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 Continental farming and peasantry. 
 
 3 1924 001 043 433 
 

The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924001043433 
 

CONTINENTAL FAEMING 
 
 
 PEASANTRY. 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES HOWARD, M.P. 
 
 LONDON: 
 WILLIAM RIDGWAY, 169, PICCADILLY. 
 
 18 70. 
 
I J i w fi f) ;( S'^ 3 
 
 YH/rflOfJ 
 
 c.a.^s-B'a 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 FEINTED BY EGGEESON AND TUXFOED, 
 
 265, STRAND, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In November last, I read a Paper on the Farming and 
 Peasantry of the Continent at the Farmers' Club, London. 
 A day or two afterwards. The Times published a leading 
 article on the subject ; subsequently, other newspapers and 
 periodicals criticized the views I had advanced. 
 
 Owing to such prominent notice, I had a great number 
 of applications for copies of my Paper, and was urged to 
 publish it. Upon the assembling of Parliament, so many 
 Members of the House expressed a similar wish, that I 
 have at length yielded to the request so frequently made 
 to me. 
 
 In addition to the Paper read at the Farmers' Club, I 
 have given an Appendix, containing answers to a number of 
 questions which I put to persons of experience in the rural 
 affairs of their own countries. 
 
 Opinions have been ex^essed, that my strictures on 
 
 petite culture and on the farming of Belgium were too 
 
 severe, and that I had looked upon things too much from 
 
 an English stand-point. I have therefore given copious 
 
 extracts, from a Report on the subject, just pubUshed by 
 
IV PREFACE . 
 
 the Royal Agricultural Society of England, which cor- 
 roborate the views I had previously expressed. 
 
 The Report is the joint production of Professor 
 Augustus Voelcker and Mr. Jenkins, F.G.S., Editor of 
 the Royal Agricultural Journal. These gentlemen went 
 over to Belgium last autumn, as a deputation from the 
 Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England ; the 
 Society being desirous of obtaining the fullest and most 
 reliable information upon the agriculture of that country. 
 I would recommend all who feel an interest in the subject, 
 to refer to the current number of the Royal Agricultural 
 Journal, pubhshed by J. Murray, Albemarle Street, 
 London, 
 
 JAMES HOWARD. 
 
 Bedford, March 1, 1870. 
 
 / 
 
CONTINENTAL 
 
 FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 A few days ago, as I was reading Dr. Norman M'Leod's 
 account of Ms recent journey, entitled "Peeps at the far East," 
 the thought occurred to me that the title of the paper I am 
 about to bring before the Club should have been "Peeps at 
 Continental Farming ;" for, within the space usually devoted to 
 any question discussed in this room, it would be impossible to 
 traverse the whole field embraced by my subject. I believe we 
 have arrived in this country at a position when, as a nation, we 
 are proud of our agriculture, proud of the rapid progress made 
 in the cultivation of the soil, proud of the perfection to which 
 our live stock has been brought, proud, may I say, of our 
 mechanical achievements in farm operations, proud, as the 
 Chairman has remarked, of having been able to compete with 
 the whole world ; further, we are proud that other departments 
 of industry and other nations have come to recognize the 
 scientific status British agriculture has attained. I confess 
 that I share in this pride ; actuated by this feeling, and believ- 
 ing that, in the art of farming, England upon the whole is in 
 advance of every other nation, the conclusion is naturally 
 arrived at that we have little to learn from other countries. 
 For years I travelled backward and forward to ^France im- 
 pressed with the notion that the only lesson we coiJd learn 
 from the farmers across the Channel was the one to be learned 
 from some of our enthusiastic amateur friends at home, viz., 
 practices to be avoided. During the first International Exhibi- 
 tion at Paris (1855) I had occasion to visit some large French 
 farms, which I found thoroughly well-managed ; my insular pre- 
 
3 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 judices from that time gave way. From time to time since 
 that periodj particularly during the International Exhibi- 
 tion of 1867, other farms, both large and small, in different 
 parts of France hare come under my observation. On my 
 return to England, after the close of the Paris Exhibition, I 
 addressed the following letter to the President of the Royal 
 Agricultural Society of England : 
 
 "My Loed Duke, — I desire to draw the attention of the Council to the 
 important question of growing sugar-beet in England. During the Paris Exhibi- 
 tion I made several excursions into the country with a view to see some of the most 
 celebrated farms ; at each I found a large portion of the land devoted to the 
 growth of this root. Upon inquiry I learned that the profit on the crop was far 
 greater than upon any crop grown in England. I have been assured by agricul- 
 turists from various parts of Europe who have visited me, that they see nothing in 
 our soil or climate to prevent the growing of sugar-beet of excellent quality. As it 
 is a question of national importance, I venture to suggest that the Council should 
 send a small deputation to the Continent, to obtain reliable information upon the 
 subject, and upon the best mode of maHng sugar from the beet. M. Decrombecque, 
 of Lens, in the north ; M. Dailly, of Trappes, near Versailles ; Baron BothscHld, 
 of Eerrifereg, near Paris ; M. Cail, at La Briche, near Tours, have very complete 
 sugar factories and fine large farms ; the last named has nearly 4,000 acres. I 
 believe a weU-seleoted deputation to visit, the best farms on the Continent would 
 bring home a vast deal of information on many subjects beyond the particular one 
 in question, which would prove advantageous to British agriculture. 
 
 "To His Grace the Duie of Eiohmond." 
 
 In reply, I received the usual official acknowledgment from the 
 Secretary, Mr. Hall Dare ; but, as no mention was made of the 
 subject in the succinct report which usually appears after each 
 monthly meeting of the Council, I am to this day in ignorance 
 whether the subject ever came before the members or not. 
 Believing that some account of Continental agriculture tvould 
 be interesting if not advantageous to the English farmer, I 
 determined, at the time I have nanled, to bring the subject 
 before this Club. Last year I was prevented from carrying 
 out my intention, but this autumn I determined upon 
 a tour on the Continent, The object I had in view was 
 to note down facts upon any topic that might come under 
 my observation, and more particularly to acquire information 
 upon the subject alluded to in my letter to the President of the 
 Royal Agricultural Society of England. Wherever I went on 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTaY. 3 
 
 my tour I was received with cordial welcome ; information was 
 readily given, and, what was very gratifying, England was 
 always referred to with the greatest respect and the most 
 kindly feeling. If tourists on the Continent, who know any- 
 thing of farming, would strike off into the rural districts, leave 
 for a time the usual sight-seeing of cathedrals, picture galleries, 
 &c., I helieve they would find travelling far less monotonous, 
 and return home not only with more information hut with 
 many more pleasant reminiscences of their trip. I have 
 obtained a good deal of information from persons in various 
 parts of Europe upon the condition of agriculture in their 
 localities. I purpose giving some of the statistical and other 
 facts in an Appendix to my paper, as I think the information is 
 worthy of being placed on record for those who may feel an 
 interest in the inquiry. 
 
 FRENCH FAEMING. 
 
 I would first invite attention to the agriculture of France. 
 French agriculture has long had what many have advocated for 
 England, viz., a Government Department of Agriculture, pre- 
 sided over by a Minister, who takes under his paternal care 
 the whole family of French agriculturists. The collection of 
 statistics, agricultural colleges, veterinary colleges, experimental 
 farms, mechanical museums, schools, roads, drainage, horse- 
 breeding, chemistry, the necessary supply of food for the 
 people, an experimental implement factory, and a hundred 
 other things are under his control, and the expenses of these 
 various institutions and plans are defrayed by the State. 
 
 Again, the State establishes horse shows and agricultural 
 meetings. The whole country has been divided into twelve 
 districts, in each of which a show, termed a " Concours Regional" 
 is held, and large sums are distributed with a view to stimulate 
 improvements in the various departments of farming. At these 
 shows everything is under the control of an Inspector-General 
 of Agriculture, the whole expense being borne by the State. 
 Further, the French Government, with a view to raise the 
 general standard of farming, offers in each of the districts 
 ^200 and a silver cup worth another £130, called the "Pre- 
 
 B 2 
 
4 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY, 
 
 mium of Honour," as a prize for the best managed farm on 
 which the most useful improvements have been introduced. 
 With all these various agencies in full force one might expect 
 that agriculture throughout France would be stripped of every- 
 thing primitivCj and that the motto of the new French Agri- 
 cultural Society " Practice with Science, Progress with Pru- 
 dence" would be everywhere realized. 
 
 If an intelligent English agriculturist were to form bis 
 estimate of French farming by what he could see from the 
 railway between Calais and Paris, he would, from the small 
 number of cattle and sheep and other indications, come to the 
 conclusion that the whole country was going to the bad. This 
 however is not the case ; improvement is very slow, scarcely 
 perceptible, except to those who make an inspection at long 
 intervals. In England it was many years before such farms as 
 the Earl of Leicester's in Norfolk, the Duke of Bedford's at 
 Woburn, and Earl Spencer's in Northamptonshire exerted any 
 marked influence on farms throughout this country. So in 
 France, there are, scattered up and down, farms which are as far 
 in advance of the general agriculture of the country as 
 were the farms of these spirited noblemen at the be- 
 ginning of the present century. The farms I have alluded 
 to have many of them received the " premium of honour," and 
 are exerting a quiet but powerful influence in their respective 
 neighbourhoods. Notably among such farms is that of jSI. 
 Decrombecque, at Lens, about 130 miles from Paris. M. 
 Decrombecque is a very remarkable man ; although upwards of 
 70 years of age he is full of energy ; is well read in agriculture, 
 and knows England : he is familiar too with English methods of 
 farming, of which he has not been slow to avail himself. His 
 farm is 1,300 acres in extent. Half the land is his own, pur- 
 chased out of profits made by farming, and I ought perhaps to 
 add, supplemented by sugar making ; indeed, he told me he had 
 very little capital when he commenced 46 years ago. On the 
 occasion of my visit in the harvest of 1867, his wheat crop was 
 very fine. I saw also 500 acres of beet-root, all on the ridge, 
 without a single blank spot in any part ; he estimated that the 
 produce would weigh about 18 tons per acre. The land had all 
 
CO^fTINENTAL FAftMlNG A*Jl) PEASANTrV. 5 
 
 been ploughed 16 to 18 inches deep, with huge ploughs drawn 
 by ox-teams, 16 in a team. On all the large farms I visited I 
 found two sets of ploughs, one set for ordinary ploughing, and 
 the other for deep work called " charrue profonde." Thirty 
 horses, and 80 working oxen were kept, the latter only working 
 half time. M. Decrombecque has had a sugar factory on his 
 farm for many years ; he thinks that farming without this 
 adjunct must be a very slow affair. 300 to 400 cattle per year 
 are fatted on pulp from the sugar factory. He has adopted the 
 " box" system, which he came over to England to see nearly 
 20 years ago ; he finds great advantage, and I call particular at- 
 tention to the fact, in keeping the cattle in darkness : the animals 
 are not so troubled with flies, they eat better, and he has found 
 that they are much sooner ready for the butcher than when 
 kept in daylight. An operation I saw going on I thought 
 worth making a note of; as soon as, and sometimes before the 
 wheat was carted, heavy flexible or spiked chain harrows were 
 run over the surface with a view to set the annual weeds and 
 shed corn germinating ; the operation is expeditious, and not 
 very costly; and M. Decrombecque, after many years' ex- 
 perience, finds he is amply repaid for the trouble ; he prefers it 
 to any system of paring or shallow ploughing. 
 
 Another highly cultivated farm is that of M. Gustavo Hamoir, 
 at Saultain, near Valenciennes, about 155 miles north of Paris. 
 M. Hamoir is a very superior and intelligent man — quite 
 my notion of what a farmer ought to be — observant, shrewd, 
 well informed, and in manners, the gentleman. In M. Hamoir's 
 district the country is covered with sugar factories, and the 
 properties are much subdivided, 35 acres in one plot being con- 
 sidered quite a large field; one-third, and even one-half the 
 land is cropped with beet-root. There are a few farms of 400 
 to 600 acres, but the general run is about 30 to 40 acres. For 
 five years M. Hamoir has had fully half of his farm cropped 
 with sugar-beet, all the rest wheat, except small portions for 
 growing fodder clover and lucerne. Guano is becoming less 
 esteemed, as it does not produce such good sugar-beet as oilcake 
 (rape), which now is applied to the land as manure. M. Hamoir, 
 like M. Decrombecque, ploughs his land some 16 inches deep 
 
6 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 for the root crop. The rent in this district is higher than in 
 any other I know ; the average is said to be 72s. per acre, and 
 in large plots it sells for as high a price as £100 per acre. The 
 price of land is enhanced from the fact that the French farmer 
 does not and will not appreciate any other investment than land, 
 and will therefore buy at almost any price when the opportunity 
 offers. M. Hamoir says he has known land sell as high asj8192 
 per acre. His opinion is, that it would be better for all interests 
 that the small farmer should not be proprietor or landowner, 
 especially at the price he has to pay : the interest of his money 
 invested in ordinary securities would enable him to hire, even 
 at a high rate, double the quantity of land he can hold as an 
 owner ; but this course is not adopted because of the ignorance 
 which prevails, and the fear of investing money in other ways. 
 Another reason, says M. Hamoir, and at least as powerful a one, 
 is the short duration of leases, which are for nine years : the 
 tenant stands in fear and dread that at the end of his lease he 
 may be ousted for some other competitor. 
 
 I will now give you a picture of a very different district, that 
 of Sologne, about 150 miles south of Paris, in which the Editor 
 of the Journal d' Agriculture Pratique, M. Edouard Lecouteux, 
 has a farm, and to the improvement of which poor region he 
 has devoted himself. In this part of the country there are large 
 estates, some being 5,000 acres in extent, let off however in 
 farms varying from 500 acres down to two acres. The 
 rent of the large farms is from 5s. to 8s. an acre, and the 
 freehold value as low as £3 10s. to £8 per acre, and much of it 
 is held upon the " metayer system." M. Lecouteux states in his 
 graphic style, " that the peasantry and small farmers are pos- 
 sessed by the demon of property in land ;" they buy land and 
 have no capital to work it with. Not much wheat is grown 
 in this district, and the yield is as low as 15 to 18 bushels per 
 acre ; in well cultivated fields the yield may reach 24 to 30 
 bushels per acre. Rye is the principal crop grown, the produce 
 being 18 to 24 bushels per acre. The wages are Is. 8d. per day 
 in summer, and Is. 3d. in winter ; no extras in harvest, but 
 some piecework ; low as these wages are, they are said to have 
 doubled within a few years. 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRV. 7 
 
 The Emperor has a large number of farms in his own hands, 
 termed model farms, the director-in-chief of which is M, 
 Tisserand, a most intelligent agriculturist, who some years ago 
 was an agricultural pupil in Scotland and England. Several of 
 these farms are well worthy of a visit, being well and scientifi- 
 cally managed. This remark does not however apply to the fol- 
 lowing, which has been handed over to Engineers. In 1864, at 
 the request of the Emperor of the French, who was desirous of 
 employing steam power in tillage, I inspected his Majesty's estate 
 of La Benne, near Bayonne, an immense tract of alluvial soil, 
 which, if in England, would long ago have been made as pro- 
 ductive as the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. Al- 
 though thousands upon thousands of pounds have been lavished 
 in experiments, it is yet all but an unreclaimed swamp, and 
 this owing to the simple means employed by the Dutch and 
 English having been set aside for the adoption of an elaborate 
 French idea of reclamation. 
 
 In my letter to the Duke of Richmond, I referred to the large 
 farm of M. Gail, which is situated at La Briche, near Tours, 
 160 miles south-west of. Paris. M. Cail is proprietor of one of 
 the largest engineering establishments in France — a great builder 
 of locomotives. In the early, part of August, 1867, 1 accom- 
 panied him to his farm at La Briche. It consists of about 
 3,800 acres, which he has reclaimed from waste land — bog and 
 wood. Being a thorough utilitarian, not a tree or a fence of 
 any kind has been left : the whole is laid out in large fields, 
 some nearly a mile across, which have been drained, and good 
 hard roads run through the whole property. One grand cen- 
 tral homestead and eight minor ones have been erected. It 
 requires but a glance to be convinced that the proprietor of 
 such a place is a man with an iron will. The central home- 
 stead, the most wonderful place of the kind I know, is 
 worth making the journey to see. The corn barn, with a triple 
 roof like a railway station, is 366 feet long and 130 feet wide, 
 and 32 feet high in the walls j it will contain 1,250 acres of un- 
 thrashed corn. A line of shafting and pulleys runs down the 
 centre throughout the entire length. The thrashing machine, a 
 portable one, is drawn forward as the thrashing is accomplished. 
 
8 CONTINEKTAI, fARMlifiJ AND tilASANTftV. 
 
 Everything is on the same scale; sheds for 600 bullocksj a 
 covered fold for 3,000 sheep, a huge granary for thrashed grain^ 
 tramways to every part, a large beetroot factory at which the 
 roots are made into sugar or spirit according to the prospect of 
 the market. Every vehicle on entering and leaving the home- 
 stead passes over a weigh-bridge at the gates, and the weight of 
 the load is recorded and charged, or credited to the respective 
 fields. The farm is cultivated on the three course shift : 1st, 
 wheat ; 3nd, beetroot; 3rd, clover. I rode over 1,350 acres of 
 fine beetroot, beautifully cultivated. Little attention is given 
 to the hoeing of corn by sugar-beet growers, as the land is sup- 
 posed to be thoroughly cleaned when under the root crop. 
 Horse-hoes for corn are all but unknown ; at all events this 
 implement, so common on an English farm, is seldom met with- 
 
 Boys sent to Reformatories in France are employed in agri- 
 culture till their turn comes for the conscription. The Reforma- 
 tories are called agricultural colonies, and are distributed over 
 the rural districts. I found at La Briche 130 of these boys, 
 from 14 to 18 years old, they work in gangs, under a superin- 
 tendent sent with them from Mettray Reformatory. During 
 the winter evenings they are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, 
 and measuring. The condition of the labourer in this part of 
 Prance, as in most others, is a very hard one. At each of the 
 eight homesteads I have referred to, is a married couple, who 
 supply food to the labourers employed in their division, the 
 greater part of whom are unmarried.. The team-men sleep in the 
 shed with the cattle, two in a bed, or rather in a box, on a sack 
 of straw, a rude floor being put up at one end of the sheds. Up 
 to that period I had never seen men so nearly reduced to a state 
 of slavery. I arrived at the farm about daylight, and found 
 all hands at work. The hours in summer, I learned, were from 
 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ; and, mark this ! till noon on Sundays. The 
 wages, without any perquisites for these long hours, are Is. 8d. 
 per day. A good crop of wheat was being cut, the men using 
 fagging-hooks ; 5s. was the price paid for cutting and binding 
 an imperial acre ; and the wages paid by M. Gail are higher than 
 the current wages of the neighbourhood. 
 
 In spite of the rigid condition in which the labourers of La 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 9 
 
 Briche ^rorlJ, I noticed a deal of apparent good feeling, as well 
 as an approach to familiarity between employer and employed. 
 The men addressed M. Cail with a kindly salutation, whilst, to 
 my astonishment and intense amusement, this gentleman of 
 polished exterior, living in great style at one of the most elegant 
 houses in Paris, saluted the various foremen by kissing them on 
 both cheeks, receiving a corresponding salute in return.. I 
 managed to keep my risible faculties under restraint until arriv- 
 ing at the blacksmiths shop, when a similar scene between M, 
 Cail and the foreman, a grimy son of Vulcan, proved irresistible. 
 M. Cail is a shrewd man of the world, and noticing my amuse- 
 ment, remarked that conforming in this way to the custom of 
 the province had given him a hold upon the people, he could not 
 have obtained had he totally disregarded their notions of 
 " equality and fraternity." 
 
 At the time of my visit I thought the condition of the farm 
 labourer of La Briche might be exceptional, but I find upon 
 inquiry that it is not at all an unfavourable specimen of the 
 'condition of the French peasantry, and that a franc per day 
 has not been an unusual scale of pay. This condition of things 
 is now beginning to bear the fruit that might be expected; ground 
 down in this manner the peasantry have been flying to the 
 cities. About a month ago an article on the subject appeared 
 in a newspaper published at Vendome, 109 miles south of Paris. 
 It commenced by saying " that the fact of the depopulation of 
 the agricultural districts is the gravest thing we have to register 
 at present. It is nothing less than life or death for the whole 
 country/^ Agriculture in France, says the writer, has till 
 lately followed its traditional course, and allowed all other 
 industrial pursuits to outstrip it. Wages have been kept down, 
 and with a view to this object, marriage has been discouraged 
 by proprietors and farmers. Families have become proverbially 
 small, even among the labouring population ; then there has 
 been the conscription, an army of 700,000 to 800,000 men is no 
 slight drain upon the rural population of a nation. It is not 
 difficult to perceive how the present condition of things may 
 lead to a solution of the European question, by rendering a 
 large standing army in France an impossibility. Things have 
 
10 CONTINENTAt I'ABMlNG AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 reached such a pitch in the district of Vendome that the owners 
 of some of the richest land in France, the Count de Gouvello and 
 others, unable to find tenants, have been compelled to resort to 
 the co-operative system for their vrorking of the farms. 
 
 LIVE STOCK OF PttANCE. 
 
 With respect to the live stock of France, there is little to 
 remark upon either the breed of cattle or sheep or the method 
 of feeding. The Swiss cows are in high repute for their milch 
 qualities. The French Charolais are handsome, but, like nearly 
 all the native breeds, they are being crossed by the English 
 Shorthorn or Devon ; at the fat cattle show of Poissy and at 
 other exhibitions I have seen beautiful specimens of cattle 
 thus bred. Except the Merinos, the breeds of sheep possess 
 precisely the qualities which an English breeder would shun, 
 Downs, Leicesters, and Oxfordshires are, however, obliterating 
 the native defects. I may say the same of pigs : Yorkshire, 
 Berkshire, and Essex, have changed the "unclean" appearance* 
 which the pigs had when I first went to France. There is 
 unmistakeably throughout France a marked improvement in the 
 live stock of the farm : M. de la Trehonnais has greatly con- 
 tributed to this advance ; he has been the means of introducing 
 into France many hundreds of our best-bred cattle, sheep, and 
 pigs. 
 
 I believe the efforts of the French Government, whatever may 
 have been the effect of its fostering care in other departments, 
 have unquestionably had a marked and salutary effect on the 
 breed of Horses, and it is not improbable that ere many years, 
 we may have to resort to Prance for a supply of the best riding 
 and carriage horses. Horse breeding establishments, termed 
 Haras, have been carried on by the State for many years. For a 
 trifling fee the farmer can at these establishments obtain the 
 use of the best stallions. Stallions are also sent from these 
 Haras to various districts of the country, and with a further 
 view to encourage the breed of good horses the Government 
 grants a handsome premium to the owner of a good stallion 
 approved by the Government inspector; without a certificate 
 
CONTlNENTAt PAlltotNG AND PEASANTRY, 11 
 
 from the inspector, a horse is of little value for stock purposes. 
 Passing over the improvement in riding and carriage horses, the 
 breed of draught horses is greatly changed ; The Percherons, in 
 particular, has been brought to great perfection, they are not 
 big, but are active and very powerful, and for our hilly districts 
 would prove, I believe, a valuable breed. The French give the 
 English credit for " knowing horseflesh," but maintain we are 
 careless about our horses' feet. Certainly, in the horse shows 
 I have attended the condition of the feet, and also the shoeing^ 
 have shown considerable care.* To any one who desires to see 
 a stable of fine Percheron horses, well managed, I would recom- 
 mend a visit to the Northern Eailway stables in the Place 
 Roubaix, Paris. 
 
 SMALL FARMS OF FRANCE. 
 
 The farms I have hitherto called your attention to are large 
 ones ; with respect to tillage, cropping, or live stock there really 
 is little practical information to be gained from the small ones ; 
 "but I cannot pass them over without a few remarks. Throughout 
 the greater part of France small farms preponderate. There are 
 thousands of one, two, and three-acre farms held by peasants, 
 who fill up their time by working for the larger farmers. The 
 size of farm considered necessary to support a family is about 
 4 hectares (10 acres). A couple of cows are generally kept on 
 such holdings, these supply the family with milk and butter. 
 They are yoked to the plough, and draw the cart to market. 
 Not an uncommon sight, is a bullock and a pony yoked to the 
 plough, or a horse and an ass : I remember once seeing a horse, 
 a bull, and an ass drawing a harrow. These farmers work from 
 sunrise to sunset, doing double the work for themselves they 
 Would for an employer, and they live far harder than the Eng- 
 lish peasants. These small farms grow little beside wheat, rye, 
 oats, clover, and potatoes ; occasionally a patch of turnips or 
 beet is to be seen : Thirty bushels of wheat is considered an 
 excellent crop. Leaving out of the question the Vine districts, 
 
 * At the Paris InteruBtional Exhibition, 1867, 1 exhibited eart-horses, and won 
 the First Prize for the best pair, the only scruple the judges had was the condition 
 of their feet, which they condemned, and, as I thought, not without cause. — J. H. 
 
12 CONTINENTAL I'ARMtNG AND PEASANTEY. 
 
 rows of apple, pear, and plum trees are often to be seen skirting 
 the little corn farms. There is a very material difference 
 between the habits of the French peasantry and the English 
 agricultural labourer. The French are sober, live very hard, 
 and scrape together every penny they can lay hands upon, -with 
 a view to becoming one of the hard-working, hard-living farmers, 
 I have described. 
 
 In drawing my observations upon France to a close, I would 
 remark that the French farmers unquestionably enjoy both in 
 soil and climate great advantages over the English. It may be 
 that for centuries France relied too much upon her natural 
 advantages, and thus reduced the fertility of her soil below the 
 standard of England. Many attribute the smaller productive- 
 ness of France to the pernicious effect of the " Code Napoleon" 
 in the distribution of the land ; that the subdivision of the land 
 to the extent it has been carried in most parts, offers an effectual 
 barrier to agricultural improvements, I think few practical men 
 will doubt: however I will not just now pursue this question 
 further, but will resume it before I finish. Just one word on 
 the government department of agriculture. A considerable 
 number of influential landowners and agriculturists of France 
 have come to regard the government patronage of agriculture 
 as an incubus, and some time since commenced the organization 
 of a National Agricultural Society, somewhat after the model 
 of the English one, but it is said that Imperialism has frowned 
 at this attempt at independent action j at all events, I learn 
 that the scheme is placed at present under the ban.* 
 
 BEETROOT CULTURE : SUGAR AND SPIRIT. 
 
 Before proceeding to describe the agriculture of other coun- 
 tries, I propose to discuss the question of beetroot sugar. The 
 growth of beet for the manufacture of sugar and spirit forms 
 the most important branch of farming in France, Belgium, and 
 Germany. It has proved to be such a source of national wealth 
 
 * Sinoo my Paper wns read, the Frcneli Govermnent lias given Iho necessary 
 authorization for the estahlishment of tlie Frenoh National Agricnltui'al Society 
 here referred to, and a deliberative meeting, extending over several days, \Yas held 
 in Paris at the commencement of February. — J. H. 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 13 
 
 to those countries, that it naturally takes precedence of all 
 other agricultural topics. For the past ten yearSj the growers 
 and makers have supported a newspaper (" Journal des Fabri- 
 cants de Sucre") devoted to beetroot culture and sugar^making; 
 I mention this as an indication of the importance of the ques- 
 tion.* That sugar could be extracted from beetroot was known 
 as early as 1747. The discovery was made by Margraf, a 
 chemist of Berlin ; but it excited little attention. About the 
 close of the last century, another Berlin chemist, Achard, gave 
 to the world an account of the process carried on at his beet- 
 root-sugar factory, in Silesia, by which he extracted some four 
 per cent, of sugar. From that time, the scientific men of the 
 Continent were aroused to the importance of the subject. The 
 attention of Napoleon having been directed to it, he determined 
 upon introducing the manufacture upon an extensive scale ; his 
 view being the breaking-up of tbe colonial prosperity of Great 
 Britain, by excluding from France and the Continent the im- 
 portant colonial produce of sugar. The first factory was estab- 
 lished about 1809, since which time it has made steady and, 
 considering the difficulties, fiscal and otherwise, rapid progress. 
 In less than thirty years from its introduction, no less than 
 50,000 tons of sugar were made from beet, and, according to 
 the last return, there are now in France 470 beetroot-sugar 
 factories, in Belgium 116, aiid in Prussia 255. In the ZoU- 
 verein 3,500,000 tons of beet are annually converted into 
 sugar. In Austria, Hungary, Russia> and other parts of 
 Europe, the process is also successfully carried on. To France, 
 that which was commenced as a military expedient, has proved 
 to be not only an important department of national industry, 
 but the most powerful stimulant to French agriculture. The 
 late Mr. Frere wrote six years ago as follows : " When we see 
 
 * " Before leaying the subject of sugar-beet and tbe ' sucreries,' we must draw 
 attention to the immense benefit which they confer on an agricultural district. It 
 is not only that the crop is a profitable one to the farmer, and that sugar-making is 
 profitable to the manufacturer, but it is also that, at the otherwise dullest season of 
 the year, agricultural labourers (meii, women, and children) can earn in the factory, 
 working piecework, at least as good'wages as in the summer, when farming opera- 
 tions are in full swing." — Report on Belgian Agriculiu/re (Royal Agriculhtral 
 Journal), 
 
14 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 what a mighty agent the introduction of sugar-beet as an indus- 
 trial crop has proved for the regeneration of agriculture in the 
 north of France, we may see reason to note and ponder such 
 statistics in our minds, even if at present we cannot advanta- 
 geously turn them to practical account." To show the appre- 
 ciation in which this branch of industry is held in France, at 
 an agricultural meeting held a few years ago at Valenciennes, 
 a triumphal arch was erected, on which appeared the following 
 inscription : " The growth of wheat in this district before the 
 production of beetroot-sugar was only 123,000 qrs., the number 
 of oxen 700 : since the introduction of this sugar manufacture, 
 the growth of wheat has been 146,000 qrs., and the number of 
 oxen 11,500." 
 
 Since I have looked into this subject, I am surprised that it 
 did not sooner occupy the serious attention of Enghsh agricul- 
 turists. Perhaps the indifference arose from the failure of early 
 attempts made at Chelsea, Wandsworth, Minety, Belfast, and 
 other places, as well as from a settled belief that our climate was 
 not adapted for the growth of the particular kind of beet required 
 for the manufacture. That the climate and soil of the drier 
 parts of England are well suited to the growth of the root is 
 clearly set at rest, not only by the analytical tests made by Pro- 
 fessor Voelcker upon roots grown in England, in Belgium, 
 and in France, but by practical results obtained by Mr. 
 Duncan at his newly-established sugar factory in Suffolk. 
 The per-centage of sugar in beet is, upon an average, estimated 
 on the continent at about ten or eleven per cent, whilst the 
 roots analysed by Professor Voelcker, grown at Barking, with 
 London sewage only as a manure, contained thirteen per 
 cent. — equal to the very best Silesian. That the sugar-beet 
 requires for its perfection a better climate than ours will, 
 I believe, be proved by further experience a fallacy. The 
 temperature of the north of France and Germany is far more 
 suitable to its growth than that of the southern parts of those 
 countries. What I learned to be of most importance, is that the 
 months of August, September, and the early part of October 
 should be warm and sunny, for it is in the latter stages that the 
 sugar is formed. To ensure the best results, great care is 
 
CONTI.VENTAL PAEMING AND PEASANTRY. 15 
 
 necessary with the manuring and proper tillage of the soil, the 
 choice of seed, the subsequent ctJtivation, and the harvesting. 
 At Cologne, I visited a large concern, belonging to the Rhenish 
 Beetroot Sugar Company, a firm composed of three partners. 
 In addition to the roots grown on their own extensive farm of 
 7,300 imperial acres, which I shall notice presently, large quan- 
 tities are bought of the surrounding farmers at 30s. per ton, 
 the pulp being given back free. The firm has issued printed 
 instructions for the guidance of the farmers of the neighbour- 
 hood, as follows — 
 
 Rules for Sugar Beet Growers. 
 
 "1. In order to grow good sugar-beet it is necessary that the 
 land intended for the roots should be ploughed at least 10 
 inches deep before the winter. As the frosts render the 
 soil as fine as ashes, it enables the farmer to work the land 
 readily in spring, and the rapid growth of the plant is 
 greatly facilitated. 
 
 " 3. From experience it is proved that roots planted in ground 
 freshly manured, either with farmyard dung or compost, 
 suffer from unequal growth and various kinds of insects. 
 The quality also in most cases is inferior. It is better, 
 therefore, to highly manure the previous crops, and avoid 
 the direct application of manure to the beet-field. 
 
 " 3. As soon, in the month of April, as the land has become 
 sufficiently warm (say 45 to 50 deg. Fahrenheit), the sow- 
 ing of the seed should commence, for according to all 
 experience, the earliest planted beet are always the best. 
 Drilling in all cases is to be preferred to sowing by hand. 
 The cultivator should always bear in mind that the soil 
 should be as fine as meal, yet not too loose, so that the 
 seed is not deposited too deep. 
 
 " 4, If sown by hand, the roots should be in 14-inch squares ; 
 within the radius of the Cologne fortification, a rich dis- 
 trict, the row should be 13 inches Avide and the roots 8 
 inches apart, so that they do not become too big. If 
 drUled with a machine, the distance should not exceed 15 
 inches, and thinned out at 10 inches. 
 
16 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRV. 
 
 "5. As soon as the plants are visible, hoeing between the rows 
 should commence. The growth of the weeds is thereby 
 checked, and also the ever-forming crust, which shuts out 
 the air, is broken, and insects and vermin are destroyed. 
 "When the plants have six leaves, the thinning or singling 
 out should be begun. Frequent hoeing, subsequently, is also 
 necessary to keep the land from becoming bound. When, 
 in the month of July, the heads of the roots show above 
 ground, which heads are totally useless for the sugar manu- 
 facture, their development must be checked by moulding- 
 up, which operation also facilitates the getting up of the 
 roots when ripe. 
 
 " 6. Leaves are to a plant what lungs are to an animal ; there- 
 fore nothing damages the beetroot more than taking oflf the 
 leaves before harvest. Such a senseless course reduces the 
 crop one-half. 
 
 " 7. Roots, which are to be kept for several weeks, or perhaps 
 months, before being taken to the factory, should be quite 
 ripe when gathered, should not have been exposed to frost, 
 and should have been harvested in a fresh or moist con- 
 dition. The roots are seldom ripe before the middle of 
 October; yet frequent frosts occur at the beginning of 
 November : the beetroot cultivator must, therefore, make 
 haste to harvest his crop before the frost commences, and 
 postpone all other work until the crop is secured. If 
 a long drought has occurred, the grower should wait until 
 a good rain has fallen, for roots which are harvested in 
 dry weather and after a long drought will not keep. 
 
 " 8. The raising of the roots is best performed by means of 
 spades or shovels : forks are not suitable for this opera- 
 tion ; for, from experiment, too many roots get pricked, 
 and pricks are a certain cause of decay, whereas a smooth 
 cut with a shovel is not so injurious. In any case, how- 
 ever, wounding of the roots must be most carefully 
 guarded against. 
 
 " 9. The leaves of the gathered roots should be cut off with a 
 sharp knife, close to the crown, also the under-leaves, 
 which in most cases are decayed, must he removed by the 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 17 
 
 hand or the kuife, because they induce rottennesSj and if 
 left on are troublesome during the washing process. 
 
 " 10. Roots vrhich are to be conveyed to the factory within 
 tliree or four days of gathering, should be plentifully 
 covered with leaves, because the sun's rays beget decay of 
 the roots, and rotten roots produce dark-coloured juices, 
 which are valueless. If the roots have to be taken to the 
 factory later, they must be thoroughly well covered -with 
 earth, either in pits or heaps, so as to protect them as well 
 from the heat of the sun as from the frost, and thus prevent 
 their losing quality or quantity. The beetroot cultivator 
 should remember the well-known German proverb, ' Out 
 of the earth, into the earth' ; i. e., the earth not only pro- 
 duces but preserves. 
 
 "11. The pits or heaps should be three feet wide and one spit 
 deep, and of any convenient length. The roots should be 
 laid with the heads outwards. The work of covering up 
 as well as the removal to the factory should be carefully 
 performed, so as to avoid the bruising or wounding of the 
 roots, as their soundness is of the utmost consequence. 
 Heaps which are three feet wide should not be more than 
 three feet high, so as to keep the roots cool and prevent 
 their sprouting. The roots should be covered up imme- 
 diately with at least two feet of earth, in order 
 to avoid thoroughly the admission of air, for every 
 change of temperature is injurious to the roots. Ven- 
 tilation by straw chimneys, or other methods, must be 
 most strictly avoided. If the heaps cannot be completed 
 before night, a thick layer of leaves should be used 
 as a temporary covering to prevent damage by night 
 frosts. 
 
 " 12. In carting the roots to the factory, great care must be 
 taken against bruising or breaking off the tap-root (the 
 tap-root is the richest in sugar), for roots handled roughly 
 soon show black spots and quickly rot. 
 
18 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTEY. 
 
 '' 13. That the foregoing rules are attended to properly, the 
 Inspector, appointed by the Sugar Factory, will satisfy him- 
 self from time to time by actual observation." 
 
 The foregoing rules contain matter for reflection, and may 
 suggest to the thoughtful English farmer some useful lessons 
 in the cultivation and harvesting of the ordinary mangold 
 crop. 
 
 The processes pursued in the sugar factories of the Continent 
 are very simple. The roots, being first washed in a machine, 
 are dried and pulped, the juice pressed out by hydraulic 
 machines, followed by the usual refining process. At the great 
 manufactory I have referred to at Cologne, at which 150 tons 
 of beetroot are converted into sugar daily, the process of ex- 
 tracting the sugar is unique, and to my idea far more perfect 
 than at any other factory I had the opportunity of inspecting ; 
 indeed, the whole arrangements are most complete. Every 
 department was thrown open to me, and every process ex- 
 plained vnthout the least reserve. When the inspection of the 
 factory was finished, a carriage and pair, belonging to one of 
 the partners, was politely placed at my disposal for a drive 
 round their extensive farm. To return, however, to the sugar- 
 making. Instead of extracting the juice from the pulp by 
 pressure, as is the general practice, the pulp is put into a kind 
 of colander placed inside a cylindrical vessel j when filled, the 
 colanders are put in action by the steam-engine, and a rapid 
 rotatory motion is imparted to them; the juice is thereby 
 thrown off by centrifugal force. The result of this plan was 
 said to be that 2 to 3 per cent, more sugar was obtained than 
 could be extracted by the process of pressing. 
 
 In Prussia, the manufacturer has to pay the Government 
 duty of 14s. 6d. per ton on the roots, instead of 17s. 8d. per 
 cwt. on the sugar as in France : the Prussian maker has there- 
 fore a greater inducement to extract every particle of sugar. 
 This arrangement, again, has led the German cultivator to be 
 much more particular in the choice of his seed. The best 
 description I met with, is the " Improved Vilmorin," propagated 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 19 
 
 by M. Louis Vilmorin, of Paris, who claims to have had re- 
 course to the process of selection and the establishment of 
 pedigree in plants long before Mr. Hallett was known. M. 
 Vilmorin informs me that the Vilmorin beet is more highly 
 prized in Germany than in Prance, and accounts for it by the 
 fact of the duties being levied in the different manner I have 
 described. 
 
 The refuse of the beet-root after the sugar has been extracted 
 forms an important article of cattle food, and is held in high 
 estimation. About 18 to 20 per cent, is the proportion of pulp 
 left ; the worse the quality of roots, the smaller the quantity 
 of pulp. It is preserved in deep pits, generally bricked. Very 
 often the expense of bricking is avoided, a covering of earth 
 being merely laid upon the top. The pulp is generally con- 
 sumed within the year, but, if well covered up, it can be kept 
 sweet and good for two years, or, as I was assured, even for 
 three years. Much controversy has taken place both as to the 
 relative value of pulp as feeding stuff, and as to its real money 
 worth. Many practical men maintain that a ton of pulp is 
 equal in value to a ton of roots : I think the money worth is 
 best settled by the price it fetches. The average price 
 at the factories I visited will amount to about 13s. per 
 ton. Although horses do not like pulp, bullocks, which 
 cannot be fattened on the root alone, can be and are some- 
 times fattened for the English and foreign markets, without 
 any other food than the pulp. Pigs do well upon it when 
 cooked. Sheep will eat about 12 lbs., a day of raw pulp: 
 it is unquestionably more easily digested than the root 
 itself, but cows kept upon it are said not to produce much 
 milk. 
 
 I was fortunate enough to obtain a debtor and creditor 
 account of a sugar factory upon the Continent, the locality of 
 which, for obvious reasons, I am not at liberty to indicate. The 
 proprietor is a large farmer. In this factory between 13,000 
 and 14,000 tons of roots per annum are made into sugar. The 
 total expenditure, exclusive of the interest upon the money 
 embarked, was ^19,500, the total receipts about £BSflOO, leav- 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 CONTINENTAL FAKMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 ing, as will be seen from the subjoined statement, nearly 
 jil4,000 for profit and interest of money. 
 
 Summary or Expenses and Receipts oy a Beet-Root Sugar 
 1'actoby duwng One Year. 
 
 Outgmng Expenses. 
 14,000 tons of beet-root at factory, including cartage, main 
 tenance of carte, seed, at 19s. per ton 
 
 2,600 tons of coal, at 12s. 6d. per ton 
 
 130 tons of coke, at 24s. per ton ... 
 
 350 tons of lime, at 8s. per ton 
 
 12i tons granulated charcoal 7 i ^t i i 
 
 2i tons iowdered charcoal ] "^^ ^^^ P^"^ *°" ' ' • 
 
 1,200 sacks 
 
 1,500 filtering bags for hydraulic presses 
 
 1,600 pulp bags 
 Cloth and canvas 
 
 Workmen's wages ... 
 
 Salaries of manager and foremen employed all the year round 
 
 Expenses of cai'riago outwards, and in connection with sales 
 
 Gas ... 
 
 Grease and oil for lubrication 
 
 Acids and soda used in process of manufacture . . . 
 
 Insurance 
 
 Various other expenses not before included 
 
 llecclpis. 
 
 912 tons of sugar, at f 25 per ton 
 
 123 tons of sugar, free of duty, at £42 10s. per ton 
 49i tons of sugar, at £36 per ton 
 
 l,084itons. 
 
 Pulp, 2,800 tons, at lis. 4d. per ton 
 
 Molasses, 105 tone, at £5 per ton . . . 
 „ 105 „ at £5 10s. per ton 
 „ 120 „ at £7 per ton ... 
 
 Sonm used as manure 
 
 Outgoing expenses 
 Balance 
 
 nain- 
 
 £ 
 
 ... 13,300 
 
 ... 1,625 
 
 160 
 
 
 140 
 
 
 165 
 
 
 250 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 20 
 
 ad ... 
 
 2,060 
 600 
 
 s 
 
 450 
 
 
 80 
 
 i . . 
 
 75 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 70 
 
 
 400 
 
 £ 
 
 L9,585 
 s. d. 
 
 22,800 
 5,227 10 
 1,782 
 
 29,809 10 
 
 1,586 13 4 
 
 525 
 
 577 10 
 
 840 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 33,388 13 4 
 19,585 
 
 13,803 13 4 
 
 In addition to the sugar factories I have alluded to, there are 
 immense numbers of distilleries for extracting spirit from the 
 beet. In France the jiunpber reaches five Impdred. The disr 
 
CONTINENTAL i?ARJilNGt AND pi^ASANTRY. Sl 
 
 tilling of spirit is said to be far more profitable than the manu- 
 facture of sugar. On many farms both processes are carried 
 on, and a few years ago — stimulated by the high price of raw 
 spirit, the result of the vine disease — many sugar factories were 
 converted into distilleries. I learned the other day, from a 
 T'rench engineer interested in a new patent Still, that he is 
 engaged in the erection of a large distillery near London for 
 extracting spirit from beet-root. The whole cost of the dis- 
 tillery is estimated at £16,000. As the owner is a man of 
 experience, he has doubtless satisfied himself that the difficulties 
 encountered by other persons are to be overcome. Hence the 
 question as to making spirit from beet-root being a profitable 
 process will speedily be put at rest.* 
 
 GERMAN PARMS. 
 
 After an inspection of the sugar works at Cologne, I paid a 
 visit to the farms cultivated by the firm. The company holds 
 five farms, divided into plots of about 1,500 acres, in all 7,200. 
 Herr Joest, one of the partners, is manager-in-chief, with 
 stewards under him at the several farms. The accounts ap- 
 peared to be most accurately kept, and the land well and care- 
 fully managed. The course of cropping is 1st, rape, highly 
 manured ; 2nd, wheat ; 3rd, rye, slightly manured ; 4th, clover ; 
 5th, oats or wheat, manured ; 6th, sugar-beet, without manure ; 
 7th, rye J 8th, clover; 9th, oats. Forty bushels per acre is con- 
 sidered a good crop of wheat ; of sugar-beet, twelve-and-a-half 
 tons per acre. As in Trance deep ploughing is practised for 
 beetroot, thirteen to fourteen inches being the rule. I saw one 
 field of beet, containing some hundreds of acres, and, on ob- 
 serving the leaves upon certain portions to be crinkled, was told 
 that it was an indication of good quality. The Vilmorin and the 
 Gerlibogt are the varieties most highly spoken of. Great care 
 
 * The beet-root distillery referred to by me aa being in course of erection, the 
 locality of which I was not at the time at liberty to name, 1 am now permitted to 
 state is being erected for Mr. Campbell, of Busoot Park, Bortshire, and the en- 
 gineer is M. Jacques Barral, of 10, Basinghall Street, London, the son of the ' 
 eminent French agriculturist, Mons. J, A. Barral, the proprietor and editor of the 
 Journal of French Agriculture. M. Barral, jun., has made beet-root distilleries his 
 study, and he authorises me to say he will be happy to giye full particulars to any 
 who may be interested in the subject. — J, H. 
 
32 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 is taken of the tap roots, as they are said to contain the most 
 sugar. Great care is also exercised in not injuring the leaves, 
 especially in the latter stages of the growth. Here, as in many 
 other parts of the continent, Indian corn is grown and cut green 
 for fodder 5 as I found when in America, it is everywhere highly 
 spoken of. " Browick" wheat has been introduced, and, after 
 careful experiments as to yield, is preferred to any other variety. 
 On these farms I found the use of the clod-crusher for consoli- 
 dating land planted with wheat was understood, but on no other 
 farms on the continent, except a few in France, did I find the 
 value of this common English practice recognized ; From this 
 neglect in consolidating the land, a large portion of the wheat 
 all over the continent, grows tall and weakly, and gets laid long 
 before harvest.* 
 
 On the farms of the Company, a large number of working 
 bxen are kept, of the Birkenfield race ; they are fed on pulp. 
 The men, as in France and other parts of the continent, sleep 
 in the stable with their bullocks and horses. The wages to 
 farm labourers are paid all in money, and are from Is. 2d. to 
 Is. 6d. per day in summer and Is. to Is. 3d. in winter. Labour 
 is said here, and in almost every part of the continent I visited, 
 to be becoming both scarcer and dearer, and in this district wages 
 have risen during the last twenty^five years from twenty-five to 
 thirty per cent. 
 
 Children are not allowed to be employed in agriculture in 
 Prussia until fourteen years of age, the Prussian national system 
 of education being a compulsory one. I have not time to enter 
 fully upon the question of education, but would observe that it 
 seems to be appreciated, and the farmers I conversed with found 
 iiO practical inconvenience from the system, inasmuch as one 
 portion of the children goes to school in the morning and the 
 
 * " Wlieat is very subject to be laid ; on sandy land the foi'mere say it is owing 
 to tlie dryness of the summer climate, on beavier laud it is attributable to otber 
 Causes J but the consequence is that its place in the rotation is frequently supplied 
 cither by rye, which ripens befoi-e the diy season has fairly set iu, or by a mixture of 
 rye and wheat, in which the rye is supposed to hold up its wcalrer brother. We 
 were inclined to attribute thfe liability of wheat to be laid to the excess of nitrogen 
 and the deficiency of phosphates in the manures habitually used in Belgium, com- 
 bined with the eJthauative nature of the rotation of crops." — Rcpoi-t on Belgian 
 AgricKUwe (Boyal Agrimlimal Jowtial). 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMlNa AND PEASANTRY. 33 
 
 other portion in the afternoon. I was told by one farm- 
 manager that where the Burgomaster happens to be a large 
 farmer, the school arrangements are not always enforced in busy 
 seasons ; as my informant slily said, " the Burgomaster sleeps." 
 The next farm I visited was a very beautiful place — Ostendorf, 
 a few miles from Cologne, belonging to and farmed by Herr 
 Pfeiffer. It consists of 1,440 acres, 360 of which are in wheat, 
 360 in beet, and the rest in clover, Indian corn, and potatoes. 
 Two self-acting reaping machines were in operation, cutting 
 down some fine fields of wheat, and a third machine stood 
 ready for use in case of accident. The implements upon this 
 farm are very numerous and various, but, with the exception 
 of those of English manufacture, they are rude and badly made ; 
 and I may say, this remark applies generally to the farm imple- 
 ments and machines of the continent : The only really effi* 
 cient ones produced are those copied from English standard 
 machines.* Herr Pfeiff'er fats off 180 oxen a year. They all 
 work on alternate days, except those which have got fresh in 
 condition ; these are put into a stall, for a few weeks to make 
 them up for market. This alternate plan of working bullocks I 
 found was considered by all the large farmers throughout the 
 continent to be the most profitable ; in addition to this large 
 force, twenty working horses are kept. This gentleman has a 
 fine beetroot sugar factory, and, in addition to the beet of his own 
 growing, buys large quantities from the neighbouring farmers. 
 The wages on this farm throughout the year are 14d. per day j 
 in the summer months the working hours are from 5.30 a.m. till 
 8 p.m. The women get lOd. per day. 
 
 As in France and Belgium, in this part of Germany there are 
 a great number of small holdings. In Prussia there are 900,000 
 farms under four acres in extent. The small farms hereabouts are 
 much better cultivated than in many other parts of the contin- 
 ent, but as there really is nothing in my opinion for the English 
 farmer to learn from the management, it would be useless for 
 me to take up your time in describing them. What I have said 
 with respect to the same kind of farm in France is of general 
 application. 
 
 * The raaoliinery of a country wlU natitfally correspond with its Wants and with 
 the histoiy and intelligence of the people. — Sir Josejph WMUvorth, Ba/rt. 
 
34 CON'rtNEl!^TAL i'ARMING AfjD liEASANTRY. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, a large landed proprietor in Silesia, 
 is a well-known agriculturist. In his district the four-course 
 system is followed. The farming may be judged by what is con- 
 sidered a good average yield, viz., 12 bushels of rye per acre, 10 
 bushels of wheat, 15 of barley, 16 of oats, and 5 tons of man- 
 gold. The wages of labourers in the district are 4d. a day in 
 winter, and 5d. in spring and autumn, and 7id. to lOd. in har 
 vest time ; labour is said to be becoming a little scarce, and 
 wages are rising. Twenty years ago Baron von Gronow in- 
 formed me that the wages were not more than 3^d. a day in 
 winter ; and 4d. for mowing and binding an acre of wheat. 
 
 I passed on to Bavaria by way of Mayence, stopping to have 
 a look at the vine and hop districts of Wiirzburg and Nurem- 
 berg, thence to Linz on the Danube, making excursions into 
 the interior. Land in some parts of Bavaria is much sub- 
 divided, badly farmed, and the crops which were being cut were 
 poor. Many potatoes are grown, old-fashioned green '•' baulks" 
 still exist in the fields, to divide the plots. The rent of land is 
 from 8s. to 13s. per acre, and the wages are Is. per day. Leases 
 are for 13 years without covenants. The country and the people 
 reminded me of some parts of Ireland. 
 
 AUSTKIA. 
 
 Passing into Austria, I paid a visit to Mr. Smallbones, a 
 gentleman well known to many in this room, and who for many 
 years managed the vast estates of Prince Esterhazy. I cannot, 
 however, stay to describe this gentleman's beautifully managed 
 place, nor the agriculture of that great Empire with its farms of 
 tens of thousands of acres. 
 
 To Austria and Hungary a larger amount of agricultural 
 machinery has been exported from England than to any other 
 part of Europe. It is estimated that during the last ten yeai's 
 nearly 3,000 steam thrashing machines have been introduced 
 (chiefly for Hungary), which have almost annihilated the primi- 
 tive custom in use, up to a very recent period, of treading out 
 the corn upon the ancient threshing floors. The homesteads 
 are of immense size, as the animals are all brought home at 
 night ; if kept in the field they would be stolen : this practice 
 of bringing home the cattle prevails throughout Europe. 
 
CftNTINIlNTAL FARMING AND PEASANTUY. S5 
 
 In Austria a law exists against the sub-division of 
 what are termed "peasant farms," the maximum size of 
 which is 60 acres, and the minimum 15 acres. When 
 a proprietor dies, his pldest son takes the land ; an assessor is 
 called in, who fixes the amount to be paid to the other children ; 
 the eldest son, it is said, is often crippled by this arrangement.* 
 No class of tenant farmers exists, all are proprietors, except in 
 a few districts and rare instances. The labourers are badly off, 
 wages being about 9d. to lOd. per day. At one village I went to, 
 I had an opportunity of seeing how they were lodged: one 
 large barn-like building, with only a ground-floor, was 
 divided into two rooms. In one, 40 feet long 20 feet wide and 
 10 feet high, were six beds and four families ; in the other some- 
 what smaller, were five beds, and three families. Small-pox 
 having broken out a fortnight before, I was told some tenants 
 of this wretched abode had been removed in order to thin it. 
 There was one common cooking-stove to the whole, and to add 
 to the wretchedness of the place, it was infested with rats. A 
 more deplorable scene it had never been my lot to witness. To 
 return to Mr. Smallbones, his cattle had recently been attacked 
 with foot-and-mouth disease. As he had found considerable 
 benefit from a certain remedy, which he gave me particulars 
 of, I sent hoine the recipe at the time, for publication in the 
 newspapers. The remedy has been tried by many people in 
 different parts of the country, and in all cases that I have heard 
 of, with good effect. My own cattle have been recently at- 
 tacked, and recovered very rapidly under the treatment. The 
 recipe is as follows : 
 
 "Take honey lib., muriatic acid 1| oz., mix them well, with 
 a wooden spoon, in an earthenware vessel ; apply with a wooden 
 spatula about a small dessert spoonful to the tongue, three 
 times a day, leaving the animal to distribute it over the inside 
 of its mouth, by the champing motion, which is sure to follow 
 its application.^' 
 
 For the feet: "Take aloes ^ oz., rectified spirit half-pint, 
 
 * The lawliere referred to, I find was abolished for the Archduchy of Austria by 
 an Act passed Oct. 5, 1868, entitled " An Act to make free the transfer of laud" 
 but the old law still remains in force in the other parts of the Empire, — J. H. 
 
26 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 alum J oz., dissolve them in one pint of water ; mix, and apply 
 a little, twice a day, between the claws." 
 
 In addition to the above treatment, rye-meal, ground very 
 fine, should be placed in the manger, a little being dusted on 
 the noses of the animals in order to induce them to eat ; the 
 meal being almost impalpable, they could lick a little without 
 increasing irritation. On leaving Vienna I passed through the 
 beautiful country of Styria, and crossed over into Italy. Be- 
 fore, however, I say anything upon the agriculture of Italy, I 
 would take you back for a few moments to Belgium. 
 
 BELGIAN FARMING. 
 
 Belgium has long had the reputation of being the best 
 farmed country on the Continent : I had so often heard 
 it held up by English travellers as an example to the world, I 
 had read such glowing accounts of the farming to be met with 
 over there, that when I saw the country for the first time with 
 my own eyes, I must say my expectations were very far from 
 being realized.* No one, however, can visit Belgium without 
 perceiving at once that the country is occupied by an in- 
 dustrious race, and that great pains are taken in the cultivation 
 of the land, but to one who is acquainted with the highest style 
 of farming, who knows what appliances and requirements are 
 needed for carrying on such farming, as such an one rides 
 through the districts occupied . by the cottiers and small 
 farmers, he cannot but be impressed with the absence of the 
 necessary capital for the full development of the resources of 
 the soil. These remarks do not apply to the fine large sugar- 
 beet farms to which I shall shortly allude, but great farms, as 
 I will show presently from figures, are the exception in Belgium. 
 I can readily understand how people, with a slight knowledge 
 of rural affairs may be misled on paying a visit to that country. 
 Although inlanders and other districts were originally poor 
 sandy tracts, a great deal of the land is naturally rich, and a 
 
 * " Forty yeai'3 ago the concurrent testimony of numerous writers pointed out 
 the farming of Flanders as the most productive and the most advanced in Europe. 
 But while, in the interval, English agriculture has made enormous strides, the 
 farming of Flanders has remained stationai-y ; and is now as accurately described in 
 the old books as it Was in the last generation, in the days when they were written." 
 — Report on the AgricuUii/rc of Belgmm (Royal Agricultural Journal). 
 
CONTINENTAL PARMING AND PEASANTRY. 37 
 
 large breadth being grown with coarse corn— rye, bearded wheat, 
 and "spratt'^ barley — the crops, under these conditions and 
 a fine climate, of course look big, and their bulkiness is calcu- 
 lated to deceive the uninitiated.* I remember, at one of those 
 enjoyable Tiptree gatherings, hearing a London wine merchant 
 exclaim on seeing a field of Rivett's wheat, " What magnificent 
 barley \" 
 
 Like France, agriculture in Belgium is in possession of a 
 State department, and, like France, the land is much sub- 
 divided. There are a quarter of a million peasant farms under 
 two acres, about 20,000 farms of 30 acres, about 1 0,000 farms 
 of 100 acres, and about 1,000 farms of 250 acres and upwards — > 
 the average being about 11 acres. Rather more than half the 
 country is cultivated by the owners of the soil, but in Flanders, 
 however, there are few proprietors. The rent of land, as has 
 been asserted, is not extravagant, nor do I think you will con- 
 clude that the labourers are overpaid. In Hainault, the highest 
 rented province — very fine laud— according to the last oflicial 
 returns (1856) the rent averaged 35s. per acre; in Luxemburg, 
 the lowest, it was 12s. 9d. per acre ; the average throughout 
 Belgium was 27s. per acre : the advance since is perhaps 20 
 per cent. The average wages of the farm labourer are Is. Id. 
 per day, without food, the maximum being Is. 8d. and the 
 minimum Bid. per day ; wages, nevertheless, are said to have 
 advanced 25 to 30 per cent, since 1846. These figures were 
 given to me by the Inspector-General of Agriculture. From 
 inquiries I made among the older labourers, I found that 6d. 
 per day was no unusual pay but a few years ago. 
 
 I had travelled through Belgium several times, but had never 
 set foot upon a farm until last year, when I went over to 
 Brussels to act as a judge of implements at an International 
 Agricultural Show. The trial of mowing machines took place 
 a few miles fifom ihe city. The meadow selected was^ naturally, 
 a rich soil, but the crop of grass was poor, and the field had 
 
 * " The light soils of Belgium, like most sandy soils, are naturally Very poor in 
 phosphoric acid, so largely required for the formation of grain | and as phosphatib 
 manures are rarely applied, and natural manure is made in the great majority of 
 cases hy ill-fed animals, we were not surprised to observe the comparative poverty 
 of grain, and luxuriaaoe of straw in the com crops." — Seport on the AgricullMre of 
 Belgiwm (Royal AgricvMwal Jowrnal). 
 
2^ 
 
 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 evidently not been invaded by the roller for many a long day. 
 The farmer attributed the poorness of the crop to Providence : 
 he said he had expected a better one, as he had got the priest 
 to pray for it ! I remarked that Providence should not be held 
 responsible for the omission of rolling ; ivhilst my colleague, 
 M. Hamoir, drily told him he thought the prayers would be 
 answered if he put on plenty of dung. I mention this as one 
 of many instances of superstition I have met with. It is a very 
 common custom on the introduction into a district of any new 
 or important agricultural machine, before commencing to use 
 it to send for the priest to " bless it." It is not an uncom- 
 mon sight, especially in the Rhenish provinces, to see the 
 image of a patron saint erected at the head of a field, in the 
 hopes that the crops would be thereby protected. 
 
 On the occasion of my visit to Brussels Show, I went across 
 the plains of Waterloo : it was just previous to harvest, the 
 farms here are large, much of the land is fine, but neither my 
 brother (Mr. Charles Howard, of Biddenham) nor I, thought 
 the crops, considering the fine season, were what we should be 
 satisfied with, nor had either the hand-hoe or horse-hoe been 
 kept going ; the poppy and corn-flower were in great luxuri- 
 ance.* 
 
 In July last, landing at Ostend, I stayed a few days, and 
 made excursions in the neighbourhood. The farmers seemed 
 plain, plodding people, knew very little of what was going 
 on in the agricultural world, their houses seemed comfortless, 
 and their living very frugal. The rotation on many farms is 
 rye, oats, potatoes, or sugar-beet ; then rye, no wheat. I found 
 very little in farm practice worth noting down. Ploughing up 
 the land, before the crop is carted, is general in this as well as in 
 most parts of the Continent. One farmer showed me his 
 flock, of which he appeared very proud. The Flemish breed of 
 sheep are long-legged, small-scragged, narrow animals, which 
 
 * " It may be as well to mention here that on the small Flemish farms every- 
 thing is sown broadcast ; only the most advanced proprietors possess a drill, while 
 the majority of ordinaiy farmers are as ignorant of the implement as their language 
 is oblivious of its name," — Report on Selgian Agricultii,re (Royal Agricultural 
 Journal}. 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEABANTKY. 29 
 
 cannot pay the farmer to breed.* The same man had some 
 really good shorthorns and pigs. Boar pigs in this neighbour- 
 hood travel a district like stallions, fresh blood being obtained 
 every year. 
 
 The labourers seemed dejected and in a low condition. I 
 looked in at a village inn, and had a conversation with the 
 landlady, from whom I learned that she never saw a farm 
 labourer in her house, except after dinner on Sunday, when a 
 few would drop in to have one glass of beer. She drew a gloomy 
 picture of their condition, remarking, " Poor things ! they 
 have not much comfort in this life." From conversations with 
 a large number of labourers and other people, I think the land- 
 lady was not far wrong : what surprised me much was, that, not- 
 withstanding their wretched condition, they had no idea of emi- 
 gration, indeed many did not know what was meant by the term. 
 
 At Baron Peers', at Oostcamp, near Bruges, I found a better 
 state of things, good cattle, Hampshire Down and Oxfordshire 
 sheep, white Yorkshire pigs, better-fed and better-paid labour- 
 ers, and higher rents. The Baron adopts the following rota- 
 tion : Wheat, rye, oats, clover, flax, potatoes or mangold, two, 
 and, as in this case, three white straw crops in succession is 
 not an uncommon practice ; to an Englishman it seems "un- 
 scientific, and none but thoroughly good land could long stand 
 such treatment. t The Baron thinks highly of the practice of 
 
 * " At first we regarded their [Flemish sheep] defects as inherent, defects which 
 a naturalist would consider diagnostic of the species. But, after a while, we began 
 to doubt whether the poor sheep were not more sinned against than sinning. Cer- 
 tainly the system pursued by the majority of Polder [Belgian] flookmasters would 
 soon ruin even the best breeds in England." — Ueport on Belgian AgricvJtwe (Royal 
 AgricuHmral Journal) . 
 
 t " The practice of taking two or three white crops in succession is as much an 
 integral part of the Belgian system of husbandry as la petite culture itself. * * * 
 Men who now hold the farms which their fathers held before them, cannot grow 
 such heavy crops as they can remember to have assisted in harvesting in their 
 youth. The exhausting rotation pursued during a series of years, without the use 
 of phosphatic manures, and in the absence of good implements, has " run out" the 
 land. The use of superphosphates and [improved] machinery would probably 
 create an agricultural revolution, which would benefit alike the landlord, the tenant, 
 and the country. * * * The coui'se of cropping pursued on the majority of old- 
 polder [alluvial flats] farms would in England be regarded as the last effort of a ba{l 
 nrra?r," — JJeport on Selpan Agriouliwe (Royal Agricultural Joii/rwl] . 
 
30 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND FEASANTRT. 
 
 growing a little chicory, which he sows in May ; the tops are 
 cut twice, during the summer and autumn, for green food ; the 
 roots remain in the ground all the winter, and are said to 
 be the best food to give to ewes after lambing. At Beemem, 
 a few miles beyond Baron Peers', is a large government Refor- 
 matory, well worthy of a visit ; a farm of 600 acres and a gar- 
 den of 40 acres are attached. The lads receive an excellent 
 training ; but it would take too much time to describe all I saw. 
 The Belgians have long since come to the conclusion, that it is 
 far better to take the " young Arabs" out of the street and 
 give them an industrial training, than to run the risk of their 
 becoming criminals. When old enough, they are from this 
 establishment drafted into the army and navy, or allowed to 
 follow the trades they have been taught. 
 
 A few miles from Brussels is the parish of Dilbeck, contain- 
 ing 2,750 acres. In this village, which may be considered an 
 average specimen, there are five or six farms of 88 to 150 acres, 
 ten from 37 to 45 acres, many of about 30 acres, and a large 
 number of 2, 3, and 4 acres. M. Verheyden is the principal 
 farmer of the place, occupying 140 acres at a rental of £340 ; 
 he is a plain, but keen, thoughtful man. The cottier farmers 
 work for the larger ones, and get Is. 3d. per day, M. Ver- 
 heyden told me, that the small farmers above the cottiers could 
 never live and pay their way by mere farming, that their main- 
 stay was fruit, vegetables and poultry, that, if not too far from 
 a large town, a steady man with a careful wife might get on. 
 The rent of a 10-acre farm with house is about 55s. per acre in 
 this parish. M. V. further said that the farms in his neigh- 
 bourhood were increasing in size, that wages had more than 
 doubled ; twenty years ago they were only 6d. per day without 
 food. Leases are for nine years, without covenants as to crop- 
 ping. He smilingly informed me, in reply to an inquiry, 'that 
 farmers were no politicians, and voted as their landlords wished. 
 I heard from M. Verheyden a good deal on practical matters, but 
 I must not dwell, for I wish to say something of the finest farm 
 I saw in Belgium, viz., that of M. Dumont, at Chassart, near 
 Meurus. The extent is about 1,500 acres, divided into five 
 farms, with a homestead to each. At the central homestead is 
 a large sugar factory and grain distillery. The homesteads are 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 31 
 
 connected by iron tramways, which intersect the whole farm : 
 13 kilometres or 8 miles of tramway, on one farm, was a novel 
 sight : the rail is used to bring home the beet and other crops, 
 to take back manure, pulp, &c. I had been for days previously 
 among the cottier farmers, who use great wheelbarrows for 
 carrying off their crops. Two-thirds of the land is the pro- 
 perty of M. Dumont; the other one-third is hired. The 
 rotation adopted is : 1st, beet ; 2nd, wheat and oats, half of 
 each; 3rd, clover and flax, half of each; 4th, wheat. M. 
 Dumont adopts the English practice of cutting wheat before 
 becoming quite ripe : the almost universal practice on the Con- 
 tinent, is the very uneconomical one of leaving it tiU dead ripe. 
 I saw one splendid field of sugar-beet of 175 acres, which was 
 estimated at over 20 tons an acre : the tops of the sugar-beet 
 are cut off, and given to the sheep on the pastures. Max is 
 grown in large quantities, an acre is on the average worth ^21. 
 M. Dumont keeps over 600 head of cattle : large numbers are 
 fed upon pulp and the residuum of the distillery. 
 
 Pleuro-pneumonia has made such ravages, that M. Dumont 
 and many others, have adopted the practice of inoculation ; the 
 pus is obtained from the State Veterinary College or the Abat- 
 toirs of Brussels, and inserted at the tail. If the operation is 
 performed in hot weather the tail drops off through mortifica- 
 tion setting in, but when done in cool weather no injurious 
 consequences ensue. Having suffered much from this fatal 
 disease amongst my cattle I was determined to try it, but have 
 hitherto been prevented by order of the veterinary inspector of 
 the county, who has acted on the advice of Professor Simonds. 
 The Professor opposes the practice ; but these practical Belgian 
 farmers, who have had extensive experience, regard it, to use M. 
 Dumont's own words, as a " sovereign remedy." Por foot-rot 
 in sheep, M. Dumont gave me the following recipe, which he 
 has found an unfailing remedy : 
 
 " One pound of Egyptiac, haJf-a-pound of sulphate of copper 
 
 reduced to a fine powder, one ounce avoirdupois of bi-chloride 
 
 of mercury reduced to a very fine powder ; these materials 
 
 • should be mixed up with strong vinegar until they assume a 
 
 proper consistency." 
 
 The sheep are fed under cover; the food is 121bs. of pulp per 
 
33 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTEY. 
 
 head per day. The English practice of growing a root crop and 
 consuming it on the land as it grows up is almost unknown ; a 
 sheepfold is a very rare sight.* 
 
 "Wages on the farm of M. Dumont are Is. 8d. per day in 
 summer, and Is. 3d. in winter, no board and lodging, but a most 
 important consideration is that the employment is continuous, 
 and not intermittent, as in the small-farm districts : the work- 
 people seemed comparatively well oif. Chassart is in the Wal- 
 loon district, Waterloo being in sight, it is the district for large 
 farms, however, I passed a good many large homesteads unused, 
 the land belonging thereto having been cut up into small farms : 
 that such holdings required no homestead accommodation is a 
 suggestive fact. M. Dumont's farm is one well worth a journey 
 to see, and the pleasure of my visit was greatly enhanced by the 
 kindness and hospitable reception I met with. Soon after my 
 return from Belgium, I was greatly surprised at the contents of 
 a letter addressed to The Times by the accomplished author of 
 Talpa. Putting in a plea for "petite culture" Mr. Hoskyns 
 remarked, " that the number of beasts fed, and meat produced 
 per acre, are far greater in Belgium than in England ;" it is 
 said that figures may be made to prove almost any theory. It 
 is true that Belgium has 1,357,263 head of cattle, which is larger 
 in proportion than the stock of English cattle, but to come to 
 the conclusion, from such a fact, that the Belgian meat supply 
 is greater than ours is a fallacy, as I will show. In the first 
 place the draught power in oxen in this country is infinitesimal, 
 in Belgium it forms a large proportion : In England, as soon as 
 a bullock is big enough, he is slaughtered, whilst in Belgium, he 
 is kept on for years for draught purposes : again, take the start- 
 ling fact, that whilst Belgium ha-s but some half million sheep, 
 we have over thirty-five millions. The superior size and weight 
 of our animals is also a fact not to be lost sight of. Dr. Voel- 
 cker has written " In Belgium generally fat meat is not liked, 
 and what is there considered ' fat,' would in England require a 
 
 * " EGturning from produce to practice, we cannot help drawing attention to the 
 fact tliat sheep are never allowed to feed oft' a crop on the land, except by a few 
 landowners, like Baron Peers, who have adopted the English model. The system of 
 meat-making altogether is anything but good ; and the results would not, we think, 
 satisfy an English farmer, mth the exception, perhaps, of those obtained by the beat 
 methods of pulp-feeding, the advantages and disadvantages of which we have al- 
 ready poiifted out. — Report on Belgian /tgriculturv (Rmjal AgncxMufal Journal), 
 
CONTINENTAL PAKMINO AND PEASANTRY. 33 
 
 deal of feeding to make it fit for market." I feel convinced, that 
 were we in possession of fall and reliable statistics, it would be 
 conclusively proved that England produces far more meat per 
 acre than any country in the world ; with the exception of 
 the rich grazing land of Holland. With the best infor- 
 mation at my command, and altogether waiving the question 
 as to the number of oxen and cows kept in Belgium for draught 
 purposes, I then make the total quantity of meat raised per acre 
 to be only 981bs in Belgium against 1481bs.in England and Wales. 
 Except upon the large farms of Belgium, very little stock is to 
 be seen. Were the fact of the draught oxen, to which I have al- 
 luded, and other circumstances taken into consideration; the dis- 
 parity between the meat producing power of Belgium and Eng- 
 land would appear far greater, and that in favour of this country. 
 In the report of the Royal Agricultural Society the following re- 
 marks occur : "Practically lapetite culture in Belgium produces no 
 meat but pork. Fortunately the small farmers consume none." 
 
 The taxation of Belgium does not appear to weigh heavily on 
 the land. There are no poor-rates ; no taxation for the Church. 
 The cost of punishment of crime and the support.of the prisons 
 are borne by the State. The whole amount of taxation which 
 falls upon the land, is about 2s. 6d. per acre per annum. 
 
 Schools for both boys and girls exist in almost every parish 
 throughout Belgium. The poor are educated without charge ; 
 the expense is borne partly by the State and partly by the 
 parish. Education is not compulsory, but it is said that very 
 few parents neglect to send their children to school. They re- 
 main at school until they are confirmed at about the age of 13; 
 after this ceremony they go to work. The parish priest has the 
 right of entering the schools the first half hour in the morning 
 and the last half hour in the afternoon. .In other respects the 
 school, and the master, who is appointed by the Commune, are 
 independent of the priests. I was told, that sometimes the 
 schoolmaster and the priest get wrong, when the latter occasion- 
 ally starts a school of his own. 
 
 For further information upon these and kindred subjects, I 
 would refer the members of the Club to some valuable state- 
 pients from Baron Peers, which will be found in the Appendix to 
 
 D 
 
34 CONTINENTAI- FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 my paper ; also to those of M, Leclerc, Inspector-General of 
 Agriculture, who has kindly supplied me with statistical and 
 other information, 
 
 IRRIGATION. 
 
 I would now for a few moments direct your attention to the 
 subject of irrigation. Some four years ago I spent a few weeks 
 in Egypt. I was so impressed with the astonishing results ob- 
 tained, by the simple application of water to land, in the valley 
 of the Nile, that I came home under a strong conviction that 
 in England, notwithstanding the diflFerence between the two 
 climates, we do not, from the water which a beneficent Provi- 
 dence sends us, reap half the advantages we might do. By the 
 aid of very primitive pumps, worked by a mule or bullock, or a 
 couple of donkeys, sufficient water is often raised by the 
 Egyptian farmer to irrigate thirty, forty, or fifty acres of land, 
 which fields produce prodigious crops of a kind of clover called 
 *'burseem." My recent visit to Italy and Switzerland has 
 confirmed me in the opinion I have expressed. I am aware 
 that water meadows in England are almost as old as the hUls. 
 The practice of irrigation is, however, confined to a very few 
 localities, not one farmer in five hundred in England, I venture 
 to say, knows anything of the subject, or has ever given the 
 matter serious consideration. I believe there are reasons which 
 have produced this indifference, and for which, I think, the 
 State is in great measure answerable. To the consideration of 
 this part of the question I will return presently. 
 
 The practice of irrigation in Europe is carried out on the 
 greatest scale, and with probably the best results, in the plains 
 of Lombardy and Piedmont, In Lombardy, out of a total 
 area of 6,000,000 acres, upwards of 1,000,000 are artificially 
 irrigated ; upwards of 3,000 miles of main or minor canals have 
 been cut in the province, beside a vast extent of small arteries 
 belonging to private individuals. Although some of the main 
 canals are used for the purposes of navigation, they are mainly 
 constructed with a view to a comprehensive plan for irrigating 
 the country. The grand canal, which brings the water of the 
 Ticino to Milan, has been in existence some 700 years, and for 
 this long period, has the practice of irrigation been carried on. 
 I would also remark, in passing, that for almost as long a period 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 35 
 
 a portion of the sewage of Milan has been utilized : I believe 
 the credit is due to the monks of the monastery of Chiaravalle. 
 I visited some of the fields which had been irrigated for cen- 
 turies ; andj although not furnished with all the modern ap- 
 pliances to be seen at the sewage irrigated fields at Bedford, the 
 results are most satisfactory. I may mention, that at Bedford, 
 the growth of Italian rye-grass, by town sewage, is a most com- 
 plete success ; as many as six crops have been raised this year, 
 realising some ,£30 per acre. 
 
 I visited an irrigated farm of 90 acres near Milan, rented by 
 Sig. Antonio Monti, and at which the water is uged eleven 
 times over, from the point at which it reaches the farm to where 
 he parts with it to his neighbour. The rent of the farm is 
 about 64s. per acre, it is considered a low one, as j85 an acre 
 is not an unusual rent. The grass, I saw growing, was 34 days 
 old, and was fit to cut : seven crops had previously been mown 
 since the beginning of the year j the grass of the irrigated fields 
 is perennial. A good deal of the arable land is susceptible of 
 irrigation. After a wheat crop cabbages are planted. The 
 wheat in one field was cut on June 34th j on July Mh the 
 cabbages were planted, and on the 34th of August (the day 
 I was there) the ground was completely covered. The cabbages 
 are sent to the Milan market ; the land was irrigated once 
 before the cabbages were planted, and once after, 
 
 1 saw here a fine dairy of 18 Swiss cows. Having heard 
 much of the milch qualities of this breed, I inquired into the 
 quantity of milk produced, and found it varied from 38 to 44 
 gallons per day. The cows are fed on grass from the irrigated 
 meadows, and are milked at noon and at ] o'clock at night. 
 The price realised for milk, which is fetched from the farm by 
 the buyer, is from 5d. to 5jd. per gallon. On this farm of 90 
 acres, one-third is irrigated meadow, and the other arable : six 
 men, four women, and three or four lads are employed. I 
 would call special attention to the mode of paying the labourers. 
 They are paid 5d, per day all the year round : Each family has 
 in addition one^hird of the produce of 3J acres of Indian corn. 
 The land is set apart for the labourer by the farmer, who finds 
 horses, implements, and seed : the labourer performs the work, 
 
 D 2 
 
36 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 and gets one-third of the produce. A good crop of Indian com 
 is reckoned to yield 48 to 54 bushels per acre. HerCj I had 
 another opportunity of seeing how the labourers are lodged. 
 A box, suspended from the stable-roof, furnished a bed for the 
 horseman ; in some adjoining rooms, without windows, I found 
 several beds. Finding one man down with the fever I speedily 
 made my exit ; but anything more wretched and indecent can 
 scarcely be conceived. Families never have more than one room ; 
 but often two or three families occupy the same apartment. 
 
 Signore Chizzolini, who is an engineer by profession, and also 
 a landed proprietor and farmer in the neighbourhood, employs 
 two centrifugal pumps, driven by portable engines, for pumping 
 back the water when it has reached the lowest part of his farm, 
 a plan with which he is well satisfied. The watered plains of 
 Lombardy present a most rich and luxuriant appearance ; the 
 grass is strong and succulent, the very opposite of the blue 
 grass found on some of the western plains of America, which, 
 as the Yankees say, is " as crisp as hair, and wants lathering 
 before you can mow it."* 
 
 On leaving the plains of Lombardy I passed over the Alps to 
 Switzerland. Everywhere along the hill-side are to be seen 
 devices for catching aud spreading the water on the grass 
 slopes ; then again it is arrested on its way to the valley, and 
 turned over the meadows and fields of maize ; indeed, as the 
 fertility of the country depends upon the utilization of the 
 water, every little stream is turned to the best account. In 
 the neighbourhood of Verona I had an opportunity of examin- 
 ing the " Metayer" system : the cultivation was very slovenly, 
 and the crops scant. The influence of the practice may be 
 judged from a remark made by one of a company of farmers, 
 and endorsed by the rest, " That it saved them from anxiety." 
 Without anxiety, thought I, our own agricultm-e would have 
 been in the state I found theirs. When in Spain some years 
 ago, I passed through districts, which, through being irrigated, 
 in the time of the Moors, were most fruitful; but which, through 
 the neglect of the Spaniards in not maintaining the works, left 
 them by the Moors, are now barren wastes. 
 
 * " Gvpiitcv Bvitiiin"— Sir Clinrlps Dillcp-, 3r.l', 
 
CONTINENTAL I'AEMING AND PEASANTRV. 37 
 
 CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 la drawing my observations to a close, I would remark that 
 the question : — What is the next great step which can he 
 taken in agriculture? is often asked by thinking men. I 
 remember some three years ago no less a man than Mr. 
 Gladstone, when talking upon increasing the meat supply, 
 to Mr. Clayden, Mr. Leeds, and myself, propounded this very 
 question : I smiled and remarked as gravely as I could, that 
 I did not see how w;e could make another move until he re- 
 pealed the malt-tax. In England, cultivation, on the best 
 farms has arrived at such a state of perfection, that I believe 
 it is idle to expect any very great increase in the produce per 
 acre ; but, the general average of the country will unquestion- 
 ably be considerably raised : I am now speaking solely of the 
 highest style of farming, with a view to discover what next step 
 is possible. I take it that the great question of the day is, not 
 so much how many more cattle or sheep can be fed on bought 
 feeding stuffs, as how they can be raised and profitably kept 
 upon crops grown upon the farm ; in other words, how a greater 
 supply can be economically produced. 
 
 I believe no gentleman present will differ from me in the 
 opinion, tbat if upon a given portion of his land, especially if 
 friable soil, he could always command a supply of water for 
 irrigation, a larger quantity of green food could be raised ; and 
 thus the means of keeping a greater number of animals would 
 be furnished. Is there any great difficulty, mechanical or 
 otherwise, in placing the power of irrigating the land in the 
 hands of a vast number of English farmers ? Along our valleys, 
 where water is to be obtained in abundance at a few feet from 
 the surface, a centrifugal or chain pump, worked by a horse 
 or an engine, would supply sufficient water for the irrigation of 
 scores of acres. More however than this is required; the 
 water in our rivers, I maintain, should not be the exclusive 
 property of individuals, but be free for the use and good of 
 the whole people. 
 
 M. Durand, a French agriculturist of remarkable energy, 
 alive to the importance of irrigation, determined to avail him- 
 self of the water of the Aveyron. For this purpose he turned 
 ^ branch of the river, constructed a small canal two miles long, 
 
38 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTKV. 
 
 and erected a weir at the junction. With the earth dug out, he 
 made an embankment to prevent the flooding of fifty acres of 
 his land, whilst on other seventy-five acres he turned the water 
 brought by the canal ; this arrangement enabled him to keep 
 double the number of battle and sheep, as well as to raise one- 
 third more corn. For thirty long years, however, he was at 
 war with opponents, but at length succeeded in putting down 
 all OppoSitionj and was rewarded by the State with a gold 
 medal for the work he had accomplished. 
 
 The rivers and running water of France are not under the 
 Control of private individuals as in England. The water only 
 belongs to the owner of the land through which it flows during 
 its tPansit, when it has passed his boundary he has no further 
 control over it. As long ago as 1669, Louis XIV. abolished the 
 feudal rights of the proprietors in rivers, the ownership thereof 
 being reserved by the State. Owing to the want of energy in 
 Prance, the great boon, secured by this enactment, has not been 
 taken advantage of to any great extent. Far be it from me to 
 advocate such spoliation or confiscation as was adopted by 
 France, but I sincerely wish that the Rivers Commission, which 
 is yet pursuing its inquiries, may see its way to recommend to 
 our Grovernment the placing of all rivers and watercourses 
 under a central authority, having power to buy up the acquired 
 rights of individual owners, in order that the water of the rivers 
 may be as free for the benefit of the whole people as the air 
 we bteathei I would also express a hope, that the Commission 
 will see its way to some plan for securing our rivers and streams 
 against being polluted by the fertilizing matter which now runs 
 to Waste J all doubt and difficulty as to the possibility of its 
 utilisation having at length been set at rest. 
 
 I have called attention to the wages and state of the Contin- 
 etital peasant more prominently than I should have done, in 
 consequence of the condition of the English farm labourer 
 having of late occupied so large a share of public attention. 
 Whilst I am sensible of the degradation and comparative 
 poverty of the peasantry in some parts of our own coimtry, and 
 whilst I am a streilUoua advocate for the better housing, the 
 better education, and the adoption of other means of raising 
 their position ', I say fearlessly that their condition is superior, 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PeASAN^KY. 39 
 
 and if they A¥Ould spend less in beer, would be incomparably 
 superior, to any of the same class upon the continent. I was 
 talking over this subject the other day with two of my own 
 workmen, who are engaged in starting machinery in various parts 
 of the world. In this employment they have, during the pas^ 
 ten years, travelled half over Europe: they were both brought up 
 as agricultural labourers. One said to me, speaking of the con- 
 tinental labourer, " Poor things, I have often pitied them, they 
 do live hard with their black bread and broth, their cabbage and 
 red-herring, and such like." He also said, " You know, sir, 
 they can't do what I call a day's work, for there is nothing in- 
 side 'em." This man, though no political economist, remarked, 
 " You know, sir, their labour don't cost much, and their masters 
 don't get much work out of 'em." 
 
 That a minute sub-division of the land has a tendency to 
 raise wages is a very general notion ; I have however come to 
 the conclusion that it is a popular error. Go into almost any 
 part of England where small holdings predominate, and there 
 will be found not only a lower scale of wages, but what is worse, 
 a want of continuous employment. In a tour I made last 
 spring through the counties of Tipperary and Cork, I found 
 precisely the same results : work on large farms was continuous^ 
 on small, intermittent j this I found to be the case in every part 
 of the continent. 
 
 Another conclusion I have arrived at is, that in all countries 
 nothing tends to keep back agriculture so much as insecurity of 
 tenure. Leases are all but universal on the continent, but 
 wherever I went there was the same complaint, the same reason 
 for not making permanent improvement, the leases were said to 
 be too short, the tenure too insecure. ' The province of Gron- 
 ingen, in Holland, possesses, 1 believe, the greatest agricultural 
 wealth of any part of Europe 5 here the tenancy is hereditary : I 
 mention this not by way of advocating the principle of fixity or 
 perpetuity of tenvire, but as a proof that the tendency of length 
 of tenure is to increase production. Whilst as a rule I am op- 
 posed to cutting up land into small holdings, I would not have 
 it supposed that I think it desirable that a whole country should 
 be divided into monster farms ; to such a state of things I am 
 equally opposed. I believe that to be the best condition of 
 
40 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 things for all interests, when there is a considerable variety in 
 the size of farms ; so that a farmer with a family of sons has a 
 chance of finding for them a choice of holdings suited to the 
 means at his command. In many estates I think we have gone 
 far enough, too far in some parts of England, toward the utter 
 extermination of small farms. I maintain that a few, and mark, 
 I say a few, too many would be as great an evil as none, a few 
 even of cottier farms, with a good orchard and well-stocked 
 garden attached, which the industrious, thrifty peasant might 
 look forward to occupying when he begins to decline in life, 
 would tend to cheer him along in the path of labour, and would, 
 I believe, do more to elevate the class than all the prizes given 
 at our agricultural meetings : the large farmer also would, in 
 my opinion, be benefited by securing the services of a better 
 class of labourers. Lord Lichfield, on a part of his estate, has 
 adopted some such practice, the little farms with convenient 
 homesteads, at low rents, are offered to the most deserving and 
 thrifty of the older labourers as prizes for good conduct. 
 
 On the general question of large and small farms, I have no 
 hesitation in pronouncing in favoiir of the former. I would call 
 particular attention to the fact that even the Trades Union 
 League or Congress, which met at Brussels a year or two ago 
 condemned the system of "petite culture" and resolved that 
 when communism or community in land was gained, in order 
 to produce food cheaply, it would be necessary to farm on a great 
 scale, so that, as was argued, the rapid processes and costly ma- 
 chinery found so economical in manufactures might be brought 
 to bear with eff'ect in the cultivation of the soil. That with the 
 land cut up into small farms, a greater number of people can 
 manage to live or exist upon it is undoubtedly true, but the 
 question then arises, what is the more desirable condition of 
 things, a system under which the greatest population can subsist 
 upon a given area, or a system under which the largest amount 
 of food can be raised at the least cost ? That the small farmer 
 can produce food as cheaply as it can be raised on a large scale, 
 I apprehend no practical man will maintain ; again, when even 
 the conditions are favourable, as in Belgium, the crops of the 
 cultivator of a few acres are as a rule far inferior to those of the 
 large stock farmer. 
 
40a 
 
 I would direct attention to another important con- 
 sideration; since the discovery of that mighty agent — 
 steam ; the world has witnessed the introduction of a 
 succession of devices and inventions for relieving man of 
 those laborious operations, which, requiring no exercise of 
 the higher faculties, simply tax the brute force of the human 
 frame. In our great manufactories and other industrial estab- 
 lishments, all kinds of work, which most severely taxed the 
 strength of man, have long been performed by steam-driven 
 machinery. Of late years the same giant arm has been intro- 
 duced into our fields and homesteads : the flail has given place 
 to the steam-thrashing machine ; the scythe and the sickle are 
 fast being supplanted by the mowing and the reaping machine ; 
 man's strong arms are no longer needed to guide the plough in 
 its course ; he rides upon the formidable steam-driven culti- 
 vator. So of many other laborious operations of the farm, 
 which formerly well nigh reduced the labourer to the 
 condition of a mere beast of burden, they are now far 
 better and more expeditiously performed by ingenious 
 machines, which, instead of requiring brute force, simply call 
 into exercise man's intelligence in adjusting and controlling 
 them. 
 
 I look upon machinery as the great emancipator of the human 
 family from the direct effect of the curse, " In the sweat of thy 
 brow shalt thou eat bread." Should invention make the pro- 
 gress during the next, as it has done during the present genera- 
 tion, mankind, both in agriculture and manufactures, will be re- 
 lieved of all that excessive labour which blunts the intellect, 
 lowers the morality, induces habits of intemperance, and swells 
 the ranks of pauperism and crime. 
 
 Nothing, to my mind, would tend to retard the consummation 
 of this highest condition of the labourer than a general system 
 oi petite culture ; 'for it condemns, those employed in it, to a per- 
 petuation of those primitive customs and laborious tasks from 
 which the labourer on large farms is gradually becoming 
 pmancipated. 
 
contineS'tal farming and peasantry. 4i 
 
 There are some writers at the present day, whose only idea 
 about the use of land seems to be, the adoption of plans by which 
 the greatest number of people can gain a livelihood by its culti- 
 vation. In considering the question, however, it must be borne 
 in mind that London, Manchester, Birmingham, and other 
 centres of industry, where little or no food is produced, have to 
 be fed. 
 
 Lord Palmerston once made the — since trite — remark that, 
 " dirt simply meant matter in the wrong place," so of over- 
 population. When a broad view is taken ; when it is considered 
 what millions of acres of virgin land, throughout the world, in- 
 vite the industry of man, upon which he could subsist in com- 
 fort and independence ; we must conclude that there is no such 
 thing as over-population ; a wise and beneficent Providence has 
 given us a world large enough ; yea, far larger than is required 
 for the present family of man. Take alone the great prairies 
 and plains of the Western States of America, capable of sup- 
 porting millions on millions : I remember the impression the 
 sight of them made upon me ; as I gazed, the thought occurred 
 to me, that Lord Palmerston on seeing them, would have ex- 
 claimed ! " Over-population, why it simply means men in the 
 wrong place." 
 
 The "petite culture" pursued in France and other parts of 
 the continent has undoubtedly this, injurious effect. Under 
 such a system the creation of a class of intelligent tenants with 
 sufficient capital to develop the resources of the soil, is rendered 
 impossible. In England the power of the soil to produce corn 
 is maintained chiefly through the medium of restorative crops 
 consumed by cattle aud sheep. The proportion of crops in 
 England and Scotland is one-third exhaustive and two-thirds 
 restorative. In tlie sugar-beet districts of Prance and Belgium 
 the example of England has been followed, but over a wide 
 extent of the country, the system of cropping followed is one of 
 exhaustion ; the simple object of the cultivator is the raising of 
 corn and other crops which can be at once taken to market 
 and turned into money. What I say of France on this point is 
 true of every country in the world where farmers are 
 without capital, they cannot afford to wait for the more slow 
 but more certain results obtained by the scientific practice of 
 
42 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 modern agriculture. Our agricultural statistics in England are 
 not very reliable, I wish, only for the sake of dravdng compari- 
 sons, they were more exact. An eminent French Professor of 
 Agriculture, after full inquiry, and a long tour in this country, 
 calculated that with less than half the extent of cultivated land, 
 England produced double the amount of animal food, and in 
 proportion nearly twice the quantity of corn. In England, the 
 bare fallows are only one tenth of the extent of corn crops, 
 whilst in France one-third annually is in fallow : this will, to 
 practical farmers, sufficiently indicate the difference between the 
 systems practised by the two countries. I believe the different 
 results in the two countries are not altogether attributable to 
 existing conditions, a great deal is to be accounted for on the 
 score of difference of race : I have seen Lower Canada and I 
 have seen Canada West, and the difference between the energy 
 of the two races is palpably written on the face of the two divi* 
 sions. English self-reliance, English perseverance and energy 
 of character, have overcome difficulties which the French, 
 notwithstanding the aid offered by government, have been un- 
 able to conquer. 
 
 I would express a belief, that it is a question of paramount 
 importance to the nation, that a full comprehension of the dif- 
 ference in the results between stock farming and "petite cul- 
 ture" should be arrived at. We can draw our supplies of corn 
 from the ends of the earth, but until Nature yields up her 
 secret as to the means of preserving meat, fresh, for an indefinite 
 period, the area from which we can draw our supplies of animal 
 food will continue to be circumscribed. Having well considered 
 the subject, I am forced to the conclusion, that were "petite cul- 
 ture" to become as general in England as in France and Belgium, 
 with our teeming and ever-increasing population, meat would 
 soon be at famine prices. I conclude my paper by remarking 
 that I have yet to see the country which can compare in Agri- 
 culture with our own beautiful little Island. 
 
The following chapter from the Report of Dr. Augustus 
 Voelcker and Mr. H. M. Jenkins, F.G.S., Editor of the Eoyal 
 Agricultural Journal, is so important and so corroborative of 
 the views I had previously expressed that I give it entire. 
 
44 
 
 "LARGE PAEMS V. SMALL HOLDINGS. 
 
 " The question which we have now to consider is usually 
 asked thus : — Is a national system of large farms or a national 
 system of small farms best for a country ? Our reply to that 
 question would be one with which we became only too familiar 
 in Belgium, — 'That depends/ It depends, of course, upon 
 the condition and requirements of the country. In the case of 
 the two countries which first suggest themselves — Belgium and 
 Ireland — it is probable, at the present moment, that what is 
 best for one is worst for the other. At the outset, therefore, it 
 is necessary to ascertain precisely what is really the problem to 
 be solved. Is it, — under which system is most food produced 
 per acre ; or, under which system is the most surplus food pro- 
 duced per acre ; or, which system is the best as an employer of 
 labour ; or, under what circumstances is either one or the other 
 most conducive to national prosperity ? 
 
 "Almost every Belgian is a firm believer in the superiority 
 of la petite culture as a national system ; but his arguments 
 are generally based on considerations which are more aesthetic 
 than economic, and his facts are derived from a comparison of, 
 say, the Pays de Waes with the Polders. Such a comparison 
 even, seems to us illogical ; as the districts compared differ so 
 widely in soil that there is no analogy between them. Por in- 
 stance, in the Pays de Waes a farmer can reckon upon getting a 
 good crop of turnips by sowing after harvest ; but in the Polders 
 it is often very difficult to grow turnips at all. As for the 
 poetry, the ' coquetterie,' and the other sesthetical attributes of 
 la petite culture, so much admired by some writers, they ought 
 not to be imported into the stern region of Political Economy. 
 
 " Our observations with regard to the production of food led 
 us to believe that, cteteris paribus, the larger farms yield a 
 relatively larger produce. In Flanders, farms of 20 acres are 
 generally better done than those of 5 or 10 ; and farms of 50 
 acres better than those of SO. At the " Concours de Fermes" 
 'held this year (1869) by the Agricultural Society of East 
 Flanders (the province of la petite culture, par excellence), the first 
 prize was awarded to a farm of 105 acres, situated in the Pays 
 de Waes, and surrounded by the best types of la petite culture. 
 
LAEGE FARMS V. SMALL HOLDINGS. 43 
 
 The second prize was awarded to a farm of 62^ acres ; but it 
 should be stated that other prizes were awarded to farms of less 
 than 35 acres in extent. The first and second prize farms no 
 doubt produced larger crops than any of the smaller farms in 
 their neighbourhood, and the same thing is noticeable in every 
 district. We venture to mention the farm of M. Dumont, of 
 Chassart, comprising 1,500 acres, and that of M. Van Viakeroy, 
 of Hasselt, measuring 500 acres, as indubitable instances of 
 the superiority of the large farming in both the loamy and the 
 sandy region. In Belgium very many large farmers are very 
 bad ones, but, as a rule, the smaller farmers in their immediate 
 neighbourhood are still worse. Of course there are exceptions. 
 Small farmers generally try to do too much, and this peculiarity 
 has led to the prevalent opinion that it is possible, under a 
 small-farm system, to produce larger crops and to keep more 
 stock than on large farms. They sow and plant everj' crop too 
 thickly, and require double duty from land and stock. English ■ 
 farmers will be able to judge for themselves, from what we have 
 described, of the relative amount of food consumed by cattle 
 and sheep per head in Belgium and in England, and of the 
 value of the animals in each case when sold to the butcher. 
 The fact is that the petit cultivateur keeps as many cows as he 
 can for the sake of their manure and their butter ; but he not 
 unfrequently half-starves them, although he uses as their food 
 all his own grain-crop except wheat. As they say in Stafford- 
 shire, ' If you want more milk sell a cow !'* Eventually the 
 cow is sold to the larger farmers, and by them made into beef. 
 Practically, la petite culture in Belgium produces no meat but 
 pork, fortunately the small farmers consume none. That 
 landlords are advocates of the small-farra system is but natural, 
 because a large number of small holdings tends to raise rents. 
 High rents and low wages are the predominant features of la 
 petite culture, features which in England would be considered 
 anything but commendable. In large-farm districts, as we 
 have already shown, rents are lower and wages higher. 
 
 " The large farms yield the most surplus food, partly because 
 their gross produce is more than that of the small ones, but 
 more particularly because they give employment, in proportion, 
 * Jowmal Royal AciricuUwral Sociely, 3nd Scries, vol. v., p. 271. 
 
46 I(ARGE FARMS V. SMAIL HOtDINGS. 
 
 to a much smaller number of people, owing to the more exten- 
 sive use of machinery. Which system is most conducive to the 
 national prosperity of Belgium ? The reply is, obviously, the 
 large-farm system, because it sets free a large number of people 
 for employment in other industries, the expansion of which 
 seems to be entirely dependent on the supply of labour. When 
 a railvsray is opened in a new district in the Walloon country^ 
 what is the effect ? A man can travel in Belgium 100 miles for 
 half-a-crown, so the agricultural labourers go to the manufac- 
 turing districts in search of work, and get it : and in three 
 months the rate of wages in the newly opened district will have 
 risen 30 per cent. This is not the case in the northern part of 
 Flanders, for there you can hardly induce a man to leave his 
 native commune. The consequence is that there one sees a 
 dense agricultural population, low wages, and poor living ; and 
 nearly the whole produce of the soil is consumed by those who 
 are employed in obtaining it. Of course, if the only employ- 
 ment for a large mass of the population is the cultivation of 
 the land, a large-farm system is impossible ; but such a state of 
 things is, in a civilized country, a political and commercial disease, 
 
 " The most primitive condition of a country is that in which 
 the population is evenly distributed, where there are neither 
 towns nor villages, and where every family has to supply its 
 own wants. The most advanced condition of a country is where 
 the distributed population is no more than sufQcient to till the 
 land, and the remainder is congregated in centres of manufac- 
 ture and commerce. In the latter we have division of labour, 
 where the tiller of the soil feeds the man who clothes him, and 
 so on through the endless labyrinth of interdependency which 
 is formed by civilization ; this condition must be co-existent 
 with a system of large farms. 
 
 " The small-farm system of Flanders, on the contrary, 
 necessitates the employment of a large number of people on a 
 relatively small area, and consequently at very low wages. We 
 have endeavoured to show that this fact retards the natural in- 
 crease in the prosperity of the country j and this consideration 
 has, in fact, been brought home to some of the more instructed 
 men in Belgium. M. Jacquemyns, President of the Agricultural 
 Society of Bast Flanders, in speaking of the relatively large 
 
LARGE FARMS V. SMALL HOLDINGS, 47 
 
 amount of manual labour required on their small-farm system, 
 says, ' Twenty years ago this was its great merit, now it is its 
 great defect.'* This is because manufacturing industries and 
 public works now require a constantly increasing number of 
 workmen at higher wages than those of an agricultural 
 labourer ; and while this increase in his income benefits the 
 individual, the result of his work is a benefit to the nation. 
 The authorities of the State Agricultural College at Gembloux 
 have also stated in their ' Bulletin,' p. 191, that ' under equal con- 
 ditions large farms have over small ones all the advantages which 
 manufacturers on a large possess over those on a small scale.' 
 
 " The inherent proclivities of different races should not, how- 
 ever, be forgotten. The Flemish, for instance, are naturally 
 devoted to agricultural pursuits, and they will make enormous 
 sacrifices in order to buy a piece of land. They are very in- 
 dustrious when working for themselves ; but otherwise their 
 labour is dear even at the low price they get paid for it. There- 
 fore, under a small-farm system, a certain amount of force is 
 utilized which would otherwise have been wasted. The Wal- 
 loons are entirely different ; they are more energetic, and do 
 more justice to their employers ; then they get better wages, 
 live very much better, and have neither the hoarding propen- 
 sity nor the land-mania so characteristic of the Flemish. 
 
 " Although we have endeavoured to show that small farming, 
 as a national system, is not desirable in a manufacturing country 
 like. Belgium, we are far from saying that there should be no 
 small farms. Such an opinion would be equivalent to saying 
 that because it is not desirable that every soldier should be an 
 officer, therefore there should be no officers. La petite culture 
 of Belgium is favoured by the provisions of the Code Napoleon 
 with respect to the inheritance of prop^ty ; and we imagine 
 that the tendency of those provisions must be to gradually 
 extend the system of small farms, and to diminish the average 
 size of the holdings. This tendency seems to us directly op- 
 posed to an increase in the material prosperity of the country." 
 
 * " M, Laolero observes that ' laliour in the rwal districts of Belgium is becom- 
 ing more and more scarce, owing to the great development of manufactures. The 
 insufficiency of labour is compensated for by the use of machines.' This ia 
 obviously impossible on small farms," 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The answers to the following questions were given either by 
 letter or viva voce, and are from gentlemen of experience and 
 position. The information received has been much condensed ; 
 nevertheless, the writer hopes that the facts given may not be 
 without interest. 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 Question asked. — Is the land in your immediate district 
 divided into large and small farms ? If so, what is considered 
 a large and what a small farm, and which form the greater pro ' 
 portion ? 
 
 Answers : — 
 
 M. J. Leclerc, Inspector-General of Agriculture, Brussels. — 
 The following table indicates how rural property is subdivided 
 in Belgium. In the year 1856 there were farms not ex- 
 ceeding — 
 
 247,551 
 
 70,413 
 
 165,933 
 
 42,737. 
 
 17,432 
 
 9,153 
 
 5,590 
 
 9,408 
 
 3,329 
 
 1,004 
 
 li acres 
 
 
 lito 
 
 24 acres 
 
 2i 
 
 124 „ 
 
 m 
 
 25 
 
 , 
 
 25 
 
 374 
 
 > 
 
 m 
 
 , 50 
 
 ) 
 
 50 
 
 624 
 
 I 
 
 624 
 
 125 
 
 , 
 
 125 
 
 250 
 
 » 
 
 250 and upwards 
 
 Total number of farms 
 
 572,560 
 
 This total comprises 6,507,590 acres, of which 3,558,632 acres 
 are cultivated directly by the owners, and 3,948,958 acres by 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 49 
 
 tenant-farmers. The following is the mean extent of the farms 
 in the yarious provinces : 
 
 Antwerp 
 
 12 
 
 Brabant 
 
 8f 
 
 W. Flanders 
 
 9i 
 
 E. do. ... 
 
 6i 
 
 Hainanlt ... 
 
 ... 8 
 
 Lifige 
 
 Hi 
 
 Limburg 
 
 17 
 
 Luxemburg... 
 
 28 
 
 Namur 
 
 184 
 
 Average for the whole country, llj acres. 
 
 Landed property in Belgium tends to subdivision. This is the 
 inevitable consequence of legislation which gives to each child 
 the right of claiming one share of the paternal estate, and also 
 is a consequence of the increase of public wealth. Many peo- 
 ple who have acquired wealth in business wish to become landed 
 proprietors. 
 
 Baron Peers, President of the Agricultural Society of West 
 Flanders, Bruges. — ^In the two provinces of Flanders property 
 is much divided. There are a few large and many small farms; 
 most of the latter are let without buildings. The majority con- 
 sist of 12J to 30 acres ; the tillage, &c., being done by the help 
 of cows, 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, of the Rhenish Beetroot Sugar Company, Co- 
 logne. — Land is much divided; 400 acres is considered a 
 large farm ; small farms 27 to 34 acres. Small farms pre- 
 dominate. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, member of the Royal Prussian 
 Board of Agriculture, Silesia. — Land over the whole of East 
 Prussia is divided into great and small properties. There were 
 in Prussia, in 1858, farmed properties, under 3 acres, 871,926, 
 properties from 3 to 18 acres 531,690, properties from 18 to 
 J80 acres 359,697, from 80 to 360 acres in the country 14,083, 
 
50 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTEY. 
 
 of more than 360 acres 14,083. The assessment of landed 
 property in 1865 showed— 
 
 5,518 prop«rties of £150 to £300 annual value 
 2,600 do. £300 to ^450 do. 
 
 1,871 do. £450 to £750 do. 
 
 689 do. £750 to £1,500 do. 
 
 108 do. £1,500 do. 
 
 In 1865 were 291,614 properties in the townsliips. 
 „ 1,503,434 „ parishes 
 
 „ 22,467 „ hands of the gentry. 
 
 If you take the taxed revenue 30 times, it will represent the 
 real value of the property. The morgen, or Prussian acre, pays 
 in my neighbourhood on land of middle quality about three 
 thalers a year (15s. an acre). 
 
 Dr. Emil Perels, Professor of Agriculture at the University 
 of Halle. — Most farms are in the hands of independent owners ; 
 hired farms, with the exception of the state domains, are ex- 
 ceptional. By a large farm is mostly understood one of 600 
 English acres. The largest estate in my neighbourhood is 
 Saltzmiinde, with a superficies of 6,000 acres, the smallest 
 (peasant's holding) about 12 English acres. In the Prussian 
 kingdom the peasant holdings preponderate. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Edouard Lecouteux, landed proprietor and editor of the 
 " Journal d'Agriculture Pratique," Paris. — In the district of 
 Sologne large estates predominate. There are domains of 
 5,000 acres, but they tend to subdivision. Estates of about 
 700 acres are the most easily disposed of. The large estates 
 are let in farms of 250 to 500 acres. There ai'e many small 
 holdings of 30 to 50 acres, and others of 2 to 12 acres. 
 
 M. Gustavo Hamoir, agriculturist, Valenciennes. — Landed es- 
 tates here are very much divided. There are few large pro- 
 prietors. All are let on lease, and, if large, are often distri- 
 buted among several tenants. Twenty-five acres is considered 
 a large extent- Ten acres may be considered as the average. 
 A large number are only li acres. It is a rare exception for 
 the landed proprietors to farm their own estates, A great 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 51 
 
 number of farmers have a fourth or more of their land their 
 own property, and hire the rest on lease. There are some 
 farms of 450 to 650 acres j but the mean size of a farm must 
 be considered 3J acres, and such farms may be considered to 
 predominate. 
 
 M. de Pimpin, manager of the farms of La Briche, the pro- 
 perty of M. Cail, near Tours (Loire). — Except upon the banks 
 of the Loire, where the plots are very small, landed property 
 is not much subdivided in Touraine : many farms of more 
 than 3,500 acres may be counted; ordinary farms are from 135 
 to 300 acres ; the largest are 4,000 acres in extent, and the 
 smallest 1 35 acres. The small farms, of which a good many 
 frequently belong to one proprietor, predominate. 
 
 M. Maurice Lapointe, farmer, near Metz.— Amongst 100 
 farms in this district, there are 30 of from 135 to 300 acres, 
 70 from 300 to 350 acres, and 10 exceeding 350 acres. The 
 largest farm is from 375 to 400 acres, and the least 50 acres ; 
 holdings of a less extent are not considered farms. I consider 
 the mean size 300 to 350 acres. 
 
 SWITZEEiAND. 
 
 M. Bovet, agriculturist, Neufchatel. — Land is much divided. 
 Farms in a ring-fence are very rare, except in the mountains, 
 where they are the rule. In Western Switzerland, farms of 
 13i to 35 acres are considered small, 35 to 75 medium, and 75 
 to 350 large. Larger than 350 acres are very rare, except in 
 the mountains. The greater proportion of farms are small. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore, agricultural engineer, Bologna. — In this 
 district there are not the large properties or farms as in Eng- 
 land nor the very small ones of Ireland, but, instead, medium 
 farms. There are a few large holdings, but not conducted as 
 in England, but rather several small farms united. Each farm 
 is of a size to be cultivated by one family of labourers ; the 
 number of persons in a family will be about 13. In this dis- 
 
 E 3 
 
53 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 trict a farm, such as is above intended, will be about 25 to 50 
 acres in extent. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 From an agriculturist in Gallicia ; communicated by Profes- 
 sor Fuchs, Perpetual Secretary of the Imperial Agricultural 
 Society of Austria. — The land in my immediate neighbourhood 
 (district of Cracow) is divided into large farms of 120 to 450 
 acres, and peasant farms of three to 45 acres. In my district 
 the largest farm is 450 acres, and 120 acres the least. Peasant 
 proprietors farm 3 to 45 acres. In my environs, farms consist 
 mostly of 300 acres arable and 45 to 75 acres pasture. For 
 each farm of 300 to 375 acres there are in proportion 30 to 40 
 peasant farms. 
 
 From an agriculturist in Austrian Silesia ; communicated by 
 Professor Fuchs, Vienna. — Farms are seldom let on hire. They 
 vary in size from 450 to 750 acres. The largest is 1,750 acres, 
 the smallest 120 acres. Farms are generally from 450 to 750 
 acres in extent. 
 
 Herr Nitsch, steward of Count Magri's estate of Strassnitz, 
 in Moravia ; communicated by Dr. Fuchs, Vienna. — The land 
 is all in large farms. Above 3,000 acres is considered a large 
 farm, and under that extent a small one. The largest farms 
 are 30,000 acres, the smallest 900 acres. In Moravia the larger 
 farms predominate. 
 
 Herr Nicholas Feher, farmer and agricultural engineer, 
 Pesth. — There are farms in this country as lai-ge as 225,000 
 acres, and some as small as 7i acres. There are some landed 
 proprietors who own as much as 600,000 acres. 
 
 Question asked. — What is about the average rent of large 
 farms and of small ones, say of medium quality ? If the land in 
 your district is of three qualities, perhaps it may be as easy for 
 you to give the rents of each. 
 
CONTINENTAL PARMINO AND PEASANTRY. 53 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclercj Brussels. — The average rent of farms in the 
 various provinces in 1856 was : 
 
 Antwerp 
 
 ... 24s. Od. 
 
 per acre, 
 
 Brabant 
 
 ... 32s. Od. 
 
 9} 
 
 W. Flanders ... 
 
 ... 26e. 8d. 
 
 J} 
 
 E. Flanders ... 
 
 ... 34s. Od. 
 
 3J 
 
 Haiuault 
 
 ... 35s. 2d. 
 
 91 
 
 IJiege 
 
 ... 32s. 4d. 
 
 3) 
 
 Limburg 
 
 ... 19s. lOd. 
 
 91 
 
 Luxemburg ... 
 
 ... 14s. Od. 
 
 3» 
 
 Namur 
 
 ... 20s. 4d. 
 
 33 
 
 Average rent for tbe whole country 
 
 ... 26s. 2d. 
 
 33 
 
 Rents have increased considerably during late years in those 
 parts where agricultural industries, chiefly sugar factories, have 
 been established. There are in the neighbourhood of Brussels 
 farms which are let at the rate of 58s. per acre. The rents of 
 small farms, for which there is much competition, range gene- 
 rally from 40 to 48s. per acre. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders. — For third-class land, in large farms, 
 farmers pay 21s., for medium quality 29s., and for the best 
 land 38s. 6d. per acre. Small farms let for 29s., 40s., and 45s. 
 per acre, for land of similar quality to the above. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Her Joest, Cologne. — The average rent is 31s. 6d. per acre, 
 both of large and small farms. The different classes of land, 
 by high cultivation, are brought almost to one standard. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow. — The Prussian landowner farms 
 mostly himself, and small landowners do not let farms ; only 
 the State and great landholders let land. The greater land- 
 holders sometimes let small plots of arable land to the smaller 
 landholders or farmers, or to the labourers. In my own case 
 I let about 360 acres in pieces of 2i to 7J acres, at a rent of 25s. 
 per acre for the best quality, and 7s. 6d. for the worst. Land 
 is divided into six classes for taxation purposes. 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — The rent of farms, medium quality of 
 
54 CONTINENTAt fARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 soil, varies mucli ; the extreme limits are from 20s. to 75s. an 
 acre. In general, the small holdings are not let as farms, the 
 owner farms himself. Small lots are let at 30 to 85s. per acre. 
 The rents may be classified as follows : Soil, first quality 50s., 
 second 358., third 258. per acre. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — The rent of large farms is from 4s. lOd. to 
 8s. per acre, the minimum rent of small farms is 8s. Generally, 
 however, the rent is paid in produce on the "mdlayer" system. 
 
 M. Hamoir. — The average rent of land is 728. per acre. 
 Large and small farmers compete for the land. The very small 
 farmers pay a higher price, because they have to do with small 
 plots, and do not offer so good a guarantee to the proprietor. 
 The difference in rent of the various classes of land does not 
 bear any analogy to the natural quality of the soil, as high 
 farming, based upon root crops, has brought all land almost to 
 the same level. 
 
 M. de Fimpin, — In the north of Touraine the rent of the 
 land is about 3s. 3d. to 4s. per acre^ whilst in other districts of 
 the department rent varies from I3s. 9d. to 25s. 6d. an acre. 
 The general rent for small plots of medium quality is 9s. 6di 
 per acre. First quality land is let at 35s. 6di per acre, second 
 ditto at 13s. 9d., third ditto at 8s., in the good part of Tou- 
 raine. In the north, however, the rents are : First quality 6s. 
 5d. per acre, second ditto 4s. 9d., third ditto 2s. 8d. 
 
 M. Maurice Lapointe. — First class land lets at 19s. to 32s. 
 6d. per acre, second ditto 16s. to 19s. 6d., third ditto 13s. to 
 16s. In this departement there are farms let from 83s. to 35s. 
 an acre, and others at 98. 6d. to lis. 6d. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — Good land lets for 40s. an acre, medium 25s. 6d., 
 poor 16s. Pastures are let according to the number of cattle 
 they will carry. The difference between the rent of large and 
 small farms is inappreciable. 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 55 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — The average rent is about 33s, per acre. It 
 is all good land, and varies little in quality. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, from GaUicia. — The average rents of the larger 
 farms in GaUicia, second to third quality soil, is lis .to 14s. per 
 acre. The rent of small plots of li to 3 acres ranges from 32s. 
 per acre for the best quality to 5s. for the poorest. Peasant 
 farms, the property of former serfs, are held by the class, and 
 are not let. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Austrian Silesia. — Kent varies from 15s. to 60s. 
 per acre. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Moravia. — 31s. 4d. to 35s. 6d, per acre ; 19s. 3d. 
 to 33s. 4d. First class 33s. per acre, second class 33s. 4d. to 
 35s. 6d., third class 16s. to 19s. 2d. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth. — Rents range from 3s. 8d. to 8s. per acre. 
 The proximity of the railway has a great deal to do with the 
 value. 
 
 Question asked.—- ^^ what price can land of medium quality 
 be purchased in large lots ? and at what price in small lots ? 
 
 BELGIUMi 
 
 M. J. Lecletc, Brussels. — Here follow the average selling 
 prices of land in the various provinces in 1856 : — 
 
 
 £ s. di 
 
 
 Antwerp ... ... ... 
 
 ... 47 17 6 per a«re. 
 
 Brabant 
 
 ... 68 17 8 
 
 i) 
 
 West Flanders 
 
 ... 50 19 2 
 
 it 
 
 Eastnanders 
 
 ... 69 11 8 
 
 :) 
 
 Hainault ... ... 
 
 ... 70 14 8 
 
 h 
 
 Liege ... ... 
 
 ... 57 10 8 
 
 33 
 
 Limborg ... ... ... 
 
 ... 34 18 6 
 
 9i 
 
 Lnxemburg... 
 
 ... 16 13 lb 
 
 is 
 
 Namur ... ... ... 
 
 ... 39 8 6 
 
 ii 
 
 Average for the country ... 
 
 ... 50 14 8 
 
 „ 
 
 On account of the situation, or of particular circumstances, 
 land frequently reaches the value of ^113 to ^8160 per acre. 
 
56 CbNTtNENtAIi MRMING AND PEASANtRY. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders. — Land of medium quality can be 
 purchased at £56 per acre, that is, in lots of 135 to 150 acres. 
 In small plots of 5 to 15 acres £64 to J73 per acre is realised. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — From £50 to £75 per acre is the price 
 of land in large lots ; in small lots £30 to £37 10s. per acre. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — Land in large lots 
 fetches from £15 to £20 per acre with the farm buildings, &c., 
 and in small lots £35 to £37 10s. per acre without buildings, 
 &c. 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — The selling price of land varies consider- 
 ably according to locality. It ranges from £37 10s. to £75 
 per acre. 
 
 PRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — Land in large lots is sold at 64s. to £8 per 
 acre. 
 
 M. Hamoir. — Large lots £96 per acre, and in small £144 
 per acre. When there has been a succession of good crops for 
 several years, and the farmer has saved money, the price of 
 small lots is considerably augmented, because the ordinary 
 farmer does not and will not appreciate any other investment 
 than land, and buys therefore at any price when there is a 
 possibihty of doing so. I have known land sold at £193 per 
 acre. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — The price of land varies from £8 to £30 per 
 acre, according to the quahty of the soil and the position of the 
 property. £28 per acre is realized for small plots. When 
 higher prices than these are paid it is owing to special circum- 
 stances. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — Large plots £20 to £40 per acre ; small ones 
 £34 to £48. Some farms sell for as much as £138 to £160 
 per acre. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — In large farms £34 to £33 per acre, including 
 the farm buildings. Mountain and forest land .€3 5s. to £5. 
 
CONtlNENTAL fAUMING AND PEASANTRY. 5? 
 
 Small farms sell for £48 to £56 per acre. Vineyards fetch 
 from £300 to £320 per acre. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — Large farms can be bought at about £20 
 per acre, and small ones at about £32 10s. 
 
 AUSTllIA. 
 
 Dr. f uchs, Gallicia. — Large farms of medium quality can be 
 bought at £7 to £8 per acre. 
 
 Dr. Puchs, Silesia. — In large plots from £20 to £35 per acre. 
 In small plots from £25 to £30 per acre. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Moravia.— Large plots £5 6s. 8d. to £13 6s. 8d, 
 per acre ; small plots £8 to £16 per acre. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth. — Large estates sell from 53s. 4d. to 93s. 
 4d. per acre, according to their position. Small farms 54s. 4d. 
 to £30 per acre, according to situation. 
 
 Question asked. — Are the small farms in your district the 
 property of the occupiers, or do they rent them ? What is your 
 opinion upon the question of peasant or small farmers ? Is it 
 better for their own interests and those of the country that they 
 should be the owners or simply the tenants of the soil ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — The number of small farms let to 
 tenants or farmed by their proprietors is about equal. In my 
 opinion itwould be better for both small and large farms to be 
 worked by the proprietors. 
 
 Baron Peers, Planders. — Both small and large farmers are 
 generally tenants, few are proprietors of the land they occupy. 
 There is nothing worse for the small as for the large farmer 
 than to be proprietor of his farm. When he buys he has almost 
 always to borrow a part of the purchase money to pay a heavy 
 interest, and has to be careful in payment. At his death, if 
 there are many children, tliey sell. The expenses come to from 
 15 to 18 per cent. ; in a word, those who are well advised in- 
 vest their money, and the greatest number do this. In this 
 manner they have their money when they want it, and can 
 
58 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 meet all eventualities. However, our farmers are not always 
 ready to buy. They often enter upon a farm of from 100 to 
 135 acres, with a capital of £40, whilst they ought to have £80 
 to £100. It is only by dint of economy and privations that 
 they get round, and this at the end of 30 or 40 years. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — Farms are mostly the property of the 
 farmers. Prosperous farmers are to be preferred to poor pro- 
 prietors, but many owners are said to produce a rich country. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — I think you get a more 
 steady population if everyone owns the land he farms. In 
 Eastern Prussia there exists no class of persons who would farm 
 a very small property, so I had never occasion to compare the 
 results. For the State and the great landowners it is better to 
 let the farms out to farmers with intelligence and capital, but a 
 man of intelligence could not subsist on a smaller farm of 
 middle quality than 130 to 200 acres. 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — The small estates are as a rule the pro- 
 perty of the farmer ; it is an exceptional case when they are 
 hired. As a general rule, it is considered in this country more 
 advantageous when the farmer owns his land. An independent 
 peasant proprietor is to be preferred to a tenant-farmer. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — The small farms are worked by farmers or 
 "metayers." The position of proprietors is the best in the 
 world for the peasant, but on the condition, however, that he 
 has sufficient money to work his land. Generally, the peasants 
 are possessed by the demon of property, they buy too much land, 
 and have no capital to work it with; 
 
 M. Hamoir. — Very few of the small farms are completely the 
 property of the occupier ; it is quite the exception. It wete 
 certainly preferable that the small farmer should not be a pro- 
 prietor or landowner at the price he pays. The interfest of his 
 money invested in ordinary securities would permit hiin to hire, 
 even at a high rate, double the quantity of land that he could 
 hold as an owner, but he does not enter upon this path, because 
 
CONTtNENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY, 59 
 
 of his ignorance and fear of investing money, and for another 
 fear, at least as serious, that of the short duration of leases, at 
 the end of which he dreads to he ousted for some competitor. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — ^As a rule, small farms are not the property 
 of occupiers ; they are hired for a money rent. This system of 
 letting equally prevails in the north of Touraine, where the pro- 
 prietor gets from 3s. 3d. to 4s. an acre ; in the south, contrary- 
 wise, " metayage" prevails. The system of letting land for 
 money in the north of Touraine is had in this sense, that the 
 farmers for the most part are destitute of the requisite know- 
 ledge, nor have they capital enough to work the land they rent. 
 In order to live they have to work upon the feelings of the 
 landlord hy inducing him to take a low rent, whilst they ex- 
 haust his soil, for they never manure it ; the result is a state of 
 non-progressive agriculture, and these farmers are constantly 
 complaining. To insure progress where neither the rent nor 
 the selling price of the land is high, there must he either 
 farmers possessing hoth money and intelligence, knowing their 
 business in fact, or else the landlords must farm themselves. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — The owners of small farms are not numerous. 
 Some, when they have money, often let their own landj and 
 cultivate a larger quantity, which they hire on lease. I think 
 for the most part they would find it to their advantage to em- 
 ploy their capital in the cultivation of a less eitent of land. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet,— -They are generally farmed by the owners. We 
 think it is better they should be owners ; it is a great guarantee 
 for the maintenance of social order. For high farming it is a 
 different matter, though for the last few Jrears the example of 
 the large proprietors and farmers has exerted a salutary in- 
 fluence on the small ones. The class of farmers in this country 
 arei as regards the majority, men belonging to the class of 
 smaU proprietors. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — Thtey are nearly all Ifet but to the labourer 
 on the " metayer system," the proprietors residing in the ad- 
 jacent towns. The general opinion in this country is, that so 
 
60 CONflNBlIfTAL FARMlNfe AND IIEASANTRY, 
 
 far as the labourers or their families are concerned, the 
 " metayer" is the best system. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — The small farms are the properties of 
 the peasants. The farming of the peasants is in a very poor 
 state. There is no industrial manufacture in this district, con- 
 sequently there is no capital ; if there were capital, the fanning 
 would be better, and it would also be to their advantage under 
 such circumstances to be owners of their land. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Moravia. — Small farms are the property of the 
 occupier. I think it would be better if they were tenants. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth. — Scarcely one-tenth of the land is let on 
 hire. The land is the property of the occupier.l I think it is 
 every way better for the peasant or small farmer to cultivate 
 his own land rather than that of another. 
 
 Question asked. — Is land let by the year or upon lease for a 
 number of years ; if upon lease, for what term of years ? Are 
 the leases verbal or in writing, and is it usual for them to contain 
 covenants or stipulations binding the tenant against over-cropping 
 the land or cropping it in a particular way ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — The land is always let on lease. The 
 duration of the leases is generally nine years, with the option 
 of withdrawal at the end of three and six years ; but some in- 
 telligent landowners are beginning to understand that it is to their 
 interest to give longer leases, and there are already some of 13 
 years. Agricultural societies aim at this amelioration. In 
 some parts of the country the outgoing tenant has a claim to 
 an indemnity on the part of the incoming tenant for manure 
 in the land and the improvements he may have made ; this is 
 an excellent system, and gives much security to the farmer. 
 Agricultural societies endeavour, also, to make this custom the 
 general one. Leases are always made in writing, and they 
 often contain restrictions. These last, however, ai'e disappear- 
 ing as the leases become longer, and as the principle of paying 
 the outgoing tenant is adopted. 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 61 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders. — All the land is let on lease ; the 
 general term is 9 years; some for 12, 15, and 18 years, but 
 these are the exception. There are few verbal leases, almost all 
 are written. Frequently, they are made out by a notary 
 Nearly all are private agreements. All contain rigorous stipu- 
 lations of annulling, or heavy penalties when the farmer exceeds 
 his powers. He ought to cultivate like a good father of the 
 family, put on manure, lime, and plough and hoe properly. 
 The last year of his lease he must not, in a farm of 135 acres, 
 grow more than 5 acres of buckwheat, 5 acres of oats, or 
 other exhaustive crops. At the end of his last harvest, he re- 
 ceives, according to estimates, from the incoming tenant, the 
 price of the farmyard manure and former dressings ; even for 
 the liquid manure he receives a value. The farmer is charged 
 with the repairs of the hired buildings, painting, &c. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — Land is let on leases for 3 and 6 
 years ; but as a rule leases are for 9 years — some are for 13 
 years. They are written contracts drawn up by a notary. 
 The farmer must manure his land according to local custom. 
 In the last year of his lease, he is restricted as to the extent of 
 cropping. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — Small parcels are let 
 out from 1 year to .3 years ; but farms, properly so called, with 
 homesteads, are let upon a lease of 13 or 18 years. No one 
 would take a farm with less than a 13 years' lease. The con- 
 tracts are in writing. The farmer is precluded by law from 
 selling straw or meadow hay ; most contracts forbid him to sell 
 such feeding stuffs as clover, mangold, &c. The rotation of 
 crops is very seldom mentioned. 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. As a rule the state domains are let on 
 18 year leases ; short leases are the exception. Leases are al- 
 ways in writing ; there are limiting conditions, particularly as 
 regards selling straw, which, for instance, on the state domains 
 is prohibited. Furthermore, conditions are made that a re- 
 storative rotation of crops shall be observed, and that the land 
 shall be kept in a fertile state. 
 
63 CONTINENTAl FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — Leases are from 3, 6, and 9 years. The 
 mdtayer is by the year. There are few written and registered 
 leases. The stipulation is by word of mouth or private un- 
 stamped agreements. No coTeuants are gi?eu for maintaining 
 the fertility of the soil. 
 
 M. Gustave Hamoir. — Leases are generally and almost en- 
 tirely for 9 years. The leases are generally made out by deeds 
 before a notary ; each proprietor adds some particular clauses 
 of little importance. The rotation of crops is no longer 
 stipulated for, except indeed for the last 3 years. What is most 
 generally required is a thorough manuring 3 years before the 
 expiration of the lease. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — Land is let in the north of Touraine, on 
 leases of 3, 6, and 9 years. In the south the leases are for half 
 the crops. Leases are stamped and sealed; they contain many 
 stipulations prohibiting the farmer from exhausting the soil, 
 and which often oblige him to manure it ; but these agreements 
 are seldom or never observed. The landlord is tolerant, and 
 the lease runs its course without any improvements taking 
 place. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — On leases of 9, 13, and 18 years. Leases are 
 always in writing, and generally contain a prohibition against 
 selling off green food or fodder, roots, &c. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — Generally on leases the term 3, 6, and 9 years, 
 with a right of continuity if there should not have been a 
 twelvemonth's notice given. Leases are in writing throughout 
 almost all Switzerland. In western Switzerland a stipulation is 
 made, that no more than three white crops shall follow together, 
 and no more than two of the same kind. Also, the extent of 
 cereals, root-crops, and industrial crops that may be grown is 
 sometimes specified — generally, a third of the total area. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — The length of contracts is 9 years ; but 
 sometimes as short as 3 years. The general opinion is that it 
 
CONTINENTAL FAEMING AND PEASANTRY. 63 
 
 would be better if leases were of longer duration. Leases are 
 in writing, some even are printed and explain all that the 
 farmer has to observe, not only for the rotation of crops, but 
 the manner in which the work is to be done ; and also, as to 
 the management of the beasts or cattle. 
 
 AUSTRIA, 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — The lease of large and small plots of 
 land is from 3 to 6 years. They are in writing and contain 
 reciprocal conditions. The tenant is not allowed to seU straw, 
 but must make it into manure. Rotation of crops is not 
 specified ; but for small plots of land no conditions whatever 
 are named. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Austrian Silesia. — Leases are for 4 years. For 
 large estates 25 year leases are frequently given, for medium- 
 sized farms 10 year leases are generally given. Leases from 1 
 to 4 years are only verbal, longer leases are in writing and the 
 tenant is constrained to keep the land in good order. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Moravia. — On leases of 12 to 21 years. In 
 writing. Exhaustion of land is prevented by the covenant 
 that on every 4i to 6 acres one head of grazing cattle must 
 be kept, and the dung produced must only be used on the farm 
 and cannot be sold. 
 
 Herr Feh6r, Pesth. — Land is let on lease mostly for 6 years, 
 some for 9 and 12 years ; sometimes for longer periods. Con- 
 tracts are in writing, the stipulations are exact with respect to 
 the system of cultivation. 
 
 Question asked, — Have you game laws in force^ and, if so 
 does the landlord reserve to himself the right of sporting ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — There is a very stringent game law in 
 Belgium ; the result is so much game is often preserved, that 
 farmers have frequently to complain of its ravages. The right 
 of shooting is always reserved by the landowner, if not for his 
 own pleasure, for letting to others. About 3s. per acre is paid 
 for the right of sporting. 
 
 Baron Peers. — Our game laws are severe ; without a licence, 
 
64 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 which costs 26s., it is not permitted to shoot even on one's own 
 estate. The proprietor reserves the right of shooting in the 
 lease. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne.— We have no game laws ; but the pro- 
 prietors reserve to themselves the right of shooting. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — Yes ; but the law gives 
 also some security against damage done by game, going so far 
 as allowing the tenant to kill it, if the proprietor does not 
 keep it in bounds. Nearly always the proprietor retains the 
 right over the game. 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — Game laws exist ; but from time to time 
 there is agitation for their repeal or alteration. The proprietor 
 has not the right of shooting, except he has 180 acres of land, 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — The law protects the game — too much so. 
 The landlord reserves the right of shooting. 
 
 M. Gustave Hamoir. — We have a game law j 1 herewith send 
 you a copy. On account of the great sub-division of the land, 
 the owner has little interest in reserving the right of shooting; 
 he only does so when he possesses a large amount of land in his 
 parish. As a rule, the right is given to the farmer, who is in a 
 position to prohibit the entry to his field to anyone who might 
 cause damage. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — We have laws which regulate the beginning 
 and close of shooting, so as to prevent the total destruction of 
 game. As a rule, the landlord reserves the right of shooting. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — The game law of France is dated May 3, 1844. 
 The landlord generally reserves the right of shooting by a clause 
 in the lease. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — In nearly every canton there exists a game law. 
 The shooting season begins September 1st, and ends December 
 31st. There are, however, some exceptions, as there are open 
 times between the latter date and the end of February. 
 
CONTINENTAL FAttMING AND PEASANTRY, 65 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — In the sense understood in England, there 
 is no game law here. There has lately been one passed pro- 
 hibiting the destruction of birds during the hatching season, and 
 no man can shoot on the land of another without leave. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — There are laws for the preservation of 
 game. When there is any quantity of game, it is generally let 
 with the land. 
 
 Dr. Puchs, Austrian Silesia. — There are laws; but they are 
 not enforced. Tenants of large plots are bound to keep poachers 
 off their land. 
 
 Dr. Puchs, Moravia. — Unfortunately none. A farm of more 
 than 300 acres entitles to the right of sporting; otherwise it is 
 let in districts to the highest bidder. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth. — We have game laws ; and the right of 
 sporting is reserved by the proprietor. 
 
 Question asked. — What are the crops usually prown, and in 
 what rotation ? and what is considered a good average yield? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — Cereals : Wheat, rye, barley, oats, 
 buckwheat ; Roots : Turnips, carrots, beetroot, and potatoes ; 
 Plants used in industry : Colza, rape, flax, sugar-beet, hemp, 
 hops, chicory, tobacco ; Vegetables : Vetches, beans, horse- 
 beans; Fodder, The rotation of crops is triennial or quad- 
 rennial. 
 
 Wheat... 
 Eye ... 
 Barley 
 Oats . . . 
 Colza ... 
 Hax ... 
 Do. ... 
 Beetroot 
 Beans ... 
 
 Baron Peers, Bruges. — Our harvests in the sandy districts 
 
 22 
 
 bushels per acre 
 
 23 
 
 » 
 
 3» 
 
 38i 
 
 9) 
 
 » 
 
 37i 
 
 » 
 
 it 
 
 25 
 
 SI 
 
 >» 
 
 (of grain) 10 J 
 
 » 
 
 )> 
 
 (fibre) 14i 
 
 cwts. 
 
 S» 
 
 17 
 
 tons 
 
 
 28i 
 
 bushels 
 
 9> 
 
66 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 are . Wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, buckwheat, haricot beans, white 
 turnips. On fallows or upon very ordinary land, spergula is 
 cultivated, cut green. The rotation of crops is as follows : 
 Wheat (when the land is suitable), rye, oats (without clover), 
 flax, potatoes, beetroot, or carrots. Upon manured oat land, 
 clover ; upon manured rye, an alternate crop of turnips. A full 
 crop is considered : — 
 
 OfWlieat 
 
 ... ... ••■ 
 
 26i 
 
 bushels 
 
 „ Eye 
 
 
 
 27i 
 
 jj 
 
 „ Oats 
 
 ... ... 
 
 38i 
 
 31 
 
 „ Buckwheat 
 
 ... ... ... 
 
 26i 
 
 
 „ Pease 
 
 ... ... ... 
 
 22 
 
 11 
 
 „ Colza or Bape 
 
 ... 
 
 22 
 
 )* 
 
 „ Beetroot ... 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 tons 
 
 „ Potatoes ... 
 
 ... ... ... 
 
 m 
 
 cwts. 
 
 „ White Potatoes* 
 
 ... ... ... 
 
 36 
 
 )> 
 
 „ Do.t 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 9> 
 
 „ Max (in fibre) 
 
 
 
 4f 
 
 » 
 
 * On fellow. 
 
 t As an alternate 
 
 crop after rye. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — Rape (highly manured), wheat, rye 
 (slightly manured), clover, oats ; or, wheat (manured), sugar- 
 beets (without manure), rye, clover, oats. 
 
 'Wheat 35 bushels per acre. 
 
 Ry« 33 „ 
 
 Oats 46 „ 
 
 KaP« 45 „ 
 
 Beetroot about 12J tons „ 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — Rye, wheat, barley, oats, 
 
 pulse, red clover, white clover, lucerne, esparsette, cow-grass, 
 
 Swedish clover (trifolium hybridum), rye-grass, Timothy grass, 
 
 and other grasses, Indian corn (for feeding geese), rapeseed, flax, 
 
 potatoes, mangolds, lupins. The rotation is very different, but 
 
 nearly a four years' course : — 
 
 1. Potatoes or Mangolds I 3. Clover. 
 
 2. Bailey or Oats. | 4. Rye or Wheat. 
 
 Ky6 27 bushels per acre. 
 
 Wheat 22i ,, 
 
 Barley 83i ,', |^ 
 
 0''t« 36 „ 
 
 I'otatoes 7i tons 
 
 Mangolds Uj ,, 
 
CONTINENTAL fAEMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 67 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — In my district^ wheat, rye, oats, barley, 
 pease, potatoes, roots for fodder, sugar-beet, clover, lucerne, are 
 grown. A strictly-observed rotation of crops does not exist, 
 but it is the usual practice to observe a change between green 
 and white crops. A good yield may be considered : — 
 
 Wheat 
 
 Eye... 
 
 Barley 
 
 Oats 
 
 Pease 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 Turnips 
 
 45 
 35 
 50 
 50 
 
 m 
 
 to 
 
 GO 
 45 
 60 
 120 
 30 
 S 
 25 
 
 bushels pSr acre. 
 
 tons 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Leconteux. — Cereals ; fodder of all kinds ; meadow-grass. 
 Little wheat, which yields from 14J to 18 bushels per acre, but, 
 in carefully cultivated fields from 33 to 37 bushels per acre. 
 Much rye, yielding from 18 to 34 bushels per acre. Fodder 
 yields from 33 to 40 cwt. per acre. 
 
 M. Gustavo Hamoir. — 
 
 Beetroot 
 
 Wheat 
 
 Clover 
 
 Wheat 
 
 Oats 
 
 Beetroot 
 
 r 
 
 Beetroot 
 
 Wheat 
 
 Oats 
 
 Clover 
 
 Beetroot 
 
 Large farmers have no rotation of crops. Many have one-third 
 to one-fourth of their land in beetroot ; the largest farmers, one- 
 half and more in roots. 
 
 per acre. 
 
 Beetroot 18 tone. 
 
 Wheat 31 bushels grain ... 36 cwts. straw 
 
 Oats 60 „ ... 32 „ 
 
 Clover Ist cut, 2 tons ... 2ud cut, 1 ton. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — Corn, rye, root-crops, oats, and artificial 
 grasses. The petite culture follows a five-course shift in the 
 south of the departement ; 1st yearj corn j 3nd, clover ; 3rd, 
 pasture ; 4th, fallow or root crops ; and 5th year, small grain. 
 In all the north there is no regular rotation of crops ; but, 
 mostly, cultivation is conducted on a three-course system ; 1st 
 year, rye or wheat j 3nd year, oats ; 3rd year, fallow. High 
 
 F 2 
 
68 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 farmmg follows the three-course system : 1st year, root crops ; 
 Slid year, corn ; 3rd year, artificial grasses. The yield on small 
 farms, where little manure is used, is of corn, say 10 to 12 
 bushels per acre. In good farms the yield is 30 to 36 bushels 
 per acre of com, and 12 to 16 tons per acre of beetroot. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — Ordinary rotation : 1st year, fallow, clover, 
 potatoes, beetroot, pease, lentils, vetches or beans ; 2nd year, 
 wheat ; 3rd year, oats, barley, rye. Out of the rotation we 
 cultivate lucerne and rape, also the vine. The mean yield is : — 
 
 Wheat 
 
 
 18 
 
 bnshels 
 
 per acre. 
 
 Oats 
 
 I ... ... ... 
 
 24 
 
 i> 
 
 3) 
 
 Barley 
 
 ... 
 
 22 
 
 }i 
 
 „ 
 
 Sape 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 J) 
 
 )> 
 
 Wine 
 
 ... 
 
 168 
 
 gallons 
 
 !» 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 
 4 
 
 tons 
 
 s» 
 
 Beetroot 
 
 SWITZERLAND, 
 
 6 
 
 S) 
 
 )) 
 
 M. Bovet. — Very few fixed rotations. In Western Switzer- 
 land, wheat, oats, rye, barley, roots, rape or colza, a little to- 
 bacco, sainfoin, clover, lucerne, &c. German Svntzerland : 
 Coarse wheat, wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, clover, many fruit- 
 trees. Wheat, 30 to 34 bushels per acre, maximum 43 bushels 
 ditto ; oats, 36 to 42 bushels per acre, maximum 54 bushels 
 ditto. Potatoes give 144 bushels per acre, carrots 240 ditto, 
 beetroot 480 ditto. Natural meadows 16 cwt. to 1 ton per acrej 
 considerably more in central Switzerland ; artificial meadows 
 24 to 36 cwt. per acre ; on the mountains 8 cwt. per acre ; the 
 most in the Jura. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — The principal products are : Hemp, wheat, 
 Indian corn, and green crops. The rotations are, in lands good 
 enough for growing hemp : Wheat after hemp ; and on the 
 lands not good enough for hemp : Indian corn, after wheat, and 
 sometimes trefoil, wheat, and hemp. 
 
 Wheat yields about 14 bushels per acre. 
 
 Indian corn „ 21^ „ „ 
 
 Hemp „ 10,^ cwte. „ 
 
CONTINENTPAL t'ARMtNG AND fEASAtJ*RV. 69 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — Wheat, rye, barley, oats, rape, potatoes, 
 and carrots. The potatoes and carrots are not grown upon the 
 small farms. The usual rotation is : 1st, green crop, manured 
 Avith 3 cwt. of artificial manure per acre ; 2nd, rape ; 3rd, wheat ; 
 4th, clover; 5th, rye, with li cwt. of artificial manure, or 3 
 cwt. of bone meal ; 6th, oats. Another rotation is : 1st, roots 
 manured ; 2nd, barley } 3rd, clover ; 4th, wheat ; 5th, rye, with 
 3 cwt. of human manure or bones ; 6th, oats. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Austrian Silesia. — The crops grown are potatoes, 
 mangolds, barley, wheat, rye, clover, oats, flax, and a little rape. 
 The rotation of crops on small farms which will not grow clover 
 is : 1st, potatoes ; 2nd, rye ; 3rd, oats ; 4th, pasture. When 
 the land will bear clover the rotation is mostly : 1st, potatoes ; 
 2nd, barley ; 3rd, clover ; 4th, wheat or rye ; 5th, oats. The 
 yield is as follows : Mangold 10 tons per acre, potatoes 5 ditto ; 
 wheat 20 bushels per acre, rye 20 ditto, barley 25 ditto ; oats 
 30 to 40 ditto ; clover-hay 30 cwt. to 2 tons per acre ; meadow- 
 hay 13 cwt. to 17 cwt. per acre. The irrigated meadows give a 
 great deal of grass, but of bad quality ; flax, 1 ton of fibre ; rape, 
 seldom more than 12 to 15 bushels per acre, on account of the 
 cockchafer. Pease grown between rows of potatoes give 2 to 3 
 bushels per acre. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Moravia. — Wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, maize, 
 rapeseed, potatoes, mangold, and sugar-beet, white and red 
 clover, lucerne, esparsette, hops, carraway-seed, carrots, &c. 
 Wheat 15 to 18 bushels per acre, rye 15 to 18 ditto, barley 30 
 ditto, oats 30 ditto, millet 18 ditto, maize 40 ditto, rapeseed 20 
 ditto ; potatoes 4 tons per acre, mangolds 13J ditto, sugar-beet 
 10 ditto, carrots 10 ditto, carraway-seed 12| cwts., hops 6i ditto. 
 Herr Feh^r, Pesth.-r-Crops generally grown : Wheat, barley, 
 rye, oats, Indian corn, rape, millet. 1st year, wheat, rye, or rape : 
 2nd, barley, oats, or Indian corn j 8rd, fallow or fodder (green) . 
 The average crop is : — 
 
 Wheat 12 to 
 
 Eye 14 „ 
 
 Barley 12 „ 
 
 Oats 15 „ 
 
 Indian corn 12 „ 
 
 Bape S „ 
 
 15 
 
 bushelB 
 
 per acre. 
 
 18 
 
 31 
 
 )) 
 
 15 
 
 3) 
 
 31 
 
 20 
 
 9) 
 
 31 
 
 20 
 
 51 
 
 3i 
 
 20 
 
 » 
 
 31 
 
70 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANT&V. 
 
 Question asked.—/* guano, bone, or other artificial manure 
 much used ? If so for what crops ? and what quantity is applied ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels.— We use in Belgium guano, animal 
 charcoal, superphosphate of lime, crushed bones, turf ashes, 
 powdered oilcake, rags, and woollen refuse, lime, marl, foecal 
 matter, and town mud. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders.— Much guano is used, particularly on 
 the light lands. It is the custom to use it at the rate of two 
 cwts. per acre. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest. — Guano for rye, 3 cwts. per acre. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow. — Bones, superphosphate of bones, 
 or " Baker guano." Nitrate of soda, sulphate of potash, sul- 
 phate of magnesia, and gypsum are much in use. The use of 
 guano has decreased. The bones and most of the other arti- 
 ficial manures are used for rye, wheat, potatoes, and mangold, 
 gypsum for clover, sainfoin, and lucerne ; sulphate of potash on 
 very light or moory land (1| to 3 cwts. per acre). 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — Artificial manures are much used, 
 mostly for early crops, and indeed in quantities of 5 cwts. per 
 acre ; chiefly are used, Peruvian guano, superphosphates made 
 from Baker Island guano and ground bone, ammoniacal super- 
 phosphates, dissolved bones, pure bone meal, Chilian saltpetre, 
 and alkaline salts. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — Guano 1^ cwts. per acre, fossil phosphates 
 4 cwts. per acre, animal charcoal 10 bushels per acre, sulphate 
 of ammonia IJ cwts. per acre, superphosphate IJ cwts. per 
 acre. 
 
 M. Hamoir. — Artificial manure is beginning to become popu- 
 lar. Some use guano at the rate of 3| cwts.per acre,besidesl6 tons 
 per acre of farmyard manure. Others apply 9i cwts. per acre of 
 rape or colza cake, li cwts. per acre of guano, besides the farm- 
 yard manure. Oilcake is the manure most used. Guano is 
 becoming less esteemed, because it it gives bad sugar beet-root. 
 
CONTINENTAL FAKMING AND PBASANTKY. 7l 
 
 1 have established a manufactory of artificial manure suitable 
 for different plants and soils, which has increased considerably, 
 and excites competition. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — In "petite culture" no artificial manures are 
 used ; but, on large estates farmed by their owners, from 3J to 
 3 cwts. per acre of Peruvian guano is used. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — The only artificial manure employed is 
 gypsum, for clover, lucerne, and vetches, about 7 bushels an 
 acre. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — Very little guano ; a little pulverized bones, about 
 9 cwts. per acre generally. Several progressive farmers are 
 now engaged in making comparative trials thereon, also the 
 Alpine Societies for the mountain districts. In the Jura marl 
 is used as manure. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — They are beginning now to use bones and 
 other artificial manures, but for the hemp lands it has long been 
 the practice to employ crushed linseed cake at the rate of about 
 13 cwts. per acre, costing about £4> 16s. per acre. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — Guano is rarely used with us ; it is too 
 dear. We mostly use human manure in powder, at 6i cwts. per 
 acre, or bone meal at 5J cwts. per acre. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Austrian Silesia.---Guano is never used ; lime and 
 gypsum are used. 
 
 Dr. Puchs, Moravia.— Crushed bones, wood ashes, and lime 
 for straw and root crops. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth.— Very selddmi It depends whether there 
 is much stable manure or not. 
 
 Question asked. — What is the usual depth of cultivation for 
 root crops j and what for cereals ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — Depth for cereals, 6 to 7 inches ; roots, 
 8 to 9 inches. Deep ploughing is not generally practised. On 
 
ys Continental parminA and peasantry. 
 
 the small farms the land is sometimes dug to a depth of 8 or 10 
 inches. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders.— The usual depth for cereals is from 
 4 to 5 inches ; for roots, 8 to 10 inches. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — Forbeet-root 13 inches, and for cereals 
 10 inches. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — The land is cultivated 
 from 9 to 13 inches deep. 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — The average depth of ploughing for cereals 
 is 7 inches, and for turnips and potatoes 12 inches. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — 6 inches is the general depth of cultivation of 
 the country ; 10 inches deep is attained in good cultivation. 
 
 M. Gustave Hamoir. — In ploughing for roots 10 inches is the 
 ordinary depth; the large farmers who have plenty of power 
 turn up the soil 13 to 14 inches, and often 16 inches deep. The 
 depth of ploughing for cereals is 7 to 8 inches. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — A great deal of land is ploughed only 3 to 4 
 inches deep. On well managed farms the depth of cultivation is 
 8 to 10 inches deep. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — The depth of cultivation varies from 4^ to 
 6 inches. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — 6 to 8 inches deep for cereals ; for roots up to 
 13 inches deep. The introduction of new ploughs has increased 
 the mean depth from 4 to 6 inches. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — The medium depth for cereals is 18 inches ; 
 for the hemp crop even deeper culture is resorted to. Roots 
 are not grown. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — The usual depth for white crops 6 to 7 
 inches, and for roots 8 to 9 inches. A subsoil plough is seldom 
 used. 
 
CON^INBN'TAL PABMiUfG AND Pt!ASAN*RV. 73 
 
 Dr. Puchs, Austrian Silesia. — On large estates the depth is 7 
 inches in the spring and 9 inches in the autumn. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Moravia. — For roots 16 inches deep; for corn 6 
 inches deep. 
 
 Herr Feh^r, Pesth. — For roots 7 to 10 inches, and for cereals 
 4 to 6 inches deep. 
 
 Question asked. — What wages are paid to the farm labourers 
 in the winter months, and what in the summer ? Say how much 
 in money and how much in rations. What extra wages {if any) 
 are paid during the harvest months, either in money or in 
 rations ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 Monsieur Leclerc,' Brussels. — The average wages of farm 
 labourers are Is. Id. per day without food, and 7id. with food 
 The maximum wage without food is Is. 8d. for men and lid. 
 for women ; the minimum is 9d. for men and 6d. for women. 
 With food the maximum wage is lid. for men and 6d. for 
 women j the minimum is 5d. for men and 3d. for women. 
 Workpeople engaged by the year do not receive anything extra 
 at harvest-timCj but day labourers are paid 2s. 5d. to 3s. 2d. 
 per day at this season. In many parts the harvest is gathered 
 by men working by the piece, who earn from 4s. to 4s. 9d. per 
 day. In the cultivation of the soil of Belgium it is computed 
 that the labour amounts to 27,500,000 men's working days, and 
 14,660,000 women's working days. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — Wages are is. 2d. to Is. 6d. per day 
 in summer, and Is. to Is. 3d. in winter — all paid in money. 
 3M. to 6d. per day extra is paid in harvest. Many women are 
 employed who receive about Is. per day. No farm-work is 
 done by the piece. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia.— Wages are 4d. a day in 
 winter, 5d. in spring and autumn, 73d. to lOd. in harvest, with- 
 out victuals. In harvest a little corn brandy is given. Un- 
 married women and widows are extensively employed ; their 
 wages are about id. less than the labourer. In harvest-time 
 they are paid 5d. to 6d. per day. As much work as possible is 
 done by the piece. 
 
74 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY, 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — Women earn from £1 4s. to £9 a year ; 
 they are boarded like the men. Industrial farming has a good 
 deal of work done by the piece. The average wages of field 
 labourers are Is. 6d. a day in summer, and Is. per day in 
 winter ; as a rule they are paid in cash, not in rations. The 
 rise of wages in harvest-time varies ; it depends upon competi- 
 tion ; in pressing times it is often double. We employ many 
 women in field work, who receive as a rule one-third less than 
 men. Piece-work is becoming more and more general; all 
 kinds of work are done by the piece. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux.— Wages are Is. 7d. per day in summer, and 
 Is. 3d. per day in winter, without provisions ; but much work is 
 performed by the piece at this season and at other times. Few 
 women are employed ; their wages are lOd. in summer and 7d. 
 in winter. 
 
 M. Gustavo Hamoir. — One or two men are hired by the year, 
 and are paid a fixed wage of 34 to 27 bushels of corn for the 
 summer months, and 2s. a week in money for the rest of the 
 year, besides 8s. at the hiring and at festivals. In harvest-time 
 piece-work is the rule, and a man may at this season earn from 
 3s. to 4s. a day, and a woman Is. 8d. The general wages of 
 women are lOd. per day in summer, and like the men they often 
 work by the piece. 1 send you the tariff for the various opera- 
 tions performed upon the farm : — 
 
 Cutting hay, clover, lucerne, &c. ; first cut ... 
 Ditto ditto second cut 
 
 Bag hooking com, oats, &c. 
 Putting in sheaves not bound 
 Ditto in shocks 
 
 Making binds ... 
 Cocking clover, lucerne, &c. 
 Hand-sowing cereals 
 
 Ditto artificial manure 
 Spreading dung (16 tons per acre) 
 Ditto lime 
 
 Loading and unloading manure ... 
 Emptying the stables of manure ... 
 Hand-hoeing beetroot four times ... 
 
 (The horse-hoeing is supplementary) 
 Hoeing " rutabagas" once (artichokes) 
 Dravring beetroot, cutting off leaves, and loading up 
 Setting out Jerusalem ajtiohokes ... 
 Feeders of the thrashing machine, per hectolitre 
 Covering a stack 
 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 per acre. 
 
 2 11 
 
 1] 
 
 5 5 
 
 
 1 4 
 
 >» 
 
 2 3 
 
 31 
 
 8 
 
 per 100 
 
 1 4 
 
 per acre. 
 
 5J 
 
 a 
 
 7 
 
 a 
 
 1 4 
 
 » 
 
 1 4 
 
 }> 
 
 2i 
 
 per ton. 
 
 4i 
 
 jj 
 
 12 9 
 
 per acre. 
 
 3 2 
 
 )) 
 
 18 10 
 
 
 10 10 
 
 
 OJ 
 
 per sack. 
 
 4 
 
 
CONTINENTAL FAUMING AND PEASANTRY. 75 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — A farm labourer engaged by the year, and 
 living in the house, has £13 to J14 a year — his board comes to 
 about as much — he costs, therefore, from £24s to £2S a year. 
 Farm labourers, living in the^house are paid by the year, and do 
 not receive anything extra in harvest-time. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — The farm labourers are boarded and lodged, 
 and receive from 16s. to 34s. a month all the year round. 
 Thirty days' work at harvest-times are paid with 4 cwt. of 
 wheat. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — A great difference exists. With board and 
 lodging 8s. to 16s. a month, without board and lodging Is. 8d. 
 to 2s. 6d. a day in summer; lOd. to Is. 8d. in winter. In 
 remote districts still less. Sometimes drink, particularly wine, 
 in the vineyard districts. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — As the system of " metayage" prevails, little 
 work is done by the day. When it is, the wages are from 8d. 
 to lOd. per day in winter and spring, and Is. 3d. in summer. 
 For extra work, *uch as cutting wheat, grass, and thrashing, 
 the wages are Is. 6d. to Is. lOd. The women belonging to the 
 families on the " metayer'' farms work in some way or other. 
 Hired women are paid about one-fourth less than the wages 
 paid to men. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — Farm labourers receive in summer 9d. 
 per day, and in winter 6d. They have no provisions. In 
 harvest they only receive money, from Is. to Is. 2d. per day. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Austrian Silesia. — The usual rate of wages for 
 women and children is 5d. a day for hoeing potatoes in summer 
 and digging ; a little corn brandy is given. The men are 
 employed by the year, and have board and lodging and £4 a 
 year. Women employed by the year get £3 with board and 
 lodging. 
 
 Dr, Fuchs, Moravia. — In summer 8d. to Is. 4d., in winter 
 6d. to lOd. per day j only in money. When cutting corn, four 
 pints of beer per acre* 
 
f6 CONTINeJJTAL ]»ARMII^G and tEASANTRt. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth. — ^Wages vary much, and little money is 
 parted with by the employer. The labourers are paid in pro- 
 visions, or by a per-centage share, generally about £2 16s. per 
 year in money, 60 bushels of corn, food for a cow, and a pig, 
 and fuel and lodging free. No extras in harvest. Women are 
 much employed, and get from 7d. to Is. 2d. per day. The plan 
 of piece work is increasing. 
 
 Question asked. — Have you an abundance of labour or a short 
 supply ? Have wages increased during the last 35 years ? If 
 so, to what extent ? 
 
 BELGirM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — Manual labour is becoming more and 
 more rare in Belgium, on account of the great development of 
 industry and the high wages obtained by workmen who leave 
 the country for the seats of manufacture. The insufficiency of 
 manual labour is partly supplied by the use of machines, which 
 have much increased during the last 10 years, particularly 
 thrashing machines. Keapers and mowers are not yet much 
 used. Wages have increased 2d. to 3d. per day since 1846. 
 
 Baron Peers, Planders. — Although the population increases 
 the farm hands decrease. Several causes tend to this. Wealth 
 increases, and everyone seeks to better himself. Farm la- 
 bourers darn little, work hard, and are exposed to all weathers ; 
 they are, however, much attached to the soil. Our nearness 
 to France causes us to lose many. Emigration, however, is not 
 much felt. Manufactories and mechanical pursuits abstract 
 many of our people ; and, as labour is more in demand, owing 
 to a higher state of cultivation being carried on, the abstraction 
 of labour is the more felt. Wages have increased during the 
 last 25 years 30 per cent. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — ^JJabour has become rarer and dearerj 
 and wages have increased during 25 years from 25 to 85 per 
 cent. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — Being situated in the 
 neighbourhood of a large mining district, labour is becoming a 
 little rarer ; therefore wages are rising. Twenty years ago we 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 77 
 
 did not pay more than 2^d. a-day in the winter-time, and now 
 wages are 4d. per day. 9d. an acre was formerly the price for 
 mowing and binding an acre of wheat ; now it is 2s. 3d. 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle.^ — In many districts the want of agricul- 
 tural labour is much felt. The cause is that the many indus- 
 trial and manufacturing establishments attract labour from the 
 rural districts. Wages have risen in the last 35 years about 50 
 per cent. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — Hand labour is becoming scarce, and wages 
 have doubled. 
 
 M. Gustave Hamoir. — We have sufficient manual labour. 
 Our district is covered with sugar factories. The price of 
 manual labour is high for a short time during winter, whilst it 
 is low in other places. This allows workmen to tide over diffi- 
 cult times without suffering, and to wait for the spring season. 
 Emigration is insignificant in this part. Wages have risen 20 
 per cent, during the last 20 years. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — Labour is becoming scarce. When the 
 wages are not what workmen can get in commerce or industry 
 there is a rush to the towns ; but when the same price is given 
 for agricultural as for industrial work the rush to the towns will 
 be stopped. This can be accomplished only by good agricul- 
 ture, and above all by the adoption of piece-work. We pay 50 
 per cent, more wages than we did 25 years ago. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — Labour is becoming scarcer and dearer, and 
 the efflux of the country population is daily augmenting. The 
 wages of farm labourers have trebled during the last 20 years. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — Scarce in the manufacturing districts, abundant 
 elsewhere. When manufacturing business was good, 10 or 15 
 years ago, the agricultural population migrated to the towns, 
 but now it returns to the fields. Berne, Valais, the smaller 
 cantons, have the greatest population and greatest pauperism 
 particularly the two first-named cantons. An increase of at 
 least one-third in wages. 
 
78 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRYi 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — In this district (Bologna) there is plenty of 
 labour to be had, but it is not so in other districts. Within- the 
 last 10 years day-labour has increased in cost more than double. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — There is plenty of labour with us since 
 forced labour ceased some twenty years ago. Wages have 
 somewhat increased. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Austrian Silesia. — During the last few years, 
 owing to the construction of railways, there has been a lack of 
 labour. We can obtain labour, however, from the mountain 
 districts, and are also beginning to use more machines. Since 
 the year 1848, when serfdom was abolished, wages have in- 
 creased 50 per cent. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Moravia. — In consequence of the building of 
 railways and the sugar manufactories, and the rage for build- 
 ing in large towns, labour is become scarce. Very consider- 
 ably ; about 1^ times at least. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth. — The want of manual labour is painfully 
 felt. Since the free development of Hungary, wages have 
 enormously increased — i. e., during the last three years. In 
 many parts the increase is 150 per cent. 
 
 Question asked. — Are cottages found for the labourers, if not, 
 what rent do they pay ? Does each married labourer occupy a 
 separate cottage, or is one house occupied by a number of 
 families ? Has each married labourer a small plot of land 
 allotted to him ; if so, is it free, or subject to a rent ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclercj Brussels.— Hired farm-servants are lodged at the 
 homestead. Day labourers are lodged at their own expense in 
 small houses which belong to or are let to them. A 
 labourer's house in the country costs from £6 to £8 a year, 
 according to its size. In the poorer parts of the country a 
 similar house lets for only £2 8s. a year. The general usage 
 in Belgium is that each family has its own separate habitation 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 79 
 
 even in towns. In the country one never finds several families 
 in the same house. Every family in rural districts has a 
 kitchen-garden, and very frequently a small field, which furnish 
 potatoes and grain for the family consumption. These gardens 
 and fields are rented. 
 
 Earon Peers, Manders. — Married farm labourers pay rent 
 for their dwellings. Each has as a rule 1^ acres of land, for 
 which he pays £4 a year. They have also to pay the usual im- 
 perial and parish taxes, which amount to from Is. 8d. to 2s. 6d. 
 Each labourer occupies a separate house, and but few live 
 together. He generally has a little kitchen, one or two bed- 
 rooms, a small cellar, a pump, a Httle stable for his cow or goats, 
 also a little granary for his crops. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — Cottages are not found. Eent varies 
 according to the locality. A labourer, as a rule, has a separate 
 cottage ; and each has a small plot of land, for which he pays 
 a small rent. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — Dwellings are found for 
 the labourers, but they pay for the use of them a day's pay weekly. 
 The houses consist mostly of two rooms, and a stall for a cow. 
 Generally, two or more families occupy one house. The prac- 
 tice, however, varies. The careful proprietors let some 1^ to 
 2i acres of land to the labourer, or a garden about the house, 
 on which to raise potatoes and to keep a cow or some goats. 
 The labourers on the larger estates are nearly always allowed 
 to collect the dry wood in the forest on one fixed day. 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — Earm labourers on large estates often 
 have dwelling-houses found them, for which of course they pay 
 rent. In most cases several families dwell in one house. As a 
 rule, the fixed labourer, who is hired for several years, has a 
 plot of land allotted to him, which is ctdtivated by the land- 
 owner, and for which no rent is expected. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — ^The labourers are lodged on my farm. They 
 pay a rent of ^4 per year. They have a garden, a cow, and a 
 
80 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTEY. 
 
 pig. Each labourer has his own room. One house contains 
 several dwellers ; four is the average. 
 
 M. Gustave Hamoir. — The farmer has nothing to do with 
 finding the labourer a dwelling. A labourer has mostly a cot- 
 tage belonging to himj either bequeathed by his parents or 
 built with his first savings. The poorest have to hire their 
 house from some house proprietor. Each family occupies a 
 separate house. The farmer has nothing to do with the wants 
 of the labourer ; in exceptional cases, however, he lets him a 
 small portion of land to cultivate, for which a rent is charged. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — In general, labourers are charged rent for 
 their dwellings. About £2 a year is paid to the landlord, a 
 garden being included. Each family is lodged separately. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — The farm labourers are generally house owners, 
 having a garden attached to their house. They are often 
 owners also of a small plot of land. Each family occupies a 
 separate house. Sometimes the labourer has besides a right to 
 a portion of the land belonging to the parish. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — It is rare for them to be housed gratis. They 
 pay £4 a year for house and garden. In Western Switzerland 
 the farm labourers live in the villages. In Western and Central 
 Switzerland they have generally their own house, the population 
 in those parts not being grouped in serried villages, as in the 
 West. Nothing fixed ; generally not ; in any case not gratis. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — The field labourers do not get a house. 
 They are mostly small peasant farmers who possess a house, or 
 pay 10s. to 16s, a year for one. They have no land given them 
 by their employer ; but frequently possess a piece of their own. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Austrian Silesia. — On large estates farm labourers 
 have houses provided for them, 16s. to 24s. being deducted 
 from their wages in lieu of rent. They mostly have separate 
 houses. When two or three families dwell under one roof they 
 live separately. They have generally a small piece of land free 
 of tithe and tax, for which they pay 16s. to 24s. a year. 
 
CONTINENTAL PARMING AND PEASANTRY. 8 1 
 
 Dr. Fuchsj Moravia. — Cottages are not found. Custom 
 varies as regards married labourers ; in most cases they rent 
 houses. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth. — A number of families often live in one 
 house. Sometimes the labourer has a separate dwelling. In 
 most cases each married labourer has 3 acres of land allotted 
 to him free. 
 
 Cluestion asked. — What burdens are there upon the land in your 
 country in the shape of rates or taxes for the support of the 
 poor ? How much do they amount toper acre ? If no tax is levied 
 per acre, is the income of the proprietor, or are the profits of the 
 tenant taxed for this object "^ If no taxes a)-e levied for the support 
 of the poor, hoiv are the destitute poor supported"^ 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. J. Leclerc, Brussels. — Landed property in Belgium pays 
 rates to the Government, the Province, and the Parish, 
 These rates are based upon the assessed income fixed by the 
 assessor. The assessed income is generally 35 per cent, less 
 than the real income. The contributions to the Government 
 vary somewhat, according to the different districts of the coun- 
 try under consideration. It is on an average calculated at the 
 rate of 0.067 of the assessed income. The contributions to the 
 Province are on an average 0.15 of those paid to the Govern- 
 ment. The contributions to the Parish are very variable, accord- 
 iug to the districts. They vary from 5 to 50 per cent, of the 
 contributions to the Government. There are no special taxes 
 on the land for the support of the poor. The summary of the 
 taxes noted above may be estimated on an average at 2s. 4d. 
 per acre. These taxes are based on the income of the proprie- 
 tor derived from his possessions. The farmer has also to pay 
 personal taxes towards the Government, Province, and Parish 
 expenditure. The poor are relieved by the bureaux de bienfai- 
 sance, oi public relieving offices, in the rural parishes. In towns 
 there are, besides the bureaux de bienfaisance, hospital-boards 
 (administrations des hospices). These two institutions, which 
 are under the control of the Government, have for the most 
 part — the hospital-boards (^administrations des hospices) always 
 
83 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 —properties of more or less importance, resulting from dona- 
 tions, legacies, &c. The bureaux de bienfaisance are subsidized 
 by the parishes when they have no longer sufficient resources. 
 Several hospital-boards, those for example at Brussels, Nivelles, 
 and Namur are very rich, and cannot find ways to employ all 
 their revenues. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders. — All the land in Belgium is surveyed 
 and assessed at 5s. 6d. per cent. Thus there are four or five 
 classes of land, and it is upon the assessment that the impost is 
 raised j for instance, a hectare (21 acres) of land is rated in 
 the register as -worth ^64. The State levies 5s. 6d. annually 
 thereon, and upon this levy of 5s. 6d. are superadded " additional 
 centimes," with which the State, the Pro^dnce, and the Com- 
 mune meet their expenses. The destitute poor are supported by 
 the {bureaux de bienfaisance) public relieving offices, of the parishes 
 and townships of the kingdom, all of which possess real property 
 for the succour of the poor. Only workhouses are paid by the 
 parochial Boards, which disburse for the poor contained therein, 
 their daily expenses varying from 5d. to 6d. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Her Joest, Cologne. — There are no burdens upon the land 
 for the support of the poor ; but each parish has to see to its 
 own poor. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia, — The poor-rates are not 
 paid by the landowners alone, but by every sort of tax-paying 
 people ; they are on land-tax, building-tax, income-tax, and the 
 trade-taxes. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — All the taxes together upon land, amount 
 only to from 4d. to 6d. per acre. The taxes are levied upon the 
 proprietor and not upon the farmer. The support of the poor 
 rests with the bureaux de bienfaisance and private charity. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — In some cantons there are no burdens, land pay. 
 ing a direct tax like any other capital. At Neufoh&tel the 
 landlord pays for his land as his capital, and the farmer pays on 
 
CONTINKNTAl FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 83 
 
 his profits. In other cantons each pays on his revenue. 
 The poor are generally dependent upon the parish and private 
 charity. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — There is no special tax for the poor ; the 
 destitute are supported by charitable societies dependent upon 
 voluntary contributions and legacies. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Herr Feh^r, Pesth.— -There are no poor-rates. The destitute 
 are supported from the treasury of the parochial Boardj to which 
 all are bound to contribute. 
 
 Question asked. — What rates or taxes does the land have to 
 bear for the maintenance of roads, bridges, S^c, or are they maiu' 
 tained by tolls levied upon the passing traffic? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders. — Formerly there were turnpikes to 
 meet the expenses of repair and maintenance ; now it is with 
 the aid of State " additional centimes" that the roads are main- 
 tained. Formerly there was a system of voluntary labour of 
 men and horses ; all this has been abolishedj and the new system 
 answers. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — Maintained by tolls. 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — The macadamised high- 
 ways; as well as some of the bridges, are kept in order out of the 
 tolls. The common roadways are kept in order by the land- 
 owners of those communities through which they pass. 
 
 I'RANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — The roads are maintained by the State, the 
 Departement, or the Commune ; there are no tolls. The high- 
 roads are maintained by the State. The bye-roads by extra 
 centimes added to the fixed taxes levied by the Communes. 
 
 a 2 
 
84 CONTINENTAt FAllMING AND PEASANTRY, 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore.— There are taxes called " communali *' and 
 " provinciali," also " tassi suol dell terra." These taxes are im- 
 posed upon the landowners or occupiers for the expenses of 
 maintaining roads, bridges, canals, &c., and for regulating 
 which there are commissioners expressly appointed. There are 
 no toll-gates. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth. — The Government maintains the high- 
 roads; the provincial roads are maintained by the province. 
 Turnpikes are abolished. 
 
 Question asked. — Is any portion of the expemefor the punish- 
 ment of crime and support of prisoners levied by any tax on 
 the land or income of the farmer"^ 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — All borne by the State. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders. — No impost is levied to maintain 
 criminals. The budget for carrying out justice (voted every year 
 by the Chambers) takes into account these expenses. The ex- 
 penses only for mendicity are at the charge of the parish. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — There is no tai on the 
 land or income of the farmer. The State pays out of its re- 
 venues for the maintenance of criminal prisoners. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — The expenses of the punishment of crime 
 and the support of prisoners are borne by the State. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet.— Both expenses paid by the State. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore.— These are all Government expenses. 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASAN*11Y. 85 
 
 Question asked. — Are there any compulsory payments either 
 in tithes or rates for the support of the Church ? If so, ivhat is 
 the amount per acre or upon income, as the case may be ? 
 
 nBLGITJM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — There are no special compulsory pay- 
 mentSj although the ministers of religion are supported by the 
 State. The expenses of worship are defrayed by the revenues 
 of the Societies for the Building of Churches, which are gene- 
 rally possessed of property ; and in case of insufficiency the 
 Government intervenes with a subsidy. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders. — There are neither tithes nor com- 
 pulsory payments for the maintenance of worship. The ex- 
 penses are defrayed by the State out of its revenues, and are 
 estimated for in the budget. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — The landowners are 
 compelled to pay for church, building. The other payments 
 from landed property to the Church are converted into a rent 
 payable to the State. That rent has a sinking fund, and the 
 capital is made over to the Church. The rent varies much in 
 diflFerent localities. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — There are no tithes or rates levied on land 
 for the support of the Church. 
 
 SAVITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — There are no rates or tithes for the support of 
 the Church in the Protestant cantons. I have no knowledge 
 of what is done in the Catholic parts. 
 
 ITALY, 
 
 Mr. Whitmore, — The lands are subject to a payment called 
 " decima,*' or tenth-parts, which in reality is about 12 per cent., 
 8 per cent, of which goes to the bishop and 4 per cent, to the 
 priests. But a law has lately been passed for freeing the land of 
 this tax or tithe, and allowing the proprietors to buy it up at 
 so many years' purchase. 
 
86 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTftY. 
 
 Question asked. — Are there any other imposts or taxes levied 
 upon the land, either for imperial or local purposes "i If so, for 
 what purposes, and what do they amount to per acre ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 Baron Peers. — The parish tax is raised, as already stated by 
 the several parishes, to meet all needs, and is levied according 
 to its presumed wealth. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow. — In Silesia and some other parts 
 of Prussia a land-lax existed for more than a century. In 1860 
 the land-tax was regulated all over the kingdom. It is paid to 
 the treasury for no express use. As the land-tax is paid after a 
 fixed estimate of the revenue, it is very diverse — bad land paying 
 a small one and good land a high one. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — Imports are levied in some cantons for the de» 
 struction of cockchafersj lice, and mice, also for the keeping of 
 a bull for breeding purposes, &c. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — Besides the taxes already given, there are 
 Government taxes which amount to about 15 per cent., based 
 upon the amount of the last valuation, which, however, is only 
 equal to about one-third of its real value. 
 
 Question asked. — Is the transfer of land from seller to buyer 
 simple and easy ? or is it, as in England, hampered with legal 
 expenses, delay, and difficulty ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders. — The acquisition of land, although 
 many guarantees are required, takes place easily. It is 
 effected either by means of a public notary or from hand to 
 hand. A registration fee, which amounts to 5 per cent., and 
 a fee for inscription at the office of hypothec, which amounts 
 to about 1 per cent. The notary prepares a minute of the 
 stipulation of the sale, and delivers to the buyer an act of 
 
tONTINENTAl FARMINa AND PEASANTRY. 8? 
 
 transfer in due form. These are all the formalities in the case of 
 minors, interdicts, or absentees. Then the tribunals are called 
 upon to grant authorization by the entry into the assessment 
 book of each parish. It is so easy to prove the property of each 
 individual, as a plan is engraved by each parish, and divided 
 into different sections. Each piece of land has its number. This 
 has cost a good deal, but it is an admirable work. One can 
 never be ejected. The revision of the assessor's book is made 
 every two years by a surveyor paid by the Government. Every 
 change of boundary alterations caused by purchase, are entered 
 in registers for the time, as far as it goes, and rectified upon the 
 plan of land plots of the parish. Thus, I have all the extracts of 
 my property. At each change I betake myself to the central 
 office, and the revision is made there and then. Three deposits 
 of these maps are made. There is one in each parish, a second 
 in the chief town of the province, and another at Brussels. 
 
 PKtJSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne.'—The transfer of land is both simple 
 and easy, but it is transferred in legal fashion. The stamp duty 
 costs 1 per cent, upon the value. There are no hindrances or 
 difSculties. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — The transfer of land is 
 not so difficult as in England, but not so easy as we should like. 
 We are urging a reform ; nevertheless, an Englishman would 
 think our system easy, simple, and cheap. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux.— The transfer of property is effected very 
 readily. 
 
 SWtTZBaLANB. 
 
 Mi Bovet.^^The transfer of land is very simple and easy. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — The transfer of estates is very difficult, as 
 many formalities are necessary, besides a very heavy tax to the 
 Government, amounting to S, 4, and sometiines 5 per cent. 
 
88 COXTlNENl'AL PAIliiiNG AND I'EAbANTRY. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Herr Feher, Pesth. — The sale and transfer of real property is 
 saddled by no hindrance, but Imperial dues of from 1 to 8 per 
 cent, are levied^ according to whether the transfer is a gift, a 
 sale, or an inheritance. 
 
 Question asked. — Ts any portion of the land in your country 
 artificially irrigated? If sn, with what result ? and is the prac- 
 tice extending, either by the application of town seioage or water ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — In some provinces, particularly in 
 Luxembourg where the land is hilly and small water-courses 
 abound, the water is used in the winter for artificial irrigation, 
 but the results are not very satisfactory, because irrigation is 
 generally badly carried out. The proprietors will not go to the 
 necessary expense for levelling the land so as to facilitate the 
 regular distribution and flomng off of the water. It is only in 
 that part of the provinces of Antwerp and Limbourg, known 
 under the name of " Campinc" that well-established irrigation 
 is found. With the view of fertilizing this region, which 25 
 years ago was quite uncultivated. Government caused to be 
 constructed about 120 miles of canals, which are fed by the 
 lliver Meuse, and which serve simultaneously for navigation 
 and irrigation. Since the year 1848 we have been able to create, 
 by means of these canals, irrigated meadows, which occupy now 
 a superficies of about 9,250 acres. The insufficiency of water has 
 not permitted us to extendthem more. The soil of the "Campine" 
 district being on about a leyel, it is set out in ridges for irriga- 
 tion, and this is efi'ected by tapping the main courses. The 
 comparative expenses come to about 52s. 6d. per acre. A new 
 law on water-courses is at this moment before the Chamber ; 
 Its application will probably admit of the utilization, for the 
 profit of the agriculturist, of those riches which are at present 
 lost or badly employed on account of the state of the water- 
 courses. Irrigation would then develop itself in a manner quite 
 impossible at the present time. Sewage-Avater has not been used 
 for irrigating in Belgium up to the present time. An English 
 public company (the Belgian Public Works Company) is carry. 
 
cor*'riNEis''fAL i'arJiixo and peasantry. 89 
 
 ing out at this time at Brussels an important work of purifica- 
 tion, which comprises the utilization of the sewage-water of this 
 town for the irrigation of 150 acres of meadow situate in the 
 valley of the Senne. But this portion of the work is not yet 
 begun, and it is likely that it will not give a good result, because 
 the extent of the meadows to be irrigated appears much too 
 limited for the quantity of sewage to be utilized. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — All over the land arti- 
 ficial water meadows exist, principally where small streams and 
 a hilly or mountainous configuration of the soil make the ar- 
 rangement of water meadows after the " Treges" system easy. 
 The result is good where water is not wanting and the soil is 
 not too flat. On 340 acres of water meadows in my neighbour- 
 hood where the land is too flat the result is bad, only aquatic 
 grasses springing up. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — Water is generally utilized for irrigation as well 
 as drainage with more or less skill in the application. Thus, in 
 western Switzerland, irrigation is in its infancy, whilst in Aargau 
 particularly, and several of the central cantons, it is carried out 
 with considerable skill. 
 
 Question asked. — In your school system, is the land or the 
 income of the farmer taxed for the support of the schools ? Have 
 you a law to compel the attendance of children at school until they 
 arrive at a given age? if so, what is that age? If not, do the 
 majority of parents send their children voluntarily ? Have you a 
 law to prevent children being employed until they arrive at a 
 given age ? If so, at what age do children begin to work upon 
 the farm ? 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels.— By our system of parish schools for 
 the education of children of the working-classes, poor children 
 are received therein gratuitously. The funds necessary for these 
 schools are taken out of the ordinary resources. They are fur- 
 nished in part by the parishes, and in part by the State. The 
 State intervenes with subsidies, which amount generally to a 
 
90 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTllY. 
 
 third of the expense in the construction and furnishing of 
 the school buildings. The Province also grants subsidies for 
 this object, but they are less important than those furnished by 
 the State. There are at this time in Belgium 3,511 parish 
 schools, 627 private schools subject to inspection, 1,492 private 
 schools perfectly free ; in all, 5,630 elementary schools. The 
 first are attended by 382,484 pupils, the second by 73,824, and 
 the third by 107,408 -total, 563,718, for a population of 
 4,827,833 in our kingdom. Compulsory education does not 
 exist in Belgium. It has been a question during the last three 
 years, and an interesting discussion on this subject took place 
 recently in the Chamber of Kepresentatives, but without result. 
 This system has numerous partisans here, but it is generally 
 believed that its application presents great practical difficulties. 
 The principal one is that Belgium, in spite of the considerable 
 sacrifices that the Government has made during several years 
 for the sake of elementary education, is not sufficiently pro- 
 vided with schools and school-masters to allow of compulsory 
 education being efficaciously applied. The law allows benevolent 
 societies to withdraw their succour from poor parents who do 
 not send their children to school. This is the only measure of 
 coercion which we have. The majority of parents send volun- 
 tarily their children to the parish schools. Statistics show that 
 amongst the young men of 19 years of age, who draw lots for 
 the militia, there is only 24 per cent, who can neither read nor 
 write ; but this is not a precise basis, because many young men 
 who attended the elementary schools have forgotten what they 
 learnt when they come to the age for drawing for the militia. 
 According to the statistics of elementary instruction which 
 
 I have given in a previous answer, the relation between the 
 number of pupils and the total population of the kingdom is 
 11.7 per cent., but the number of pupils indicated does not com- 
 prise the children of the age of 7 to 14, which are admitted in 
 large numbers to the ordinary schools and Reformatories, Chil- 
 dren begin to work upon the farm generally at the age of 14 or 
 15 years, when regular work which requires a certain physical 
 force is required. In certain parts of the country children from 
 
 II to 12 years of age are employed to drive cows, sheep, and 
 
CONTINENTAL I'AlUllNG AND PEASANTRY. 9l 
 
 pigs to the pasture lands, and watch them there. In. this case 
 these children attend school in the winter. 
 
 Baron Peers, Flanders. — We have no compulsory school regu- 
 lation for enforcing attendance, but instruction is free under 
 lawsissuedhy the State. The majority of parents send their 
 children to school voluntarily. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Baron von Gronow, Silesia. — School buildings are maintained 
 by the landowners. The maintenance of the school-master is 
 arranged in different ways. If he receive part of his salary in 
 kind, say, in corn or fodder for cow, the landowners are bound 
 to give it. This payment in money is distributed amongst the 
 landowners and the houses. Sometimes a very small " school 
 money" for every child is asked, not exceeding Is. 6d. yearly for 
 the child. In harvest-time there is all over Silesia a vacation of 
 four weeks, and in the potato harvest a fortnight, during which 
 the children are employed. If the children are not sent to 
 school, a penalty upon the parents is enforced. As one part of 
 the children go to school in the morning and the other part in 
 the afternoon, no inconvenience is felt. 
 
 * PRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — The cost of our schools is borne by the State 
 and the Commune. Each scholar pays a fixed fee of lOd. per 
 month for boys, and Is. for girls. Education is not compulsory, 
 but schools are more and more frequented. Children commence 
 work upon the farm about 13 years of age. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — Education is gratuitous and compulsory for every 
 class, and is paid for by the Commune and the State. In the 
 Canton of Neufchatel children are compelled to attend school 
 until the age of 14 years. There are evening schools for the 
 period of 14 to 18 years. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — There are rural schools, free to the children 
 of both sexes, provided by the taxes. At present there is no 
 
6^ COJiTtNENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 law of compulsory attendance, but the question has been noticed 
 in the Chambers, and a law is expected compelling attendance 
 until 14 years of age. The children are sent to school in the 
 winter ; at other seasons the schools are deserted. 
 
 Question asked.— /s the "metayer" system adopted in any 
 ■part of your country ? If so, with what result ? 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — Only where tobacco 
 planting is common. Here there is a kind of " metayer" farming. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Lecouteux. — The "metayer" system predominates in 
 many districts because the farmers have not sufficient capital of 
 their own. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet. — It is rare in Switzerland. The result depends 
 upon the character of the contracting parties. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore. — The " metayer" system, or " mezzadria," as 
 it has been called, is adopted by nearly all, the result being that 
 nearly every kind of progress in agriculture is arrested. Undei* 
 existing conditions, however, there is perhaps no better system 
 for keeping the land from going back. 
 
 Question asked. — Have the cattle in your district suffei'edfrom 
 foot-and-mouth disease or pleuro-pneumonia, and have your sheep 
 been attacked with foot-rot or small-pox ; if so, have you found 
 any treatment medical or otherwise, efficacious 1 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 M. Leclerc, Brussels. — Pleuro-pneumonia has made serious 
 ravages in Belgium on several occasions, particularly on the 
 farms of beet-root distillers, who fatten much cattle. Xo good 
 curative is known. Dr. Willems de Hasselt has proposed 
 inoculation as a preventive, and this method is practised by a 
 large number of distillers and farmers, who maintain that it 
 gives good results. The special Commission, however, instituted 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 93 
 
 by the government to experiment upon this system, has not 
 been able to conclude anything positive from the numerous 
 experiments -which it has carried on for several years past. 
 The foot-and-mouth disease is prevalent at this moment in 
 almost all parts of Belgium. The animals suffer from a fort- 
 night to three weeks ; but few die. Cleanliness and the use of 
 oximel (a mixture of water, vinegar, and honey) are the means 
 employed for combating the disease. Small-pox and foot-rot 
 are not frequent amongst our sheep. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Herr Joest, Cologne. — Our cattle have suffered, but no treat- 
 ment has been found efficacious except repose and cleanliness. 
 
 Baron Eisner von Gronow, Silesia. — My cattle have been free 
 from murrain, foot and mouth disease, or affection of the lungs ; 
 but, in my neighbourhood, nearly every herd of cattle suf- 
 fered from foot and mouth disease. Affection of the lungs is com- 
 mon, because cattle are nourished on many farms with the 
 refuse wash of the potato distilleries, which are very exten^ 
 sively combined with the larger farms. The sheep are well all 
 over the country. Animals never die of the mouth and foot 
 disease, but lose much flesh and milk. Wood vinegar,* and 
 sulphate of copper are used as medicaments, with success. 
 
 Dr. Perels, Halle. — Cattle suffer from many diseases ; foot 
 and mouth disease at this moment is general. Pleuro" pneu- 
 monia is often prevalent. Sheep suffer from inflammation of 
 the spleen, also small-pox and scab. In each district there is 
 a veterinary surgeon appointed by the state (Kreisthierarzt) ; 
 there are also many private veterinary surgeons. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 M. Gustave Hamoir.— Foot and mouth disease and pleuro- 
 pneumonia are two diseases which are frequently prevalent 
 amongst us. The former presents itself as an epidemic, conta- 
 gious to the last degree. It extends from neighbour to neigh- 
 boui'j and attacks all the stalls without sparing one. Pleuro- 
 pneumonia is permanent in certain farms, but it presents itself 
 
 * I do not know the English expression for " Holzessig." It is vinegar out of 
 the distillation of wood< 
 
94 CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 rarely in its contagious character. lu my opinion this malady 
 arises, according to the hygiene or sanitary arrangements of the 
 farm. If the animals being fattened are fed to an extreme 
 degree, if the quantity of food absorbed, exceeds the assimila- 
 tive power of the organs, pleuro-pneumonia arises, and arises 
 all the quicker if the substances given to the animals contain 
 irritating and volatile matter, such as alcohol, acetic acid, or 
 active essential oils. If the animals do not receive the quantity 
 of food sufi&cient for their existence, or the quality which suits 
 them — for instance, a cow poorly fed and having remarkable 
 lactiferous qualities, draught oxen which are over-worked — in 
 these cases pleuro-pneumonia will arise. In the first case the af- 
 fection is easy to combat, because it suffices to modify the condi- 
 tions of feeding, to weaken the animal, and diminish the in- 
 flammation of the blood, a result which is obtained with ease ; 
 but, in the second case, when you have to feed up the animal in 
 order to restore the equilibrium of its functions, a long time is 
 necessary, during which the disease progresses and carries off 
 the subject ; therefore, pleuro-pneumonia created in these last 
 conditions is much more terrible than the other. It is my 
 opinion that a good farmer ought never to have this disease 
 except in extreme cases of want of foresight, the causes of 
 which depend upon himself, or upon circumstances over which 
 he has no control. Sheep are rarely attacked with smaU-pox 
 or other disease except foot-rot, which prevails almost continu- 
 ally. To cure it, we cauterize the feet, having previously 
 washed them with sulphate of copper. 
 
 M. de Pimpin. — We have never had pleuro-pneumonia, but 
 we have had foot and mouth disease in the cattle. The treat- 
 ment we have followed consists in cooling food, cleanliness of 
 the stalls, washing the feet of the bullocks and cows with fresh 
 water, cleansing them with clean rags, and rubbing the affected 
 parts with ointment. 
 
 M. Lapointe. — At this time the cattle are suffering every- 
 where from foot and mouth disease, against which no remedy is 
 used. Pleuro-pneumonia is not known in this district. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 M. Bovet.— Cattle have suffered excessively in one or two 
 
CONTINENTAL FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 95 
 
 localities where the sick beasts have beeu slaughtered imme- 
 diately by order of the goverument. In eastern Switzerland 
 there have been some cases of typhus imported from Austria, 
 which has been stamped out in the same way. In western 
 Switzerland there have been some cases of foot and mouth dis- 
 ease in cattle, and foot-rot in sheep ; it has never been danger- 
 ous, but seriously hinders the sale of beasts while it rages. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Gallicia. — Not only my cattle, but that of the 
 whole neighbourhood have suffered from the mouth disease. 
 Pigs had small-pox and diseased feet. Sheep are very little 
 bred in my district, they had foot-rot. It was the first time my 
 cattle had foot and mouth disease. Rinsing with acids, but 
 principally with cold water, had a good result. I had my 
 beasts driven four times a day into the water, in eight days the 
 disease began to disappear, and in four weeks the beasts were 
 quite well. 
 
 Dr. Puchs, Austrian Silesia. — ^We have suffered from foot 
 and mouth disease this year. We have had pleuro-pneumonia 
 twice J the first time I believe from want of nourishment, the 
 second time from giving them too much. Sheep are inoculated 
 for small-pox, and thus preserved from it. All we have to fear 
 here with the sheep is liver worms» 
 
 Dr. Fuchs, Moravia. — Cattle : Foot and mouth disease. — 
 Remedy : (a) an embrocation of vinegar and salt ; {b) petroleum. 
 Lung disease.— Remedy: To inoculate and isolate in a wood, 
 with good result. Inflammation of the spleen. — Remedy: 
 Puncture. Sheep : Inoculation against small-pox, quite effica- 
 cious. 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 The following letter from Mr. Juhlin-Dannfelt, of Stock- 
 holm, Secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society of Sweden, 
 who is also an eminent farmer and Shorthorn breeder, and well 
 known to the leading agriculturists of this and other countries, 
 was received after the comipletion of my Paper. As it contains 
 much interesting matter I give it in extenso : 
 
 The land in most of the provinces of this country is pretty 
 
96 SWEDISH fAUMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 equally divided, as to area, between large and small properties. 
 The largest arable estates are, however, to be found in the more 
 fertile provinces of Ostgothland, "Westgothland, and Scania. 
 Estates, combined with a large extent of forest land, may be 
 chiefly sought for in the provinces north of the great lakes, 
 Malar, Hjelmar, and Wener. It is only in the province of 
 Scania that large farms, exclusively of arable land, can be found. 
 In other parts of the country, with but few exceptions, farms 
 consist of arable, meadow, pasture, and forest ; the proportion of 
 arable decreases the farther one goes northwards. 
 
 In the central provinces, the arable soil is a strong but 
 fertile clay. Here are large farms, containing 600 acres or more 
 arable ; others of middle size, from 100 to 600 acres ; and many 
 small ones, of less than 100 acres arable. The proportions of 
 arable, meadow, and forest land in these parts may be taken 
 as follows : for every 500 acres arable there are from 
 100 to 200 acres meadow, 300 to 300 acres pasture, and 
 500 to 600 acres forest. The largest farms in the environs 
 of Stockholm consist of 3,000 to 5,000 acres arable, combined 
 with 10,000 to 20,000 acres of pasture and forest. The smallest 
 farms, maintaining entirely the family who till it, consist of 40 
 acres arable and meadow, combined with 50 to 100 acres 
 pasture and forest. The occupiers of very small farms have 
 generally other resources beyond farming for the maintenance 
 of their families." 
 
 The following table is extracted from the Agi-icultural Statis- 
 tics of the year 1867. 
 
 The superficial area of Sweden is about 80 millions Swedish 
 acres (the Swedish acre is one-fifth larger than the imperial 
 acre), of which there are : 
 
 Market gardens 49,059 acres 
 
 Arable and other land under cultivation 4,919 884 
 
 Natural meadows 3,923,828 
 
 Waste lands and forests 70,933 967 
 
 Total , 79,826,738 
 
SVVliDISH FARMING A&D PEASA^ITltY. W 
 
 There are owners of farms of 4 acres and under 57,755 
 
 „ 4to40acres 146,81.9 
 
 „ 40to200 „ 22,664 
 
 Exceeding 200 „ 2,697 
 
 Total 229,935 
 
 The number of tenants and proprietors cultivating farms of 
 
 4 acres or less 92,849 
 
 „ 4to 40aores 97,092 
 
 „ 40to200 „ 15,097 
 
 Exceeding 200 ,, 1,823 
 
 Total 206,861 
 
 It must be noted that most landed proprietors cultivate their 
 own land, also that the same proprietor may possess or work 
 several farms. 
 
 The tenements are comparatively small, but continually in» 
 creasing in numbers. A small portion of most of the farms is 
 let off to labourers, so-called " torpare," i. e., cottagers who pay 
 in labour instead of rent. The number of these plots "torp" 
 at the close of 1867 was 179,034. The area of such a "torp" 
 seldom exceeds 4 acres of arable land ; but pasture for a certain 
 number of cattle throughout the winter and the right of wood 
 for fuel are almost invariably included. The labour due for such 
 a plot or " torp" varies between one and three working-days per 
 week, besides a certain number of day-work done by women at 
 harvest. On many farms such "torpare " furnish a large portion 
 of the labour required. 
 
 The average money rent of small farms, where the land is 
 of medium quality, is about 17s. per Swedish acre, and of 
 large farms lis. to 13s. per Swedish acre. The rent of the 
 best quality land varies from 17s. to 35s. per Swedish acre, and 
 for land of inferior quality 6s. to lis. per Swedish acre. These 
 rents are for arable and meadow land, but pasture and forest 
 land are almost invariably added in the proportion already 
 stated at a nominal rent, except when timber is sold. Rents are 
 generally estimated at 5 or 6 per cent, of the fee.simple. 
 
 In Scania (the most fertile province) arable land fetches from 
 igie to ^620 per Swedish acre. In other provinces from £6 to 
 
 H 
 
98 SiWEDtSH FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 £\6 per Swedish acre. In most cases pasture and woodland are 
 included without being appraised. Should, however, the wood- 
 land be in excess of what is required for fuel, it maybe specially 
 appraised, according to its position and quality. Small lots of 
 land cost about 35 per cent, more than large lots, 
 
 Swedish landed proprietors have from time immemorial had 
 the right, under certain restrictions, of subdividing their estates j 
 recently, however, all such restrictions have been removed by 
 the Legislature, so that this right is now unlimited. My own inti- 
 mate conviction is, contrary to that aflSrmed by the Government 
 and Parliament (Riksdag), that if the subdivision of land is 
 carried out too far, Swedish agriculture will suffer; indeed, ex- 
 perience has already proved this to be the case. 
 
 The abundance of small occupations induces small farmers 
 with insufficient capital to purchase them, in most cases at such 
 a price that they have no money left to farm the land properly, 
 the result is that their profits are less than if they had rented a 
 farm proportionate in size to the extent of their capital. 
 
 The pecuniary difficulties in which so many Swedish landed 
 proprietors are involved, cause dejectedness, check improvements 
 such as the times require, and render impossible that increased 
 fertility of the soil which would undoubtedly take place had they 
 sufficient farming capital. The facilities for acquiring land and 
 the great temptation consequent thereon to become landed pro- 
 prietors, create a state of things opposed to good farming, and 
 therefore to national prosperity. It is, however, only right that 
 I should state that these views of mine are not entertained by 
 the majority of my countrymen. 
 
 Leases are mostly for ten years. The crown lands, however, 
 are let for a term of 20 years. Leases are always in writing, 
 and seldom contain any stipulations as to cropping. It is some- 
 times covenanted that hay and straw may not be sold off the 
 farm, and that no paring and burning shall take place j how- 
 ever, at the present time the right of selling fodder is granted, 
 especially on farms in the vicinity of mining districts and 
 large cities, where the sale of fodder for horses is a profitable 
 item. 
 
 The Game Laws have been vigorously enforced during the 
 
SWEDISH FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 99 
 
 last few years, and tended to the increase of useful game; 
 the country is not, however, over-stocked. The abundant wood- 
 land also shelters the game and prevents it being hurtful to 
 agriculture. 
 
 It may be here stated that beasts of prey are still very 
 numerous in some provinces, which may be best judged by the 
 fact that the annual value of domestic animals destroyed by 
 them is about £3,000. The Government now grants a premium 
 for killing beasts of prey, the aggregate of which premiums 
 have frequently exceeded £4,000 per annum. 
 
 Owing to the extent of Sweden and its geographical position 
 there is great diversity in the crops grown. In the southern 
 provinces and the Islands of Gothland and Oland, grapes and 
 walnuts ripen ; the principal field crops are rape, wheat, rye, 
 barley, oats, beans, peas, vetches, potatoes, turnips, carrots, 
 beet-root, &c. In the central provinces, apples, pears, plums, 
 and cherries ripen ; the principal crops are wheat, rye, barley, 
 oats, pease, vetches, potatoes, turnip, and beet-root. In the 
 northern provinces, north of the River Dalelf, fruit will not 
 ripen ; barley and potatoes are the chief crops, rye, oats, and 
 turnips in a lesser degree. The business of the northern farmer 
 is indeed chiefly restricted to growing grass. 
 
 The rotation of crops diifers according to the district and 
 province; In the northern provinces the one-course system of 
 grain, every year on the same soil, obtains. The two- course 
 system, with bare fallow on one-half of the arable land, grain 
 and to a lesser extent root crops on the other half, still con- 
 tinues in the provinces round Lake Malar. The three-course 
 system, one-third of the arable land in fallow, one-third in 
 wheat and rye, and one-third spring crops, prevails in the 
 southern provinces. In all these systems there is more or 
 less meadow land attached to the farm, which produces hay. 
 Throughout the country, however, a more rational system is 
 gaining ground, and in the southern provinces the following 
 prevails, differing, however, slightly according to climate, soil, 
 and the farmer's individual taste. It is a 6 to 10 course rota- 
 tion, according to whether grass is grown during two or more 
 years successively. For instance, on mild clay 1st fallow, 2nd 
 
loo SWEDISH FAUMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 ^heat or rye, 3rd, 4th, and 5th clover and grass, 6th oats, rth 
 potatoes, 8th barley, 9th clover or vetches for green fodder, 
 10th wheat. On stiffer clay— 1st fallow, 3nd rye, 3rd clover, 
 4.th wheat, 5th vetches or pease, 6th barley, 7th oats. On light 
 land— 1st fallow, 2nd rye, 3rd roots, 4th barley, 5th and 6th 
 grass, 7th oats. On sandy soil only the bare fallow is ex- 
 changed for root crops, and a shorter course generally pursued, 
 thus— 1st root crops, 2nd spring corn (barley or oats), 3rd and 
 4th white clover or grass for pasture, 5th rye. A good average 
 yield per Swedish acre = 1-23 (say 1 l-5th) imperial acre, is as 
 follows : 
 
 Wheat 
 
 ... 40 
 
 bush, ... 
 
 ... 4,000 lbs. straw. 
 
 Eye 
 
 ... 40 
 
 it 
 
 ... 5,000 
 
 Barley- 
 
 ... 40 
 
 „ 
 
 ... 2,500 
 
 Pease 
 
 ... 30 
 
 „ 
 
 ... 2,000 
 
 Vetclies 
 
 ... 40 
 
 J, ... 
 
 ... 3,000 
 
 Beans 
 
 ... 50 
 
 it 
 
 ... 2,000 „ 
 
 Oats 
 
 ... 50 
 
 »> 
 
 ... 3,000 
 
 Rape 
 
 ... 4-0 
 
 „ 
 
 ... 4,000 
 
 Potatoes , , , 
 
 
 ... ... 
 
 500 bush. 
 
 Turnips 
 
 
 ... 
 
 1,000 „ 
 
 Beetroot ... 
 
 
 ... ... 
 
 750 ., 
 
 Red clover . . . 
 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 6,000 lbs. hay. 
 
 ■White clover 
 
 
 
 ... 3,000 lbs. 
 
 Swedish . . , 
 
 ... 
 
 
 ... 6,000 lbs. 
 
 Timothy grass 
 
 
 
 ... 6,000 lbs. 
 
 The use of phosphates is increasing more and more ; that of 
 guano and Chilian saltpetre has almost ceased. There are 
 numerous establishments in Sweden for the manufacture of arti- 
 ficial manures ; besides which considerable quantities are im- 
 ported . Nightsoil in a pulverulent form, mixed with lime, ashes, 
 and earth, is in considerable demand. Phosphates are mostly 
 used for root crops and rye, not often for grass. The quantity 
 applied per acre depends upon circumstances ; 2 cwt. per acre of 
 phosphates is a fair quantity. 
 
 The depth of cultivation is 8 to 10 inches for roots, 5 to 7 
 inches for cereals. Subsoil ploughs, going to a depth of 12 to 
 15 inches, are being introduced, and will become general as the 
 growth of beetroot for sugar is extended. 
 
 "Wages vary according to the provinces. During the winter 
 
Swedish farming and peasantry. 161 
 
 they are from 7i. to Is. Id. per working day of nine hours. 
 During the summer, when the working hours are thirteen, 
 wages are from lOd. to Is. 8d. per day, all paid in money. 
 Where the labourer boards with the farmer, as is customary 
 amongst the peasantry, he only receives half the above amount. 
 As already stated, the greater part of the agricultural labour is 
 performed by the so-called "torpare," who are paid by an 
 allotment on the farm. Land having recently risen in value, 
 the " torpare" system is not found economical, and it is becom- 
 ing the practice to employ married servants, who reside on the 
 farm, and are paid partly in money and partly in rations. It 
 may be assumed that the yearly wages of a farm labourer re- 
 duced to money are from £17 to £22, according to the pro- 
 vince. In this part of the countiy (about Stockholm) the 
 annual wages of a labourer are £10 in money and the following 
 rations : 
 
 2 cubic feofc of Wlieat 
 
 26 
 
 do. 
 
 Bye 
 
 12 
 
 do. 
 
 Barley 
 
 2 
 
 do. 
 
 Pease 
 
 20 
 
 do. 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 0-2 
 
 do. 
 
 Milk per diem 
 
 200 
 
 do. 
 
 Wood 
 
 and sufficient land to cultivate about 10 cubic feet of potatoes. 
 This suffices for the maintenance of a family with two or three 
 children. If the family increases, the wife and elder children 
 must work. Farm labourers engaged by the year receive 
 nothing extra at harvest, but day -men receive extra pay, and 
 there is an increase in rations. Women are employed in the 
 summer, and receive about half as much as the men. Children 
 are also employed, and paid according to their age and ability. 
 Piece-work is increasing on the larger farms ; it is confined to 
 draining, weeding, raising fences, chopping wood, getting in 
 root crops— mowing and haymaking : Reaping, harvesting, 
 ploughing, sowing, and harrowing are done by time. 
 
 The supply of labour depends upon local circumstances and 
 the quality of the harvest. When the yield is small, wages are 
 low, and hands are manyj but during and after favourable 
 years the contrary is the case. In general, agricultural labour 
 
103 SWEDISH FAEMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 is sufficient; in many parts, indeed, superabundant. The 
 superfluity is taken up by the mining industries and wood- 
 felling, for which higher wages are paid, but greater exertions 
 exacted. Wages have increased during the last twenty-five 
 years at least 35 per cent. 
 
 Hired farm labourers have always a cottage rent free. As a 
 rule several families live in one house, having separate rooms. 
 The " Torpare,'^ or such labourers as are allotted land in ex- 
 change for their labour, have always a separate cottage. As a 
 rule, every married labourer has a small plot of land allotted to 
 him rent free. 
 
 The contagious diseases amongst cattle and sheep are most 
 rare in Sweden, owing to the very strict laws which entirely 
 prevent, or, to say the least, render exceedingly difficult, the 
 importation of cattle and sheep, as well as their hides and 
 wools, from countries in which such diseases prevail. Cattle- 
 plague is unknown. Poot-and-mouth disease has not appeared 
 for the last twenty years. Pleuro-pneumonia only once, about 
 ten years ago, in a herd of cattle imported from Scotland, via 
 Norway. As soon, however, as the disease was discovered, the 
 whole herd was slaughtered on the spot ! Foot-root and small- 
 pox in sheep are diseases unknown in Sweden. The importa- 
 tion of cattle, sheep, &c., from countries in which cattle-plague 
 has raged, is altogether prohibited for a whole year after its 
 disappearance in that country. Cattle, sheep, &c., imported 
 from countries in which foot-rot, foot-and-mouth disease, 
 pleuro-pneumonia, or small-pox is raging, are subjected to a 
 rigid quarantine. 
 
 Our poor-laws compel each parish to support its own destitute 
 or disabled poor. A rate is levied upon each tax-payer in pro- 
 portion to the property or income-tax he pays to the State. The 
 contribution of the whole country for the support of the poor 
 amounts to Is. Id. per head of the entire population ; the aggre- 
 gate is £200,000, the paupers being, of course, deducted. Of 
 this tax about lOd. is paid by each country resident, but 3s. Id. 
 by each citizen. The tax paid to the state by landed proprie- 
 tors amounts to about l-SOth per cent, on the assessed value. 
 Tenant-farmers pay 1 per cent, of their assessed income from 
 
SWEDISH I'AUMINGI AXD PEASANTRY. lOS 
 
 their farms. In the capital, where I reside, the poor-rates paid 
 by lauded proprietors and tenants amount to about 40 per cent, 
 of the taxes paid to the State. 
 
 The excessive burden of poor-rates upon communities, in- 
 creased through the claims of those able to work and other 
 causes, has called forth much discontent with the laws; the 
 present law which admits the claims of individuals still able 
 to work being able to claim relief, has been repealed by 
 the last Parliament, and only awaits the sanction of Go- 
 vernment. 
 
 The new law does not recognize the absolute right of indi- 
 viduals to obtain relief from the parish poor-rates, unless they 
 be insane, or destitute orphans under the age of fifteen ; 
 paupers disabled by age, lameness, illness, or other causes, 
 may obtain relief, provided the parish poor board think it 
 right to grant it. Roads and bridges are maintained by the 
 landed proprietors, but their contributions, being in labour 
 and material, are not easy to estimate. There are no tolls or 
 turnpikes. 
 
 The punishmeiit of crime is paid by the State. The church 
 and clergy are supported by tithes, or a rate upon the land ; it 
 varies according to localities, but is not a serious item. 
 
 For State taxation, land is divided into difPerent classes, 
 on which taxes, differing considerably in proportion, are 
 levied. Taxation differs considerably in the different pro- 
 vinces. The basis of State taxation is the so-called "mantal," 
 that is the area upon which a household engaged in agricul- 
 ture and cattle-breeding may be maintained. The original 
 " mantal" differed considerably, but in the course of time 
 has become further altered by cultivation ; it is therefore 
 difficult at present to produce a trustworthy standard for com- 
 parison ; one of the heaviest burdens upon the land consists 
 in the support of a large number of army and navy pen- 
 sioners. 
 
 Elementary education is accorded gratis in the Public State 
 Pree Schools. For the support of these schools a national 
 school rate of about 6d. is levied on each male above the age 
 of 15, and about 3d. on each female. Besides this, a taxj 
 
104 SWEDISH FARMING AND PEASANTRY. 
 
 adapted to the wants of each parish, is levied upon each tax- 
 paying inhabitant thereof. In tlie district to ^Yhich I belong, 
 this tax amounts to about 60 per cent, of the property or 
 income-tax paid to the State. Besides these contributions, 
 considerable sums are granted to the schools by the State, and 
 no expenses likely to conduce to the spread of useful knowledge 
 are shunned. The attendance of children at school is com- 
 pulsory. Parents are bound under legal penalties to see that 
 -their children go to the schools; when requisite, the children 
 receive the necessary food in school. The obligation to attend 
 school commences at the age of 7 years, and continues until 
 the children have acquired the minimum of knowledge pre- 
 scribed by the laws. They generally cease their attendance at 
 the age of 14 or 15. There is no law which prohibits the em- 
 ployment of children in agriculture before having attained a 
 certain age. There is such a law for factories. Children go to 
 work upon the farm as soon as they leave school. 
 
 The metai/er system is unknown in Sweden. 
 
 The transfer of land, although controlled by the law courts, 
 is very simple and easy; the legal expenses seldom exceed 1 per 
 cent, of the fee-simple. 
 
 Irrigated meadows are common in the northern parts of the 
 country where rivulets abound. The result, dependent upon 
 the quality of the water, is as a rule exceedingly favourable. 
 Town-sewage is not yet used for ii'rigation. 
 
 London : rRiNiED by Kogehson and Tuxfokd, 2Co, Sikaxu. 
 
CONSERVATION 
 
 MAR --1989