barley is often taken after potatoes ; and, in that case,
as soon as the potatoes are removed, the land is turned over
with the plough, and in the spring it is again lightly ploughed,
the barley sown, and covered with a harrow. Clover is
sometimes sowed at the same time, and a light roller passed
over it. For barley sowed in the autumn, it is not objection-
able that the land should be moist ; but when sown in the
spring, the land cannot be too warm and dry. If the land is
clayey and cold, the barley is not sowed so early as in other
cases.
The Flemish cultivation of this crop is extremely careful
and liberal ; and no where are better crops to be found. The
polders in Flanders are those lands which, by embankments,
have been redeemed from the sea, or from the floods of the
rivers, and then drained by cross ditches. These lands, being
the alluvial deposits of uncounted years or centuries, are ex-
tremely rich ; and large crops of winter barley are grown
upon them. Crops as good, however, according to the testi-
mony of a distinguished farmer, are grown upon lighter lands,
where they are carefully cultivated, and liberally manured.
The brewers prefer the barley grown upon the light lands to
that grown upon the heavier soils ; they find the skin of the
grain finer, and the grain itself better filled. They prefer,
likewise, the winter to the spring barley, because it weighs
heavier. It gives, likewise, a larger product.
In the neighbourhood of Ghent, where one witnesses the
perfection of agriculture, the mode of cultivating this crop is
thus in the main detailed by an experienced agriculturist, to
whom I have already referred *.
They plough the land twice ; they then lay it in beds of
about five feet in width ; they then go upon the land with a
cart of liquid manure, the horse walking in the furrows, and
1 Van Aelbroeck’s Agriculture of Flanders.
160 CROPS.
a good deal of the liquid of course falling in the furrows, be-
tween the beds; they then level the land with a harrow ;
they then spread upon the field ten or twelve two-horse loads
of rotted manure to the acre, and sow the seed upon the
manure ; the next step is to clean out the furrows between
the beds with a spade, spreading the soil taken out upon the
seed, and at the same time covering the manure. The whole
field is then trodden by foot, or by a roller drawn by men.
The object of this is to retain the humidity in the soil, so
that the seed may come up the better. When the seed is
two or three inches high, it is then manured again, with a
copious dressing of liquid manure, so that the field is in a
condition to bear a crop of potatoes or of turnips the same
year. Where the liquid manure is from the privies of the
town, it is necessary to dilute it with water. The roots of
barley, spreading upon the surface rather than descending
deeply, it is not necessary to bury that or the manure deeply,
although where barley is sown in the autumn, it is generally
advised to plough it in with a light furrow. The crops in
such cases are very large, averaging more than sixty bushels
to the acre. The general cultivation in Flanders is most
remarkable for its carefulness, its most abundant labour,
and its liberal manuring. I do not know where I should go
to find that which is superior to it; and, indeed, it would be
difficult to produce its equal. The farmers of the United
States would be startled at the amount of manual labour
bestowed upon their lands by the Flemish. A redundant
population gives them the means of doing this with great
advantage.
It is well established that barley may succeed wheat, but
wheat does not well follow barley. Turnips are often taken
after barley, and a crop of rye after the turnips. Beans,
likewise, follow with advantage a crop of barley.
5. Oats.—Oats can hardly be said to be largely cultivated.
CROPS. 161
in France. They are grown exclusively for the use of horses.
This however is more in the north than in the south. The
stimulating and exciting character of oats as feed for horses,
renders them much more useful in a cold than in a warm
climate. Oats are supposed generally to be adapted to almost
all soils and climates ; but, like other products, they repay a
careful and liberal cultivation. It is pretended by some per-
sons, that a crop of oats ameliorates rather than exhausts
the soil. This may be the case where oats are grown upon a
turfy soil newly turned up; that is to say, it may be the
best crop by which to reduce such a soil into a condition for
cultivation ; but that it otherwise enriches a soil can hardly
be believed. It is the opinion, however, of many farmers,
that sooner than any other crop, it avails itself of the nutn-
tive parts of the soil, and reduces and extracts manure from
ligneous matter contained in the soil, and that it will, better
than any other crop, bear the application of coarse manure.
I give these opinions, as I receive them, from good authority.
There are several varieties cultivated, divided by the
French into white and black; by the Flemish, into white,
yellow, and black. The white oat is most congenial to a soil
which is humid, the black to a dry soil. The black oat in
comparison with the white is represented as worth an eighth
more for use; that is, it is more nutritive in the same
weight, and its cultivation less exhausting to the soil.
The Hungarian oat, called sometimes the Tartarian oat,
with all its panicles pendant on one side, is here found
under two varieties, the white and the black. This species
weighs heavier than the white, but not so heavy as the
common black oat. It gives more grain and more straw
than the common white oat, but it requires rich and strong
land.
The potato oat is very little cultivated in France. Indeed,
it can only succeed under a far better cultivation than is
here bestowed upon the crop. The Siberian oat is of early
5 M
162 Oe te CROPS.
maturity ; the grains are yellow and very heavy, but the
straw hard and coarse. The growth of this kind is so
rapid, that it is said to have been cut when young for a
green crop, and afterwards yielded a good grain crop.
There are two kinds of oats cultivated in France, known as
winter and spring oats; the former kind being sown in the
autumn ; but this kind is only safe in parts of the country
where the winters are mild, as oats are liable to be destroyed
by severe frosts. |
The best crops in France, rating thirty-three pounds to a
bushel, give about forty-eight bushels to the acre, but a great
portion of the crops give much less; and the average crop 1s
rated at about sixteen bushels per acre, which indicates very
negligent cultivation ;—an eminent French cultivator calls it
detestable, but it would not be civil in a stranger to use so
harsh a term.
The value of oats, compared with hay, in nutritive matter,
is rated at 100 to 175. It is strongly advised by the French
farmers to use the oats without threshing, cutting up the
grain and the straw together; and by all means, to harvest
the oats at so early a season that they may not shell out
upon the ground ; as much is always lost in this way, when
they are suffered to become perfectly ripe before cutting. The
quantity sown to an acre is four bushels.
The Flemish farmers obtain very large crops of oats where
their land is cultivated with a spade, or otherwise deeply
cultivated. With them, the white oat weighs heavier by the
bushel, but the yellow oat gives the largest crop, especially
on their meadows. They cultivate their oats upon stitches,
of a width greater or less according as the soil is wet or dry..
They say that oats require not so much manure as barley by
one-third ; but they prefer manure that is well-rotted, that
the plant may be forced as rapidly as possible. When the
plant is a fortnight old, they apply a dressing of liquid
manure. Such cultivation is evidently expensive and labo-
CROPS. 163
rious ; but, as in almost all other cases, extra carefulness is
compensated by extra product. Sometimes the liquid ma-
nuring is repeated, and even more than once. In planting,
they are careful not to bury their seed too deeply, two inches
being deemed ample.
The great evil to which the crop of oats is subject, is the
smut ; but for this as yet no preventive has been discovered.
The sowing of smutty seed is sure to produce it.
6. Mrstin, or Mérert.—The French have a custom of cul-
tivating what they call méteil, but what is called in English,
meslin; that is, a mixture of wheat and rye. The proportions
are not very exactly determined. If the land is more favour-
able to wheat than rye, more of wheat is sown in the mixture
than of rye, and the contrary. It yields a good crop when
sown after wheat, when wheat following wheat would not be
advisable. This culture is far from being universally ap-
proved in France ; but some eminent farmers maintain that
the crop is more sure than any other; that it is not easily
lodged, and that neither the rye nor the wheat is so liable to
rust or mildew as when cultivated alone. It sometimes happens,
likewise, that the season is not favourable to one of the kinds
of grain, when the other yields a crop. It follows potatoes
to advantage. It is generally consumed on the farm, in
preference to being sent to market; and it makes a healthy
bread.
7. Maize ; Inp1an Cory.—Indian corn (Zea mays), here
often called Turkey wheat, for what reason I do not know, is
cultivated to a considerable extent in the south, south-west,
and south-east of France, and very much in various parts of
Italy. In the richest soils in Italy it presented an extra-
ordinary luxuriance, but nothing could be more slovenly than
the cultivation of it, wherever I saw it.
The largest crops of which I could obtain information,
M 2
164 CROPS.
were eighty bushels to an acre; but the ordinary yield was
very much less than that, and indeed was quite small. The
kinds cultivated were of the small yellow flint variety. The
large kinds of gourd-seed corn grown in the southern states
of the United States, or the kinds grown in the western
states, an intermediate kind between the flint and the gourd
seed, would find the climate and soil of southern Europe
favourable, and might be introduced there to great advan-
take, if, in the present condition of society, they were
capable of any great improvement. They are little accus-
tomed to use it for bread, having no knowledge of the
modes of mixing it with rye or wheat; but they use it as a
kind of mush or pudding, called polenta. The expense of
making it into food among the peasants is strongly objected
to, as consuming both fuel and time. It is said that Napo-
leon used to lament that a labouring man, whether mechanic
or peasant, should be accustomed to have a fire in his house
for cooking ; and the writer who records this fact, sympa-
thizes strongly in this sentiment. That is to say, he would
have all their food taken cold, and no time nor money
expended in cooking.
I wonder if it never occurred to these men, what an im-
provement it would have been, if these labouring people,
so troublesome and expensive as they are to be fed, and
yet so useful and necessary as they are in growing all this
bread, could have been turned out at night like the cattle
after their yoke is taken off, to graze in the pasture. This
would save bed and: bedding, and house-rent, as well as food
and cooking.
Such sentiments must sound rather harshly upon the ears
of American farmers and labourers, who are accustomed,
even in the humblest conditions, to sit down daily to a
nicely spread table, covered with a variety and abundance
of bread, meat, and vegetables, to which are often added tea,
coffee, and beer. The diet of the labouring poor in Europe
CROPS. 165
is chiefly bread ; and this is almost always furnished by a
professional baker. During my residence in Europe, I do
not recollect a single instance where bread was made in the
family. The want of fuel on the continent is a serious neces-
sity. There are no labouring people who live in half the
abundance of the labouring people of the United States.
I should extend my remarks much too far if I treated
of many of the other smaller crops of the continent, which
indeed present nothing remarkable; and in treating of
Flemish husbandry, I shall have occasion to speak of several
valuable plants which are cultivated in common by the two
countries.
8. BucxkwuEat.—Buckwheat is grown very largely in poor
soils in some parts of France, but it seems to be a mere shift
to live ; and leaves only the regret, that land capable of a
much better cultivation, should be thus appropriated.
9. MitteTr.—Millet is cultivated to some extent in parts of
France, but almost exclusively for forage, and, in this respect,
deserves much more attention than it usually receives. I
wish my countrymen were more impressed with the extra-
ordinary value of this plant. I know few plants which make
a more abundant return, or which, when it is well cured,
give a more nutritious forage, or one more relished by stock.
On the intervale lands of the River Loire, where the crops
are occasionally destroyed by an inundation, a crop of millet
is obtained after the floods have passed off. The crop, under
such circumstances, cannot be expected to be large, but it is
obtained where no other would be.
10. CLover.—The common large red clover, known in France
as the Spanish clover, is cultivated to a considerable extent in
parts of France. It has been a long time cultivated in the
Netherlands or Low Countries, but was not an established
166 CROPS.
culture in France until about three quarters of a century ago.
It is now considered as the foundation of good husbandry.
Its foliage is abundant, and its large roots essentially enrich
the land. It is sown in the spring, and its seed must not be
buried deeply. The mode strongly recommended is to sow
it on the wheat in the spring, immediately after the wheat is
harrowed ; and then to roll the wheat with a light roller.
It comes in in a regular course of rotation, but it is not
allowed to occupy the land more than one or two years; and
it is advised not to repeat it again under three years. Some
English farmers object to its recurring even so often as this.
The effects of plaster of Paris or gypsum sown upon it, either
when the dew is upon it, or the air is humid, is as remarkable
as in the United States, though beyond a certain amount it 1s
of no avail. The efficiency or mode of operation of this ex-
traordinary agent seems, as yet, wholly unexplained. The
French farmers understand perfectly well the advantages of
ploughing in a clover stubble as a preparation for grain of
almost any kind: for lands which are not very rich, it is
considered only as an aid, and not as a principal manure.
The small white clover, otherwise called the Dutch clover,
constitutes an important element in the rich meadows and
pastures of Holland. Clover is cultivated for its seed, in
which case, the first crop is taken for forage, and the second
for the seed. An eminent farmer speaks of his neighbours
having refused to buy his clover-seed because his crop was
small and thin ; but, according to his own experiments with
this seed, it was preferable to seed from a crop of more
luxuriant growth. The probability is, that it was more
mature. :
Another species of clover, cultivated to a considerable
extent, is the trifoliwm incarnatum, or scarlet clover, of
which I have spoken in another place. This appears with a
deep red flower, of a conical form and of extraordinary beauty.
It endures for one year only.
CROPS. 167
11. Lucrrne.—Lucerne is cultivated very extensively in
France, and, indeed, may be considered as their great de-
pendence for green fodder. It is a general opinion that no
plant will, in this respect, yield a greater return. Indian
corn will yield more green food, but a crop of lucerne may be
got much earlier. Three things are important in the culture
of it; one, that the soil on which it is sown should be rich ;
second, that it should be deep, good in the subsoil as in the
surface soil; and third, that it should be kept clean from
weeds. On my visit to an admirably managed farm, about
twenty miles from Paris, where every thing indicated the
most exact care and attention, and which might almost be
cited as a model farm, the farmer informed me that his
lucerne, which he cultivated largely, was usually cut three
times, and gave him at the rate of fourteen tons to an
hectare, made into hay. A French hectare is about two and
a half acres, and this would be, therefore, a yield of more
than five and a half tons to an acre. A dry season is par-
ticularly unfavourable to it. It requires a rich, but suffers
from a wet soil.
Lucerne is sometimes sown among wheat or barley ; but
the most certain mode of securing it against weeds, is to
plant it in narrow drills, and keep it clean by the hoe for a
time, until it becomes well established. About eight pounds
of seed, though this is deemed a large allowance, are sown to
an acre. It will bear cutting three times a year, and will
endure in the ground eight to ten years. It does not come
to perfection the first year; and the circumstance of its
being ordinarily continued in the ground for a term of years
forms an objection to its culture, with those who wish to
pursue a regular rotation of crops. Gypsum is applied to
lucerne with the same success as to clover; and the best
farmers advise to harrow it in the spring, and, indeed, after
each cutting, excepting the last cutting in the autumn.
168 CROPS.
12. Sarnrory.—Sainfoin is the next species of forage most
largely cultivated in France. I have already spoken of it,
but its value can scarcely be too highly appreciated. It is
ordinarily cut only once a year, but in rare cases, twice. It
forms a most excellent feed, especially for sheep; and the
hay is of the best quality. It will endure for some years.
They have had no success in cultivating sainfoin or lucerne
in Flanders. The prejudice, to which I have referred, that it
requires a calcareous soil, is, undoubtedly, not without some
foundation. :
I come now to speak of the great crops, which may be
said to be almost. peculiar to France ; and if it be proper to
estimate the agriculture of a country by the success of its
peculiar crops, then the agriculture of France assumes a high
rank. I refer im this case particularly to beet sugar, wine,
silk, and oil and fruit from olives. These are in France
immense products, and of high commercial value.
13. Brrts. Brrrs ror Sucar.—The history of the in-
troduction of the culture of beets into France for the ma-
nufacture of sugar, is well known. The presence of sugar
in the beet-root, in an available quantity, was the dis-
covery of a distinguished chemist; and it is among the
great obligations under which that science, cultivated so
successfully, and with such distinguished talent, has laid the
French. The Emperor Napoleon being cut off by the nations
at war with him from those supplies of this article, which the
people had been accustomed to receive from their colonies,
conceived the plan of their supplying this great necessity from
within themselves. It was much ridiculed, but he was not a
man to be turned aside from any great project by any minor
considerations, where success was possible: his object, to a
considerable degree, was accomplished. Since his time, the
culture and manufacture have been immensely extended, and
CROPS. 169
it bids fair to prove one of the greatest boons that was ever
_ bestowed on agriculture.
There are several kinds of beets cultivated, some of which
have been cultivated for a long time. The common red or
blood beet, ordinarily grown in gardens for the table, is a well
known vegetable, not, I think, however, so highly appreciated
in the United States as in England and on the Continent,
where it is much eaten. I have known this cultivated with
great success for cattle, adding largely to the product of cows
in milk. This species, however, is never used for sugar.
The next is a very large kind, growing almost entirely out
of the ground, of a pink- colour and white flesh, known com-
monly as the scarcity beet, or mangel wurzel, attaining often
a large size, and valuable for cattle. There are one or two
other kinds, of a yellowish flesh, growing largely out of the
ground, and which are considered even more nutritious for
stock than the mangel wurzel.
The beet employed for sugar is called the Silesian beet,
with a whitish skin and white flesh, but the most valuable
kinds have a green neck and yellowish tint on the top. This
is full as valuable for the feeding of animals as any of the
others, and is decidedly the beet selected for its sugar proper-
ties. I have before me the chemical analysis of the properties
of the beet-root, but I am unable to derive from them a single
practical inference. It may be hoped, that chemistry will
presently tell us what particular soil is best fitted to its
growth, and what manure it peculiarly demands ; but this
service it has not yet performed. It grows best in a deep,
rich, aluminous soil, not a sandy soil, not a calcareous soil,
which is unfriendly to it ; and it is particularly desirable that
the soil should not be liable to suffer by excessive drought,
so that vegetation is arrested. It will bear to be well ma-
nured, but it is not an extraordinary exhauster of the soil.
Tt returns indeed a large amount of enriching matter to the
soil in its abundant leaves.
170 CROPS.
The land should be well prepared, by being deeply dug or
ploughed, and thoroughly manured, and the beets may be
either sown, or planted in rows, of about twenty-seven inches
apart, and the plants in the row about fourteen inches asunder.
A great advantage comes from growing the plants in a nurs-
ery bed, and transplanting them. This gives a longer season
for the preparation of the land, and the increase of labour in
transplanting is compensated by the increased facility of keep-
ing the cultivation clean. The largest crop of which I have
obtained any information, was about forty-nine tons to an
acre, and this was a case in which they had been transplanted.
The ordinary crop does not exceed, and in many cases it falls
short of, twenty-nine tons. The amount of seed required for
an acre is not large, and every single seed produces four
plants. A large proportion of the beet-root is water, and it
is generally estimated that twenty pounds of hay are equal to
one hundred pounds of crude beet. In transplanting, it is re-
commended, instead of doubling it up, to break off the lower
end of the tap-root, and to plant it with a picker or a dibble.
In the culture of the beet, many persons have been in the
habit of plucking the lower leaves for their stock, maintaining
that the growth of the plant was not injured by this abrasion,
Experiments fully establish the contrary. An experiment
made in Belgium shows, that where beets, from which the
leaves were not plucked, produced 925 baskets of roots, an
equal part of the field, having been plucked once, produced
839 ; and another portion, which had been twice plucked in
a season, produced only 539. The form in which this experi-
ment is stated is not exact, as a basket itself is an uncertain
measure, and the degree to which the plucking extended is
not stated, but it seems decisive. The leaves, at the harvest-
ing of the crop, furnish a large amount of forage. If left on
the ground, they are reputed highly beneficial as manure,
still more so if consumed by animals ; and cases are reported
in which they have been closely packed away, where the air
CROPS. ZI
was effectually excluded, and have yielded a valuable forage
for the winter.
That, exclusive of their sugar properties, they constitute
a valuable green fodder for cows in milk, and fatting cattle,
strongly recommends them to cultivation. They have this
ereat advantage over turnips, that they give no disagreeable
taste to the milk ; and that when in the spring, turnips have
become corky, and potatoes sprout abundantly, and seem to
lose in a great degree their nutritious properties, the beet
preserves its freshness, even into June.
It is not within my province to go into the subject of the
manufacture of sugar, farther than as it is connected with
agriculture. The greatest profits are realized where an indi-
vidual unites in himself the character of cultivator and manu-
facturer. The pulp that remains, after the sugar is expressed,
is employed in the fatting of cattle and sheep. An eminent
farmer, whose cultivation was of the finest description, and
who manufactured a large amount of sugar, informed me,
that he estimated his pulp, for the feeding of cattle and sheep,
as constituting seven-twentieths of the whole value of the
erop. It was in June, in that most beautiful agricultural
country, French Flanders, when I visited him ; and he was
then using, and had large reservoirs of, the pulp from the
manufacture of the preceding autumn. This he kept sweet
and good in large vats, covered with sods and earth so as
completely to exclude the air, and guard against a change of
temperature. In his case, the beets were not rasped, but cut
into small and thin slices by a machine, and then exposed to
a hydrostatic pressure. Nothing could be finer than the
samples of sugar which he showed me; and I admired, with
great pleasure, the high condition of his sheep and cattle fed
upon the pulp. He informed me that he obtained six per
cent. of sugar from his beets. The chemists say that the beet
contains twelve per cent. of saccharine matter, but the amount
obtained does not ordinarily exceed five per cent. Whether
L722 CROPS.
this proceeds from the imperfection of the manufacture, farther
inquiries may determine. In general, the farmers are not
manufacturers, but sell their crude product to the large manu-
facturers in their vicinity. In such case, they usually make
arrangements to receive back a portion of the expressed pulp.
If otherwise, it would clearly be an exhausting process. It is
mentioned, that the pulp constitutes a third of the weight of
the crop. One hundred pounds of raw sugar gives seventy-five
pounds of refined sugar, though it is stated that, by a recent
discovered process, the sugar is bleached without being refined.
The gentleman to whom I have referred above, states that
the manufacture of beet-sugar is at present a highly lucrative
operation. At first, when the ports were closed to foreign
sugars, prices were such, that even with imperfect modes of
manufacture, the business yielded a large profit. Afterwards,
when the sugar of_the French West India colonies came
into competition with it in the open market, the colonists
found the competition too severe, and thinking themselves
on the verge of ruin, they cried to the government for help
and protection. The colonies of France were regarded as so
important to its commerce and its navy, that the govern-
ment laid a heavy impost upon domestic sugar. I believe
governments never intermeddle directly in the control of
human industry without doing somebody a harm; and ex-
cepting where allowed in some qualified cases as the rewards
of inventive genius or skill, or as a security to the beneficial
uses of capital, which otherwise could not be brought into
use, monopolies of every kind combine all the elements of
injustice. The effect of this impost was at once to ruin a
large portion of the manufacturers of domestic sugar, and
arrest the progress of a cultivation destined to exert the
most beneficial influence upon the general interests of agri-
culture. The fixtures and establishments in different parts
of the country fell into other hands, at a ruinous sacrifice to
their original proprietors. The West India proprietors be-
CROPS. 173
came more clamorous, for avarice was never yet satisfied with
any concession, and the impost was still more increased.
The elasticity of skill and genius have defied the pressure.
Improved modes of manufacture have been discovered, by
which more sugar is obtained from the same amount of the
raw material, and obtained at a cheaper rate ; and in spite of
the heavy imposts the manufacture is highly profitable,
especially to those persons who bought already made to their
hands the old manufacturing establishments.
In 1842, the production of beet-sugar in France reached
the enormous amount of 67,717,685 lbs. It had in some
years, as it must evidently vary with the seasons, been even
more than this ; and there is no reason to suppose that it
has decreased. In some parts of the country I have seen
several factories of recent erection. When the value of the
leaves and the pulp for the fatting of animals is added to this
actual creation of wealth out of the earth ; when the wages
received by the innumerable persons employed in the culture
of the plant, and the fabrication and refinement of the sugar,
are also taken into view; when the admirable preparation
which this culture makes for the succeeding crops ; when its
beneficial influences upon the commerce of the country are
considered ; and when especially the whole is regarded as
the product of healthy, well-requited, and free labour, and
without even the smallest expense or hazard to human life or
comfort, it is impossible to exaggerate the value of this great
and increasing product.
A highly distinguished agriculturist in France, perhaps as
competent as any man to speak on this subject, has recently
given to the public a statement in regard to it, which must
attract particular attention. I shall give his statement nearly
in his own words. <A hectare (about two and a half acres)
produces in the Isle of Bourbon about 76,000 kilograms (a
kilogram is about two pounds and a fifth of a pound) of cane,
which will give 9200 kilograms of sugar, and which costs in
174 CROPS.
labour 2500 francs. A hectare of beet-root produces 40,000
kilograms of roots, which will produce 2400 kilograms of
sugar, and the expense of the culture of which costs 354
francs. The cost of the cane sugar in this case is 27 cen-
times, and of the beet-sugar 14 centimes only, per kilogram’.
These are extraordinary statements, and will be looked at
by the political economist and the philanthropist with great
interest. There are few of the northern states of Europe, or
of the United States, which might not produce their own
sugar ; and when we take into account the value of this pro-
duct, even in its remains after the sugar is extracted, for the
fatting of cattle and sheep, and of course for the enrichment
of the land for succeeding crops, its important bearing upon
agricultural improvement cannot be exaggerated.
The production of beet-sugar is not by any means confined
to France. Large amounts are produced in Belgium, where
I found most extensive manufactories, and in several parts of
Germany ; but in none of these countries is industry in any
form unrestricted ; and a man hardly dares to be successful
in any enterprise, at least to proclaim his success, lest the
government by some impost or taxation should endeavour to
avail itself of his success for its own advantages. It is thus
that every where industry is checked and hampered, and en-
terprise scarcely rises from the ground, but is seen fluttering
along upon one wing.
14, Srrx.—Silk is another large product in France, giving
a humble but honest living to thousands and hundreds of
1 «“ According to M. Peligot, the average amount of sugar in beets is twelve
per cent. ; but by extraction they obtain only about five per cent. The cane
contains about eighteen per cent. of saccharine matter, but they get only about
seven and a half. The expense of cultivating an hectare of beets, according to
Dombasle, is 354 francs. An hectare of cane, which produces 2200 kilograms
of sugar in the Isle of Bourbon, and only 2000 in French Guiana, demands the
labour of twelve negroes, the annual expense of each of whom is 250 franes,
according to M. Labran.””-—Commission of Inquiry in 1840.
OROPS. 175
thousands. Its production is greatly on the increase ; and
the last year is reported to have nearly doubled itself.
I know nothing so remarkable in all its pecuniary and
useful results as the product of this humble insect, the silk-
worm, whose whole term of being is limited to five weeks.
Nothing is to be compared with it in the perfection and
beauty of the fabrications of which it supplies the material
and basis. What man, woman, or child’s dress in any civi-
lized community is not in some measure indebted to the
labours of this humble insect ? and its bearing in a commer-
cial view is an immense affair. In its pecuniary results, with
the exception of the article of bread, few things come in
competition with it.
It is not merely the value of the product as it comes from
the insect which gives it importance, but the extraordinary
amount of industry and commerce which his humble labours
set in motion. In France, as in other old and populous
countries, every branch of industry is divided and minutely
subdivided. There is in the first place the grower of the
mulberry-trees, who does not always connect with this pursuit
the production of silk ; but the leaves of his trees are sold in
the market as any other forage would be. To him succeeds
the grower, or, as he is commonly called, the educator of the
silk-worms, who hatches, feeds, and manages the worms until
their task is completed, and the cocoons are ready for the
market. He is succeeded by the filator, or winder, of the silk
from the cocoons, who prepares the crude or raw silk for the
manufacturer. Here another and numerous class of opera-
tives is set in motion; the spinner, the weaver, the dyer,
the pattern-former, the machinist, and the master manufac-
turer, from whose hands it proceeds next into the hands of
the wholesale dealer, and thence into the hands of the
retail dealer, to say nothing of the various forms which
it afterwards assumes under the agency of modists, dress-
makers, furniture-makers, hat-makers, and the almost count-
176 CROPS.
less operations and transformations which it has to pass
through in the various objects and forms of which it consti-
tutes a part. Indeed, it would be difficult to name any single
article which plays a more important part in an industrial,
economical, and commercial view.
The earliest production of silk is attributed to the Chinese,
but the particular date of its origin is lost in the obscurity of
remote history. There are many other worms which, in the
curious transformations through which they pass, involve
themselves, preparatory to their emerging into a new form of
being, in a cocoon formed of the finest tissue. But it is the
silk-worm, or, as he is sometimes called, the mulberry-worm,
alone which furnishes a material of sufficient firmness to be
converted into cloth.
The production of silk in France is now carried to a great
extent. Four years ago it was estimated at 1,200,000 kilo-
erams, or about 2,240,000 pounds of raw silk per annum.
The last year it was reported to have doubled itself, but, if
this should be an exaggerated statement, the production may
yet be set down as having vastly increased ; and, in a peaceful
condition of the country, is likely still more to extend itself.
It affords the means of living to many persons, who must
otherwise be without resource. In many parts of this culture,
the hands of children avail as much as those of men and
women, and thus the industry of whole families is set in
motion.
The silk-culture has generally been considered as limited
to a hot climate, and some have maintained that it belonged
exclusively to countries in which the vine could be success-
fully cultivated. The silk made in temperate climates, and
even in the mountainous parts of hot countries, where the
temperature is moderate, is esteemed better than that pro-
duced in very hot countries. It is difficult to prescribe the
exact limits of this production. The mulberry will grow in
very high latitudes; but in such cases, it is liable to be
OROPS. vw
killed by the severe frosts of winter ; and it is indispensable
that the season should be long enough, after the first defolia-
tion, for the mulberry-tree to renew and perfect its leaves.
The worms require a mild and temperate climate ; for though
they have been grown or reared in rooms where the tempe-
rature is, properly speaking, artificial, yet the expense and
trouble attending such arrangements are a serious abatement
of the profits, added to the difficulties of managing such a
temperature, and the risks to the lives and health of the
worms. It is important to make every effort to keep down
the expenses of the culture.
The mulberry may be considered as the only proper food of
the silk-worm. Various substitutes have been proposed by
the Chinese and others, but wholly without success. The
worms may be induced to eat, and may be kept alive upon
other substances, but they will make no silk. The Chinese
have moistened the leaves, and sprinkled them with powdered
rice, chicory, and peas, and with the powder of the dried
mulberry leaves, so that the worms, in getting at the leaves,
were compelled to eat of the powder, but it has been without
advantage.
The mulberry is not a tree of difficult cultivation ; but, like
most other things, it makes a full compensation for particular
care and attention. It will grow upon a poor, but it will
flourish only on a good soil, inclined to sand, and not humid
or heavy. It is advised to train these trees with an open
head, that the foliage may be accessible to light and air, and
not to feed from them until they are full three years old.
The leaves must not be taken from them more than once ina
year, and it is desirable to forward the first defoliation, so that
the second growth of leaves may become quite matured. Mul-
berry-trees are set out as ornamental trees by the sides of
roads, and in the neighbourhood of houses; or, where the
business is pursued on an extensive scale, they are planted in
rows at afew yards’ distance, as is customary with our apple
N
178 CROPS.
orchards. In many parts of Italy, in Lombardy and Tuscany,
the vines are trained to hang in graceful festoons from one
tree to another ; and when the rich clusters of grapes are seen
among the green foliage, it would be difficult to find any thing
of the kind more beautiful. An hectare of arable or meadow
land in France, may be valued at 2000 to 5000 frances, or
say, 400 to 1000 dollars ;:an hectare of mulberry-trees in the
same locality would, in such case, be valued at 5000 to 12,000
frances, or from 1000 to 2400 dollars. It is calculated that
an hectare (about two and a half acres) of mulberry-trees, in
full bearing, will produce sufficient foliage to supply the wants
of the worms produced by ten ounces of eggs. This would
give a product of about 22,000 pounds of leaves.
The mulberry may be propagated by sowing the seed, by
engrafting, or by layers; the two latter modes are of course
the only certain modes of securing the best kinds. The prin-
cipal kinds propagated in France are four; but they differ
somewhat in their product, as the experiments of one of the
first cultivators of silk in France, with whom I have the
pleasure of an acquaintance, seem to show. What appears to
be wanted in a mulberry leaf (excepting for the worms in
their first age) is a leaf of a good deal of thickness and
weight. The four principal mulberry-trees cultivated in
France are :—
Le miirier rose, or the rose-leaved mulberry.
Le mitrier multicaule, or the multicaulis, well known in the
United States.
Le mirier Moretti, a mulberry, which takes its name from
a physician who first produced it.
Le mirier sauvageon, or wild mulberry, which is our com-
mon white mulberry.
The multicaulis is condemned in France in the strongest
manner. It is of very easy cultivation ; it yields a great deal
of foliage ; it produces a fair quantity of silk; but it is con-
sidered too watery, and to create disease among the worms.
CROPS. 179
One of the most eminent silk-culturists in France denounced
it to me in no measured terms. The rose mulberry is upon
the whole pronounced superior to all others. Its leaves have
too much thickness and strength for the worms in their first
age; but in such case it is necessary to select the youngest
and most tender leaves, and to moisten them with water.
The leaves of the common wild mulberry are complained of,
as fading rapidly after being gathered, and becoming too
soon unfit for use. The time for hatching the worms should
correspond as nearly as possible with the condition of the
leaves, taking care that the leaves should be considerably
advanced, as the consumption of them in too young a state is
necessarily wasteful. Experiments have been made to test
the comparative value of the different mulberry leaves in the
production of silk—lI refer to its quality and quantity ; but
though conducted with much care, they do not appear to lead
to any important practical results.
The difference in the worms deserves attention, some pro-
ducing a large, and others a smaller, cocoon ; and some giving
consequently a larger return in silk than others. This dif-
ference is considerable, some producing from a certain weight
of cocoons ten or twelve per cent., and others eighteen per
cent. of silk. The great division of races is, into those which
produce a white, and those which produce a yellow, cocoon.
It is said that different races of the worm are suited to dif-
ferent climates, either hot or temperate ; and the results are
always more or less affected by the mode of feeding and the
care bestowed upon them.
The principal of the white races of worms is called the
Sina, and this species produces a very fine and beautiful silk.
This species was imported from China almost a century since ;
and its excellence has been maintained, and indeed it is repre-
sented to be much improved by care and selection. The silk
of this species of worm is employed for making the very finest
of the white silk fabrics. Ten to twelve pounds of the
N 2
180 CROPS.
cocoons produce one pound of silk. The cocoons are cylin-
drical, round at the ends, with a depression or cincture round
the middle.
The principal of the yellow races is the Turin. This is
known in Italy by several different names. The form of the
cocoon is cylindrical, with a deep indenture or cincture round
the middle, the ends are round, and the colour is a beautiful
yellow. They are esteemed as among the best cocoons known,
and furnish a very strong silk.
The Cora is another celebrated race, which is reported to
have been the result of a cross between two of the most beau-
tiful and rich of the yellow races, the Turin and the Loudun.
This species yields a large return of silk in proportion to the
weight of the cocoons; the cocoons are much sought after,
and sell at a higher price than any of the common kinds. As
my limits allow me only to refer to the best kinds, I shall not
enumerate others, of which there are several sorts, more or
less esteemed in different localities.
The ordinary life of a silk-worm embraces five ages, or four
important changes. There is a species called the three-
change worms ; but this peculiarity is considered as the re-
sult of a diseased constitution, and the product is compara-
tively worthless. The worms, by extraordinary feeding, may
be forced to finish their feeding in some cases in eighteen
days ; but this at the expense of a great deal of trouble, and
generally at the risk of disease. Their feeding is in some
cases extended to fifty days; but this is always owing to scanty
and illiberal feeding, and the product is sure to be inferior.
The period most to be desired, in which to complete their
feeding, is twenty-eight or thirty days. This is supposed to
depend somewhat upon the peculiar constitution of the race
of worms which are fed, but more upon the feeding and ma-
nagement. It is earnestly pressed upon the cultivators to
commence the hatching of the eggs as early in the season as
the condition of the mulberry leaves will allow it to be done
CROPS. 181
with a certainty of a supply of food. The hatching of the
eggs should be artificially forced, in order, as far as possible,
to be contemporaneous, as where it is left to take place natu-
rally, there will be a difference in the time of hatching among
the worms of several days, which is an inconvenience to be
anxiously avoided. It is recommended in the three first ages
to cut the leaves fine, and for the very young worms in the first
stage, they should be sifted. In order to success, the worms
must not be neglected by day or night. In the first age
they require twelve feedings in the twenty-four hours ; in the
fourth age, eight or ten ; in the fifth age, seven or eight. The
feedings should, in fact, be multiplied as much as possible ;
as where, with a view of saving time or labour, the food of
three or four times is given at once, the worms become dis-
gusted, and lose their appetite ; a great deal of forage is lost ;
and bad results are likely to follow. As overfeeding is in-
jurious, so is fasting equally injurious. In order to ensure
success, no neglect must be tolerated. Cleanliness in every
department is especially important. The worms must not
be crowded. They must likewise be occasionally assorted,
placing together those whose progress and condition are most
nearly alike ; and especially removing at once the feeble and
diseased. The best preparation for their mounting, when
their cocoon is to be formed, may be termed a small twig
broom, inverted and placed so that the upper part may be
spread between the shelves on which the worms are fed.
The cocoons after they are completed, reserving those only
which are designed for the continuance of the race, are placed
for the destruction of the chrysalis in steam, as being the
most certain and effectual mode. The cocoons being com-
pleted, and the poor tenant of this silken abode strangled in
his own habitation, now pass into other hands for the wind-
ing of the silk.
In many parts of Europe, among those who cultivate the
silk-worm upon a small scale, some vacant room in the house
is occupied for the worms, and very often some vacant barn
182 CROPS.
or building is used for this purpose at a season of the year
when it is not occupied for other purposes. Where silk is
cultivated on an extensive scale, a building is erected for the
special purpose of raising the worms, called a magnanerie.
The size of this building is of course to be proportioned to
the quantity of worms to be raised; and the quantity
of worms to be raised must be proportioned to the
amount of food to be obtained. Great losses are some-
times incurred by a miscalculation in respect either to the
forage or the worms. It is of great moment not to err on the
side of too little provision for the feed of the worms, who in
their last age consume with almost incredible voracity. Few
things are more prejudicial to success than a deficiency of
food, or subjecting the worms to fasting.
The magnanerie must in the first place supply ample room
for the worms: they must not be crowded. It requires a
separate room for the hatching of the worms and their feed;
ing during-the first age. It must be furnished with sufficient
means for heating the apartments in which they are kept.
It must have the means of complete ventilation, without
bringing draughts of cold air directly upon them. It must
be capable of being closed or opened at pleasure, in order to
regulate the temperature, which is of great moment. It must
be light also, and be capable of being lighted in the evening ;
for they like the light, and if success is looked for they are
not to be neglected either by day or night.
It has been supposed that the silk-worms are injuriously
affected by noise; but this is now deemed an error, as no
organs of hearing have been discovered. They are injuriously
affected by noxious odours, and this must be guarded against.
They are likewise much affected by changes of temperature,
and especially by a close and confined atmosphere. The
former may to a certain extent be regulated by artificial
means, and the latter by ventilation. The tables on which
the worms are placed, may be made of canvass on an endless
roller, and the worms being induced by fresh leaves to rise
CROPS. 183
upon a netting made of twine set in a frame, may be lifted
up, and by turning the canvass, the litter may be easily re-
moved, and the worms replaced. The legs of the tables on
which the worms are fed, should be set in water, so as to pre-
vent the access of ants, which are destructive to them; and
every pains must be taken to keep off birds, rats, and mice,
which have no hesitation in destroying these industrious
creatures.
There are several serious diseases to which the worms are
subject, and some of a fatal character. They are supposed in
general to owe their origin to neglect, to insufficient or irre-
gular feeding, to want of ventilation, to neglect of cleanli-
ness, or to too much crowding. The disease called the mus-
cardine is of all others the most dreaded, as it is contagious
and generally fatal. The causes of it have not yet been
ascertained, and no effectual remedy has been discovered. If
it is not caused by neglect, yet the only hope of preventing it
is by the most attentive and exemplary care. Where it has
once prevailed, it is liable to re-appear ; and in such places it
is advised as the only certain preventive to suspend for a
time the raising of the worms. It shows itself at all ages of
the worms. A large premium has been offered by the Agri-
cultural Society of France for the discovery of an effectual
remedy or preventive ; but as yet without success. The
werms are often injuriously affected by thunder-storms or a
highly electrical atmosphere ; but no human skill affords any
protection against this.
Many experiments have been made to get two crops of
worms and silk in a season; but by the most experienced
feeders such attempts are entirely disapproved. I shall not
attempt any calculation of expenses or profits, these must so
vary in different places from the difference in the cost of
labour and of land. First, it may be said of the silk culture
that the principal labour which it requires occurs at a season
when other agricultural operations are not of a pressing cha-
184 CROPS.
racter, and the season is one of comparative leisure. In the
next place, the farm-buildings, which may be occupied where
the climate admits of it as a magnanerie, are likely to be va-
‘ cant, preparatory to receiving the crops. Next, the trees
being once planted and matured, and the magnanerie esta-
blished, they require but little care to preserve them in con-
dition, and a large portion of the expense is incurred. In the
last place, the work is of a character to give healthful, useful,
and interesting employment to the younger and female parts
of a family, whose expenses are sure to go on, but whose
labour, for want of some such occupation, might otherwise be
lost. The article when produced is imperishable, and at pre-
sent may be considered as sure of a market.
I have only noted the outlines of the subject. I must not
go more into detail ; but the whole process is simple and in-
telligible, and the details are easily attainable. There is no
extraordinary ingenuity in the apparatus or machines con-
nected either with the management of the worms or the un-
winding of the cocoons; but I found with Mr. Robinet, of
Paris, who has distinguished himself by his attention to
this subject, a small and ingenious machine for testing the
strength of the raw silk. There was a graduated index at
the back of the machine ; a strong pressure was made on two
threads of the silk suspended from the top of the index, and
the degree of pressure or tension required to break the thread
indicated of course its actual strength.
I can hardly quit this subject without calling upon my
readers to admire with me the wonderful products of this
humble animal. The pecuniary value of the product is
enormous ; its utility is unquestioned and universal; the
amount of industry which it sets in motion is immense ;
and the splendour and beauty of the fabrications, of which it
forms the materiel, are unsurpassed.
15. Tur Vinz.—The next great agricultural product of
CROPS. 185
France is that of the vine. The whole extent of land culti-
vated in vines in France by the last returns was 4,929,950
acres ; and there is reason to believe that this amount has
been considerably increased since those returns were ob-
tained. The total value of the vine crop in France, reckon-
ing seven gallons of wine as required to supply one gallon of
brandy, is estimated at 59,059,150 francs, or, in round
numbers, 11,811,830 dollars, or 2,362,366. sterling. It is
supposed that six-tenths of the wine produced are consumed
in France ; the remainder forms the subject of a lucrative
commerce.
In a moral view, one would at first be inclined to dread the
effects of such a production upon the habits of the people. It
would not be true to say there is no drunkenness in France ;
but, account for it as we will, temperance is pre-eminently
the characteristic of the French people, and I believe them to
be without question the most sober of all civilized countries.
In the rural districts, wine is the ordinary drink ; but this is
not in itself a strong wine, and is almost invariably diluted
with water. Much complaint has been made that such im-
mense tracts of land are devoted to the production of wine
instead of bread ; but, in many of the bread-growing coun-
tries, a far larger proportion in value of the product has been
devoted to the manufacture of a drink far more intoxicating,
and much more fatal to peace, public order, domestic happi-
ness, and all good morals, than the mild and ordinary wines
of France ; which, when unadulterated, are the pure juice of
the.grape, and have not the strength of common cider. I was
in the vine-growing countries in the season of the vintage,
when wine in the greatest abundance was free to all, but
there was no more excess than at any other season. We
could hardly expect these laborious people, whose chief solid
subsistence is bread, to limit themselves to water, and we
could not but feel grateful that God had given them go inno-
cent and delicious a beverage to cheer and sustain them
186 CROPS.
under their toil. It is not the use but the abuse of these
gifts of Heaven, which constitutes the criminality, and con-
verts them into a fatal poison.
Various attempts have been made in different periods to
limit the cultivation of the vine. In one case, after a severe
scarcity, one of the Roman monarchs ordered the whole of
the vines in certain provinces to be destroyed, and more than
half the vines in other provinces ; and several kings of France
have prohibited the occupation of land beyond a certain
amount in the culture of the vine, that the people might be
compelled to the cultivation of bread. Such interference on
the part of governments in private concerns, and such
arbitrary measures, seldom effect the desired end. The
culture of the bread-grains, is, unquestionably, always of the
first importance ; but arrangements of this kind are generally
much better left to private interest than to public control.
The principal objection to the culture of the vine is, that it
is in no respect subsidiary to any other crop; that it occupies
the land permanently, without permitting any other crop ;
and that the vines require much manuring, though they do
not always get it, without furnishing the materials for pro-
ducing any manure. Some persons have ploughed or dug
in the cuttings and waste parts of the vine, and it is said
with extraordinary success, but the practice is not much
extended.
The vines are ordinarily raised from cuttings in a nursery,
and transplanted at one year old, generally in rows about
four feet asunder each way; but farther when it is intended
to plough between them. Generally the land is dug with
a spade; the old wood cut away in the spring, and the
new trimmed, leaving three buds only. They are then
staked, and trained to these stakes, which are from four to
five feet in height. At the harvest they are gathered with
great adroitness, the clusters being cut with a knife or
scissors, and carried to the pressing-house in casks or carts.
CROPS. 187
The whole process, afterwards, resembles precisely the manu-
facture of cider, excepting that I saw no straw used in
laying up what is called the cheese, the stems of the vines
supplying the place of straw, in giving compactness to the
heap; and that there is no breaking or crushing of the
grapes as of the apples, before they are put under the press.
The juice, as it comes from the grape, is always white, but it
is coloured by leaving the stems and skins of the grapes in
the vat with the liquor twenty-four hours after it is ex-
pressed. The after-management of the wine,- where it is
kept pure, consists in straining, and different drawings off
and bottling, very much like the management of the best
cider ; above all things, watching over the casks to preserve
them from must or any offensive substance.
The different kinds of wine take their names from the
different countries or vineyards in which they are produced.
I cannot persuade myself that the grape itself has not much.
to do with the quality of the wine; but the constant reply to
my inquiries was, that the character of the wine depended
mainly upon the particular locality in which it was grown,
upon some peculiarity in the aspect, or some unknown quality
of the soil. I have no doubt the particular quality of the
grape has its full share, and other circumstances besides those
which I have enumerated. The adulteration of wines, their
mixture, and their fabrication out of materials wholly foreign
from the grape, are carried on, undoubtedly, to a great extent ;
especially in the cities, as, indeed, in what country are not
such adulterations more or less prevalent, as the condition of
the market may render them profitable ?
‘In France the appearance of a vineyard presents nothing very
picturesque, though in the season of harvest it is extremely
rich, as I have travelled for miles and miles through vineyards
loaded with this delicious fruit. The fields in France are very
rarely separated by fences or ditches; but many facts have
come to my knowledge, and some within my own personal
188 CROPS.
observation, which convinced me that no where are the rights
of property more scrupulously respected. In Italy especially,
in the fertile plains of Lombardy, the vines are trained from
tree to tree, sometimes covering a whole tree with their
thick and umbrageous foliage ; and the purple clusters of
the fruit, hanging over the tree in the richest abundance,
remind one of some of the earliest temptations to which our
frail race are said to have been subjected.
In passing up the Rhine, after entering upon the high-
lands, the base of which the waves of this magnificent river
have swept for so many ages, one is absolutely struck with
amazement at the examples of industry, labour, and enter-
prise which every where present themselves, in the cultivation
of the vine, wherever a favourable aspect presents itself. The
steepest acclivities are walled up in successive steps or zigzag
lines, from the bottom to the top of very high hills, so as to
create or obtain some little flat surface for the planting of
the vines, and to prevent the washing of the dirt from their
roots. Where there is no soil, soil has been transported on
the shoulders of men and women in baskets, for no horse or
mule could possibly ascend many of these heights; and
where there has been no other method of securing the soil
and the vine, these baskets full of soil have been placed, and
there remain, that the plant may have a footing. The
manure, too, to supply these vines, must be carried up, and
the produce must all be brought down upon human shoulders.
The labour performed here seems almost incredible. The
German wines bear a high price, and these situations pro-
duce those of the best quality. The celebrated Johan-
nisberg wine is grown upon the banks of the Rhine, at a
magnificent place owned by the distinguished Prince Metter-
nich, and is said to be a source of great profit. The de-
lighted traveller has the opportunity of at least feasting his
eyes on this beautiful vineyard, and this rich and picturesque
country.
CROPS. 189
A vineyard, if well cared for, will last an indefinite num-
ber of years. The worst wines grown in France are repre-
sented to be the most profitable, as they pay either none, or
the lightest duties, and being sold at a cheap rate, they never
want consumers.
16. Ottves—The cultivation of the olive-tree, both for
comfits or pickles, and for the oil obtained from the fruit, is
considerably extended in France, and still more in Southern
Italy. The extent of land appropriated to the growth of the
olive in France is stated to be about 303,000 acres. The
culture is limited to the southern portions of France, as
the tree does not endure any considerable degree of cold.
The money value of the product in France is estimated at
22,776,398 franes, or 4,555,279 dollars, for sale; and the value
of that which is consumed is reckoned at 23,102,841 francs,
or 4,620,568 dollars, or 1,835,169/. sterling. This is a great
product for a permanent article. The oil-cakes left after
the expression of the oil are considered as very valuable for
cattle, and their value defrays some portion of the expense of
expressing the oil.
The olive groves or orchards in Southern Italy are very
extensive. Looking out from the high grounds in the
neighbourhood of Florence upon the enchanting valley of the
Arno, it appears like an almost uninterrupted grove of olives
as far as the eye can reach. It is difficult to conceive of a
richer, more beautiful, or more picturesque landscape than is
here spread before the eye; combining a charmingly varied
surface, with cities crowning the summits, and white palaces
glittering among the richest foliage, the river winding its
gentle and silver stream through the whole length of the
valley, amidst forests and fields of the deepest and most
luxuriant vegetation.
The olive-trees are of long endurance. I was shown some
orchards to which tradition ascribes an age of eight hundred
190 GENERAL VIEWS OF FRENCH AGRICULTURE.
years ; the condition, however, either from age or neglect,
was not flourishing. More than a hundred different kinds of
olive-trees are mentioned in France, differing in the quality
of their product, and in their adaptation to different soils and
temperature. New varieties are occasionally produced by
sowing the seed in nurseries. The trees are planted in
squares in the fields, at the distance of five or six yards
apart, more or less, according as the soil is dry or humid,
nearer to each other in the former case than in the latter.
The trees should be well manured either with stable manure or
compost ; it is advised to dig round the trees every spring
and autumn. ‘The field should be cultivated, taking care to
guard against injury to the roots, with the plough ; and, if
erain is sown, the portion near the roots of the trees should
be dug in while green, and before the grain is formed.
The great enemies of the olive-trees are the cold and
certain insects. The severe cold in 1820 and 1836 destroyed
a great many trees in France. Many insects infest the trees,
which sometimes prove destructive, against which remedies
are prescribed like those employed against the insects which
infest the apple-trees. How far it might be successful to
introduce the cultivation of the olive-tree into the southern
states of the United States, I must, after the above account,
leave the parties interested to judge.
The fig was growing freely in Italy in the open air, and by
the road side.
XVII. GENERAL VIEWS OF FRENCH
AGRICULTURE.
I have now gone oyer the principal crops produced in
France, with the exception of some which will come under
review in treating of the husbandry of Flanders, where these
crops are grown with more skill and success than in France.
GENERAL VIEWS OF FRENCH AGRICULTURE. 191]
I think my readers will have reached a conclusion to
which I early arrived, which is, that the agriculture or
husbandry of France is a subject of much greater import-
ance, and conducted with much more skill than is generally
thought. There are several subjects connected with it upon
which I shall speak hereafter. In many parts, I may add
in large parts of the country, the cultivation is inferior,
negligent, and extremely discreditable. France, however, is
not the only country to which these remarks apply ; but it
must be said of France, that in some of their principal crops,
those to which their climate is adapted, to which they have
been habituated, and which they have found to yield the
largest profit, no persons have advanced further than they.
I instance only the production of beet-sugar, which must be
taken in connexion with the residue or refuse of the manu-
facture, furnishing so rich and useful an aliment for cattle
and sheep. This production is enormous, and constantly
increasing ; next, the production of silk, which furnishes so
valuable and simple a resource for the poor, and which, fol-
lowed out in its various ramifications, will be found to set so
many thousands, nay hundreds of thousands, of industrious
hands in motion ; and lastly, its production of wine, so im-
portant an article of domestic consumption, and so large an
article of commerce. I am not of opinion that perfection has
been reached in either of these articles of culture,—for to
what that is human does that term perfection, in any but
the most qualified sense, apply ?—but certainly the culture
of these articles is pursued with the most exemplary dili-
gence and enterprise; I may add, with as much diligence,
and enterprise, and success, as are applied in any cultivation
in any country.
I shall be told, I dare say, that these productions are not
bread, and that they are not articles of necessity, but of
mere luxury, which man can do without. But they are the
means of procuring bread ; and an acre of silk, or an acre of
192 GENERAL VIEWS OF FRENCH AGRICULTURE.
sugar, or an acre of wine, will ordinarily procure more bread
than an acre of wheat.
I am in the strongest sense of the term a utilitarian ; but
T hold in utter contempt the narrow notions of utility enter-
tained by a large portion of mankind. We have it upon the
highest authority, “that man shall not live by bread alone.”
If we desire to know what man can do without, how little is
absolutely necessary to his being, and to the continuance of
the race upon the cheapest terms possible, it is only neces-
sary to go to ill-fated Ireland, and find whole families
subsisting, growing, and extending themselves upon potatoes
and water, with a flock of straw spread upon the bare ground
for the whole litter to nestle in, and half naked, and covered
only with a few rags that can scarcely by any art be per-
suaded to stay on. I have never seen human nature in so low
a state of degradation. I have been in the tents of the wan-
dering gipsies; I have seen the wigwams of the savages of
America ;—but these tents and these wigwams are almost
palaces compared with the mud-hovel of an Irishman.
That is useful which is conducive to our subsistence, to our
health, to our comfort, to our improvement, to our luxury,
and to our pleasure and enjoyment. A man on Robinson
Crusoe’s island would be very foolish to cultivate sugar, or
silk, or wine, if by doing so he could get no bread; but if by 3
these, as articles of easy exchange, he could procure bread,
or whatever else might be necessary or conducive to his
subsistence and comfort, and in such cultivation could turn
his labour to better account, could in fact procure more
bread than he could by the direct application of his labour
to the growing of wheat, who can doubt what course he should
adopt ?
It is frivolous to talk of that only as useful which alone is
necessary to our subsistence, or to the supply of the ordinary
wants of life. The pleasures of the taste are worth some-
thing. Even the most humble being, above the condition of
GENERAL VIEWS OF FRENCH AGRICULTURE. 195
a savage, prefers to cook his meat to eating it raw; and if
by any means our food can be rendered more palatable as
well as nutritious without injury to the health, we should
gratefully avail ourselves of the power to do it. The plea-
sures of the eye, with the various associations connected with
them, are among the most refined which we can indulge.
Articles of elegance and of pure luxury are articles of utility,
and so are all that contribute to the pleasures of a refined
taste, and the comforts, the innocent gratifications, and the
beauty of life. In proportion as human desires and wants
are multiplied, labour is encouraged, and human genius is
stimulated. There is no hope of raising any people above
the condition of savages, or of the humble animals with which
they consort, whose ambition is satisfied with potatoes and
water.
The philanthropic mind, in the rapid progress of human
art, is delighted to see what are-called the luxuries of life
extending themselves. What has hitherto been the exclu-
sive property of the rich, we should be happy to see become
the universal and easily-attainable property of the poor. It
is not many years since, a pair of silk hose was considered a
present fit to be made to a queen, and a silken robe was a
treasure hardly to be aspired to even by princes. I have seen
immense improvements already made in the dress of the hum-
bler classes, those by whose labour the luxuries of the rich
are supplied ; and I should be glad to see every poor Irish or
Scotch peasant girl, who are now so often seen in their
natural hose soiled and torn, able to wear stockings which
even queen Elizabeth might have envied, and going to their
churches in silks and satins, which should dazzle the eye by
their lustre, and give delight by the beauty and exquisite
taste of their fabric. Machinery is now everywhere lending
its wonderful creative powers and facilities in multiplying
the most useful and beautiful fabrics, and it is delightful to
see generally the humbler classes so much better clothed,
0
194 FARM NEAR VERSAILLES.
and their houses so much better furnished than they were
even within the memory of many persons now living. Every
advance and improvement of this description promotes care,
caution, and cleanliness. Cleanliness of person has a direct
affinity with purity and refinement of mind and taste.
Whatever conduces to this refinement, conduces to self-
respect ; and self-respect will be found ever one of the great
elements and instruments of virtue.
XVIII. FARM NEAR VERSAILLES.
I shall hereafter recur to the subject of the agriculture of
France ; but I may in this place say, that I have met exam-
ples of farming in France, which for excellence of culture and
arrangement, and the success of the farming, are no where
within my knowledge exceeded. A farm in the neighbour-
hood of Versailles, with the intelligent proprietor of which I
had the pleasure of an intimate acquaintance, in its excellent
management may be considered as a model farm. It consists
of about 700 acres. The husbandry is of a mixed kind; a
large milking stock is kept on the farm, which though not
reared on the farm, are very carefully selected; and kept
and fed in well-arranged and capacious stables, where the
best arrangements by gutters and cisterns are made for col-
lecting and saving all the liquid as well as all the solid
manure. Abundant crops of lucerne are grown both for
green feeding and hay, and likewise of sainfoin. Good crops
of wheat are likewise raised, and of cobza. Carrots are
cultivated extensively for the stock ; and potatces especially
for the manufacture of starch. This manufacture, very sim-
ple in its character, constitutes a large object of attention ;
and what with the potatoes grown upon the place, and those
which are purchased, more than one hundred thousand
bushels are used in this manufacture in the course of the
FARM ACCOUNTS. 195
year. The refuse water or liquor from this fabrication is
first collected in tanks or open reservoirs, where it makes a
considerable deposit from the matter still floating in it. The
liquid portions are conveyed by small channels or canals
on to the grass-fields, which are thus irrigated, and the solid
portions are taken out and spread. The effect of this
manure is extremely beneficial, and it scarcely differs in
strength from the best animal or stable manure.
XIX. FARM ACCOUNTS.
At no place have I seen a more complete system of farm
accounts than at this farm. The books are kept with the
greatest accuracy ; so that the result is seen at once, and any
specific loss or gain is traced to its proper source. Through
the kindness of the owner, I was enabled to procure a form of
these accounts. I subjoin it, thinking I can give few things
of the kind more valuable to my readers. The great and
almost universal fault of farmers is, that through ignorance
or neglect they can hardly be said to keep any accounts ;
sometimes merely a few memoranda in an interleaved alma-
nack, or a few chalks behind the door ; or if they keep books,
they are often confused, are seldom balanced, and the
farmer never arrives at a result upon which he can rely.
Often under these circumstances he finds himself gradually
declining into hopeless bankruptcy, without being able to
ascertain the most active and certain causes. The ship is
filing, but he cannot detect the leak, nor consequently the
means of stopping it. He may call all hands to work day
and night at the pumps, but with little hope of saving the
vessel until the fatal inlet is discovered, and that may prove
too late.
Under the system adopted by this excellent farmer, an ac-
count is kept with every crop, with the stable, the cow-house,
02
-_
196 FARM ACCOUNTS.
the sheep-fold, the poultry-yard, the labourers, and the farm-
house. Each is regularly charged with every item on the
debit-side, and credited with every return which it makes.
The whole is then brought into a general résumé ; an account
of stock is taken ; and the books balanced once a year with
the accuracy of a banker’s clerk.
Take for example his Winter In other columns are ar-
Wheat : it is charged with ranged
Ploughing, harrowing, and rolling. The extent of the land in wheat.
Manures. Product in grain and in straw.
Seed. Product by the acre.
Reaping, and binding, and stacking. _—- Value of the grain and of the straw.
Threshing, measuring, and storing. Total value of the product.
Transporting and marketing. Value per acre.
Rent of land. Profit of the cultivation,
Total of expenses. or
Expense per acre. Loss.
The account of each crop is kept in this form in a book
ruled in separate columns for this purpose. The history of
the crop, such as the time of sowing and of reaping, is given
at the bottom of the page ; and the average yield of the crop
for the ten preceding years.
The account of the Stable is kept m this form:
Expenses. Credits to the Stable.
Feeding of the horses. Labours upon the Farm — Plough-
Utensils and furniture for the stables. ing, &e.
Equipages— Harnesses, saddlery. —_ Upon the road.
Carriages. Manure.
Farriery. pene
Waggoners and Ostlers—Wages and Profit or loss.
expenses on the road.
Board of waggoners and ostlers.
Extraordinary expenses.
The expenses of the Sheep-fold are kept as follows. The
account opens with the Ist of July, and finishes with the
30th of June :—
FARM ACCOUNTS. 197
Account is taken of the num- A second column gives the
ber of account of purchases ; and
Flocks. another of sales, during
sheep. the year.
Lambs. :
A fourth column gives the
Rams. g
number of flocks, sheep,
lambs, and rams, at the end
of the year.
The next chapter embraces the several items of expense,
such as—
one of feed, Other columns give the esti-
edicines or drugs.
Deteing and? folding: mated value of the flock at
Hurdles, troughs, &c. the beginning and close of
Transporting and expenses of mar- h
keting. the year.
Shepherds—their wages. - Returns from the sale of sheep.
oo » board. :
a ae es a wool and skins.
7 ite ae eu 3 the value of manure.
a ee the benefit from folding.
* Profit or loss.
The account of the Cow or Milk establishment is kept in
the same form :—
Keeping of the cows. Number of cows, and their value at
Cost of cows... the beginning of the year.
Care of them. Expense of cows purchased.
Utensils. Number of calves.
Expense of the sale of milk. Returns from milk or butter sold.
Litter for the stables. » from calves.
Value of manure.
The Poultry-yard, embracing also the Pigs, is brought
under a similar supervision, and the accounts of the whole
year, in expenses and returns, are carefully preserved and
adjusted.
The account of Manures is hkewise kept :—thus,
Manures purchased. Loading and unloading. Compost heaps.
Transporiation of manure. Spreading. Folding.
Straw fox litter. Oil-cakes purchased.
198 FARM ACCOUNTS.
The general expenses of the Farm are then brought into
the account :—
Overseers and their travelling ex- Wood and cutting fuel.
penses. Measuring ground,
Bookkeeper, stationery, and postage. | Mole and rat catcher.
Wages and clothing for the servants. | Workmen, by the day or task.
Journeyings, hunting, dogs. Expense of waggons and farriery.
Time of horse for service of the Saddlery and harness.
family. Bedding and linen,
Insurance against fire and hail. Painter, glazier, carpenter, blaek-
Taxes. smith, ironmonger.
Utensils and furniture.
The specific expenses of the household are next brought
into account :—
Kitchen expenses, Beer.
Cellar. Products of the farm consumed, such
~ Eatables. as milk and cream, eggs, poultry,
Groceries. mutton, pork, potatoes, fruits and
Butcher. vegetables, butter, and cheese.
Baker. Presents to servants.
Wood and charcoal. New Year’s and Christmas gifts.
Household and kitchen furniture. Care and medicine in sickness.
Miscellaneous expenses follow :—
For the poor, charitable gifts. Meat, bread, wood, medicine, board-
Education of poor children. ing, clothing, fruits and vegetables.
Expenses :-—
Civie charges at the mayory. For a public engine and carriage to
To the police-officers, or country watch. _ protect against fire.
I have thus given the items of accounts kept on this excel-
lently-managed estate, not so much to recommend the precise
form in which they are kept, as to show their particularity
and exactness. The great value of this extreme precision is,
that the owner is at once enabled to discover what are the
particular sources or occasions of expense, and to determine,
if it should be necessary or expedient, what he may at once
retrench or forego. The keeping of such accounts requires
time and care, and, perhaps, in this case, they may be too
much extended. But a careful and orderly arrangement,
together with punctuality and exactness, so that the work
may never get into confusion or arrears, will overcome much
AGRICULTURE OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND. 199
of the difficulty. The satisfaction and advantages arising
from it, will be a full compensation for the labour and ex-
pense which it may require. I cannot understand why on a
large farm a bookkeeper should not be kept as much as in
any shop or other trading concern. A French farmer or
proprietor might often obtain the most ample assistance from
his wife, or his daughters: for it must be said, to the great
eredit of the French women, that they are expert in such
matters. They have great cleverness in business affairs ; and
there was scarcely a shop or warehouse in Paris without its
female bookkeeper or accountant. I met with a young lady
at a friend’s house, and I was told there were innumerable
cases like it, who was the principal manager or salesman at
a large wholesale lace establishment, where goods to the
value of hundreds of thousands were disposed of in the
course of the year, and who received an annual salary of
2001. sterling, or more than a thousand dollars. The highest
confidence was reposed not only in her integrity but in her
accuracy and skill ; and in private society I can answer for
it that her mind was highly cultivated, and her manners
agreeable and elegant. I hope I may be excused for saying
‘that it is delightful to find an elegant young woman some-
thing else than a mere fashionable plaything or toy.
I only add, that I have the results of the accounts of
this farm from 1816 to 1846, thirty years; that the receipts
vary considerably as products and prices vary ; but that, in
not more than three years in the thirty, was there any loss,
and in the other cases a fair and reasonable gain.
XX. AGRICULTURE OF BELGIUM
AND HOLLAND.
I pass now to the agriculture of Belgium or Flanders. My
remarks will embrace the whole of the Low Countries,
200 THE SOIL.—THE DYKES AND POLDERS.
Holland as well as Flanders. Though they differ in many
particulars, yet they may be considered together. I entered
these beautiful countries, beautiful in the eye of an agricul-
turist from the richness of their crops, and the perfection of
their cultivation, in the month of June ; and I confess my
expectations, excited as they were, were more than answered.
XXI. THE SOIL.
A great portion of these countries may be considered as
alluvial ; much of it formed from the recession of the sea
and the elevation of the land; much by the gradual en-
croachments of the land upon the sea, as where, by the
meeting of the tides with the streams of some of the great
rivers, which here, by various channels, find their passage
into the sea, a sand bank is formed, and presently, by
successive deposits of mud brought down by the streams,
an island or outstretching point is produced, which is
gradually raised above the level of the tides; and, lastly,
by the actual embankment by dykes of immense tracts,
which still remain many feet below the level of the sea ;
and which form extensive basins or enclosures of almost un-
surpassed fertility.
XXII THE DYKES AND POLDERS.
The extent and magnitude of these embankments is
matter of inexpressible surprise; and one is compelled to
ask, where and who are the men of such unconquerable and
gigantic enterprise as to raise these extraordinary mounds ;
thus to defy the ocean; and thus to effect conquests, than
which none more brave, illustrious, or beneficent, are recorded
THE DYKES AND POLDERS. 201
in history, and compared with which, military conquests
seem to deserve only the execration of mankind.
The external dykes are from 125 to 150 feet in width at
the bottom, with spacious roads on the top of them ; and in
several cases the water requires to be lifted twice before it is
thrown into the sea. These immense tracts of land, which
have been thus redeemed from the sea, are denominated
polders. These polders are said to average more than eleven
hundred acres each; and that 436 polders, embracing an
extent of 475,000 acres, are kept dry by 815 mills. The
water to be removed is of course the fresh water from rain, or
the water from springs, and some, doubtless, from the infiltra-
tion of the sea. The work of one mill is required to keep
six hundred acres sufficiently free from water. The whole
amount of this poldered or redeemed land in Holland is
represented to exceed five millions of acres, an amount to be
redeemed from the sea scarcely within the limits of credibility.
But the original erection of these dykes is not the whole
amount of labour which they demand,—a demand which
knows no interruption nor cessation. It is said, upon compe-
tent authority, that had the original dyke at Walcheren
been made of solid copper, it would have cost less than it has
cost in its formation and repairs.
I present here a sketch of the polder of Snaerskerke, given
by Radcliffe from the government survey. This polder contains
about 1300 acres, and was drained by order of Napoleon.
“The creek, with its minor branches, by which the tide over-
spread nearly the entire surface, is traced, to point out its
original state; but that has now given way to the regular
divisions and arrangements marked by the parallel lines,
which describe the present circumstances and appearance.
The facility of this improvement is so obvious, that it is only
surprising it should have remained so long unexecuted ; the
banks of more ancient polders, which nearly surrounded this,
having rendered it unnecessary to do more than to shut
202 THE DYKES AND POLDERS.
out the sea at one point of influx, about 1450 feet in extent.”
Let us look next at the pecuniary result of this improve-
ment. “The land which has been reclaimed by it was let
for a sheep-pasture, at 251. sterling, or about 125 dollars, and
was thrown up by the farmer as untenable. Upon being
dried by this summary improvement, the lots, of which
there are one hundred, of thirteen acres each, were sold by
auction at an average of 2911. 13s. 4d. each, or about 1458
1%
dollars, and would now bring nearly double that sum‘.
ib inh 28
| Bre NY
Z “1 J
a f |
’
;
:
\
Py
SKETCH OF THE POLDER OF SNAERSKERKE.
A great work of this same kind is now going on, which
is no other than to drain the Harlaem Lake, and lay the
bottom dry for cultivation. This great work has been some
time in progress by means of powerful steam-engines, and
! Radcliffe’s Flanders.
THE DYKES AND POLDERS. 203
when completed will lay dry about 50,000 acres’. The
extent proposed to be drained is said to be seventy miles
square. Another tract which has been laid bare contains
18,000 acres. It is impossible to contemplate these mighty
and beneficent achievements but with the most profound ad-
miration. But if an immense labour and expense have been
devoted to their creation, a corresponding vigilance, a vigi-
lance most laborious, indefatigable,’ and unceasing is re-
quired to maintain them. The inhabitants of this great
country sleep always in the immediate neighbourhood of an
enemy’s camp, and are exposed to irruptions and invasions,
against which all human power may be unavailing. The
recollection of the floods, which have occasionally broken
away these barriers, and swept the country, is perfectly
terrific. In the course of thirteen centuries’ no less than 190
great floods are said to have occurred in Holland ; so that a
destructive inundation may be said to have occurred as often
as once in seven years, and the years so late as 1808 and
1825 were marked by great floods. In 1230, 100,000 per-
sons are reported to have perished, with cattle innumerable.
In 1410, 20,000 persons were drowned ; and in 1570 an equal
number. In 1717, the flood is reported to have destroyed
12,000 men, 6000 houses, and 80,000 cattle. The sea has
been known, in some cases, to have risen eight feet above
the dykes. These events are certainly among the most
tremendous in history ; and evince the extraordinary courage
and perseverance of a people, who again repel the merciless
invader, and bravely plant themselves directly upon the
recovered field.
This temerity finds a counterpart in those cities which I
1 It is stated, that in order to exhaust the lake, 3000 millions of tons of
water must be raised ; and in order to keep it dry, 54,000,000 of tons must
be raised annually ; and sometimes 20,000,000 of this in one or two months.
What a gigantic project !
2 From 516 to 1825. -
204 THE WATER MACHINERY OR MILLS.
visited, crowded with a busy, gay, and reckless population,
which have their foundation at the foot of mountains, still
pouring out their immense volumes of flame, and rolling down
their sides their resistless torrents of liquid fire, upon the
crust scarcely cold, which has suddenly buried cities teeming
with life and resounding with the noise of business, or the
shouts of pleasure, in the very hour of their living burial.
XXII. THE WATER MACHINERY OR MILLS.
These countries have to exercise a double guard ; the first
against the irruption of the ocean, and the second against
the overflowing of the great rivers, which, fed by streams
from mountains covered with eternal snows, here divide into
many branches on their way to the ocean ; and likewise from
the rain which falls, and has no way of escape but as it is
pumped up and turned off into the rivers or the sea. In
some cases, six, eight, and ten feet of water have been re-
moved ; it is stated “that in one case, a depth of more than
thirteen feet required to be removed on land more than eight
feet below the high water of the river into which it was
necessary it should be discharged. It was raised into a
reservoir, and let into the river at low water. The water
required to be raised by successive lifts twenty-two feet, not
an uncommon lift in Holland.” The machines by which this
water is raised are windmills, made with extraordinary care
and expense, and presenting to the unaccustomed eye a pecu-
liar but not unpleasing appearance. I counted more than
two hundred in sight at one time, and was told that more
than four hundred might be seen. These are variously con-
structed, some of them with a spiral screw working in a box
to which the screw was exactly fitted, and by which large
amounts of water were forced up without any heavy pressure
upon the machinery. In other cases, the water was lifted
FLEMISH AGRICULTURE. 205
with a simple paddle-wheel working in a common trough.
It is stated that one mill will free 600 acres from water ; but
it is obyious that this must depend upon various circumstances,
such as the quantity of water to be removed, and the kind of
machinery employed. The most constant vigilance is re-
quired to take advantage of all the wind that blows. To
give some idea of the expense of these operations, a mill is
said to cost from 8000 to 14000 dollars, or from 1600l. to
2800/. sterling, and its operation costs 300 dollars or 601.
sterling a year. Many of the persons who have the care of
these mills live in them with their families.
These are all windmills. Steam-engines would probably
be as little expensive, and more under command. Most of
these mills were erected before the use of steam in this way
was known; but a reason given for preferring wind to steam
is, that, as Holland has no coal, in the event of war she
might be without fuel, and consequently unable to work
steam-engines, the disastrous consequences of which it is
not necessary to dwell upon.
Such are the mighty works, as well indeed they may be
ealled so, which arrest the admiration of the visitor to this
reclaimed and fertile region, so marked by the most extra-
ordinary enterprise. They inspire a profound sentiment of
the hardihood and enterprise, the courage and indefatigable
perseverance of the people who undertook, achieved, and have
maintained them.
XXIV. FLEMISH AGRICULTURE.
The agriculture of Flanders is chiefly arable. To give a
detailed account of its various crops and their culture, would
be to compose a large work ; and I shall therefore limit my-
self to noticing those peculiarities in their practice by which
their cultivation is distinguished, with such remarks upon
206 FLEMISH AGRICULTURE.
particular crops as seem interesting and useful. Flanders
itself is to some extent a redeemed country ; and they have
also their polders and embankments, canals and dykes.
I begin by saying that the agriculture of Flanders is supe-
rior to that of any country which I have visited. I do not
say that in England, Scotland, France, and Switzerland, I
have not seen single farms as well cultivated as any I have
seen in Flanders; certainly in the Lothians in Scotland, in
Northumberland, in Norfolk, in Lincolnshire, in Bedfordshire,
in Berkshire, in Cambridgeshire, in Staffordshire, and in other
places, I could single out particular farms and considerable
districts where the cultivation is carried to a high degree of
perfection and productiveness; but taking into view the
large portion of Flanders which I visited, for neatness, exact-
ness, and thoroughness of cultivation, for the evenness and
magnificence of the crops, for the propriety and exactness
of the rotation, for the economy and excellent modes of
applying their manures, and for the obvious and distinguished
improvements made in the soils, this country seems unsur-
passed. It is not a little humiliating that this has been
done by a people comparatively without education, with no
pretensions whatever to what is called agricultural science, and
with few implements, and those far from being the most im-
proved. To say, however, that they are without education and
agricultural science, isa great misnomer. They have the surest
of all science, that which grows out of long experience, and
which comes from the application of the mind, sharpened by
necessity, to whatever is passing within its own province,
and avails itself of all the lessons which that experience
suggests. Iam far from thinking that with them the ulti-
matum of improvement has been reached. I should regret
to find any where, in any science or art, the door of inquiry
closed; but at present they may congratulate themselves
with having reached a degree of improvement, which many
other countries, with superior advantages in other respects,
THE SOIL; AND SIZE OF FARMS. 207
have not as yet approached. Though their implements have
been imperfect, there is yet an obvious reason why they have
been effectual. The great agricultural instrument in Flanders
is a spade. We are contriving all kinds of implements which
shall lessen human labour. We want all sorts of machines
which shall, if possible, do the work of or by themselves.
We want that they should be impelled by wind or by steam,
or by brute force ; and we would be glad, as far as possible,
to dispense with the necessity of personal superintendence.
The Flemish farmers reluct at no personal superintendence
or toil; and even an inferior implement, with a thinking
and directing mind at the end of it, may be more efficient
than many a more complicated or better contrived machine,
which is expected almost to make its own way.
XXV. THE SOIL; AND SIZE OF FARMS.
The soils of Flanders are generally inferior; but they
illustrate the Latin proverb, that persevering labour over-
comes all difficulties. In many instances, the farmers plant
themselves upon an almost hopeless blowing sand, which
would seem to defy all vegetation. They will begin by
planting oats, or rye, and broom ; the oats or rye are used for
forage, and so are the tops of the broom, which remains in
the ground three years, and is then ploughed in to form
and enrich the soil; and when by degrees they can advance
so far as to grow turnips or clover, so as to feed a cow, the
way of success is open. In such case, all manure, solid and
liquid of every kind, is saved with care, and the whole
redoubles itself; and after a time is witnessed the conver-
sion of this arid sand into a productive soil.
The size of farms in Flanders is small, in many cases not
exceeding fifty acres ; often less than this, and not more than
six or seven acres. The amount produced, upon even the
208 THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.
smallest holdings is remarkable, and presents an advan-
tageous, and often an instructive contrast with the product
of large farms.
XXVI. THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL, TRENCH-
ING, PLOUGHING, MANURING.
1. The first characteristic of Flemish husbandry is their deep
cultivation. In some cases this is done by the spade, in others
by the plough, and sometimes conjointly by the plough and
spade. The land is gradually trenched to the depth of twenty
inches or more. The land for grain being laid out in stitches,
six or seven feet wide, in the intervals a deep trench or ditch
is dug, say of a foot in width. The next year, in cultivating
this same land, a foot in width will be taken from the side of
this stitch and thrown into the ditch or open space, widening,
of course, the next bed to the extent to which it is cut off
from the other ; filling up the trench of the preceding year,
and forming a new trench. This is repeated year after year,
until, according to the width of the stitch or bed, the whole
ground is gone over to the depth of a double spading. At
the same time, as the successive crops have followed each
other, the ground has been carefully improved by manure,
until a fine rich and mellow bed of soil is formed. This opera-
tion resembles subsoiling, with this difference, that the work is
more thoroughly and carefully done with a spade than it can
ever be with a plough. A deep soil, where properly enriched,
is obviously most favourable to vegetation. The air itself is
a great enricher of the ground ; water, another great element
of fertility, passes through a well cultivated soil, leaving its
fertilizing influences, without becoming stagnant, and so
injuring the soil. All plants do not equally require deepness
of soil, yet even the plants which appear most superficial
often extend the fine tendrils of their roots in search of food
THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 209
much farther than the eye can follow, or than is generally
supposed. A French farmer states that he has found the
roots from a plant of wheat extending five feet. All tap-
rooted plants, such as clover or carrots, frequent crops in
Flanders, of course demand a deep culture.
The first object then of the Flemish farmer, is to get a
deep and friable soil, well enriched, and, as far as possible,
equally enriched throughout. This is done with great pains-
taking, and the whole resembles the most beautiful garden
cultivation. Even where it is ploughed, the trenches at the
sides of the field, and between the beds, are cleaned out by a
spade ; what is taken out is laid carefully upon the beds ;
and the whole executed with a neatness and exactness the
most particular, and perfectly delightful to the eye.
2. Sussoinine.—They have a peculiar mode of working
their land in many cases, of which their best farmers think
very highly, and which is well deserving of notice. Imme-
diately after the plough has opened the furrow, workmen
follow with a spade, and take out from the bottom of the
furrow large spadefuls of earth, laying them up upon the
turned land. Here they remain in lumps until they are
reduced to fineness by the warmth and air, and spread them-
selves upon the soil. They have an opinion that this is equal
-to a good manuring. The next furrow slice of course falls
into these holes, and to some extent there is a complete in-
version of the surface-soil. This does not answer, however,
where the land is clayey, or strong and adhesive, as, in that
case, water would collect and remain in the holes made under
the furrow with the spade. The object of the Flemish farmer
is to have the ground thoroughly enriched and friable ; and
to give, as far as possible, a quick passage for the water which
falls upon it, and free admission to the air.
3. Drarninc.—Nothing can surpass the pains-taking of the
P
210 THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.
Flemish farmer in the preparation of his soil, as the basis of
all his efforts, and that on which he rests his hopes of success.
I have already said, that with a view to get rid of surface-
water, he carefully lays his ground in stitches or beds, narrow
or wide, in proportion to the quantity of water, which, from
the situation of the land, may require to be disposed of. If
the land is made wet by springs, he takes pains to cut off
the springs by transverse ditches. These he fills with brush,
or wooden boughs, and upon these he lays stones, and then
covers with earth, and thus conveys the water into an open
side ditch. This is a primitive mode of draining, and not
the best which could be chosen; but after the wood has
decayed, the channel being once formed, it is likely to be
kept open for a length of time, by the force of the running
water. Ifthe wetness of the land proceeds from its low and
sunken position, or from springs which cannot be cut off, it
becomes necessary then to cut it up by open ditches, which
are made at distances varying according to the nature of the
land to be drained, and into which the water becomes col-
lected. This takes up a considerable portion of the surface,
but the compensation is found by the dryness and available-
ness of the other portions, by which method only these could
be secured. This is the universal practice upon the polders,
and these principal ditches are often of sufficient width to
proceed upon in boats, in order to take off the produce to the
outer edge of the polder, where it can be removed in carts.
4. Mrxine tHE Sor.—If the soil upon which he pro-
poses to operate be composed, as often happens, of different
strata of earth, as, for example, of mould, next of a layer of
clay, and next of sand, he is careful, by a deep trenching,
thoroughly to stir, and by degrees to intermix and enrich
the whole. In truth, every effort is made to produce a deep,
friable, rich bed for their operations ; and by such.means
soils, which appear at first almost worthless, are made pro-
THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. pak
ductive. Many soils, which in their original condition were
sterile and comparatively worthless, now take rank with the
most fertile.
I do not pretend in this case to enter into the question of
expense and compensation. In order to determine the ex-
pediency of such improvements, in any situation, the value
of land and of the produce must be taken into the account,
as well as the cost of labour and manure; but my sole
object is to state what has been done; and to show from
that what skill, industry, and perseverance may accom-
plish.
There are few situations in which substantial and judicious
improvements upon land do not afford a full return ; and the
more substantial and thorough, the more ample the compen-
sation. In a country so thickly populated as Flanders, and
with labour so abundant, it is important that every rod of
land should be made productive. From what is effected
under circumstances almost hopeless, and upon soils abso-
lutely barren, it would encourage the expectation that much
more than has already been accomplished may be done with
even those soils which are now considered best cultivated ;
and with respect to the greater portion of lands under culti-
vation, even in districts which are considered most advanced,
I believe their produce might, in many cases, be increased
one-half.
What is done in Flanders by trenching, is now done in
Great Britain by subsoiling. By this the lower strata are
loosened, the sun and air admitted to exercise their fertilizing
influences upon them, and they are thus gradually intermixed
with the upper soil. There is this great improvement in the
English method, that the land is first drained by underground
drains, which remove the superabundant wetness, without
occupying any of the surface.
5. Rotation oF Crops.—Another great feature of Flemish
P2
212 THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.
husbandry is that of a regular rotation of crops. This is
exact, and observed with strictness.
It has been maintained by some persons, that the excre-
mentitious matter rejected by some plants poisons the soil
for plants of the same kind to succeed them, until after an
interval, when this exuded matter becomes consumed, dis-
solved, or changed. By others it is supposed that each plant
demands for its nutrition particular ingredients or elements
in the soil; which, being consumed, the same kind of plant
will not flourish or succeed in the same soil until a further
supply of the same material is furnished, which may be done
artificially, or which will take place naturally, when the
ground is suffered to repose a certain length of time, or other
crops of a different character, and not requiring the elements
so consumed, are cultivated. The latter seems to be the esta-
blished theory. But whatever be the true solution of the
necessity of an alternation or change of crops, the Flemish
husbandmen have long understood such necessity, and ex-
perience has taught them what crops should succeed each
other, and how frequently the same crop may be cultivated
successfully on the same land.
What this rotation shall be, must depend on a variety of
circumstances. An intelligent farmer will be likely to in-
quire first, to what crops is the soil best adapted, because of
this he is likely to get the largest product; what crop is
most required for his own use or for the market ; what crop
is likely least to exhaust the soil; what crop is he best able
to manure. In short, a great variety of inquiries growing
out of the nature and particular condition of the soil, which
will determine the course of crops to be adopted by the
farmer, having in view that which he can obtain with the
largest profit, the least expense, and the smallest injury to
the land. What are called green crops, with the.exception of
potatoes, which enter largely into human food, such as carrots
and turnips, are grown mainly with a view to the manure,
THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 213
which they furnish by the animals fed upon them. The
farm is divided into several portions, and on these different
portions, distinct rotations are proceeding regularly, the aim
of the farmer being to have a variety of crops growing at the
same time. In this way he provides best for the supply of
his family ; having a variety of articles to dispose of, he runs
less risk in the fluctuations and caprices of the markets ; and
he is enabled the better to husband and apply his manures.
I shall here give some examples of these rotations of crops,
not as furnishing a rule for other places, which may differ
very much in various circumstances, but simply as illustra-
ting the practice of these careful husbandmen.
On a soil of a good quality, and on which wheat may be cul-
tivated, the following rotation is sometimes observed :
1. Potatoes.
2. Wheat, with turnips sowed upon the stubble after the
harvest.
3. Oats and clover.
4. Clover.
5. Rye, with turnips sowed upon the stubble after the
harvest.
6. In grass, to remain as long as it is profitable.
The farm in a case like this, will be divided into as many
portions as there are distinct crops, so that all will be grow-
ing on the same farm at the same time. |
The following rotation is sometimes had :—
1. Wheat. 5. Clover.
2. Rye and turnips. 6. Rape.
3. Oats. 7. Potatoes.
4, Flax.
On a very strong soil the following rotation is given :—
1. Potatoes, 2. wheat. 3. beans, 4. rye, 5. wheat, 6. clover,
7. turnips, 8. flax, 9. wheat, 10. oats, 11. fallow, 12. tobacco,
13. rye, 14. oats.
214 THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.
The following rotation is adopted upon a stiff soil :—
1. Potatoes, with twenty tons of dung per acre.
2. Wheat, with three and a half tons and fifty barrels of
urine.
3. Flax, with twelve tons of dung, fifty barrels of urine,
and five cwt. rape cake.
4. Clover, with twenty barrels of wood ashes.
5. Rye, with eight tons of dung, and fifty barrels of urine.
6. Oats, with fifty barrels of urine.
7. Buckwheat, without manure.
Ona rich loam the following rotation is pursued :—
1. Turnips, carrots, chicory.
2. Oats and clover seed.
3. Clover.
4. Wheat. Wheat occurs in this rotation four times
5. Flax. in eleven years. Clover, which occurs
6. Wheat. twice, is to be considered as the only
7. Beans. enriching crop. Manure is applied, how-
8. Wheat. ever, the first, third, fourth, seventh, and
9. Potatoes. ninth years. The cultivation is most care-
10. Wheat. ful, and no weeds are spared.
dL Oats: /
I have given these different rotations from Van Aelbroeck’s
account of Flemish husbandry, and from the same practical
work I subjoin three tables illustrative of the same subject,
and which will have an interest with the curious reader.
215
THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.
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217
THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.
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218 THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.
It may not be easy to point out in every instance the
principles on which these rotations are founded. With the
Flemish farmers they are the result of long experience and
observation. "Perhaps they might often be changed to ad-
vantage. I have known, for example, in some parts of the
United States, flax cultivated to great advantage every
fourth year; and in some parts of England wheat grown
every second year. But in each case the land was highly
manured, and in the former case the land was comparatively
a new and unexhausted soil. My object in going into this
subject was not to prescribe a particular course, but to illus-
trate a great principle of Flemish husbandry, which will be
found equally applicable to every situation. The necessity
of a rotation of crops seems fully established. The kind of
rotation to be followed must be determined by the peculiar
circumstances of each locality, remembering only, that two
crops of a similar character must not immediately succeed
each other ; that the occasional intervention of a cleansing
crop—that is, a crop which requires thorough weeding—is in-
dispensable ; and that those crops which are to be consumed
on the farm serve a double purpose, in addition to the animals
which they sustain, they supply the manure which is de-
manded. The necessity of naked fallows—that is, of leaving
the land wholly unoccupied with any crop, that it might
recruit itself, and the weeds be exterminated by repeated
ploughings—is no longer acknowledged ; and cleansing crops,
which are manured, may be substituted, greatly to the far-
mer’s advantage.
6. Manurinc.—The next great feature in the Flemish
husbandry lies in their system of manuring. In the first
place, they manure their land abundantly. In one of the
rotations to which I have referred (p. 214), the first six crops
were each of them liberally manured. The seventh, which
completed the course, which was buckwheat, was without
THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 219
manure. In the next rotation (p. 214), where the rotation
extended to eleven crops, five of them were manured. That
the manuring was of a liberal character, is seen in the appli-
cation of sometimes twenty tons of manure to the acre, and
sometimes. twelve tons, with the addition of fifty barrels of
urine. Indeed, the first object of a Flemish farmer is to
increase his stock of manure ; to this end he suffers nothing
which can be converted into manure to be lost or wasted ;
and besides that which he makes from his savings and his
domestic animals, he is always ready to purchase manure,
where it can be found accessible, the various canals in the
country furnishing great facilities for its conveyance. Perhaps
there is only one point in which he is often deficient, and
that is, in not raising sufficient green food for the support of
cattle, with a view to increasing his manure.
7. Liguip Manure.—It is not merely in manuring liberally
that Flemish husbandry is remarkable, but in the particular
mode of applying this manure. The great object of the
Flemish farmer is to apply it in a condition to be imme-
diately taken up by the plants. Coarse and long manure he
ploughs under in the autumn, that it may be in a condition
to serve the crop which is to be sown in the spring. Or, if
to be applied in the spring, he so works it over and prepares
it, that it is in a condition at once to serve the plant. But
the distinguishing circumstance in Flemish husbandry is in
the application of liquid manure, both to the land before the
sowing, and likewise to the growing crop. In such case the
growing crop immediately receives it ; receives it at a time
when, perhaps, the manure first applied has begun to lose
somewhat of its efficacy ; and in a form that its efficacy is
felt at once.
The difficulty of applying this liquid manure to the crops
on the land is often considered an objection to its use ; and
there is, with many persons, a fastidiousness in regard to the
220 THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.
use of it, which is quite absurd, and leads to the sacrifice of
the most valuable and efficacious manure which is at the
command of the husbandman. In some cases it is turned
into the small ditches or furrows between the beds or
stitches, and then with a spade thrown on to the beds with
some of the soil by which it has been absorbed. In this case
a light plough is sometimes passed through these intervals or
small ditches; between the beds, so as to loosen the earth by
which the ned has been absorbed. But most commonly
it is applied directly, by means
of a cask constructed for that
purpose, resembling the vehicles
used for watering the streets of
cities.
In the subjoined diagram the
liquid from the cask falls into a
trough placed horizontally, and
pierced with holes, by which
means it is very equally distri-
. buted.
In other cases, where the liquid is too thick to be distri-
buted through these holes, it is, in passing out, made to
strike against a plank or board, by which means it is seat-
tered evenly upon the ground. Thus :—
THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. pape
In my opinion, if the liquid was made to fall upon a plank
which should be placed behind, at a slight inclination, it
would be more effectually spread. Thus :—
In case of small farms to which this manure is to be ap-
plied, and where the cultivator has only his own labour of
which to avail himself, he adopts
a method of distributing this ma-
nure, of which the subjoined cut
will give anidea ; but which, I can
easily suppose, may not be agree-
able to persons not accustomed to
it. The Flemings, however, reluct
at no labour by which their objects
may be obtained.
In -some cases it is transported
into the field by means of a wheel-
barrow, with the cask containing =
the liquid suspended between the
shafts. There are acknowledged inconveniences attending
its application ; but many of them are purely ideal, and the
extraordinary value of the manure, when thus applied, is
an ample compensation for any extraordinary labour or
expense, which its saving or its distribution may cost.
8. CLEANNESS OF CULTIVATION.—Another feature in the
22? MANURES.
Flemish husbandry is the cleanness of their cultivation.
They spare no pains in the eradication of every weed.
They have, in this matter, much to contend with. An old
country under a highly manured cultivation is lable always to
be much infested with weeds, and especially with the squitch
grass (triticum repens), which is their chief trouble. What
cannot be accomplished by the plough, or the harrow, or the
hoe, is done by hand; and occasional recourse is had to a
naked fallow. In such case a fallow crop, that is, a cleansing
crop,—a crop, the cultivation of which would effectually destroy
the weeds, would be more eligible. The old doctrine, that the
land absolutely required rest, with a view to the recruiting of
its powers, is now exploded. With ample manuring, and
a rotation or change of crops, its occupation may be un-
remitted.
Such are some of the principal means by which the Flemish
husbandry has been carried to a degree of perfection unsur-
passed, it might be invidious to say unequalled ; and which
exhibits the beautiful and substantial triumphs of art, labour,
and indefatigable perseverance. ‘To talk of such agriculture
as not being scientific is absurd, for it is grounded upon the
most exact observation of facts and experiments, continued
and repeated through a long series of years. So far, then, it
is scientific agriculture, as growing out of principles well
ascertained and established. I am far from thinking that it
is all that it can yet be rendered. It is not without its im-
perfections, and I believe that even a higher productiveness
may be reached.
XXVIII. MANURES:
I proceed to the subject of manures, as it presents itself in
Continental husbandry. The Flemish call manure “the god
of agriculture.” Of its importance not a word need be said ;
and the Flemish, in the pains they take in its accumulation
MANURES. 223
and use, evince the estimation in which they hold it. Manure
is indeed the foundation of all good husbandry.
1. Minerat Manures.—Manures divide themselves popu-
larly into three kinds, mineral, vegetable, and animal. Of
mineral manures, such as lime, gypsum, and marl, the use
seems well understood, but, within my observation, they are not
applied to so great a proportional extent as in England and
Scotland. Lime, or the carbonate of lime, is employed upon
lands which are clayey, cold, and heavy ; and in such case it
answers a double purpose, to divide the soil and render it light
and friable ; and secondly, to warm the soil. That plants take
up some portion of lime from the soil is established; but
this is so small an element in their composition, that few soils
are found deficient in the necessary quantity. That it should
be applied to the land in a caustic or warm state seems like-
wise an established point. Some of the Flemish farmers
advise to the mixture of lime with earth, and to its applica-
tion in that form ; but this seems only an increase of labour
without any obvious advantage. Others advise to the
mixture of lime with heaps of vegetable matter, so as to
reduce it ; but, in such case, it is likely to destroy some of
the most valuable parts of the manure. The efficacy of a
dressing of lime is considered by the Flemings to endure
three years; but this must obviously depend upon the
quantity applied. Thirty bushels of unslacked lime after
being slacked is considered by some farmers a proper appli-
cation ; while others advise the application of thirty bushels
each year for three years in succession.
I have met with the frequent application of marl to light
lands, and to the surface of peat-lands, where it soon forms a
productive soil. The application of gypsum can scarcely
be said to be general. It is sometimes applied in the ground
to the seed of potatoes in the planting, in which case it is
generally admitted to improve the quality of the potato:
224 MANURES.
and it is applied also by being sown broad-cast upon young
clover; in this latter case, ordinarily with success. The
philosophy of its operation is still obscure. It is difficult to
say why it fails; but it is not less difficult to say why it
succeeds. It will sometimes be useful, and at other times
without effect, in the same locality. This I have myself
experienced. A very competent farmer in the United States
gives it as his opinion, and the result of his experience,
that it sometimes failed of its effects from being too coarsely
ground, but that it always succeeded when reduced to an
impalpable powder. :
Much has been said of the value and efficacy of sea salt
as a manure, and in France great complaints have been
made of the heavy duty, which in fact prevented its use in
this way. A distinguished French farmer and experimenter,
who has devoted much time and expense to this subject, and
has furnished most exact accounts of his experiments and
observations, has come fully to the conclusion that it is of
no use whatever as a manure, and equally useless in the
fatting of animals. These conclusions are different from the
popular notions, which seem always entitled to some respect ;
but they are fully borne out by the experiments, repeated and
varied, of this indefatigable inquirer.
2. VEGETABLE Manures.— Of vegetable manures I have
only to say, that buckwheat and clover are often turned in
by the plough, and with acknowledged advantage. The
Flemish make a point of collecting every species of vegetable
refuse which they can find, all vegetable matter growing upon
the sides of the roads and that which is found in the canals.
They are careful likewise to plough in their stubbles, except-
ing where there is another crop on the ground, such as clover
or carrots, which are sometimes sown among the grain soon
after the crop is harvested.
Under this head may likewise be placed ashes, of which
MANURES. 225
the Flemish make great use. A large part of the fuel consumed
in Holland is peat or turf, and the Dutch ashes are highly
valued as dressing for clover. These ashes are imported from
Holland into Flanders in large quantities in boats, and
always find purchasers. They are applied as a top dressing
to dry meadows, as well as to clover and likewise to flax.
It is not well determined on what their particular efficacy
depends. I subjoin from Radcliffe’s Flanders an analysis of
them, made however many years ago, when chemistry was
far from its present improved state.
Siliceous‘earth . 2 2°.) 32
Sulphate of lime (gypsum) . 12
Sulphate and muriate of soda 6
Carbonate of lime . . . . 40
Oxide or iron’. PS gens
Tees oe SY TORI cates Va apts SON
100
The ashes of sea-coal or mineral coal are likewise used as
a manure, but they are deemed very inferior to the Dutch
ashes properly so called. Heath lands are sometimes lightly
skimmed, and the heath burnt for the sake of the ashes ; but
if it is intended to cultivate the land or to plant it for trees,
it is deemed hurtful to remove the ashes of the surface.
Wood ashes and the ashes from the soap boilers are likewise
most carefully saved and applied. Wood ashes are not easily
obtained, because of their extensive use in the arts. The
ashes from the soap boilers are much esteemed by the Flemish
for strong and moist lands, and have a value from their con-
taining a considerable quantity of lime. The refuse from the
bleacheries, which contains a large quantity of soap, is more
valued for dry and light lands; both of these manures are
greatly esteemed for clover and for dry meadows. Their
effects are understood to last for three years, and they are
more efficacious the second than the first year.
226 MANURES.
The cakes from the colza or rape, which remain after the
oil has been expressed, are very much used for manure; in
which case they are thrown into the urine cistern, and ap-
plied thus mixed. They are supposed very much to increase
the efficacy of this liquid manure. Within a few years how-
ever, as I learnt at Courtray, these cakes have been used with
advantage for the feeding of cows and swine.
In some parts of France and Belgium the stalks of the
colza are ploughed in for manure, and sometimes burnt upon
the ground, reliance being placed upon the efficacy of the
ashes ; and in some of the wine countries, the cuttings of the
vines are dug in for manure, it is said, with singular efficacy.
It is thus that that which has been taken from the earth for
the growth of a plant, is returned to it as a principal ele-
ment in the growth of the same kind of plant which is to
follow.
Soot is likewise used as a top dressing with great advan-
tage, and is considered twice as valuable as ashes. It is
applied to the young clover and to garden vegetables ; and is
estimated highly for its power in destroying insects. Under
good management, every article capable of being converted
into vegetable food, or of enriching the earth, should be saved
as manure.
T have already spoken of the use of the drainings of the fac-
tory where potatoes were converted into starch: their effects
upon grass-land were most remarkable. I have in another
place spoken likewise of the use of the water in which flax
has been rotted. I have seen the most beneficial results from
it; but I am not aware of its use in Flanders.
This water is conveyed from the starch factory into a basin
or excavation, where, after remaining a short time, it makes
a considerable deposit. This deposit is taken out and spread
upon the land, or thrown into and mixed in compost ; and the
water is drained off, and conveyed upon the field by small
ditches or rills.
MANURES. 927
3. Anmmat Manurzs.—The great reliance for manure, how-
ever, every where is upon animal manure, the excrements of
animals, and animal substances. One of the most obvious
deficiencies in French husbandry is a deficiency in manure.
They are not accustomed to folding sheep upon their lands,
_as is common in British husbandry. They grow very little of
esculent vegetable food for their live stock, such as turnips
and carrots; and their cattle are kept in the winter often
very hardly upon straw. In summer their cattle are much
in the pastures, overlooked by a herdsman or a child, so that
the manure is scattered. There is an exception to this in
districts where beets are grown for sugar, and the refuse of
which is applied to the feeding of animals. It would be
wrong for me to pass upon the French in this respect too
sweeping a condemnation, for I have found on some French
farms the best possible provision for collecting and saving the
manure, both in a solid and a liquid state.
I have already spoken of the pains taken in Paris for con-
verting the night-soil into poudrette. In this way the liquid,
and therefore the most valuable parts of the manure, are
lost ; but then in London, and many other large cities, all
this valuable material is lost, both solid and liquid, whereas
in Paris a large amount is saved and brought into a portable
condition, and conveyed in this form without difficulty long
distances into the country. This is an immense gain to
agriculture. There is likewise a manufacture of manure
called animaliée noir, which consists in boiling down the
flesh of animals, such as horses for example, or animals which
have died of disease and are unfit for food; and after it is
boiled, baking it in an oven, when it is brought into a state
easily to be reduced to powder. There is a manufacture
of this same kind of manure in London; but, strange to say,
the product is exported to France. The refuse of the sugar
refineries, that is, the animal charcoal, or ashes of burnt bones
used in cleansing the sugar, is highly esteemed as a manure ;
Q 2
228 MANURES.
but it is advised by the Flemish farmers to mix it with their
liquid manures in the urine vault. This manure is much
employed in France. Its chief value is on heath and moist
lands. It does no good on rich, highly cultivated land. It is
spread broadcast for grass, and its effects are surprising. It
is applied to wheat land at the time of the sowing of the
seed: it is deemed much preferable to apply it in the
autumn rather than in the spring. It is applied in France
at the rate of four hectolitres to an acre, which would be at
the rate of more than eleven bushels.
The Swiss, likewise, are remarkable for their care of their
manures. The heap is usually placed in front of the house, a
slight excavation being made for it so as to form a basin into
which the liquids are drainéd. The long manure is laid at
the sides, and doubled in with the greatest care, and no little
skill, so as to form a neat and compact pile in a square or
oblong form. This seemed to be almost a universal practice ;
and the neatness and exactness with which it is laid up are
quite remarkable. The manure from the stables and the re-
fuse of the house is deposited daily upon it ; and the drain-
ings which run down to one end of the basin in which the
manure heap is placed, are often pumped or dipped up, and
returned upon the pile. The odour of the heap directly by
the door and under the windows of the house cannot be
agreeable ; but the extreme neatness with which it is formed,
and the cleanliness and care which mark ordinarily every
thing about the premises, do much to redeem its offensiveness.
In their economy of manures, in their modes of applying
them, in their extraordinary liberality in the use of them, the
palm must be conceded to the Flemish over all other people.
The best Flemish farmers advise against the general mixing
of manures. Their doctrine is, that as different animals
demand different species of food, as well on account of
their habits or constitution as on account of their taste,
so different plants and different soils require specific and
MANURES. 229
peculiar manures. I shall not discuss the question how
far manure is to be considered as the food of plants. It is
enough for us to know that manures are indispensable to
their growth, and that different manures are very different
in their various properties and effects. The manure of the
horse is a powerful and warm manure, and considered as best
suited to lands which are cold. and moist. It operates
quickly ; it lightens the soil; but its effects pass off sooner
than those of many other manures. The manure of horned
animals is deemed more substantial, slower in its operation,
and more durable in its effects. The Flemish farmers say,
that where a second crop is raised upon the ground, the
effects of this manure are more apparent in the second than
in the preceding crop. It is obvious, however, that the qua-
lity of the manure must depend very much on the kind of
food upon which the animals are fed. The simplest experi-
ment made with the original and most common of all chemi-
cal instruments, the human nose, will at once determine the
superior efficacy of the manure of animals highly fed with
esculent vegetables and grain or meal over that of animals
fed upon straw only. The manure of swine is considered by
the Flemish as of very little comparative value, and where
used, in order to produce as much effect, they advise to em-
ploy full double the quantity which they would use of cow
manure. My own experience has led me to rely upon the
dung of swine as among the strongest of manures; and the
low estimate which the Flemish farmers place upon it must
come from the hogs among them being fed mainly upon
grass; and from what I have seen, both in Belgium and
France, being very poorly kept at the best. The swill pail,
which is found at the kitchen door in the United States full
of butter-milk and whey intermixed with cooked vegetables,
broken pieces of meat and bread, is, alas! not to be found
at many cottage or farm-house doors on the European Conti-
nent. The whey and the butter-milk are wanted for the
230 MANURES.
table ; and it would be a species of sacrilege to give meat,
which a large portion of the labouring people seldom or never
taste, or bread to the swine. The dung of swine is, however,
in the best cases, to be considered as a cold manure, and not
easily brought into a state of active fermentation.
The dung of sheep is every where highly esteemed. It is
active and powerful; and upon light and moist lands they
rate two loads of the dung of sheep as fully equal to three of
the manure of other brute animals. It is much used with the
oat crop ; but it is not advised for flax, as being apt to force
it to a premature ripeness. Valuable, however, as is the
manure of sheep, I have seen on the Continent no instance of
the excellent practice of folding sheep, which prevails so
generally in England and Scotland. In the bergerie, or
sheep-house, where their sheep are brought at night, they are
careful to spread an abundance of litter, which is generally
removed twice a year, in the spring and autumn. They
begin with a simple layer, which the feet of the sheep soon
reduce to fineness, and so proceed layer by layer to a depth
of three or four feet, which thus becomes throughout its
whole thickness thoroughly impregnated with urine.
In some cases where the farmer does not find it convenient
to purchase or own a flock of sheep, he receives one to keep
or board for another person. In this case he furnishes straw
for their litter in the stables on his own account ; and he
furnishes what hay, or grain, or pulse, they may consume at
the expense of their owner, at the current prices, or such
prices as may be agreed upon ; and he boards and lodges the
shepherd with his two dogs, who has the care of the flock, at
about fifty-four dollars, or eleven pounds sterling, a year. He
does this for the sake of disposing of his produce and of the
manure. In the Lothians, Scotland, I found several instances
in which the crops of turnips, or ruta-baga, were disposed of
in the field to persons bringing sheep from the interior, to be
consumed where they grew. Where practicable, this arrange-
MANURES. 231
ment is excellent. The Flemish are of opinion that a
hundred sheep, well fed, will give in a well-littered stable or
bergerie from fifty to sixty loads of manure of more value
than eighty or ninety loads of any other stable or barn
manure.
I have already spoken of the supply of manure obtained by
the Flemish from the numerous distilleries which existed in
Belgium, by the immense number of animals which were fed
and fatted on the refuse grains of those distilleries. But
these supplies are almost entirely cut off.
Another species of manure, much valued on the Continent,
and especially among those careful husbandmen, the Flemish,
is that of pigeons and barn-door fowls. The superior efficacy
of these excrements over most other manures is acknow-
ledged. The excrements of birds are voided only in one
form, and may therefore be supposed to possess the greater
strength. This manure is saved in Flanders with the greatest
care. Contracts are often made with persons who keep
pigeons for their manure. A hundred francs, or twenty dol-
lars, is sometimes paid for the manure of six hundred pigeons.
The manure goes under the name of columbine. The saving
of this species of manure requires particular care. It is ad-
vised to spread the floors of pigeon-houses and poultry-houses
with fine sand, that this manure may be thoroughly inter-
mixed with it, and a fermentation be prevented. If no care
is taken of it, it is wasted, or it becomes full of maggots and
vermin, which infest the birds. Sometimes it is applied
mixed with water, but oftener in the form of powder. The
dung of pigeons is considered more powerful than that of
barn-door fowls; but the reason is not ascertained. The
dung of geese is not so much valued as either, perhaps for the
reason that they feed on grass. The birds, whose excrements
form the guano, feed wholly upon fish.
Guano has been used to some extent in France, but its use
is much discouraged by the extraordinary adulterations which
232 MANURES.
have taken place in it. These adulterations, according to
chemical analysis, have amounted to ninety per-cent. Where
it has been used, its fertilizing powers have been acknow-
ledged ; but the French farmers whom I have met with have
not considered it superior in efficacy to poudrette, or dried
night-soil. On a visit to a French farmer, about twenty
miles from Paris, the state of whose farm would have been
creditable in any country, and was certainly inferior to that
of few farms which I have visited ; he informed me that he
had made trial of stable manure, of guano, and of poudrette;
and that he found the guano powerful, that the stable ma-
nure produced the largest growth, and that the poudrette
produced the best grain. It is obvious that we want many
more details and circumstances to form any strong conclusion
from this experiment. In all cases, however, among the
French, which came under my notice, I found a strong ap-
proval of guano, but the preference given to poudrette. More
experience may result in a different verdict.
4, Liquip MaNuRES, AND MEANS OF SAVING THEM.—The
preparations for saving the liquid manure, which are uni-
versal in Flanders, and which are occasionally met with both
in France and Switzerland, deserve the most particular
mention. There is good reason to believe, that, if it could
be saved and applied with equal ease, the liquid manure of
an animal is of more value than the solid excrements. The
Flemish farmers suffer nothing of this sort to be lost ; and it
is stated that in Ghent the servants receive a compensation
for saving the waste waters of the house.
On a Flemish farm there is always a urine cistern, usually
adjoining the stable or cow-house. A gutter or trough
behind the cattle or the horses conveys all the liquids into
this cistern, which is placed outside, rather than immediately
under the cattle, that it may be accessible both for the
removal and the mixture of other matters. This cistern is
MANURES. 233
sometimes twenty feet in length, twelve in breadth, and six
in depth. It is built of bricks, and the bottom laid in
cement, so as to be water-tight. It is sometimes divided
into two great compartments, and sometimes into several, as
in the subjoined diagram.
Sa
These different compartments are designed to preserve the
liquid of different ages separately. Each compartment is
accurately gauged, and there is a fixed scale in each com-
partment, or in the cistern, where it is not separated, by
which, from the height of the liquid, the quantity is easily
determined. This is necessary for two purposes ; first, in
case of the sale of the manure, and second, in its application
to the soil ; in both which instances it may be important to
know the quantity. In addition to the saving of the urine,
the stables are frequently washed with water, and this like-
wise runs into the common receptacle. It is deemed best
not to apply the urine until it has some age, and has passed
through a degree of fermentation.
In order to increase their stock of manure, the farmers
purchase large quantities of manure, such as the emptyings
of privies in the cities; and these are carried in boats
prepared for the purpose, on the different canals, to the farms
which are accessible; and many of these farms have places of
deposit, or cisterns for the reception of this manure, directly
234 MANURES.
upon the borders of a canal, that there may be little trouble
in discharging the load. This is a double good to the cities
and the country: to the former, in getting rid of their im-
purities, and preventing the diseases which they might
engender ; to the latter, in enriching their lands. In many
cases these places are used as deposits for the use of manure
merchants or dealers, who collect large amounts, and dispose
of it in such quantities as may be needed to the neighbour-
ing farmers, who buy according to their means or necessities.
It is sold by the barrel or tun, and is measured by the scale
in the tank, or the vessel in which it is removed. Sometimes
the cisterns are covered in with brick, arched, and emptied
by means of a pump; in other cases they are emptied by
means of dippers and buckets ; and it is important that they
should be accessible, so that the sediment may be removed
as it may collect. Sometimes the cistern is a mere round
well sunk in the ground, and emptied by a pump. But the
form is of little importance, provided it be secure and conve-
nient, compared with the matter of saving all this refuse, the
importance of which I have already most urgently insisted
upon. To the great credit as well as to the great gain of the
Flemish farmers, nothing of this kind is ever wasted ; and
the cleanliness of the Dutch towns and cities is certainly not
surpassed, and scarcely equalled by any others.
A good deal of stress is laid upon having the cistern
outside of, and detached from the stable, that the fumes from
it may not injure the air of the stable, to the prejudice of the
health of the cattle, or those who tend them; and likewise
on having different compartments in the cistern, that the
liquid may have obtained a certain age before it is applied.
They are in the habit, likewise, of mixing rape cakes, or the
cakes which remain after the oil has been expressed from the
rape-seed, with the urine, which in this way forms a most effi-
cacious manure. These cakes weigh generally about half a
pound, and are sold by the hundred or thousand. The amount
MANURES. 235
of this manure applied to the land is often very large; liberal
and ample manuring being one of the great etidaiples of
Flemish farming.
5. Compost Hrars.—The Flemish have, likewise, a mode of
preparing a compost heap, which is greatly approved among
them. They collect the scrapings of ditches, the vegetable
matter which is floating in them, heath, bushes, stalks
of vegetables, and any waste vegetable matter which they
can gather; with this they mix a certain quantity of earth
or soil, and then add quick-lime in about the proportion to
the heap of one-tenth or one-fifteenth. This heap is several
times shovelled and cut up with a spade, until it is in a state
of sufficient fineness to be applied to the field. In the Pays de
Waes, a district of country between Ghent and Antwerp, the
cultivation of which is not surpassed in any part of the
country, perhaps not in the world,—for I can hardly think of
any culture more exact, more clean, or more beautiful, or any
crops more luxuriant than I saw here,—the practice of the
farmers is to place this heap near the side of the field in-
tended to be cultivated, and then to pour upon it a copious
sprinkling from the cisterns ; the heap is then shovelled over,
and the whole thoroughly intermixed; in which case it
becomes an excellent manure to be applied before sowing.
6. JAUFFRET’S ManurE.—The preparation of Jauffret, which
has had much celebrity in France, deserves notice here. I
have seen one similar applied, and with success, as far as the
object aimed at was concerned, in the United States. The
object of this invention was to find some means by which
straw, brush, ferns, heaths, broom, and other woody sub-
stances, might be speedily brought into a state of decom-
position, so that the mixture might be applied. to the land.
He supposes it possible to supply nutriment to the land in
this way, without the aid of animals. He advises, therefore,
236 MANURES.
to collect a heap of materials composed of vegetable matter,
such as straw, ferns, heath, broom, turf, bushes, small
branches of trees, stalks, &c.; and when this heap is made,
the articles being intermixed and pressed together, you are
then to prepare near it a liquid of the following materials :—
100 parts of foecal matter and urine.
25 4, soot from the chimney.
200 ,, gypsum in powder.
30° ,, + unslacked lime.
10 4, ~—-unleeched wood ashes.
A small quantity of salt.
is refined saltpetre.
25 parts of the drainage of a manure heap, or of
liquid foecal matter.
These matters are to be mixed in a place near the heap,
with water enough to make a quantity of liquor sufficient to
water this heap, and, in a few days, produce such a state of ~
heat and fermentation as will reduce and wholly decompose
it. The plaster or gypsum must be applied by slow degrees
and in small quantities; otherwise, it would become hard.
Near the heap, which should be placed on a piece of ground
slightly inclined, should be a basin or hole to receive the
drainings of the heap, that they may be returned upon it.
The washings or applications of the liquid must be repeated,
and holes occasionally made in the heap to receive it. Ina
favourable temperature, it is stated that a fermentation will
commence in forty-eight hours, and that in twelve or fifteen
days the whole matter will be so reduced as to be in a condition
to apply to the land to be ploughed in with advantage.
I am not able to give with great accuracy the various
proportions of ingredients which are prescribed; but this
general statement will be sufficient for practical purposes,
understanding only that there must be a sufficient quantity
of the liquid thoroughly to impregnate or saturate the heap.
MANURES. It
Several other mixtures have been prescribed by different
individuals, which produce the same effect ; the only ques-
tion is that of cost. I do not deem it necessary further to
refer to them, as they have been given in various forms to
the public. Any cheap process, indeed, by which such crude
materials can be decomposed must be valuable, especially
when the articles themselves, of which the application is
composed, are of an active and enriching nature. In general
such prescriptions are looked upon as a species of quackery ;
but Jauffret’s method has been much approved in France.
7. GENERAL RemMarKs on Manures.—I have heard from
some farmers who claimed to be highly practical and in-
telligent, great distrust expressed of the value of lquid
manure. Théy have applied to their lands, with com-
paratively small effect, the drainings of their dung-heap ;
but, as a capital Swiss farmer observed to me, the drainage of
a manure heap and the contents of a urine cistern are very
different matters. The former is, of course, in strength and
efficacy very inferior to the latter.
The Flemish farmers, in the application of their manures,
aim at two objects: the one to have their manure in a form, in
which it can be immediately taken up by the plant ; the other
to apply it at a time when it is directly needed. In a liquid
form it is, of course, most accessible to the demands of the
plant, and they apply it at the time of-sowing ; and to some
crops repeatedly afterwards, when they are in a growing state,
and the effects of the first application are exhausted. They
are, likewise, most liberal and indefatigable in the application
of their solid manures, not limiting them to the surface, but
mixing them with the whole soil by thorough and deep
trenching. Deep cultivation, liberal and thorough manuring,
a careful and well-tried rotation of crops, and a thoroughly
clean cultivation, may be said, indeed, to constitute the
great principles of their agriculture,—an agriculture for which
238 OROPS.
it is not easy to find a parallel. Their carefulness in saving
every thing which is in itself or which can be converted into
manure, and the extraordinary value which they place upon
liquid manure, are most exemplary, and worthy of imitation.
XXVIII. CROPS.
I have already treated fully of many of the crops cultivated
on the Continent, but there remain some few others in the
culture of which the Flemish distinguish themselves, to
which I shall refer.
1. Cotza is a plant cultivated largely in parts of France,
but very extensively in Flanders, where it may be considered
as a standard crop, the culture of which is carried to great
perfection. It is a species of the cabbage family, and is
cultivated for the oil which is expressed from the seed. It
occupies the ground nearly a year, being sown in July or
August, or transplanted in September or October, and
gathered the ensuing July. The product of a good crop in
seed is estimated at thirty bushels. It is considered a great
exhauster of the soil, but it returns in its refuse much
of what it receives. The stalks are often converted into
manure, and are frequently used as fuel in cooking food for
cattle, and in heating ovens. The land on which it flourishes
best is a strong rich soil rather inclined to sand, yet argilla-
ceous, moderately humid, and with a deep fertile bed. It
must be well drained, so as to allow of no standing water
upon it, and it must be well manured. The best preparation
is a green sward, or a clover ley broken up; it often, how-
ever, follows rye or barley. It is important that the culti-
vation should be thoroughly clean. When sown on stubble,
the stubble is first to be thoroughly harrowed or ploughed to
the depth of two or three inches, and then, the weeds being
CROPS. - 239
cleared from the land and the manure spread upon it, the
whole is to be turned over by the plough to a good depth.
The seed may be sown broadcast, or it may be sown in
drills: in the latter case it is more easily kept clean ; or the
plants may be grown ina nursery, and transplanted. In case
of transplanting, the crop is usually much better, and the oil
made from it of a superior quality ; but the labour and ex-
pense are considerably increased. When sown broadcast it
is sown very thin, and cleared out so as to leave the plants
about one foot apart. When sown in drills, the drills are
more than a foot apart. When transplanted, the plants
should first be grown in an ample seed bed, and set out at the
distance of a foot from each other in double rows, the inter-
vals between the double rows being eighteen inches. The
land is ordinarily laid in stitches on which four or six rows
may be planted; the land in the intervals dug out with a
spade, and laid on the bed in the autumn, and in the spring
this dirt levelled, the soil gathered up round the plants, and
the whole kept thoroughly clean.
In December, when the ground is frozen, it is sometimes :
watered with liquid manure from the urine cistern in which
the rape cakes have been dissolved; and this manuring is
sometimes repeated in the spring to the great advantage of
the crop. This liquid manure is sometimes applied most
beneficially immediately before sowing the crop. Wood ashes
are likewise recommended as a manure ; and some farmers in
Germany, when the plant presents four or six leaves, give it
a dressing of plaster or gypsum. Marl on light soils is like-
wise extremely beneficial ; this is carried on to the land in a
season favourable to this work, and then spread and distri-
buted by a harrow.
The seed is often sown broadcast ; but it is very preju-
dicial to the crop to sow it too thickly. There are three dif-
ferent modes of transplanting the crop; first, by a spade,
when the workman makes the hole by plunging the spade
240 CROPS.
into the ground to its full depth, when, pressing it from him-
self, children, who work with him, place two plants in the
hole ; then with drawing the spade the earth falls back upon
the plants, and a pressure of the foot between them finishes
the operation. Or a dibble or planter may be used, which
makes two holes, into which the plants are placed, and the
earth closed up by hand ; or a furrow may be struck with a
plough, and the plants laid along in the furrow on the side of
the furrow slice, and a second passing of the plough will
throw the dirt directly on the roots of these plants, there
being a workman to follow the plough to relieve plants, which
have been too much covered, or to cover those which have
received too little dirt upon them, and to set up those which
have fallen down.
The plants, which are grown in a nursery bed, should have
plenty of room ; and soot is recommended as an excellent
manure for them, as well as for the field after they have been
transplanted. The plants, which are designed to be set out,
are sometimes kept out of ground five or six days. -The
design of this is to check vegetation, so that they may not
advance too rapidly before the winter, lest the severe frosts
should injure them. It is not considered indispensable to
manure the field upon which the crop is to be planted, if it is
in a good state, or if the previous crop has been manured,
though the crop will bear the usual relation to the richness
of the land.
The crop follows rye or wheat with advantage, or clover ;
but in the case of rye or wheat, the stubble is to be tho-
roughly cleaned. The crop is to be hoed during its growth,
and earth drawn round the plants. The plant has dangerous
enemies in flies and bugs which attack it. Against the flies
a dusting of quick-lime is sometimes of use; but the bugs
are with difficulty dislodged, unless by a frost. The frosts,
however, when they occur nightly with warm days, are inju-
rious to the plant ; much less, however, when the frosts are
CROPS. 241
followed by fogs. It is the habit of small farmers to pluck a
portion of the leaves as food for their stock ; but this is at-
tended by a diminution of the product.
The harvesting of the crop is a business requiring much
eare. It must be gathered before it is completely ripe. In
good weather it can be laid in small heaps and dried, and
then shelled out on cloths upon the field; or it may be
stored in a barn after it has become sufficiently dry. In wet
weather it may be heaped up with layers of straw between
the layers of colza, until a return of good weather. If suf-
fered to become too dry, it is liable to lose much by shelling
out. In cutting with a sickle, the workman is cautioned
against taking too many stalks in his hand at one time, as
more likely by so doing to shake out the seed.
I have already spoken of the value of the cakes as manure,
though they have been much used of late for feeding stock,
which they informed me at Courtray was a modern practice.
The clean cultivation of colza, and the ample manuring, serve
eminently to prepare the land for wheat.
2. Naverte—A smaller kind of colza, called navette, is
cultivated where the land is too light for the larger kinds.
It is cultivated for the same purpose, though the produce is
seldom more than two-thirds that of the other. Its produce
is considered more valuable, and sells for a higher price. It
is sown broadcast ; and requires the land to be well culti-
vated and manured. The navette, a rape of summer, is sown
in the spring, and ripens its seed in September. This kind
is much sown in parts of England, as feed for sheep ; but is
seldom suffered to go to seed. It produces a healthy feed for
sheep, and in good land a most productive vegetation. It
sometimes, as I have observed in another place, affects badly
the ears of sheep. The navette, a rape that is sown in autumn,
has the advantage of bearing the frost well; and is much
benefited by being harrowed in the spring.
P42 CROPS.
3. Poppy.—The poppy is largely cultivated in Flanders ;
but I have no recollection of seeing it any where else, though
it often appears as a weed in fields of grain, both wheat and
oats. It is cultivated for its oil, which, when properly ma-
naged, is much esteemed. It is grown in small quantities in
gardens for medical purposes as a narcotic; in which case
the heads with a piece of the stalk are cut off before their
maturity, and hung up to dry, and the opium extracted by
the druggists.
The poppy cultivated is of two kinds, the white and purple.
The latter kind produces the larger quantity of oil; the
former the best quality. There is another difference ; the head
of one kind being much more open than that of the other ;
and the former kind is almost exclusively cultivated in Flan-
ders. The soil required for the poppy should be strong and
mellow, and, as far as may be, protected from cold. It should
be well cleaned from weeds. Though ordinarily sown broad-
cast, it would be preferable to sow the seed in drills, that it
may be easily hoed. The plants should be left about a foot
apart. It succeeds well to grain, and especially to hemp; in
which case the manuring is not required to be repeated. It
is especially recommended to follow potatoes, where the
ground has been well cultivated and kept clean. When it is
intended that the poppy should succeed potatoes, the pota-
toes should be well manured. When it follows any of the
grains, several loads of manure should be given to the land
for the crop. This manure may be applied in the autumn or
spring ; but in either case it must be ploughed or harrowed,
and thoroughly mixed with the soil. There is danger of sow-
ing the seed too thickly, and therefore it is advised to mix
the seed before sowing with one portion of earth and two
portions of sawdust. As soon as the plants appear, they are
to be weeded and cleaned with great care ; and when a foot
in height, to be hoed and slightly earthed up.
The gathering of the seed of the poppy is to be done by
OROPS. 243
hand, and at different times. As soon as the heads have
acquired a degree of ripeness, they are to be carefully
shaken over a basket or bag, so as to save the first loose
seeds. This is afterwards to be repeated before the general
harvest, when the whole is to be gathered by cutting off the
heads. The shelling of the seed is afterwards done by hand ;
for if done by a flail, the seed is cleaned with difficulty ; and
the pieces of the stalk, which then become intermixed with
the seed, give an offensive taste to the oil. The seed may be
preserved a long time, but requires to be aired. The oil of
the poppy is used both for food and light, and is considered a
fifth more valuable than that of the colza. The cakes, re-
maining after the expression of the oil, are valuable for the
fatting of swine ; and the stalks for fuel. The ashes, which
remain after burning it, are of the best kind for manure.
If the seed be pressed in a mill used for the colza or other
oil, the greatest attention must be paid to cleaning it. The
oil expressed in cold weather is much superior in quality to
that obtained in warm weather, and the two must not be
mixed. The great enemies of the poppy are the field-mice,
which eat off the stalks while in a green state, and then de-
stroy the heads. The birds likewise plunder a great deal of
the seed.
4, CameEtinge.—Another plant, called Cameline’, is culti-
vated, when, for example, the colza fails, as it ripens its seed
in three months. The oil is not so valuable as the colza, as
it has a bad smell. The plant is not extensively cultivated ;
but it succeeds well in sandy and inferior land. The stalks
of the plant are used for brooms, and some persons cultivate
it for this object.
5. Wurtt Mustarp.—The white mustard is sometimes cul-
1 Myagrum Sativum.
R 2
244 CROPS.
tivated both for the medicinal qualities of its seed and the oil
expressed from it, which, though useful for many purposes, is
not suitable for human food. The great objection to the cul-
tivation of this class of plants is, that it fills the ground with
seed which germinates in succeeding years, and is with diffi-
culty eradicated. It is sometimes subject to mildew or rust.
It ripens in about fifteen or sixteen weeks. It is liable to be
lodged ; but this does not ordinarily injure the seed. The
plant is eaten as a salad ; and it is given to cattle as a change
of food, when their appetites become capricious, and require
to be quickened.
6. Frax.—Flax is a great crop in many of the northern
countries of Europe. It has been largely cultivated in Flan-
ders, both for its fibre and oil. It has been for a long period
an important article of commerce, and probably in no country
has its culture been carried to such perfection. The value of
the crop, and the extraordinary difference in the value of dif-
ferent qualities, amounting in some cases to full one hundred
per cent., show the attention it demands, and how liberally it
recompenses extraordinary care.
Flax will grow on various soils, but is not indifferent to
the character of the soil on which it is cultivated. It re-
quires a rich sandy loam, and one thoroughly manured.
It is advisable, however, with the exceptions to which I shall
refer, that the soil should be enriched by previous manuring,
rather than in the year of its being sowed. The Flemish
farmers make flax a crop in their regular rotation, occurring
one in seven or eight years; and the manuring of their
previous crops has reference to the flax crop, which is to
succeed.
There are generally stated to be two kinds of flax. The
difference does not appear so great, however, but that they
may occasionally run into each other. There is a kind which
runs up on a single stalk, which is generally preferred, on
CROPS. 245
account of its producing a finer fibre ; there is another, of a
coarser kind, which branches out at the top, like a tree.
They make a distinction in Flanders, likewise, between the
plants which bear a close, and those which produce an
open or gaping capsule or seed-vessel, the latter being pre-
ferred. Experiments have been made in Germany with
seed brought from South Italy. The seeds were beautiful,
and brilliant, and large, yet the plant attained a compara-
tively small height.
The Flemish farmers approve of changing their seed fre-
quently. It is said that a crop from seed which has been
twice sown in Belgium is inferior in quantity, owing to this
circumstance. I am an unbeliever in the deterioration of
any plant on account of continuing the seed, where proper
pains are taken to get, by selection and care, the best seed
only from that plant. The seed preferred in Flanders is the
seed brought from Riga. There are other places, however,
from which seed is brought, the fibre produced from which is
said to be finer than that from Riga.
The seed to be chosen should be heavy and brilliant, of a
gold colour, or a clear brown, and especially clean. It may
be tried in water; and if much of it floats upon the surface,
it is owing to the imperfection of the seed. It may be tried
by throwing some little into the fire, to determine its oily
properties ; and it may be laid upon a wet blanket or cloth,
to determine its germinative powers. Seed which is black,
or seed which has been much heated, is wholly unfit for
sowing.
The ground for flax cannot be prepared with too much
care. A very fine crop of flax is often obtained on grass land,
recently turned over, and this even without manure. The
land in this case is carefully ploughed, rolled, lightly harrowed,
and then sowed, and the seed lightly harrowed or brushed in.
The crop which precedes flax is often oats or rye, but espe-
cially potatoes. The land, if in stubble or in potatoes, is
246 CROPS.
carefully ploughed in the autumn, and then twice again in
the spring ; and it requires to be most thoroughly cleaned,
and kept clean of weeds.
It is commonly sown thickly. Thick sowing tends to
render the stalks fine and straight, without branching. One
hundred and sixty pounds of seed is the usual allowance to
an acre, which seems a large quantity. The land is some-
times manured in the year in which it is sown. In this case
it is ploughed early, say in March, and thoroughly wrought,
and then rolled smooth and hard. The land is then manured
with thirty bushels per acre of peat ashes from Holland, or
what is called Dutch ashes, and with a good dressing of
liquid manure from the urine cistern, in which the cakes of
colza have been dissolved ; and this is mixed, likewise, with
some manure from the privies. This makes a strong dress-
ing ; the land is then harrowed ; the seed sown, and lightly
brushed in with a bush-harrow, as there is always danger of
covering the seed too deeply. Horse manure must not be
used for this crop. The effect of marl used as a manure for
flax is to injure the colour. Pigeons’ dung, or what is called
columbine, and which includes also the manure of the poultry
yard, is pronounced an excellent manure. It is plain that
these manures do not favour the production of weeds, as is
commonly the case with barn-yard manure, and consequently
is much to be preferred. In the neighbourhood of Courtray,
where much the best flax is grown, they use great quantities
of the liquid manure, with the rape cakes freely intermixed.
A thousand gallons of this liquid manure, with a thousand
rape cakes dissolved in it, are sometimes applied to an acre.
Besides other crops, flax is said to follow to great advan-
tage a crop of hemp, which is always highly manured, and
kept perfectly clean. The dung of sheep is much valued for
the flax crop; and especially where sheep have been folded
on the land. The general opinion is, that high manuring
produces a coarse flax ; light manuring produces a flax of a
CROPS. 24.7
fine fibre. It requires a deep culture, as the roots are sup-
posed to penetrate to a depth equal to half the height, and
the flax root has been traced much farther than this.
The best flax is produced at Courtray ; and it is said that
the same pains or manuring will not produce nearly as good
in other places: this seems to imply some unascertained
quality in the soil, peculiarly favourable to its growth.
The time of sowing flax must be somewhat regulated by
the climate or position of the place. It is sown in March,
and sometimes as late as May. The earlier sowing is ad-
vised, though in the countries of a high northern latitude the
rapidity of vegetation compensates to a degree for the short-
ness of the season. Ordinarily in fifteen days after the
sowing of the seed the field will require to be weeded. This
cannot be too thoroughly performed, and is done by women
and children, on their knees, working against the wind, that
it may raise the plants which have been pressed down.
Flax is often liable to be lodged, especially if the growth
be rapid. Great pains are sometimes taken to prevent this,
by placing stakes in line in different parts of the field, and
laying poles or bars along upon them, which serve to keep the
plant from falling over.
If flax of an extraordinary fineness is required, it is pulled
before the perfect ripening of the seed ; the superior fineness
of the fibre is considered as a compensation for the loss of
the seed. But if otherwise, an early is preferred to a late
gathering ; as the longer it is left to stand, the coarser and
harder becomes the fibre. The seed is generally taken off by
an iron-teeth comb, made for the purpose, as soon as the flax
is harvested; or the whole is stowed away in a barn, to be
taken off at pleasure. When the flax is stowed away ina
barn, and the seed not taken off until the succeeding winter
or spring, it acquires a ripeness which gives it a superior value.
After the seed is taken off, the flax is set up in the field in a
sort of windrow, the roots upon the ground, and the tops
248 CROPS.
inclined to each other, until it is sufficiently dried to be
placed away ing barn, or stacked with the roots out, or
steeped, preparatory to being dressed for the market. The
bright and beautiful silvery colour of the flax is of great
importance, and so is the fineness of the fibre; and all pains
are directed to secure these objects.
There are several modes of steeping, or what is termed
rotting the flax, that is, destroying the bark of the plant so
as to clean the fibre. It is sometimes dew-rotted, that is,
left upon the grass, being occasionally turned ; it is some-
times rotted in stagnant water; it is sometimes rotted in
running water. In Flanders there are persons who are em-
ployed as regular steepers of flax ; and when the farmer sells
his crop of flax before it is dressed to the merchant or manu-
facturer, these persons dress and prepare it for the market.
The inhabitants of Courtray steep their flax in the water of
the river Lys, drawing off to the side in an artificial basin, of
sufficient depth and width, water sufticient for their purpose.
The flax is set upright, with the roots downwards, in a sort of
hurdle or basket, and it is with great pains retained in its
upright position, as being necessary to prevent its becoming
discoloured. They are careful to keep the roots at least a
foot from the ground, or bottom of the pool. In many cases,
instead of water being drawn from the river into a pool or
basin, the flax is placed upright in hurdles to prevent its
floating away, directly in the running stream, with planks
and weights in all cases to keep it under the water, as the
tops are longer in becoming macerated than the bottoms ;
and where they are not sufticiently rotted, a considerable loss
is experienced. In this case, of course, fresh water is con-
tinually supplied to the flax; and the process is completed
sooner or later, according to the temperature of the weather,
Great skill is required to determine the precise time when
the process is finished, and the flax removed from the water,
as a few hours are said in such case to make an important
CROPS. 249
difference in the colour of the flax. This must be matter of
experience rather than of written instruction. In other
cases, a pool or cistern of water is formed in a field, in which
the flax is immersed, fixed upright, and the bottoms of the
plants not touching the bottom of the cistern; and so
arranged, that this water can be drawn off and replenished
with clean water. It is said that in this way the cleaned
flax has more weight than in any other, amounting it is said
over some methods employed to ten per cent. This method
was at one time considered a valuable discovery in Flan-
ders. It is clearly important in all cases that the water
should have no foreign substance in it, which would be likely
to give a colouring to the flax. I have already mentioned
the value of the water in which flax has been steeped as a
manure to land, having seen the most beneficial effects from
it. I am informed that a method has been adopted for get-
ting the bark off the flax by steaming the plant, in which
case the whole is accomplished in seventy hours, but Iam
not sufficiently informed to speak of it with confidence.
The flax being thus rotted, the remaining operations through
which it passes are well understood. The operations of
heckling and swingling flax, which were formerly performed
wholly by hand, are now performed by machinery moved either
by steam or water; but it does not enter into my plan to
describe these machines.
The seed of flax is of great importance in Flanders for the
manufacture of oil. About seven bushels of seed are rated as
the ordinary yield from an acre of land. This seems a very
small product. The seed, when first taken from the stalks,
is carefully dried and kept in sacks, until it is beyond the
danger of being heated. The cakes from the pressed flax
seed are highly valued for the fatting of cattle ; and the seed
itself being converted into jelly, is capable of being used in
this way to great advantage. Indeed, as far as my own
250 CROPS.
experience goes, I know no single article superior to it for
cattle or for sheep.
In Flanders they sometimes sow clover or carrots among
the flax, from which they get a crop after that is removed.
This should not be done in any event until after the first
weeding of the flax. The practice is generally approved.
That it is to a degree prejudicial to the flax crop, there can
be little doubt ; but whether the profits of the clover or the
carrots would more than compensate the lessening of the
crop of flax, is a matter upon which there exists a diversity
of judgment, and, in different cases, undoubtedly a diversity
of results.
7. Hemp.—The cultivation of hemp prevails to a consider-
able extent in Flanders, and is expensive in the preparation
of the land, and the quantity of manure required. The
value of the crop is considerable: the land being well culti-
vated and highly manured, is in a condition for two or three
successive crops of grain.
The soil required for hemp is a strong, rich, moist loam,
a deep alluvion; and it needs to be deeply cultivated and
liberally manured. It is not unusual to plough it eight to
ten inches deep, or to trench it with a spade a foot deep or
more; and it should be finely divided and tilled. It is
ploughed in the autumn, and then again twice in the spring ;
but it must not be wrought when it is wet, which indeed may
be laid down as a universal rule. A sandy clay loam may
be considered as best adapted to this culture. It likes a
warm exposure and low ground. It succeeds well after clover
or potatoes; and in some places it comes as often on the
same ground as every second or third year.
The manure which best suits hemp, is horse or sheep
manure. If the manure is coarse and strawy, it is ploughed
in, and often by the first ploughing in the autumn; but if
CROPS. 251
well rotted, it is applied in the spring, and near or at the
time of sowing. It requires a warm manure; though the
manure of cows, when about a third part is added of night-
soil, or manure from the urine cistern, is an excellent appli-
cation. The manure of pigeons and poultry, ashes, and the
cleaning of streets, are much valued. To give a rapid growth
to the plant, the manure must be in a condition, that is, well
rotted or short, to be immediately taken up by the plant ;
and with respect to hemp, there is little danger from the
seeds of weeds in the manure, as the luxuriant growth of the
hemp will overpower them.
The seed is sown ordinarily about the middle, or within
the last fortnight of May, and sometimes not until June.
The seed requires to be watched against the birds; for even
after it has made its appearance above ground, they will pull
up the plants and take the seed. The plants are to be
thinned out to a distance of three or four inches ; but if the
land be very rich, to a greater or double that distance. If it
is desired to grow a fine hemp for twine, the sowing should
be thick; if for large ropes and cables, it may be sowed
more sparingly.
The gathering of the hemp is made ordinarily at two
different times. There will be found in the field what are
called the male and the female plants. Both in Belgium
and in France, by a misnomer, the plant bearing the seed
is called the male plant, and the plant bearing the flowers
for the impregnation of the flowers upon the seed-bearing
plant is called the male hemp. It is of no great importance
by what term they are designated, provided the difference is
understood. The plants which do not bear seed are to be
pulled from the field some weeks before the seed-bearing
plants ; they at that time will give a fine fibre, but if left
until the ripening of the seed, they become of little or no
value. The time for pulling them is when the flowers of
the non-seed-bearing plants have been long enough unfolded
252 CROPS.
to shed their pollen upon the male plants, and the top of
the stalk becomes of a yellow colour, and the part towards
the root is bleached. The ripeness of the seed-bearing plants
is determined by the maturity of the seed, and the fading
colour of the stem. The hemp, being pulled, is tied in small
bundles ; and, after being sufficiently dried by being set up
in the sun, the seed is beaten or combed off, and the plant is
prepared for steeping or rotting. The hemp pulled first re-
quires not more than eight or ten days for rotting ; the last
pulled, which is drawn of course when the weather has
become colder, is sometimes kept in the water two months ;
and it is well for it to remain until the water freezes. The
mode of steeping does not differ much from that of flax,
excepting that it is not deemed necessary to set it upright
in the water, and that it is done in a pool or basin instead of
the river. The colour of the fibre of hemp is obviously of
little importance compared with that of flax, though some of
the finest of hemp is sometimes mixed with flax for the
making of coarse linens.
Hemp, too, like flax, is sometimes dew-rotted upon the
eround, where it is thinly spread out, and occasionally turned.
That which is dew-rotted has a superior whiteness and fine-
ness of fibre to that which is steeped, but is not so durable.
This dew-rotted hemp is therefore preferred for twine, and
the other kind for cables and strong cordage. The early
pulled hemp should not be rotted upon the grass, but upon
stubble ; and it is believed by some farmers, that where it
is spread upon a rye-stubble to be dew-rotted, it acquires a
whiteness above that by any other process. The seed-bearing
hemp, when dew-rotted upon grass, must be spread so thinly
that one stalk should scarcely touch another.
The farmers of one of the best cultivated districts in Flan-
ders, the Pays de Waes, are averse to planting hemp, because
of the great quantity of manure which it requires ; but, with
the addition of a moderate manuring, they get excellent
CROPS. 253
wheat after it, and sometimes carrots are sowed after hemp,
and a superb crop of flax is taken from the same ground
after the carrots. Two great advantages are said to come
from the cultivation of hemp; the weeds are stifled, and
the leaves, which fall from the stalks, serve to enrich the
land.
The quantity of seed sowed to an acre is about half a
bushel; and it is advisable to sow it in narrow beds, that
when the non-seed-bearing stalks are pulled, the seed-bearing
stalks may not be interfered with. Sometimes a crop of rye
or wheat is sown among the hemp plants, while standing, and
the extraction of the non-seed-bearing plant serves to cover
it. This saves a ploughing.
At the harvest, the plant is usually drawn by the roots,
though sometimes cut with a sickle cr a knife, and laid on
the ground to be dried. The hemp is said to be of a superior
quality if thoroughly dried before it is put in the steep. The
ends of the seed-bearing hemp are sometimes beaten over the
edges of the head of an open barrel, as the seed which comes
off in this way most easily is, of course, the most ripe, and
the best for sowing. The seed which first comes off in this
case is taken for this purpose.
The roots of the hemp before dew-rotting are cut off with
a hatchet, and used for fuel. In pulling hemp, it is important
so far to select the stalks as to bring together those which
are of the same length to be tied up in the same bundle.
The hemp, after being steeped, must be thoroughly dried ; and
this is done in some parts of Germany by a kiln of simple
construction for that purpose, which saves much time. The
hemp, after being dried, is broken by a machine formed by
one heavy stone rolling over another, which breaks the bark ;
and sometimes by mallets, and then the bark is picked off
by the hand ; a slow process, and prejudicial to the health of
the labourers from the dust which fills the room where this is
done.
254 OROPS.
The produce of an acre of hemp is ordinarily about 350\bs.,
and of the seed from thirty to thirty-five bushels.
There are several other crops cultivated extensively in
Flanders ; but my object is not so much to give a specific
and detailed account of the mode of cultivation of these
crops as the general features of the cultivation. Tobacco
and hops are grown to a considerable extent ; and likewise
several plants valuable for their colouring or dyeing proper-
ties, such as Woad or Pastel, Weld, and Madder.
8. Tosacco.—Tobacco is cultivated as an article of large
consumption and of commerce. It is quite remarkable that
a plant so odious and offensive as this, in no respect conducive
to health, and in most cases positively injurious, and so
nauseous and repugnant to an unaccustomed taste until
habit has overcome this repugnance, should have acquired
such a hold, that it has become with a large portion of man-
kind almost a necessary of life. There is no hope of a re-
formation in this respect, and the use is constantly extending
itself.
There are two kinds of tobacco cultivated in Flanders ;
that of Virginia‘and that of Turkey ; the former is esteemed
greatly superior to the latter.
It has its place in the rotation of many farmers, occurring
sometimes once in four, and sometimes twice in seven years.
It will grow well upon most soils, excepting a heavy clay or
a dry sand, or a wet soil; but it requires laborious cultiva-
tion and abundant manuring. The crop is stated to be
4000 lbs. ; but this much exceeds the amount grown to an
acre under the best cultivation which I have known in the
United States ; 2000 lbs. would, I think, be considered there
a large crop, though I have known an average crop of
2700 lbs. grown on several acres under circumstances pecu-
liarly favourable.
The soil is ploughed, and the manure ploughed in, in the
CROPS. 255
autumn, and again ploughed and laboured in the spring. The
manures used are cow and pigs’ manure, and likewise the
manure of sheep, which is deemed peculiarly favourable.
Malt-dust from the breweries is much valued ; and very large
dressings of rape cake, sometimes in powder and sometimes
dissolved in the urine cistern, are extensively used. If fcecal
matter is mixed with this, it is essentially improved for this
object. The manure of horses, even the urine of horses, is
objectionable, as giving a bad taste to the tobacco. What
worse taste can be given to it than its ordinary taste, it
would be difficult to imagine.
The seed is first sown in a nursery-bed, in a warm and
sheltered exposure, in March; the nursery-bed should be
well-wrought and manured ; and, in case of danger of frost,
the young plants require some protection either of bushes or
of straw. The transplanting is usually made with a dibble in
June, when the young plants have acquired a growth of six
leaves. They are set out in rows two feet apart, and in the
row the plants are fourteen inches apart. In about fourteen
days the plants require to be hoed, and the plantation to be
kept clean of weeds. When the plants have acquired a height
of ten or twelve leaves, they are then, as it is sometimes
termed, stopped,—that is, the top-shoot is pinched off, so as
to prevent its rismg any higher; and all side shoots are
broken off, so as to leave only one stalk. In this way the sap
of the plant is thrown wholly into the leaves. The tobacco-
plant is subject to be injured by frosts, especially in low
grounds ; and is likewise liable to rust, under which the
leaves perish and fall to the ground. This depending, as is
supposed, upon a bad exposure or a bad condition of the soil,
as yet unascertained, no remedy has been discovered. I
have not been able to learn that the tobacco-worm, so well
known in the United States, and so destructive unless means
are taken to remove it, is known in Europe. This is a large
green caterpillar, found under the leaves; and sometimes a
256 CROPS.
large drove of turkeys is sent into the plantation, who pick
them off and regale themselves upon them. This is the
nearest approach within my knowledge to the use of this
weed among the inferior animals ; the worms cat the tobacco ;
the turkies eat the worms.
When the leaves begin to turn yellow, the harvest begins ;
they are picked off by hand close to the stalk, and, after a
little exposure to the sun, are then tied up in bands and
hung up under cover for perfect drying. When taken off
they are sorted into three qualities: the first into the large
leaves ; the second composed of the leaves next in size; and
the last of the leaves which have grown nearest the ground.
9. Hops.—I know of nothing peculiar in the culture and
management of hops in Flanders, excepting the production
of sixteen hundred pounds of dried hops to an acre, which is
a very large yield. They are careful not to have the planta-
tions of too large an extent, as it would prevent a free circu-
lation of air; and they manure the ground most liberally
with liquid manures. The hops are planted in hills six feet
apart each way; and four plants to each hill. A trench is
dug round the hill, which is filled with decomposed manure,
and in some small measure earthed up. The usual opera-
tions of trimming and poling them follow. As no crop of
hops is taken the first year, the intervals are occupied by
cabbages and other plants.
A method has been recently invented and patented in
England for drying or curing hops, by which it is stated that
at least fifty per cent. of the fuel ordinarily used will be saved,
and a much larger amount of the essential oil of the hops,
the lupulin, will be retained in them. The furnace or kiln
for drying them is of a peculiar construction; and the air
used for drying them is made to pass over sulphuric acid or
quick-lime, by which it is divested of its watery properties,
and comes in upon the hops in a dry and decomposed state.
OROPS. 257
The apparatus is deemed simple enough, and not extraordi-
narily expensive. The hops dried in this way have, it is
stated, brought twenty-five per cent. more in the market
than those cured by other methods. I have seen the plans
for constructing the apparatus, but further experiments may
be desired to determine its advantages. It is said to be
applicable to other agricultural purposes, such as malting,
and even the drying of hay, so as to expedite the process, and
at the same time retain the rich juices of the herbage. It is
difficult to conceive that it should be useful in this way upon
any large scale. Most patent inventions, however, like patent
medicines, are catholicons.
There are cultivated in Flanders, in France, and in Italy,
several plants for the purpose of dyeing or colouring, such as
woad, which is used for a blue dye, weld for yellow, and
madder for red. I was once asked, what bearing had the
colour of the trousers of a soldier of the French army, which
are red, upon agriculture. The answer is obvious, so in-
finitely diversified and innumerable are the circumstances
which affect the various relations and interests of social life.
10. Mapper '.—Madder is one of the most important of all
the plants used in dyeing, and is cultivated at great ex-
pense. It is two years, and sometimes three, before the crop
is gathered. There are two kinds cultivated ; the one with
a quadrangular, the other with an hexagonal stem. The
former is the most productive ; the latter produces madder
of the best quality.
The soil required for its production should be deep and
rich ; a clayey soil will produce good madder, but its work-
ing is difficult; a soil, therefore, in which sand enough
prevails with the clay to render it friable, is that which is to
be chosen. It must be deeply cultivated, as the roots, which
constitute the value of the crop, run down very far. A
1 Rubia Tinctorum Sativa.
258 CROPS.
plough will scarcely go deep enough, and the land should be
trenched with a spade to the depth of at least three feet.
Manure should be ploughed in and dug in until the whole
bed becomes most thoroughly enriched. It is advised to
plough in the solid manure in the autumn, and in the spring
to apply liquid manure, urine and feecal matter intermixed.
Cow manure and stable manure are also applied with advan-
tage ; and the land should especially be rich from former
cultivation, and from having been thoroughly cleaned of
weeds. The manure should not only pervade the surface,
but be buried deeply, that the roots may not want for nourish-
ment as they go down.
Madder should be sowed in a nursery-bed in a garden, and
the seed of the last year should be used, as seed of more
than a year old germinates at a very late period after plant-
ing. It is well to lay the ground in beds three feet wide,
to receive two rows of plants; or in five feet beds, to re-
ceive four rows of plants. The plants are to be set in line, a
foot apart, and the rows at an equal distance. The intervals
between the beds are to be shovelled out, and the ground
kept loose by a spade until the second year, when the roots
of the plants extend into the intervals, in which case they
must not be disturbed ; they must then be kept clean, but not
dug. Holes may be made for setting the plants, either with
a hoe or a spade; they must be taken from the nursery-bed,
and immediately set out, and not allowed to get dry or
withered in the air; they may be dipped in water when
transplanted, and great care must be taken to prevent their
being injured, and to place them fairly in the ground, bring-
ing the earth and pressing it carefully down around them.
Liquid manure may be applied with great advantage in the
intervals between the beds. After the planting, it is well to
water the plants; and they are to be kept clean, and the
intervals kept loose by a narrow hoe or spade: the sprouts
thrown out at the sides of the main stem may be bent down
CROPS. 259
and covered with earth, so as to force the growth of the root
In the autumn the plants should have a slight covering of
strawy manure.
The madder which is not taken up until the third year
produces much more, and of a better quality, than that
which is gathered the second year; but the increased ex-
pense and rent of the land are seldom compensated by the
increased product.
The harvesting is a work of much labour. The roots,
which in a well-prepared soil extend to a great depth, must
be taken up with much care, and without injury. Sometimes
a plough is passed along the line, and then the work is
finished by the spade, but generally it is wholly done by the
spade; the intervals between the beds being dug out to the
depth of two feet, and the plants carefully displaced and
taken out by means of forks or narrow hoes. The plants le
upon the ground three or four days, in small heaps, in order
to become dry, and in case of rain are covered with straw.
They are then carefully housed, and afterwards dried in a
kiln for the market. The excellent condition in which,
under such cultivation, the land is left for other crops, is a
considerable indemnity for the expense and trouble bestowed
upon the crop of madder. The rich polders, or redeemed
meadows, both in Holland and Flanders, are favourite spots
for the cultivation of this crop.
11. Woap'—This plant grows wild in various places, but
is cultivated for its blue dye. Where indigo is not attainable,
it takes its place ; and where indigo is attainable, it is found
advantageous to mix a portion of woad with indigo. The
use of indigo, however, much interferes with the cultivation
of woad. It is sown both in the autumn and spring. That
which is sown in the autumn has the advantage of giving a
1 [satis Tinctoria.
Shee
>
260 CROPS.
larger crop of leaves, and of sooner getting out of the way of
insects. The leaves constitute the value of the crop, and
these are gathered sometimes thrice in a season, the first
gathering being much the best. It requires a rich soil ; and
the particular kind of soil is not so important as that it
should be deep, to admit of the free descent of the tap-root
of the plant. Rich alluvions, which have been well drained,
are particularly favourable to it. The land should be ma-
nured as well as for wheat ; and, above all, it should be kept
thoroughly clean. It succeeds well after grain or after
potatoes. It may be sown in drills, or it may be grown in a
nursery, and transplanted. The plants require to be from a
foot to a foot and a half apart. The leaves are gathered
when they begin to droop, and turn slightly yellow; they
must be kept free from dirt, and when laid away must be
guarded against heat or fermentation. They are sometimes
washed, to get rid of any dirt which may adhere to them;
and a dry time must be taken for gathering.
After being gathered, they are crushed in a mill, re-
sembling a tanner’s bark-mill; they are then made into
heaps, where they undergo a fermentation, great pains being
taken to close any cracks which may appear in the crust of
the heap: after this they are rolled into balls, twice as large
as a man’s fist, and are then pressed into the form of bricks ;
and thus are ready for the market. The profits of such
cultivation must depend upon the state of trade, and the
price of indigo. I found this plant cultivated extensively in
one part of Lincolnshire, where a large mill had been recently
erected for its preparation. The best woad is grown in the
south of France, where it is largely cultivated.
12. Wetp.—The weld is cultivated for its yellow colour.
It is a plant which grows wild in many places, and the
smaller kind is known in the gardens as mignonette. It
1 Reseda luteola
CROPS. 26]
requires a soil dry, calcareous, and well cultivated. It will
grow well upon a sandy clay loam. Upon a very rich soil
the stems will be proportionally strong and large, but the
colouring matter not so good; upon a poor soil it will not
pay the expenses of cultivation ; a soil of medium fertility is
to be preferred. It should be sown very early in the spring,
and the ground should be well cultivated in the previous
autumn. It does not require manure when sown upon a soil
previously well cultivated and clean. The seed must be
covered as lightly as possible, and it is best sowed in line. It
will require to be carefully weeded ; and when the leaves
begin to turn yellow, it should be gathered. In a sandy soil
it may be pulled with the roots; in a clay soil, where the dirt
would adhere to the roots, it should be reaped close to the
ground with a sickle. The plants which are designed for
seed should be allowed to remain until the seed is perfectly
matured. Fresh seed is greatly preferred to seed more than
one year old, which often fails to come up; and when sown,
on account of the smallness of the seed, it is recommended
to mix it with some fine sand. The plants when gathered
are to be dried in the sun, and_then tied up in small bundles,
so overlaying them, that the tops of the plants shall be turned
in upon each other, and the roots project at each end of the
sheaf. They must then be put away in an airy and dry
place, and are ready for sale. It may be cultivated on the
same land once in eight years.
13. Carrots.—I must not quit the crops common in Flan-
ders, without referring to the culture of the white carrot,
which is vastly more productive than other sorts. This is
sometimes sowed among rye or wheat, or colza or flax, after
the last cleaning, and a small crop is obtained in this way,
but often at the expense of the crop among which it is sown.
When sowed as a separate crop, they speak of twenty tons
to an acre, or eight hundred bushels. They require a com-
262 IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY.
paratively light and dry soil; they bear high manuring and
deep cultivation ; and are considered a profitable crop.
I shall take the liberty of repeating here what I have said
in another place. The land, after being fully prepared by
manuring and fine tilth, should remain until the first crop of
weeds comes up, and should be lightly ploughed, in order to
destroy these. Furrows should then be made upon the field,
into which the manure should be placed, and then a back fur-
row slice turned each way upon this open furrow, so as to form
a ridge directly over the manure. These ridges should be
twenty or twenty-seven inches apart. On the top of these
ridges, which should be smoothed off carefully, the carrot
seed should be sowed in double rows ten inches apart, and as
straightly as possible. The carrot seed should be sprouted in
wet sand, before sowing, and should early be weeded. The
land may then be ploughed between the rows, and kept clean
with a hoe. They must be thinned out in the row to about
six inches asunder. When ready to be taken up, by run-
ning a plough directly by the side of the row of carrots, they
are gathered with little trouble. -
I have now gone through the principal crops grown in
continental husbandry, and though not undertaking to give
a full detail of the culture, yet I have given all the peculia-
rities which distinguish any mode of culture, and those gene-
ral rules and principles which are universally applicable.
XXIX. IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY.
In Paris at the Conservatory of Arts and Trades, at Brussels,
at Utrecht, I found extensive collections of agricultural im-
plements and models of agricultural tools and machinery.
These embraced many of the most improved implements to be
found in England or the United States. It may excite a
smile of surprise with an Englishman, that I speak of the
IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 2038
United States in this connexion. But I have seen nothing
on the Continent or in Great Britain equal to the collections of
agricultural implements which are to be found, for example, in
Boston, United States. The English implements are usually
clumsy, heavy, and inordinately expensive. In treating of
British Husbandry, I have given an account of some of the
best of them. They at least answer the purposes of the
ingenious mechanics, who understand very well when they
have got their pail under a cow with a full udder, and how
in the most agreeable manner to abstract the gold from the
pockets of enthusiastic agricultural amateurs. Like the Flem-
ish cows, they are carefully fed, not to say flattered, while
being milked; and finding tools and implements for every
operation, and adapted to all possible shades of difference in
the manner of performing it, imagine they have only to pur-
chase the tool to have the operation accomplished. In gene-
ral they are compelled to learn that it is not so much the
tool, as the man who holds it, upon which they are to rely
for the proper execution of the work. Of this the Flemings
are a striking example ; for it is impossible to find agricultural
operations better executed, and with fewer and more simple
implements.
I found, as far as simple inspection could determine it, in
my humble judgment, the best plough I have ever seen in the
Museum at Brussels; but I regret that I could get no infor-
mation as to its name or maker. It was a light plough,
designed for common field work with two horses. It is
difficult to describe it. The share was long and thin,
broad enough to cut completely the bottom of the furrow
slice; and the mould-board was almost the segment of a
circle, or rather shaped like the back of the hand with the
fingers closed tightly, raising the furrow slice at the most
natural and easiest angle, and all friction or pressure ceasing
after it once became sufficiently inverted to fall by its own
weight. I was not able to obtain either a model or a drawing.
Two ploughs are much celebrated in Flanders, one called
264 IMPLEMENTS OF -HUSBANDRY.
the Walloon plough with wheels to the beam, of which I
subjoin a sketch, and which is much used for ploughing deep ~
in heavy lands. It is used with two, three, or four horses,
according to the nature of the soil, or the depth to which it
is desired to go.
IN
A
\S
WN
: WN
WS
The other is of a lighter description, and is much esteemed
as the Dutch plough. It is introduced mto France, and there
most highly approved. For light lands it is used with one
horse, but ordinarily with two. What I have sometimes
seen called the Dutch plough has had the mould-board so
curved, or rather almost concave, as to offer great resistance ;
and rather to press the dirt as if with the hollow of the hand,
than to turn it over. The common Flemish plough is un-
doubtedly an excellent implement. It has a shoe or
regulator attached to the beam in front, by which the depth
of the furrow is regulated. <A plate of it is subjoined. The
Flemings value it not only for raising and inverting the land,
but for pulverizing it at the same time.
IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 265
In the harrows and rollers used in Flanders I saw nothing
peculiar. They have bush harrows, and harrows with teeth
of iron and of wood.
The instrument, which is deemed peculiarly Flemish, is
the mouldebart, of which I annex a plate. It is designed for
the speedy removal of earth, when it is not required to trans-
port it to a great distance. The horses or oxen are attached
to this implement which immediately dips itself full of dirt,
and when full, the handles are then pressed down that it
may slide easily over the ground. When it reaches the place
of deposit, the handles are raised, and it empties itself; and
the string, which is constantly held by the workman who
guides it, is designed to pull it back after it is emptied. It
is thus prepared to take up another load. It is a most useful
instrument, and effects a great deal of work with a small
expense of labour in a short time. It has been used many
years in the United States, and is there called an ox-shovel.
The plough which I saw frequently used in Italy was
without a mould-board, and its share resembled the bowl of
an inverted teaspoon, only more flat. It simply stirred the
ground, but did not invert it.
The spade is an instrument much used among the small
farmers of Flanders ; and in the best cultivated districts, such
as the Pays de Waes, they deem it necessary once in five or
six years to trench their land completely to the depth of
fifteen or seventeen inches with the spade.
I saw nothing in the carts, waggons, or vehicles in use on
266 SPADE HUSBANDRY.
the Continent in any way to recommend them either to Eng-
lish or American farmers. Nothing, however, can be more
complete than the fitting out of a Flemish or Dutch farmer’s
team. The equipments in France and Italy are in general
wretched in the extreme. In Italy and in Switzerland, oxen
and cows are principally used for draft. In Italy the breed
of cattle is extremely beautiful in appearance. In Italy,
oxen are often brought out upon the roads to assist in
dragging the coaches up their steep hills. They ordinarily
draw by the horns or forehead ; but where a yoke is used over
the neck, I have found a basket of stones hung at the centre
to keep it down, that it might not impede the breathing of
the cattle. Instead of bows, there were ropes round the necks
of the cattle.
The Dutch collar for draft horses has been the subject
of much improvement, and the horses used in the Belgian
artillery are said to have derived an immense advantage
from its improved character. The first object has been to
avoid, as much as possible, a horizontal draft, and, therefore,
the point of attaching the chain or trace is placed high on
the collar, so that it may not affect the breathing of the
animal ; the second, to avoid galling the neck of the horse,
and for this reason the collars are made open to buckle
at the top, by which means they can be better adjusted to
the neck of the animal. Great stress, and I believe very
justly, is laid upon having the collars made so as to open at
one end at pleasure.
XXX. SPADE HUSBANDRY.
An implement which has accomplished an immense amount
in some parts of continental Europe, is the spade; and
when we reflect upon the actual amount of labour effected
by this simple tool, managed by the human hand alone,
the elevations which have been levelled, the canals which
SPADE HUSBANDRY. 267
have been dug, and the mighty embankments which have
been raised, one is filled with astonishment at the great
effects which are brought about by the most simple means,
and at the vast results of combined and persevering labour.
A great amount of land is cultivated by the spade in
Belgium, Holland, France, and Germany. Indeed, vast
extents of land, especially in the vine-growing districts, on
the steep acclivities and on the summits of high hills which
are cultivated, are entirely inaccessible to horses or cattle.
The ground is tilled by the spade ; the manure is carried up,
and the produce is brought down on the backs of men or
women. It is stated in a statistical work, now in the course
of publication in France, that not less than forty millions of
acres in that country are cultivated by the spade. This
strikes me as an over-statement ; yet the amount is, doubt-
less, very considerable. In Flanders the cultivation is
mixed, with the spade and the plough; the land for grain
crops is wrought with the plough and laid in beds or stitches,
and the intervals are dug out with the spade, and the seed
sown on the beds is covered with the dirt thrown out of these
intervals. This is all done with the greatest care, and this is
the occasion of the extreme neatness and exactness which
appears in their cultivation.
In the case of very small farms of a few acres, all the
work is executed by the spade or the hoe. It may in-
terest my readers to see the calculation made by the late
Rev. Mr. Rham, a gentleman highly esteemed for his agri-
cultural knowledge, and his zeal in agricultural improve-
ments, as to the amount of produce which may be obtained
“from fifteen Ghent acres of light land and moderate fertility,
which should be cultivated by the spade, with the help of
a horse and cart; and will maintain four milch cows, and
a heifer ; a horse, two or three hogs, and a couple of young
pigs; sending to market, or consuming in the family, the
following produce, deducting seed :-—
268 SPADE HUSBANDRY,
90 bushels of wheat.
90 os rye.
30 5 buckwheat.
100 5 oats, leaving 20 bushels for the horse.
An acre of flax.
60 bushels of rape seed.
8 ewt. of butter, from four cows.
2 fat hogs.
‘A heifer and two calves, sold annually.”
This is an extraordinary amount, and yet I have no doubt
it may be realized.
I am not about to enter into a comparison of spade hus-
bandry with that carried on by the plough, and the help of
brute labour ; but there are many cases in which, owing to
the superabundance, and consequent cheapness of human
labour, it may present a fortunate alternative. It is stated
to require the labour of a man sixteen days to dig an acre,
and thirty-two days to trench it, which would be going two
spits deep. Labour in Flanders is about ten pence, or
twenty cents a day, without feed, which would render it
much less expensive than ploughing.
In cultivating land with brute labour, it is to be remem-
bered that on few small farms can a team be kept constantly
at labour ; but the expense of the keep goes on whether the
team labours or not. The cultivation by a spade is much
more thorough than by a plough; much less seed is re-
quired, and much better crops are produced. A bushel and
a quarter of wheat to an acre is ample, because every seed is
carefully covered, and thus secured from the birds, and
buried only at such a depth that it rises easily. The culti-
vation is much cleaner from weeds, and the manure is more
thoroughly intermixed with the soil. The land is made
friable, and the deep cultivation gives the roots of the plant
ample opportunity to expand themselves. The beneficial
effects of a good trenching will continue for five or six years.
LIVE STOCK. : 269
How far it may be expedient to adopt it on any large scale,
must depend on a variety of obvious circumstances, which in
different situations must greatly vary. The expense of keep-
ing such teams of horses as are kept in England, and in
many parts of the Continent—I speak particularly as to
their consumption of food—to say nothing of their equipments
and deterioration in value, is enormous. It seems the great
drawback in England to a farmer’s prosperity. What might
be accomplished where a superabundance of human labour
exists, what should be done with a starving population
around you, anxious to be employed, and willing to work,
are for the consideration of those who find themselves placed
in these painful circumstances. Such is the sad condition of
many parts of the European continent. The example of a
Flemish farmer supporting himself, and wife, and three chil-
dren, keeping a cow, and fatting a hog, upon the produce of
two and a half acres of land; and selling, for various pur-
poses, the produce of three and a half other acres, he being
able, with the help of his wife and children, to cultivate well
the whole six acres, and to have a great deal of time left for
other purposes, is, 1 am assured, often to be found in Bel-
gium, and strikingly illustrates the success of quiet and
patient industry, joined to temperance and economy.
XXXJI. LIVE STOCK.
In respect to the live stock of the Continent, a traveller
perceives at once that, with the exception of horses, little
attention has been paid to the improvement of the different
breeds. Perhaps I should except sheep likewise, as I shall
presently show. In this respect England distances all other
countries within my observation ; and has displayed a skill,
perseverance, enterprise, and success, which are admirable ;
and which, in enormous prices, have been liberally compen-
270 LIVE STOCK.
sated. A thousand guineas for a bull, six hundred guineas
for a cow, or three hundred guineas a year for the service of a
ram, ring in one’s ears like music from the regions of romance.
The symmetry of proportion, and the extraordinary degree of
fatness to which some animals are forced, as may be seen
particularly at the Smithfield Christmas show, in London,
and the extreme beauty of the improved stock of England,
are most remarkable. Aptitude to fatten, early maturity,
and great weight of carcase, in proportion to the age, and
the amount or cost of the food required, are points of great
value in any race of animals which are designed for food. But
beauty, either of form or colour, has only an imaginary value,
and no necessary connexion with its product, either in beef
or milk ; and the extreme obesity of many prize animals is
often obtained at an expense to the farmer or amateur much
beyond any price which the animal is likely to command in
the market. Early maturity is a point of great importance ;
for, excepting where animals are kept for labour, animals
kept a day beyond their readiness for a fair market, are
almost always kept at a loss. The secret of profit is in
general in a quick exchange. I have known a farmer to
weigh repeatedly two fattening oxen of fine thrift, and size,
and extreme fatness, and he discovered that, for a whole
month before they were sent to market, they had not gained
a single pound. They appear to have reached their acme,
beyond which they could not be forced. It is a curious fact
in regard*to the human animal, that in a condition of health
no change of diet and no abundance of diet ever carries him
beyond a certain point; so that every adult man has what
he terms his own weight, which does not vary for years.
Whether an analogy to this fact is to be found in the inferior
animals, would, as far as it is possible to be ascertained, be a
curious and useful inquiry. Ordinarily, I admit, not always,
animals consume in proportion to their size. I believe it
will be found, in general, that two small, or medium-sized
LIVE STOCK. rif |
animals, of good constitution and thrift, pay the farmer
_ better, in proportion to the amount of food consumed, than
one large animal, which would give an equal or superior
weight. The English farmers generally consider the small
Highiand cattle the most profitable for fattening. We know
certainly that the milking properties of cows do not always
bear a proportion to their size. The two best cows which I
have known—one making 19}lbs. of butter in a week, and
more than 480lbs. in a year; and the other having produced
more than 20lbs. in a week—were two medium-sized cows of
the North Devonshire breed ; and it seems an established
prejudice, if so it must be called, that fatness, and the abun-
dant secretion of milk, in the same animal, at the same time,
are to a degree incompatible with each other.
1. OxEN anp Cows.—I saw some very large oxen from
Normandy in a fat condition on exhibition at Poissy. The
cattle, however, most admired on that occasion were a cross
of the improved Durham short-horn with some of the best
breeds of the country.
The cows, as met with ordinarily in France, are inferior.
They show in the early part of the season the effects of bad
keeping in winter, and appear scarcely to recover from it
during the season. The cows, at several private establish-
ments which I visited, were admirable for their milking
properties, but of no particular race; though at Grignon,
at Petit-Bourg, and generally, I found the Swiss cows held
in high estimation. ‘The Dutch cows have been a long time
celebrated for their abundance of milk, which does not sur-
prise one in looking at the rich polders in which in summer
they are fed, and where they are often seen covered with a
cloth asa protection against both the dampness and the cold.
Being unacquainted with the Dutch language, I found it dif-
ficult to get as particular information as I desired. Radcliffe,
in his book on Flanders, says, that “they are fair milkers ;
ys LIVE STOCK.
but in this respect nothing remarkable, the average quantity,
excepting in the grass districts, where it is infinitely greater,
being computed at about seven quarts each cow in the
twenty-four hours, through summer and winter.” I quote
this passage for two reasons ; first, to show how loosely many
people speak and write on such subjects, for one is wholly at
a loss to know how much a product infinitely greater than
seven quarts may be supposed to be ; and next, to say that an
average yield of seven quarts per day winter and summer is
a very great yield, and is seldom equalled. There is another
report of a farmer at the Hague, furnished to Sir John Sin-
clair, where the milk establishment of forty cows produced
only about three quarts per day to each cow throughout the
year.
The produce of a Dutch cow is rated at about 80 lbs. of
butter, and 180 lbs. of whole-milk cheese, in a year, which
certainly is not an extraordinarily large amount. They are
generally of a black and white colour. In some cases they
are milked three times in a day. In the greater part of
Flanders I found them soiled upon clover or vetches, but prin-
cipally clover; in Holland, they remain in the pasture all
summer, where they are milked ; but in winter they make a
part of the family, and, in truth, live in the common eating-
room of the family, it being a part of the main house.
The Swiss cows, as far as they have come under my
observation, are to be considered of two kinds; the cows
ordinarily kept on the common farms, and the mountain
cows. The cows I found at Hofwyl are, from appearance and
the accounts I received of them, the very finest of their kind.
They are large, but not tall; broad in the back, full and
square behind; fine boned, and with large udders, giving
great quantities of milk. It is difficult, especially at any dis-
tance of time, and when innumerable objects are passing
before the mind, to compare two objects, unless they are pre-
sent ; but I think I have never seen finer animals of the
LIVE STOCK. Paes
kind. The race is known as the Cimmenthal; and un-
doubtedly great pains have been taken in their selection and
management.
I am at a loss to state the amount of milk given, or
butter produced by these cows, because I do not know the
capacity of the Swiss measure ; but they are evidently deep
milkers, and as well as I could understand they give from
sixteen to twenty-eight quarts of milk per day, and about
two hundred pounds of butter by the year. These cows were
reported to me to weigh from 700 to 1200 lbs. ; they were
exceedingly broad and round; short and fine in the leg ; in
high condition, and extremely well covered; and in their
whole appearance excelled by none which I have seen. I
saw many of these fine animals for sale in the cattle-market
at Berne.
There is another kind in Switzerland, which may be called
the mountain cow, because I found them prineipally in the
most hilly districts of the country. These were a small-sized
animal of beautiful form, small limbs, exceedingly light of
foot, evidently fitted to climb hills and precipices, and with
eyes as bright as those of a gazelle, and not unlike a deer in
their movements. These cows did not promise much in
milk.
In Italy, where oxen are much used for draft, the breed of
cattle is principally of a dingy white, of a medium size, and
keeping in fair condition, but with no particular quality to
recommend them. Oxen and cows seemed to be worked in-
discriminately, sometimes singly, and often yoked together.
In most cases they draw by a band of some kind, which
brings the point of draft upon the forehead at the foot of the
horns. All their yokes and trappings are of the most ordi-
nary and singular character, and seem to carry one back to
the very infancy of the arts. Indeed, in Italy nothing, as far
as I saw, could be more awkward than all arrangements
of this sort, excepting in parts of Ireland, where hay is car-
T
274 LIVE STOCK.
ried to market tied, or rather gathered, into two large bun-
dles, and swung across the back of a donkey.
2. Goats.—In Switzerland, I found in the mountainous
districts large herds of goats, who are brought down from the
mountains at night to be milked, and sent away again at
daylight in the morning. Many small families kept one goat
in their stables to supply the family with milk. They give
about one pint of very rich and delicious milk each per day ;
sometimes more. Among the mountaineers of Ireland, near
the lakes of Killarney, I found many families keeping goats
for their milk ; one family having as many as thirty. These
were kept for the comfort and luxury of travellers, who
visited these wild and picturesque regions. They are kept
at a small expense, and were it not for their wandering and
mischievous propensities, a milch goat would be a treasure in
the family of a poor man. They might easily be fed by the
waste vegetables of a poor man’s garden or his frugal table ;
though in most of the poor families in Europe there are
other mouths who claim first to be satisfied, and leave little
waste of any kind. The milk of goats is rich, and is often
recommended to invalids by high medical authority.
3. Asses. —Of all beasts of burden or draft in Europe,
asses are, perhaps, the most common. Mules are bred and
used largely in Spain, as Iam informed; and I found them
in the mountainous parts of Switzerland for the use of travel-
lers in places and passes where carriages cannot be used, and
where sureness of foot is particularly desired. But asses are
every where common, and, for the purposes to which they are
applied, are certainly most serviceable animals. They are in
general of a small size, and cost from one to two pounds, or
from five to ten dollars ; their keep is of the hardest descrip-
tion, and they live to a great age. One was used constantly
at Carisbrooke Castle, in the Isle of Wight, for drawing
LIVE STOCK. 275
water from a very deep well seventy years, and he was re-
placed by another, who, when I was there, had been employed
for many years. This most useful race of animals presents an
example of the humiliating truth, that real substantial merit
does not always find its place in this world ; that grateful
and kind treatment does not always follow the services ren-
dered; that abuse of power is too common a fault; and
that exterior appearance and address are a surer passport to
favour than solid and useful qualities. I cannot say, how-
ever, that this is without exception, for I found in some cases
in Manchester, in England, among the Irish, the donkey
living in the same room with the rest. of the family, and
sharing in their comforts, such as they were. Whether this
was to be considered as an advance upon the usual compa-
nionship of an Irish cabin, I shall not determine. It shows
at least an amiable trait of character to acknowledge our
obligations, and quite in the equality and fraternity style of
the times.
4. Horsrs.—The Flemish horses have long been celebrated,
and most deservedly so, as I have seen for their purpose no
horses superior. In France and the Low Countries, horses ex-
clusively are used for agricultural labour. In Flanders, two
horses are allowed to fifty acres of land. In many cases the
farms are accessible by canals, and manures are brought and
produce carried away in boats, which, of course, on still waters
are navigated at a smallexpense. The Flemish horses are of a
medium size, compact, active, strong, and extremely well
equipped ; these farmers being very proud of their teams, as
indeed they well may be. Add to this, they are groomed
with extraordinary care. In my journey from Antwerp to
Rotterdam by diligence, it is hardly possible to praise the
horses too much, for their beauty, speed, and equipments.
The French work horses are admirable, and surprised
me by their excellence. I refer particularly to a breed called
T2
276 LIVE STOCK.
the Picheron, bred in the interior of France, and used in the
diligences and the omnibuses in Paris. The horses gene-
rally employed in these cases are unaltered, which clearly
does not improve their temper or manners; they are rather
under than over size ; they are not groomed with much nicety,
nor harnessed with any show; they are, however, kept in
good condition, and almost exclusively for work ; they are
small-boned, well filled out, and extremely compact ; their
usual travelling gait, according to my experience, with im-
mense loads, is from six to seven miles an hour: in the mail
coaches in France, the rate of travelling is ten to twelve
miles an hour; and no where are there more punctuality
and despatch. The Flemish cart-horse, and the breed of
French horses to which I have referred, would in my opinion
prove a most valuable acquisition to the United States. The
Flemish horse is slow in his movements; the French horse
extremely active and vigorous; their ordinary height is
fifteen and a half hands.
The mode of keeping horses differs much in different places.
They are almost universally -soiled in summer upon green
food, either clover, vetches, or lucerne. I have already men-
tioned the case of a large contractor for conveying the mails,
who was accustomed, besides straw and hay, to give rye bread
in certain quantities, whenever the price of oats or other
forage or provender made it upon a fair calculation expedient.
For the health of the horses he much approved this food.
His stock exceeded four hundred horses: oats are almost
always deemed an expensive article; but the best farmers
recommend to give them in the straw cut up. Carrots are
much valued in Flanders for horses ; and considerable quan-
tities of beans are grown in France for horses, and given
in a bruised or half-ground form. The Flemish give their
horses what 1s called a white drink, that is, water mixed with
some portion of rye or buck-wheat meal; and sometimes oil-
cake is dissolved in it.
LIVE STOCK. yy be
In some parts of Flanders, the allowance for a horse is in
winter fifteen pounds of hay, ten pounds of straw, and seven
pounds of oats per day. In summer, clover is given instead
of hay and straw, seven pounds of oats, and their water
whitened with rye-meal. In another district, in winter, about
six quarts of oats, thirty-five pounds of hay, or in place of
fifteen pounds of hay, about seventy pounds or a bushel of
carrots. In summer, seven quarts of oats ; eighty pounds of
green clover are given. Instead of the oats, about four quarts
of bruised beans are given. The Flemish are always anxious
to have their horses in the best possible working condition.
Excepting only the white drink, the keeping of the French
horses does not materially differ from that of the Flemish.
The advantages of cutting and mixing food for horses are
universally acknowledged, on the score of economy to the
farmer, and of utility to the animal fed.
5. Swine.—The swine are almost every where on the Con-
tinent, as far as I saw them, miserable; lank, lean, gaunt,
and, if they have not a good point about them, they certainly
have other points in great profusion. If it was a herd of
such swine as one meets with continually in France and on
the Continent, which were on one occasion driven into the
sea and there perished, the owners certainly could have had
little ground of complaint. At Grignon I saw some of the
improved breeds of England introduced, and it is to be hoped
that they will extend themselves; at present the race seems
under a curse.
6. SuzEp.—I shall say little of the sheep of the Continent.
The sheep seen on the rich meadows in Holland are of a
large size, with long coarse wool and a heavy fleece. The
Saxony sheep are well known for the fineness of their wool,
their small size, and their tenderness of constitution. I
have already said that I found some excellent results at
278 DAIRIES.
Grignon and Alfort from crossing the Merino with the South-
Down, but sufficient time has not been had to decide whether
it may be persevered in with advantage ; a point by no means
determined.
The pure Merino sheep, which were exhibited at Poissy
from the farm of Mr. Gilbert, near Grignon, and originally of
the stock at Rambouillet, were, beyond all comparison, the
finest of the kind I have ever seen; and, I believe, of the
very best kind of sheep, for the United States, which could
be raised. They would weigh full twenty pounds a quarter
when dressed ; their wool is of a fine quality, and their fleeces
extremely large and heavy. An intelligent American farmer
who was with me at one time when I saw them, and on
whose opinion, from his having been a great wool-grower, I
should place much reliance, perfectly coincided with me in
my impressions of the merits of these extraordinarily
beautiful sheep. They are not so large or fat for mutton
sheep as the Leicester or South-Down of England, in which
country mutton, being a favourite food, is much more an
object of demand than in the United States, but they are
sufficiently large for mutton, and the superior fineness of their
wool gives them a peculiar value. There exists with some
persons a prejudice against Merino mutton, but it is entirely
without reason.
XXXII. DAIRIES.
Holland and portions of Flanders are largely devoted to
the grazing of cattle, and to the making of butter and cheese.
The Dutch butter is much celebrated ; it is strongly salted
and neatly packed, and may be shipped to advantage.
Cheese is largely manufactured in Holland. The Dutch
cheeses are well known, They are professedly made of
whole milk, but I must be permitted to distrust this cer-
DAIRIES. 279
tainty in respect to those which I have tasted. They are
made in the form of cannon-balls, weighing about seven
pounds each. They are an article of extensive commerce,
and are sent to market as early as they can be got ready.
They are exported largely both to France and England. The
taste of them is good, but in richness they are very inferior to
the best English cheeses.
The Dutch dairy-rooms are models of neatness. The
French denominate this quality by an expressive word,
propriety ; and, in the case of the Dutch farmers, it seems
impossible it should be exceeded. Their vessels, pans, tubs,
presses, shelves, dippers, every thing, in short, connected with
the dairy is marked by a cleanness which seems perfect, and
they are bright with excessive brightness. The town of
Broeck has been long celebrated for its cleanness, and here
not a horse ever comes; the streets or passages to the
houses are paved with bricks, or with rounded stones from
the sea-shore; and a well-dressed lady might almost sit
down in the streets without soiling her robes. The neatness
of these places is proverbial. I cannot say that I have not
seen it equalled in some private examples; and the sect
of the United Brethren, otherwise called the Shakers, in the
United States, are quite as much distinguished in their
houses and settlements for their excessive cleanness ; but it
is clearly impossible in this respect “to beat the Dutch ;”
and this most comfortable, agreeable, I will add beautiful,
habit of the Dutch, is no where surpassed.
The French butter, as found in the markets of Paris,
seems the perfection of this article. It is generally sold
entirely fresh, and that of the first quality is delicious. It is
found fresh in the markets in winter as well as in summer,
and is coloured with the juice of the carrot. The French
offer for sale fifty-three different kinds of cheese. Having
tasted of but few, it would be presumptuous in me to charac-
terize the whole. The cream cheese is excellent. The Neuf-
280 DAIRIES.
chatel, which is merely the curd fresh and slightly pressed, is
much esteemed. The Rochefort resembles the Stilton, and
often equals it. These are deemed the best. I could learn
nothing either in Holland or France peculiar either in
making the cheese, or in the curing or use of the rennet.
The Swiss cheese, called the Gruyere, is manufactured both
in France and Switzerland, is much esteemed by many per-
sons, but its flavour is excessively strong and not agreeable.
I cannot, however, decide for the tastes of other persons. The
celebrated Parmesan cheese, which commands every where
the highest price, is made in a limited district in Italy. The
mode of making it is kept.a secret. It is of a light green
colour, and delicious flavour. A distinguished farmer in
Switzerland informed me that they had repeatedly en-
deavoured to imitate it, but without success; that the agri-
cultural societies had offered large premiums for this object ;
and that they had actually sent persons into the district where
it is made, but they were unable to get the information. It
is conjectured to depend mainly upon the nature of the feed
which the cows obtain. The current opinion, that it is com-
posed ofa portion of asses milk, is considered by the best in-
formed persons as without foundation.
Ihave gone so fully into the subject of dairying in my
observations upon English husbandry, that I shall not extend
them. In Holland, the cows are generally pastured and
milked in the field. In Flanders, in parts where good
pasturage does not abound, they are soiled, and in one of the
best districts half an acre of clover to a cow is considered
ample for the summer. In winter they have hay, straw,
carrots, turnips, or potatoes, in such proportions as a judicious
feeder will see to be necessary. But there prevails universally
in Flanders a practice of giving the cows a mixture of rye-
meal, or the meal of buck-wheat with water. This is con-
sidered as most indispensable, and, no doubt, contributes
essentially to increase the milk. In gencral, the Flemish
DAIRIES. 281
farmers prefer a mixture of food both for their cows and
their fatting cattle, cutting up straw, hay, turnips, and
carrots together.
There are modes of management in the Swiss dairies which
are well worthy of notice. Where it is desired to avail them-
selves of the feed upon the mountains, a herd of cows is
driven there in the summer ; and some persons, mem in the
cases which I found, go with them, carrying their provision
with them; and, occupying a building which is only habitable
in summer, tend the cows, and make the cheese. They
earry little else than bread with them, and for this they have
occasionally to descend the mountain, which, with the return,
is no slight task ; but bread and butter-milk form their prin-
cipal and almost sole diet.
In another case, in a small village consisting, it may be, of
fifty or a hundred families, I found an arrangement certainly
peculiar, but which seemed excellent, and capable of being
adopted to advantage in many other situations. Some of
the villagers kept one only, some two or three cows. A man
and his wife, skilled in making cheese, were employed, in a
suitable building, with all the necessary fixtures, to make
the cheese for the village. The milk was carried to the
place for making the cheese, morning and evening, and
there measured and receipted for. Of the whey, each one,
when he carried his milk, got his proportion in return. The
cheese was sold on joint account ; and, after deducting ex-
penses, the proceeds were divided according to each one’s
contributions. This arrangement was excellent ; first, for
those who kept only one or two cows, and who could not,
under the circumstances, make cheese but to a disadvantage ;
second, it saved the difficulty and trouble of a dairy-maid in
the family—a class of persons who are always difficult to be
procured ; and, third, it assured the good quality of the
cheese, by its being made by a person of known and acknow-
ledged skill.
bo
(9.2)
bo
FARM-HOUSES.
XXXII. FARM-HOUSES.
A Dutch farm-house is a remarkable object. They are
seen scattered and alone at considerable distances from each
other, over their extensive meadows, generally surrounded
by a few trees. At a distance they appear like enormous
barns. They are generally square, covering a large extent
of ground, of one story in height, and with a roof rising to
at least twice the height of the body of the house, gathering
in from the four sides of the house, and terminating in a
central point at the top, like an Egyptian pyramid. This
roof is entirely devoted to the storage of grain and hay. The
lower part of the house comprehends a dwelling for the
family, sleeping rooms, and a parlour or drawing-room, which _
is never used but upon great occasions, such as the death or
marriage of some one in the family, and a kitchen, adjoining
which is the keeping-room of the family. Adjoining this
kitchen, in truth making a part of it, are the cow-stalls ; and
adjoining this a room for the storage of the cheese, for the
milk, the churns, the press, the tubs, and other dairy utensils,
which, whether of wood or of brass, are kept in the most
polished condition. The cow-stalls are so constructed that
two cows occupy one stall together, tied by chains, with
their heads to the walls, and behind them is a deep trench
or drain, into which all the solid and liquid manure is re-
ceived. The solid is immediately conveyed away to the heap
outside the door, and-the liquid is drained into a covered
cistern at the side of the stable, on the outside of the house.
Into this cistern flow likewise all the slops of the house
and of the dairy, and the drain is kept constantly clean by
water. In summer the cows are kept and milked in the
pasture; the stalls are then most thoroughly scoured and
cleaned out, and either carpeted or sanded ; and exhibit the
same perfect neatness as the rest of the apartment in which
FARM-HOUSES. 283
the family live. In all cases, both in Holland and Flanders,
the cow-stalls, while occupied by the cows, are frequently
washed with water, which, besides the purpose of cleanliness,
serves to increase the contents of the urine cistern ; and over
every stall is a cord suspended, by which the tail of the cow
is tied when milked, to prevent her slapping the face of the
milker, or throwing any dirt into the pail. Indeed, the neat-
ness of all their arrangements is perfect. The farmer and
labourers have their clean shoes or slippers at the door, where
they always exchange their out-door shoes on entering, that
théy may bring no dirt into the house. The contrast be-
tween a Dutch farm-house and an Irish cabin or wigwam, is
most remarkable.
The Swiss farm-house differs entirely from the Dutch. It
is a somewhat stately erection, generally of two stories and
high roof, with a piazza in front of the second story, to which
there is access from the outside by steps. The lower story,
or ground floor, is occupied by the live stock ; and the second
floor by the family., This spirit of fraternization and equality,
which appears both among the Dutch and the Swiss, in re-
gard to those useful animals upon whom their living and
wealth depend, is certainly an amiable trait of character ;
and is much more harmless in its operation, if we may judge
from the results in the two cases, than when applied to human
society. The neatness of several of the Swiss farm-houses
which I visited, if not so remarkable as that of the Dutch, is
really exemplary. My readers will excuse me, I trust, for
giving a small example of extreme frugality. In going into
one of the farm-houses in Switzerland, I observed a consider-
able parcel of egg-shells laid together upon a shelf, as if to
be kept. Upon inquiry, I found that the good housewife
saved these for the hens to eat in winter, that they might
have them when the ground should be covered with snow,
and they could get no lime from the ground, to form the
shells of their eggs.
284 SWISS FARMING.
XXXIV. SWISS FARMING.
The farming in Switzerland varies very much in differ-
ent cantons or districts. The soil varies, and the rugged
aspect and broken and mountainous character of the coun-
try give a variety to their cultivation and modes of life,
which at once impress a visiter. The habits and appear-
ance of the population certainly differ much in different
parts ; and I was told that I could immediately distinguish a
Protestant from a Catholic canton by the superior industry,
economy, good management, and prosperity of the former
over the latter. I believe there is something in this ; but it
is by no means so marked or decisive as I was assured. I
am not conscious of any religious prejudices whatever, hold-
ing religion itself as a very different affair from the forms
which it assumes, believing that there may be true religion
under any and every form of expression, and, indeed, often
where there is no outward form; and desirous to regard all
the forms under which the religious sentiment is expressed
with all the indulgence with which I ask that my own should
be regarded. But the numberless saints’ days, festivals and
fasts, the keeping of which is made obligatory in Catholic
countries, abstract materially from the time which would
otherwise be devoted to labour; and it is certainly true that
that liberal education and freedom of thought, which would
prompt to enterprise, experiment, and improvement, as much
in the agricultural as in any other art, is not so common in
Catholic as in Protestant countries.
There are large portions of Switzerland wholly devoted to
pasturage, and which, from their inaccessibility to the plough,
can be applied to no other purpose. In these cases, where
cows could not go, goats find their way. But wherever the
plough or the spade can be used they are diligently em-
ployed, and this activity is stimulated-in many parts of the
SWISS FARMING. 285
country by a dire struggle to procure a subsistence under
circumstances most inauspicious and seyere. In parts of
Switzerland, the melting of the snow on small patches of
ground is hastened by throwing small fragments of slate-stone
upon it, such, I may say, is the necessary impatience to get
at the ground seasonably to put the seed in for a crop.
In some parts the country is open, and fields of consider-
able extent are under admirable cultivation ; in other places,
the smallest nook, the least patch by a running stream, and
the most secluded valley, will be husbanded with the greatest
eare. The valley of Chamouni, enclosed by lofty mountains
covered with the snows of untold centuries, and running at
the very foot of Mont Blanc, the sublime monarch of these
Alpine heights, was green and beautiful, waving with crops of
grain; and when I was there, covered with merry hay-
makers. I may add, that these haymakers were almost all of
them stout and active women, whom I saw mowing as well as
making, raking, and loading hay. They were very cheerful,
and seemed to enjoy ruddy health. The fields were certainly
well mowed. Many of the out-door employments to which
women are accustomed on the Continent are highly objec-
tionable ; mowing seems to me too hard for their .strength ;
but I really can see no objection to their performance of
many of the kinds of labour which are required on a farm.
It may not contribute to preserve their beauty, though this
is wholly a matter of personal taste; but it will assist to
preserve their health, and give them muscular energy and
vigour. The long and dreadful wars of Europe, which made
such demands upon the men in order to fill the ranks of the
army, compelled the women, in the absence of their husbands,
sons, and brothers, to do the work of the fields ; and the prac-
tice is, and is likely to be, continued. I have met with
several of my countrymen abroad speaking with some sur-
prise of women performing the labours of men on the Conti-
nent, as though such a practice did not prevail in their own
286 HOFWYL.° IRRIGATION.
country. But in all the slave states, do not the women work
indiscriminately as the men? Ah! but then they are ne-
groes ; this puts them into another category, and complexion
appears to bring their humanity into question. In the arable
districts of Switzerland I was told that the farms consisted
usually of fifty acres, and many of these farms gave the
strongest indications of independence and comfort. The
farms in Switzerland are divided by fences ; and, with the
exception of the loftiest heights, it may be said that a Swiss
very much resembles a New England landscape.
XXXV. HOFWYL. IRRIGATION.
I visited in Switzerland the celebrated establishment of
the late Mr. De Fellenberg, at Hofwyl, near Berne, for educa-
tion. No school is better known ; and it is believed that
none ever better deserved public esteem and confidence. It
does not come within my province to speak of it in this place
as a literary institution ; but as a farm it may be considered
as a model well worth studying. I have already spoken of
the cows at this place, of which there were sixty, the superiors
to which, in condition and produce, have not come within
my view.
The most remarkable improvement which I witnessed in
this place was in irrigation. The land irrigated was in the
shape of a bowl or basin, of which one side was wanting. The
water, after turning a flour mill, was brought a considerable
distance in a race way on a bank, and then was carried round
through successive rivulets formed round the sides of this
semicircle or amphitheatre, watering the intervals between
these gutters or trenches, and afterwards spreading itself
over an extensive piece of flat land; thus, at pleasure, water-
ing one hundred and fifty acres of land. Nothing which I
have seen could be better managed; and the success of the
HOFWYL. IRRIGATION. 287
improvement has been a valuable compensation for any ex-
pense which has been incurred. The land is kept continually
in grass, and the water is let on several times ina season. It
was deemed inexpedient to keep the water on more than half
a day at a time.
I shall find no more suitable place than this to mention
the irrigation in the neighbourhood of Milan, This is a level
and most fertile country. A good deal of rice is cultivated
in its neighbourhood. The fields have their trenches and
cross ditches and embankments made with great care. The
water is brought from a neighbouring lake, and these fields
are irrigated at pleasure. Where there are facilities for it, or
where even they can be formed within any reasonable ex-
pense, there are no more successful improvements than iri-
gation. Even simple pure water is of great fertilising power ;
still more when it brings with it the washings of cultivated
fields, or other enriching matters, which it may collect in its
course. A diversity of opinion prevails as to the length of
time during which water may be allowed to remain on the
land. The passage of the water over the land is preferred to
having it remain stagnant; and an irrigation of a few
hours’ duration is generally considered more eligible than a
longer continuance.
The farm at Hofwyl presents all the improvements which
modern art and skill could bring to it; with the most im-
proved implements in use. Indeed, it may be considered as
a model farm. A considerable number of the pupils were
lads, who pay the expenses of their education and living by
their labour. There were sixty cows on the farm, of which I
have already spoken. The number of pupils at this institu-
tion, which has heretofore been very great, furnished the best
possible market for the abundant produce of the farm.
288 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL AT HOFWYL.
XXXVI. AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL AT HOFWYL.
The literary institution is now suspended, but the pre-
sent proprietor, Mr. Fellenberg, has established an agricul-
tural school in the neighbourhood, with which is connected
a farm of some hundred acres for experiments, instruction,
and use. The fixtures and arrangements, the stock and
implements, are of the most improved and best description.
It is intended to embrace both theory and practice ; accom-
plished teachers in every branch will be furnished, and the
course of instruction will be as complete as at Grignon, of which
I have already given a full account. The term of study is
fixed at three years, but the second and third year the pupils
will be paid for some portion of their labour. I have seen
few situations, which, in respect to health and comfort, and
the means of agricultural improvement, promise better.
The Swiss farming may be considered under two great
divisions, that of mountain and low-land. The markets of
several large towns in Switzerland which I visited, certainly
abounded in fine vegetables and fruits; but these must
have come from the more favoured districts. The condition
of the mountaineers in the most wild and inhospitable districts
of the country must be excessively severe and hard.
The general appearance of the population, however, wher-
ever I saw them, was creditable. There could evidently be
no want of industry among them, though in the purely pas-
toral districts there seemed little occasions for labour beyond
the climbing their acclivities and tending their flocks. One
can comprehend much of the Swiss history, when visiting
regions so little accessible, so desolate, so wild. and so full of
peril to life. Persons accustomed to dwell in such places,
quite remote from observation and beyond all restraints,
enjoy the freedom of their own eagles and their own
LODI'S BENEVOLENT ESTABLISHMENT. 289
chamois goat; and it is quite easy to understand with what
reluctance such free and brave spirits would submit to any
restraints upon their liberty.
XXXVII. LODI?’S BENEVOLENT ESTABLISHMENT.
1 found one humble establishment of a philanthropic cha-
racter, of which I deem it my duty to take notice. In a
quiet and secluded village in the canton of Berne, I went
with some friends to visit a humble peasant by the name of
Lodi. He was a man of powerful intellect, and extraordi-
nary decision of character. His resolution once fixed, he was
not easily turned aside from its execution. His mind from
his childhood was profoundly impressed with a strong sense
of religious duty, and his heart was warm with sympathy and
benevolence for his fellow-men. He had received the advan-
tages of a good common education, and had done much to-
wards improving himself. He had a very small patrimony
left to him; he married early, and had one child. He found
in his wife a mind and resolution congenial with his own.
Looking with pity upon many orphan and forsaken or
neglected children about them, he determined to do what he
could towards rescuing some of these unfortunate children,
from the almost certain ruin which menaced them; and his
wife and himself agreed to receive as many of them as would
be given to them for this purpose, and as he could possibly
support by their united exertions. When I visited them,
they had eighteen under their care, whom, in fact, they had
adopted, for he made no difference between their treatment
and that of his own child; and they were all taught to look
upon him and his wife as their parents, and themselves as
brothers and sisters. They lived with them, and worked
with them as their own children. He devoted a certain por-
tion of every day to giving them a useful moral and religious
education, and the rest of the time was given to work on the
U
290 LODI'S BENEVOLENT ESTABLISHMENT.
land. Industry and useful labour, economy, frugality, con-
tentment, universal kindness and love, mutual affection and
forbearance, and the fear of God and a humble and entire
reliance upon his providence, formed the great principles
which governed the whole household ; and which presented
themselves strongly illustrated in the examples of the father
and mother of this household. This was exclusively an agri-
cultural establishment, the girls and boys being taught and
accustomed to all the labours and duties of their condition.
He had had many difficulties to struggle with in feeding and
clothing so large a family ; and in the scarcity of 1846, from
the perishing of the potato, it was a most difficult effort to
get through, and he then received some slight aid from
abroad. At first his views were suspected, and he was treated
with distrust and ill-humour by the villagers. But he had
conquered every hostile prejudice ; his disinterestedness and
philanthropy are universally acknowledged; his children
are examples to all, of good conduct and improvement ; his
neighbours feel happy to render him some aid, and he is
known every where as the good father of the village. This
is an eminent example of the noblest philanthropy; of
immense good being accomplished by the most limited and
humble means; and of what may be done by heroic self-
sacrifice, by noble and generous purposes, by indomitable
resolution, and unslacking perseverance. ‘I saw his school,
and witnessed his parental deportment among his family ;
I sat down at his’ frugal board, and partook of his simple
meal of bread and cheese and wine, and I felt myself in the
presence of the true nobility of human nature, and that no
monarch in Europe had power to confer upon me a higher
honour. It is not difficult to be charitable on a grand scale ;
it is not difficult for a rich man to give away his superfluous
thousands to any splendid charity, especially when he can
use them no longer; but to devote one’s life to the poor, to
be willing to share in their poverty, to take the stray lambs
INSTITUTION FOR RECLAIMING VICIOUS CHILDREN. 291
of the flock into one’s bosom, and to make the orphans, the
outcast, the houseless, your own children, and give them in
the midst of poverty a useful education, and to qualify them
for the business of life, to be useful and respectable, is an
enterprise of the noblest character, conferring immortal
honour on him who undertakes it.
XXXVIII. INSTITUTION FOR RECLAIMING
VICIOUS CHILDREN.
In the neighbourhood of Berne, likewise, I visited another
philanthropic institution, in which I was much interested.
A few persons had contributed the means of purchasing a
valuable and suitable estate for the purpose of establishing
an agricultural school for vagabond boys, or those who have
been convicted at the courts of law ; and who, after suffering
the legal penalties of their crimes, and being released from
prison without character, without friends, without a home, or
the means of procuring an honest living, seem to have no
alternative other than that of returning to their former
course of idleness, beggary, and crime. This undertaking is
thus far eminently successful; they having found an in-
dividual of high intellectual and moral attainments, and of
indomitable resolution and great disinterestedness, who
devotes himself to the reclamation and education of these
poor and wretched children. About sixty individuals are
now under his care. The farm is well cultivated, and chiefly
by hand and spade labour. The most remarkable features
about the establishment are the absence of all peculiar dress
or external badges by which the boys should be distinguished ;
and of all fences or bars by which the escape of the boys
might be prevented. The boys are divided into parties of
ten or twelve, who work together under the direction of a
foreman. The whole discipline of the institution is moral ;
u2
292 CONDITION OF THE POOR AND LABOURING CLASSES.
and their punishments for irregularities, idleness, or other
faults, are of a kind much more to affect the mind and con-
science of the pupils than their bodies.
XXXIX. CONDITION OF THE POOR AND
LABOURING CLASSES.
Europe abounds with philanthropic institutions ; and there
exists a large demand for them. In Switzerland a society
has been formed in the agricultural districts, under the
patronage of the government, “for the public good,” intend-
ing especially, under this comprehensive designation, to
embrace all means or measures which may relieve, benefit,
or improve the character and condition of the poorer and
labouring classes.
The condition of these classes in Europe, in general,
strongly claims the interest of benevolent minds. Their
wages are small; their toil in general hard; their food
scanty and mean; and their comforts extremely few. It is
one of the monstrous anomalies in the disposition of wealth,
that those by whose toil it is created receive the smallest
portion of it; and, in the midst of a plenty growing out of
their sweat and labour, they are often crippled by want, and
perish with starvation.
Philanthropic minds are now actively at work to discover
a cure, or at least a mitigation, of this injustice ; but it is
much more easy to complain of an evil, than to point out a
remedy. The Swiss are proposing to give up all the public
lands, and individuals with large possessions are offering to
relinquish portions of their estates, that land may be given
or furnished, on certain reasonable conditions, to the labour-
ing poor, who are found to be rapidly increasing among
them ; and who, in the mountainous districts, in some parts
of the country, are as miserable as the poor Irish. I saw,
CONDITION OF THE POOR AND LABOURING CLASSES. 293
occasionally, on the Continent, cases of extreme destitution ;
and, in those places which had been visited the previous year
with the potato disease, I saw much and extreme poverty ;
yet, I confess, I saw nothing on the Continent to equal the
degradation, the squalidness, and wretchedness of the Irish,
even before that sweeping calamity, which has consigned so
many thousands of them to the grave.
The French have recently proposed violent remedies for
these acknowledged evils. The visionary and mad among
them have demanded the perfect equalization of property,
which, if carried out to its full extent, would result only in
universal injustice and pillage. The scheme is as vain and
impracticable, as to reduce the Alps of Switzerland to a level
with the low countries of Holland and Belgium. The in-
equalities in the condition of men do not constitute the
great evils which are complained of. A poor man is not in a
worse condition because his neighbour is rich, unless the
rich man abuses his power to injure him; nor are the poor
necessarily the poorer, except by comparison, for the riches of
the community in which they live. As far as wealth is a
stimulant to industry, and an instrument of good, it becomes
a universal blessing. The insane, the blind, the deaf and
dumb, the maimed, the sick, the old and decayed, the
fatherless and friendless children, and, indeed, all who, by
the dispensations of Divine Providence, are deprived of the
power of helping and sustaining themselves, should be helped
and sustained by the community. But what is to be done
for the able-bodied labourers, who are not unwilling to work,
but who have no opportunity of exerting their power? This
is a great question, and involves immense difficulties in the
present organization of society.
I see no grounds to hope for any immediate, speedy, or
effectual remedy for the evils which exist. I am not looking
for an early millennium. The wealth of the world is every
where increasing at a rapid rate, and almost beyond the
294 CONDITION OF THE POOR AND LABOURING CLASSES.
dreams of avarice. The poverty of the world seems increas-
ing, especially in the old world, in a corresponding ratio. As
wealth increases, the value of money is diminished ; but as
the wages of labour do not increase as the value of money
diminishes, and the prices of the articles of human subsist-
ence increase ; and as the value of labour is continually
diminished by the increase of labourers, and the augmenta-
tion of the population goes on rapidly in a state of general
peace, the condition of the labouring classes becomes the
more straitened, and the great evil of unemployed, though
willing labour, is augmented.
One of the first duties of the state should be, not to give
labour, but, as far as can be, to secure to every one willing
to work, an opportunity of exerting his powers; and, as far
as is consistent with the general good, and prejudicial to no
just rights of any, to do this in any way or form to which his
inclinations may lead him, or to which his talents may be
adapted. Monopolies of every description, excepting so far as
they may be given as premiums to inventive genius, are to be
condemned. The monopoly of land in the old world is a serious
evil. The traveller passes over miles and miles of unoccupied
and unimproved land, capable of sustaining its thousands and
its millions in comfort ; and on the borders of these immense
tracts finds thousands of human beings suffering and _perish-
ing, for the want of an opportunity of procuring their living out
of this land, from which they are excluded. This tract belongs
to the crown; that tract belongs to the church; these immense
domains are held by some powerful individual, who chooses to
keep it in its present state for his game preserves ; another
large tract is devoted to some object, which, if it had its value
centuries ago, has now ceased to be of use. Is there any
reason why this land should not be made available to the
support of perishing thousands, whose voluntary labour would
make it so available? In feudal times the powerful baron or
lord took care of his vassals, and regarded himself as to a
CONDITION OF THE POOR AND LABOURING CLASSES. 295
degree bound to provide for them from the estate, which they
cultivated and protected. Things in this respect are changed ;
now the holders of large estates, who seem every where
actuated exclusively by a commercial spirit, feel no farther
bound to their labourers, than to manage their estate in the
least expensive mode possible, to take every advantage of the
competition in the labour market, and get their work performed
as cheaply as possible; and then, having got their labour
accomplished, and having paid their labourers, in money, the
miserable pittance promised, dismiss them without any farther
concern for them. This grows out of the modern refinements
of political economy, which measures all good and all values
by a pecuniary standard. A state of South Carolina slavery, as
far as the physical comforts of the labourer are concerned,
has many advantages over this.
All expectations of any great changes or improvements in
the institutions of society are, in my humble opinion, vain.
There is not wisdom enough, nor virtue enough, to effect, or,
if effected, to maintain them. Ambition, the love of power,
avarice, vanity, and pride, those mighty passions, which sway
the heart, and whose power increases in correspondence with
the means of indulgence, impose insurmountable impediments
to the progress and influence of the true principles of Chris-
tian equality, equity, and kindness. Men without power
fancy they should not abuse it, if acquired ; but the posses-
sion soon contradicts this promise. Poor men _ persuade
themselves, if they were rich, their wealth would be used
only to do good, and make others happy ; but the acquisition
of wealth too often dries up all the springs of sympathy and
kindness, and stimulates inordinately the thirst for farther
acquisition.
Violent revolutions present remedies full of terror and
alarm ; sometimes only open new sources of wretchedness,
and are but the change of one tyranny for another, and that
even more severe and terrible. We may hope something
296 CONDITION OF THE POOR AND LABOURING CLASSES.
from advancing and extended education. This education
may improve and enlighten public opinion; and, in the
present wide and constantly-extending influence of the press,
public opinion seems to present the strongest barrier against
the abuse of power, and to be the great exciter to justice and
to philanthropic exertion. In proportion as public sentiment
is strong, and based upon and controlled by the principles
of Christian equity, alas! so little understood, we may hope
for some substantial amelioration in the condition of society ;
but this seems at present distant and uncertain.
One is consoled in this case by looking at the amount of
good which may be effected by such men as the Swiss
peasant whom I have described. Suppose him successful in
rescuing from wretchedness, and in forming to habits of indus-
try, frugality, and good conduct, only the eighteen children,
whom, like an affectionate shepherd, he has taken like lambs
in his arms. Imagine these children going out into the
world to multiply the good which he has done, and to spread
its influences through the various ramifications of society.
What a rich harvest will arise, and be the precursor of other
and richer harvests from the small seed sown by this disin-
terested and noble, but poor and humble peasant.
I fear my readers will think me straying from my proper
duty, and I have, therefore, cut short these reflections. I
could not pardon myself if I could look at the condition of
the labouring classes in the old world without the deepest
concern. At present, the farmers of the United States have
the greatest reason to congratulate themselves, to say nothing
of the higher duty of religious gratitude, for the circum-
stances in which they are placed. There is there at present
land enough for all, and open to the acquisition of even the
humblest man, who is willing to labour, and to unite with this
labour, temperance and frugality.
IMPORTANT PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. 297
XL. IMPORTANT PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
The great points to which I think the attention of Ameri-
can farmers, and of other farmers, should be called I shall
briefly enumerate.
1. THoroven Draryine anp Deep Curtivation.—The first
of all improvements should be the thorough draining and
deep cultivation of the soil. The Deanston system of thorough
draining and subsoiling has effected immense benefits in
England, and promises to establish itself as one of the
greatest single improvements ever made in husbandry. In
Flanders, thorough draining, as it is called, does not prevail ;
but their surface-draining is most carefully attended to, and
trenching with the spade is even much better, though in most
cases more expensive than subsoiling. Indeed, their land,
to the depth of two feet in the best cultivated districts, is
completely turned over, and thoroughly intermixed once in
the course of every six years.
2. Manures.—The second great point, and that which
almost transcends all others in its claims upon the farmer’s
attention, is the manufacture and increase of manure. It
must be acknowledged that the resources for this object
within the reach of most farmers are not half used, and
means of creating and accumulating manures are neglected
or wasted, which waste, if it could be represented by any
pecuniary value, would astonish us. On many an English
farm there are resources for manure neglected or lost, which
would be much more than an equivalent for the rent. Let
me here revert to the immense value of liquid manure, and
the provision for and means of saving it, which I have treated
so much at large.
298 IMPORTANT PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
3. Sortine or Carriz.—tThe third point of great considera-
tion is that of the soiling of cattle. There are vast tracts of
pasture land, to which the plough cannot be applied. Sheep
and young cattle may occupy these. But the farmer will
find an immense advantage in soiling his beef cattle and
cows, and oftentimes his sheep also. They will be fed at less
expense ; they will be more under his inspection and control ;
they will give him equal and, according to the opinions of
many experienced farmers, greater returns in beef, butter, and
cheese, than if kept in the ordinary way. Above all, the ex-
traordinary and valuable increase of his manure-heap and
cistern, under such circumstances, is a consideration above
all others. Next to labour, manure is the great element of a
farmer’s prosperity.
4. IMPROVEMENT OF LivE Stock.—The fourth great matter
to which I would call the farmer’s attention is the improve-
ment of his live stock. It is difficult to speak too highly of
the skill and success of the English in the improvement of
their breeds of sheep, swine, cattle, and, I will add, horses.
I do not say that their breeds are all such as are best adapted
for the United States. I need not repeat the opinions which
I have already given in this matter. Different breeds of
animals are suited to particular localities ; and the extent of
the United States presents every variety of aspect, soil, and
climate ; and is marked by different kinds of husbandry,
such as the raising of stock for beef or labour ; the growing of
wool, fine or coarse, short or long; and the produce of the
dairy. These points are all to be considered in the selection
of a stock for breeding. An improved Durham short-horn
would thrive and develope all his richness and beauty in the
fertile meadows of Kentucky and Ohio, and the rich prairies
of the west, who would become poor and dwarfish in some of
the rocky and almost barren pastures of the north. But that
to which I wish particularly to call the attention of the
IMPORTANT PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. 299
farmers of the United States is, the improvement of their
stock by patient care, skill, and selection. They may import
animals of improved breeds to advantage ; they may cross
the best of their own stocks with the best animals which they
can find; and, above all, let them determine always to select
the best animals for breeding, and breed only from the best ;
never sacrifice a superior calf or lamb to the butcher, nor be
satisfied with the services of inferior animals for the increase
of their stock, under which they are sure to deteriorate.
5. Improvep ARTICLES oF CuLtturE.—The next matter to
which I beg their attention, is the cultivation of esculent
vegetables, the improvement of plants, and the introduction
of new articles of cultivation. The cultivation of esculent
vegetables for stock, such as turnips, ruta-baga, carrots,
parsnips, or bect-root, is a matter which I would strongly
recommend. Besides its being more conducive to the health
of the animals, to their increase in meat and in milk, it will
enable the farmer, in the feeding of his cattle, to consume his
straw to advantage, and save more expensive forage ; and so
increase his stock.
The improvement of plants, by the careful selection of the
earliest ripe, the fullest and the most perfect plants and seeds,
may be carried to an equal extent with the improvement of
animals. The fine barley called the Chevalier barley, and
many of the finest kinds of wheat which are cultivated in
Europe, are the product of some individual plants, selected
in a large field, and carefully cherished by the cultivator.
The difference in the time of ripening, the difference in the
amount of product, the difference in the quality of the grain,
are all essential considerations.
6. New Arrictes oF Cutturr.—tThe introduction of new
articles of cultivation are points of much importance. The
flax crop is not by any means so extensively cultivated in the
300 IMPORTANT PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
United States, as it may be to advantage, especially when
the value of its seed for fatting cattle is taken into the
account. No article is more nutritious nor fattening both
for sheep and cattle. I am diffident in advising the cultiva-
tion in the United States of the oleaginous plants of Hol-
land and Belgium, such as colza, rape, poppy, &c. The
expediency of doing this can only be determined by experi-
ment. The cultivation of beet-root for sugar, considering
the cheapness of the manufacture where it is well understood,
and managed on a large scale, and especially in connexion
with the value of the refuse for feeding and fattening cattle,
deserves much thought and inquiry. Without reference to
the production of sugar, the value of the crop for feeding
stock, considering that no crop yields more, is more relished
by cattle, or keeps sound to a later period in the spring, is
great, and strongly recommends it. Few crops yield more
to the acre, when well cultivated, or leave the land in better
condition for a succeeding crop of grain. My own views in
regard to this crop have most essentially altered in its
favour.
Lucerne, sainfoin, and vetches, are comparatively little cul-
tivated in the United States. They are all in proper situa-
tions highly valuable. Lucerne, in any system of soiling,
would be extremely useful as sowing early in the spring, and
giving under good culture an enormous yield, being at the
same time a plant which actually enriches the soil. For later
feeding in the season, the farmers of the United States have
that most valuable of all plants for its forage and its grain,
Indian corn, or maize. I may say, with the great Arthur
Young, “that a country is signally blessed above others,
which can grow Indian corn.” In the middle states of the
United States, sainfoin might perhaps be cultivated to advan-
tage ; in the northern states, experience has shown that the
winters are too severe for it. It makes a most nutritious and
excellent hay. Vetches yield a large abundance of green
IMPORTANT PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. 301
feed. St. John’s day rye, of which I have spoken, may be cut
two or three times, and yield also a large crop of grain. This
would make an excellent forage for the purpose of soiling ;
so, also, the improved Italian rye grass, which, when properly
cared for, bears cutting several times in a season, and yields
most abundantly.
I must add, in the next place, that I should be glad to see
the cultivation of the vine extended in the United States.
In many parts of France, Germany, and Switzerland, it occu-
pies land, steep acclivities, heights wholly inaccessible to a
horse or cart, and where the manure is always carried up, the
produce brought down, and sometimes the very soil in which
it grows, transported by hand. There is land enough in
the United States for its cultivation without such extreme
toil. As an article of commerce, it would probably prove
lucrative ; and as an article of comfort, perhaps few are more
erateful and harmless. I speak in this case of the light wines
of France, which do not intoxicate unless drunk to beastly
excess. The strong wines of Spain and Portugal are made
by some factitious process, and charged with brandy; but
the light wines of France, being the pure juice of the grape,
exhilarate, but do not intoxicate. They take the place of
tea and coffee among the labouring people, and constitute an
innocent alleviation of their severe toil. I should be sorry in
any way to abridge these comforts, especially as I may say
in truth, after travelling a long distance in the wine-growing
districts, and at the time of the wine-making, or vintage,
when it is to be had in the greatest abundance, that I saw no
drunkenness or intoxication in any degree; and I may add,
that so far as my observation goes, there is not a more tem-
perate people, than are to be found in the wine-growing de-
partments of France.
I need not add, that under the auspicious circumstances in
which the United States are placed, her agriculture must be
constantly increasing in importance to the country itself, and
302 IMPORTANT PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
to the civilized world, for her commerce penetrates every sea,
and her bread-grains, as they have already done, may be of
immense importance, and of indispensable necessity, in feed-
ing the inhabitants of the old world.
This completes the task which I undertook of giving, from
personal observations, an account of European Agriculture
and Rural Economy. I commend my work to the indulgence
and candour of my readers. It was an undertaking too great
for an individual to accomplish as one would desire that it
should be done. It must satisfy me, I hope it will satisfy
my friends, that I have, with unceasing anxiety, sought to
execute it as well as I could. It was not to be expected that
I should give a complete system of agriculture; but I have
constantly endeavoured to collect and present that informa-
tion which would be most useful; and to convey it in a
simple and practical form. I have omitted many circum-
stances, because they are well known. I have given full
details wherever I thought they were required. As to my
opinions on any subject upon which I have treated, I can only
answer that they are my own; that I am quite ready to
yield them, when I find, upon further information, reason so
to do ; and, above all, that my opinions or judgments do not
encroach upon the personal right of independent judgment
and opinion in any and all others.
European agriculture lays under many burdens, from which
the United States are free, and I pray may long remain so.
The weight of taxation in most of the countries of Europe is
very oppressive. The unproductive classes are numerous to an
excess. Immense standing armies ; governments enormously
expensive, and in a great measure irresponsible to the people;
ecclesiastical establishments, and their attachés, demanding
large contributions from labour, and returning, in many
cases, little more in value than the bishop’s blessing in sop’s
fable, are all to be sustained from the soil, and by the labour
of those who cultivate it. In their present exemption from
APPENDIX. 303
these burdens, the farmers of the United States are greatly
blessed. May they duly appreciate their singular advantages,
than which none greater ever fell to the lot of man in his
social condition. ‘To them we may apply the beautiful line
of the immortal poet—
O! ter beati Agricole, si sua bona nérint?.
' Thrice happy farmers, if they only knew their blessings.
APPENDIX.
EXTRACTS FROM THE REV. MR. RHAM’S FLEMISH HUSBANDRY.
SELECT FARMS.
I. “ A little beyond Courtray is a farm particularly noticed by Mr. Radcliffe.
This farm is one of the finest and most compact we have seen. It consists of
about one hundred and forty acres, of which about twenty are fine meadows
along the river, occasionally flooded in winter, but not irrigated ; about ten
acres are rich heavy land, adjoining the meadows, in which beans and wheat
thrive well; all the remainder, about one hundred and six acres, lie in an
oblong field bounded by a hedge-row. A road or path, six feet wide, runs
through the middle of the field. The soil of this field is a rich light loam,
which lies over a substratum of clay, but at such a depth as to be perfectly
sound and dry. It is not extremely fertile in its own nature, but has been
rendered so by many years of an improving husbandry. Every part of the
land has been repeatedly trenched and stirred two or three feet deep ; and the
immense quantity of manure, chiefly liquid, put on year after year, has con-
verted the whole into a very rich mould. The strength and vigour of the crops
bear witness to the goodness of the husbandry. There were fifteen acres of
most beautiful flax of a bright straw colour, and the stems a yard long. This,
besides the seed, was worth in the stack from 25/. to 30/. per acre ; twelve
acres of colza had produced about four hundred bushels of seed ; eighteen
acres of oats looked so promising, that they could not be set at less than forty-
five bushels per acre ; eighteen acres of wheat, which stood well with short but
plump ears, we valued at forty bushels per acre ; eighteen acres of rye, partly
cut, with the straw above six feet high, would probably produce rather more
than the wheat. There were six acres of white poppy, of which every plant
was strong and upright, and the ground under it as clean as a garden: the
expected produce would be about twenty to twenty-three bushels per acre; six
acres were in potatoes, expected to produce three hundred and seventy-eight
bushels per acre. A small patch, about an acre, was in carrots, which looked
fine and large ;atwelve acres were in clover, nearly the whole of which was cut
304 APPENDIX.
green to give to the cows and horses ; it produces three good cuts in the year
where it is not allowed to go to seed. The ten acres of heavy land were partly
in beans and partly in wheat.
“ Thus we have one hundred and sixteen acres all profitably cropped, leaving
four acres for the roads and farm-buildings. Although this farm is within two
miles and a half of Courtray, the greatest part of the manure is collected on the
farm. Rape-cake is used most profusely, and to this, as well as to the depth of
the soil, the beauty of the flax is ascribed.”
Il. “ Near Alost we met with one of the smallest farms, which will maintain
a family without other work: it was barely five acres. There was a small
orchard of about a quarter of an acre, in which there were some thriving apple
and plum trees. The grass under these was good ; and the only cow which
the man had was led by the wife to graze there for a short time every day,
apparently more for exercise than for food. The grass seemed to have been
cut for her in another part. The man regretted that he had not the means to
purchase a second cow, as he could have maintained two very weil. Half of
the land was in wheat, the other half in clover, flax, and potatoes ; so that the
clover did not recur sooner than in six years ; the flax and potatoes in nine.
As soon as the wheat was cut, he began to hack the stubble about’ four inches
deep, with the heavy hoe, and as fast as he got a piece done, it was sown with
turnips, after having some of the contents of the urine-tank poured over it ;
for, small as the farm was, it had its reservoir for this precious manure. Thus a
considerable portion of the wheat stubble was soon covered with young turnips of
a quick-growing sort, which, if sown before the middle of August, avere fit to be
pulled in November, and stored in the cellar for winter use. There was a small
patch of cameline, which was sown less for the seed than for the stem, of which
he made brooms in his leisure hours, when snow covered the ground. The
whole five acres had to be dug in the course of the year, and as much of it as
possible trenched ; the soil being a stiff loam of a good depth, which was much
improved by trenching and stirring. The milk and potatoes fed the family,
with the addition of a little salt pork ; for a pig was fed on the refuse of the
food given to the cow, and a very little corn, and consequently was not over-
burdened with fat. Most of the wheat and all the flax were sold, and more
than paid the rent, which was not high—about 10/. a year. Incessant labour
kept the man in good health, and his wife was not idle. They had two or three
young children ; but, except the wish for another cow, there seemed no great
dissatisfaction with their lot, nor any great fears for the future. They had no
parish-fund to fall back upon, not even a union workhouse ; but, had they come
to want by unforeseen accidents, they would have found the hand of private
charity stretched out to help them.”
THE END. *
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