Treatise on Agriculture.

SECT. II.

Of the actual state of Agriculture in Europe.

This is very different in different states, and even in different parts of the same state; its greater or less degree of perfection, depending on causes physical, or political, or both. Where a state, or part of a state, from soil, climate, manners, or geographical position, draws its principal subsistence from the fishery or the chase, as in the more northern parts of Europe, agriculture will not succeed; when a state is from any cause both essentially maritime or manufacturing, as in England, or principally manufacturing, as in Prussia; where public opinion has degraded manual labour, as in Spain, Portugal, and the Papal territory; or where laws villainize it, as in Russia, Prussia, Poland, Hungary, &c. &c. it is in vain to expect pre-eminent agriculture.—These principles will receive illustration as we go along.

1. In the Campania of Rome, where in the time of Pliny were counted twenty-three cities, the traveller is now astonished and depressed at the silence and desolation that surround him.—Even from Rome to Trescati, (four leagues of road the most frequented) we find only an arid plain, without trees, without meadows, natural or artificial, and without villages, or other habitation of man! Yet is this wretchedness not the fault of soil or climate, which (with little alteration[2]) continue to be what they were in the days of Augustus. "Man is the only growth that dwindles here," and to his deficient or ill directed industry, are owing all the calamities of the scene.[3] Instead of the hardy and masculine labours of the field; the successors of Cato and of Pliny employ themselves in fabricating sacred vases, hair powders and pomatums, artificial pearls, fiddle strings, embroidered gloves, and religious relics! They are also great collectors of pictures, statues, and medals—"dirty gods and coins," and find an ample reward in the ignorance and credulity of those who buy them.

2. How different from this picture is that of Tuscany! where the soil, though less fertile,[4] is covered with grains, with vines, and with cattle; and where a surface of 1200 square leagues, subsists a population of nine hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, of whom eighty thousand are agriculturists. It may amuse, if it does not instruct, the reader, to offer a few details of a husbandry, among the most distinguished of the present age. The plough of the north of Europe, as of this country, has the powers of a wedge, and acts perpendicularly; but that of Tuscany resembles a shovel, is eight or nine inches long, and nearly as broad, and cuts the earth horizontally. This instrument is particularly adapted to the loose and friable texture of the soil. A second plough, of the same shape, but of smaller size, follows that already described, and with the aid of the hoe and the spade,[5] throws the earth, already broken and pulverised, into four feet ridges, or beds, on which the crop is sown. The furrows answer a threefold purpose; they drain the beds of excessive moisture, ventilate the growing crops, and supply paths for the weeders.

The rotation of crops, employs two periods of different length; the one of three, the other of five years. In the rotation of three years, the ground is sown five times, and in that of four years, seven times, as follows.

First year, wheat, and after wheat lupins.

Second year wheat, and after wheat turnips.

Third year, Indian corn or millet.

First year, wheat, and after wheat beans.

Second year, wheat, and after wheat lupins.

Third year, wheat, and after wheat lupinella: (annual clover.)

Fourth year, Indian corn, or millet.

In the Syanese Maremna, where the lands want neither repose or manure, the constant alternation is hemp and wheat, and the produce of the latter, often twenty-four bushels threshed, for one sown.

It will be seen from this course of crops, that the principal object of Tuscan agriculture, is wheat, of which they have two species, the one bald, the other bearded; both larger than the corresponding species in other countries of Europe; convertible into excellent bread and pastes, and probably but varieties of that Sicilian family, which Pliny describes, as yielding "most flour and least bran, and suffering no degradation from time." It is harvested about the middle of June and when the grain crop is secured, the ploughing for the second, or forage crop, begins; which besides lupins, lupinella, and beans, often consists of a mixture of lupins, turnips, and flax. The lupins ripen first and are gathered in autumn; the turnips are drawn in the winter and the flax in the spring.

Besides the application of ordinary manures, the lupin is ploughed down, when in flower; a practice that began with the Romans: Columella says, "of all leguminous vegetables, the lupin is that which most merits attention, because it costs least, employs least time and furnishes an excellent manure." The culture of this vegetable is different, according to the purposes for which it is raised; if for grain, the ground has two ploughings and twenty-five pounds weight of seed to a square of a hundred toises: if for manure, one ploughing is sufficient. Like our buckwheat, its vegetation is quick and its growth rapid; whence the farther advantage of suppressing, and even of destroying the weeds that would have infested any other crop. In the neighbourhood of Florence, they are in the practice of burning the soil; which they do by digging holes, filling them with faggots and raising the earth into mounds over them.—The faggots are then inflamed and burnt, and with them the incumbent earth, which is afterwards scattered, so as to give the whole field the same preparation.

3d. "The countries," says Arthur Young, "the most rich and flourishing of Europe, in proportion to their extent, are probably Piedmont and the Milanese. We there meet all the signs of prosperity—an active and well conditioned population, great exportations, considerable interior consumption, superb roads, many opulent towns, a ready and abundant circulation, the interest of money low, the price of labour high; in one word, it is impossible to cite a single fact that shews that Manchester, Birmingham, Rouen, and Lyons, are in a condition equally prosperous, as the whole of these Dutchies." Their population is stated at "1,114,000, and the territory at little more than two millions of arpents, (acres.) Wheat, rye, indian corn, flax and hemp, the vine and the olive, the caper and the cotton tree, with all kinds of garden fruits and vegetables, are cultivated here: the soil knows no repose, and much of it yields annually and uniformly two crops of grain, or three of grass."[6] These are the miracles of irrigation; not a drop of water is lost. Besides the permanent supplies furnished from lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks and springs, even the winter torrent and summer shower, are every where intercepted by drains, and led to reservoirs; whence they are distributed at will to the neighbouring grounds.

In 1770, an agricultural school was established at Milan, consisting of 220 boys, who were instructed in theoretical and practical husbandry.—This institution has escaped the notice of travellers; and we are unable to say whether it has or has not, fulfilled the intentions of its projectors.

4. Switzerland has about 1444 square leagues of surface, and presents an assemblage of mountains, one rising above another, until the summits are lost in masses of snow and ice, which never melt. This short description sufficiently indicates the character of both the soil and the climate; yet unpropitious as these are, we find a population of 1242 inhabitants to each square league! "This is perhaps the country of the world, which presents the most happy effects of an industry always active and persevering. The traveller who climbs her mountains, is struck with admiration when he beholds vineyards and rich pastures in those places, which before appeared naked and barren rocks. The traces of the plough are perceived on the border of precipices, where the most savage animals do not pass without danger; in one word the inhabitants appear to have conquered all obstacles, whether arising from soil, position or climate and to have drawn abundance from territory, condemned by nature to perpetual sterility."[7]

5. The classical reader will remember, that Spain was the garden of the Hesperides of the Roman writers; by which was meant the combinations of a fine climate, a rich soil and an active and intelligent agriculture. To this state of things, even the empire of the Goths was not fatal,[8] and that of the Moors rendered it still more distinguished. In their hands, the plains of Valentia were cultivated throughout, with the utmost care and skill; and where their wheels, reservoirs, and drains of irrigation, yet remain, the soil continues to yield the richest and most abundant products. In Catalonia, Navarre, Galitia and the Austurias, many species of the ancient agriculture are yet in vigour, because "the leases are long, and the landlord cannot capriciously violate them." The same causes are followed by the same effects, in the three districts of Biscaya, Guiposcoa and Alava. "In running over these, every thing one finds is animated by the presence of liberty and industry; nothing can be more charming than the coasts, nothing more attractive than the culture of the vallies. Throughout the thirty leagues that separate Bedassod from Vittoria, every quarter of an hour we discover some well built village, or comfortable cottage."[9]

How different is the aspect of the other provinces! In these, not more than two thirds of the earth are cultivated; and "it is not uncommon to travel eight and ten leagues together, without finding a trace of human industry. In the district of Badejoz alone, is a desert of twenty-six leagues in length and twelve in breadth.[10] Ten of the fourteen leagues that traverse the duchy of Medina Sidonia, consist altogether of pasturage. There is no where a vestige of man; not an orchard, not a garden, not a ditch, not a cottage to be seen! The great proprietor appears to reign, like the lion in the desert, repulsing by his roaring all who would approach him. But, instead of human colonies, we encounter troops of horned cattle and of mares, wandering, self directed, over plains, to which the eye can discover no boundary or barrier, and which brings to one's recollection the days when the beasts shared with man the empire of the earth."[11]

"Even when the plough is used, it is little more than a great knife fastened to a stick, that just scratches the surface. The grain is threshed by horses, or mules driven over it, of by means of a plank studded with nails or flint stones and drawn across it. With even this miserable culture, the land in Andalusia yields considerable crops; yet are the inhabitants too lazy or too few to gather them together. This is done by Galiegos, who are the labourers of Spain." We need scarcely remark, that in a state of agriculture like this, the peasantry cannot be either well fed or well clothed. "The mountaineers live principally upon roasted acorns and goats' milk, and those of the plain (from Barcelona to Malaga) on bread steeped with oil, and occasionally seasoned with vinegar."[12]

It is wide of our object to examine the causes of the degradation of character, which marks the agriculture of Spain. Well informed writers have ascribed it to the expulsion of the Moors and Jews, to the weight of taxes and imposts, to the mesta or common right of pasturage, to the discovery of America and its consequences, to the effect of climate and the ill judged charity of bishops and convents, but principally to the great manorial grants and unequal division of the soil, which followed the conquest. "We often find six, eight, ten, and even fifteen leagues of extent belonging to one master. The nobility and clergy possess nearly the whole country. One third of Spain belongs to the families of Medina, Celi, D'Alva, De l'Infatado, D'Aceda, and to the archbishops, bishops and chapters of Toledo, Compostella, Valentia, Seville and Murcia. A great proportion of these lands remain untilled and untenanted, and those which are let in Cortijo or farms are double or treble the quantity that can be occupied in tillage."[13]

6. The agriculture of Portugal, has been subjected to the same evils as that of Spain, to which may be superadded, her connexion with Great Britain; under whose policy she has become a raiser of fruit instead of grain.

7. France is probably the country of Europe, which most unites the great desiderata of an extended and profitable agriculture; fertility of soil, mildness of climate, a dense population, an enlightened government, and facility of exportation. Within her ancient limits, she boasts of a surface of more than one hundred and fifteen millions of arpents, and a population of twenty-two millions of inhabitants. The following tables will shew, in a compressed form, the nature of her soil, and the use to which it is put.[14]

GEOLOGICAL TABLE.

Arpents or Acres.

Alluvial and other rich soil,26,159,340

Chalky do13,268,911

Gravelly do3,261,826

Stony do18,128,660

Sandy do7,553,956

Substratum of clay with a slight

covering of sand—called

landes,21,879,120

Granitic and other mountains25,261,946

AGRICULTURAL TABLES.

Arable land63,600,000

Vineyards,4,764,960

Woods,15,931,850

Natural meadows,5,464,800

Artificial meadows,6,332,100

Lakes, marshes, wastes,19,400,049

Total,115,493,759

From the average of a number of statistical tables made by the Abbe D'Expillyt and others, it appears that in 1777, the agriculture of France was sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants, and had a surplus to spare;[15] and though it be universally admitted that her condition in this respect is not less prosperous now than it was then,[16] still it cannot be dissembled that her husbandry has many defects.

1. A supposed resemblance between the earth and animals, gave rise to fallows; because men and horses required repose after labour, it was supposed that after cropping, the earth also required it. Faithful to this absurd analogy, the French landlord binds down his tenent by lease, not to crop the soil more than three years in four, which in effect is to consign to barrenness or weeds, one fourth of the whole arable land of France yearly!

2. There is not a sufficiently fixed, or steady proportion, between arable and pasture land.—The production of grain is the great object of culture—often with too little regard to the nature of the soil, and generally without any to its improvement. "Where pasturage is scanty, where natural meadows are bad, where artificial are rare, and root husbandry little extended, cattle cannot be either numerous or well conditioned; and as without these there can be no manure, so without manure there can be no abundance."[17]

3. The land is generally worked by farmers, hired for that purpose, or by renters on short leases; which in neither case betters the condition of the soil; the one having no interest in improvements, and the other too small a one to justify any expense in making them.

4. A good rotation system, adapted to the soil and climate, is not absolutely unknown, and may be found even in whole districts (as in French Flanders) but much too rarely. We have seen wheat and fallows alternately for years; and wheat, rye, hemp, and rye, and many others equally ridiculous.

5. To the eye, more than one half of France is a common, without fences of any kind, excepting garden or park walls. Can there be order, economy and security, under such circumstances? Can the police and the gens d'armes be sufficient substitutes?

[Albany Argus.

(To be continued.)