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judices, idleness, and want of spirit in the inhabitants of other places, where fallowing abounds, where manure is purchased in small quantities, where sheep are few and in bad condition; and a good soil is so far exhausted as to produce no other crop than scanty ears of rye or barley, amidst a luxurious produce of all kinds of weeds.

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It is not easy to determine whether the old or the new husbandry be preferable in every country with regard to this point, the climate, the situation of particular land, the soil, the skill and dexterity in the management of the implements, and new machines, in addition to the comparative expence in raising crops must be accurately attended to, before a decision can in all cases be made.

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Drill-husbandry has been well described as practice of a garden introduced into the field." Every person of the least reflection must be sensible that the former is far preferable to the latter, only that it is a little more expensive. But if this expence be generally far more than repaid by the superior goodness and value of drilled crops, it ought to have no weight in comparing the two methods of husbandry.

Nature has an immediate tendency to the multiplication of the human species, and her influence is more particularly visible in the country, where pure air, plain diet, and the regularity of rural employments conduce to this great end. The country is the prolific seminary of cities. Accordingly we find that emigration advances from the former to the latter. Villages are the nurseries of mankind, and their inhabitants can alone make up for the vast and rapid consumption of the human species, caused by the luxury, celibacy, pros titution, and impure atmosphere of large towns, and particularly of the metropolis. In addition to the

checks which population receives from great cities, may be enumerated the inequality of the ranks and fortunes of men, which in some countries may for ever prevent an increase of inhabitants from being considerable, provided the upper ranks have it in their power to prevent the combinations of the lower, and to keep property in the same state. The depopulation of Italy in the later times of the Roman empire, was occasioned by the great inequality of ranks, the prevalence of luxury, the number of country-seats, and arable land being converted into unproductive pleasure grounds.

Excessive population, if unattended by adequate means of support, so far from proving a blessing to a country, is calculated to produce the most deplorable scenes of wretchedness. The unhappy extremity to which a people are reduced by its excess is evident among the Chinese, where the inhuman custom of exposing children prevails, in consequence of the difficulty of supplying them with food; and every species of vermin is sought to sustain the existence of wretches perishing with hunger. In France, a few years past, the price of labour was so low, as scarcely to save a workman from starving; and that business was performed badly by three men, for which in England one is found sufficient. France, before the revolution, exhibited to the eye of the traveller all the misery and inactivity of the half starved ́and idle people. From such instances it is evident that a nation possesses its proper number of inhabitants when they are commensurate with the quantity of food, which it either produces, or can constantly purchase with its manufactures from its neighbours ; and when it is not liable to be exposed to famine by the failure of a har

vest, as has sometimes been the case in France. The difficulty of procuring subsistence therefore constitutes a check to population, and operates as a great obstacle to marriage; which will seldom fail to take place, when there is a reasonable prospect of provision for a family.

4. The Peasant, although he may be disregarded by the superficial, or viewed with contempt by the vain, will be placed by those who judge of things not by their external appearance, but their intrinsic worth, in the most useful class of mankind. His occupation is conducive not only to the prosperity, but to the existence of society. He prepares the ground, scatters the seed, and reaps the harvest of those vegetable productions, which form the principal support of human life. For this end he braves the rigour of the winter, endures the heat of summer, and patiently supports all the vicissitudes of weather. He is placed at a distance from most of the objects which can excite his ambition, or satisfy his curiosity. His life is one unwearied course of hardy exertion, and persevering toil. The vigour of his youth is exhausted by labour; and what are the hopes and consolations of his age? Sickness may deprive him of the opportunity of providing the least supply for the closing years of life; and the gloomy confinement of a workhouse, or the scanty pittance of parochial help, is his last and only resource. By his condition may be estimated the prosperity of a nation; the real opulence, strength, and security of the public are proportionate to the comfort which he enjoys; and his wretchedness is the sure criterion of a bad administration of government. The distance between him and the nobleman, whose soil he tills, may appear very great; but the occupa

tions of the peasant are connected with his plenty, affluence, and magnificence, by ties, which, however they may escape common and superficial observation, are yet strong and numerous. The enjoyments of the great are procured by the sweat of his brow, and by his toils they are enabled to run the round of pleasure and dissipation. The prince or the peer, who is surrounded by a numerous retinue, and whose luxury is supplied by the produce of every quarter of the globe, will do well to recollect, that he is every day indebted to the accumulated labour of the lower classes of society, of which the poorest and the most unhappy peasant contributes his share.

And here humanity as well as justice may ask, what ought to be the recompence of so useful and valuable a member of society? He ought certainly to be rendered as comfortable as his situation of life will allow. And the circumstance of their dependence upon his exertions ought to induce his employers to contribute all in their power to alleviate his necessities, and reward his labours. That country gentleman will deserve to be celebrated like a Howard, and a Hanway, who, reducing a plan to practice, which does not benefit the lower classes of the community too much at the expence of the higher, shall give to the husbandman a stronger interest in the constitution of his country; enlarge the circle of his comforts; supply his board with more provision; clothe him more effectually against the inclemency of the seasons; and enable him to lay up a competent supply for the day of sickness, and the infirmities of age.

CHAPTER II.

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED.

OUR inquiries are carried on to consider the comparative state of agriculture, with a view to ascertain in what country it has the superiority, and to what causes that superiority may be ascribed. The field of comparison cannot be very extensive; since it does not include very cold or very hot countries.

The na

ture of the climate will determine its just limits, direct our attention to the degrees of latitude, which are the same, or nearly the same, as those which include the island of Great Britain.

Various advantages seem to conspire to carry the agriculture of France to a greater degree of perfection than our own. Among these advantages it is not intended to enumerate the forty societies of agriculture, which, considering the state of the art in France, at a recent period, are really contemptible*. Its soft and genial climate is highly propitious to the growth of corn. Nature has been peculiarly kind to this delightful country, in giving such prolific powers to its soil. The proportion of bad land in England to the whole kingdom is greater than in France.

Yet, destitute of these advantages, England can boast of a produce of corn far superior to that of France. The average growth of wheat and rye is twenty-four

* My statement is principally taken from A. Young's Travels in 1789, and from the answers obtained to my questions in the Isle of France, Picardy, and Normandy in 1791.

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