38 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



expense of mauagetueut of allotting tlie rations, of diatributiou, 

 and all the expenses generally included in the cbarges of the 

 agents : 



Bepartments. 



Ist Military Division — Eure-et 



Loire, Oui8e,Seine-et-Marne, 



Seiue-et-Oise, Yonne 



2nd Jlilitary Division — Enre, 



Orne 



3rd Military Division — Nord, 



Pas-de-Calais, Somme .... 

 4th Military Division — Marne, 



Aisne-Ardennes 



5th Military Division — Moselle 



Meurthe, Meuse-Vosges . . 

 6th Military Division— Bas 



Rhin, Haut Rhiu 



7th Military Division — Daubs, 



Coted'Or 



8th Military Division — Aine, 



Drome, Isere, Loire, Saoue- 



tt-Loire 



1] Military Division— Bou- 



ches-du-Rhone, Vaucluae . . 

 iOth Military Division— He- 



rault, Gard 



11th Military Division— Aude. 

 12th Military Division— Tarn, 



Tarn-et-Garonne Lot 



13th Military Division— Hau 



tes Pyrcucs, Gers 



14th Military Division— Gir- 



onde, Lot-et-Garonne 



15th Military Division — Maine 



et-Loire, Deux Sevres, Ven- 

 dee 



16th Military Division — Cotes 



du-Nord, Manche, Morbihaii 

 18th military Division- Sarthe, 



Vienne 



19th Military Division— Indre, 



AUin, Nievre 



20th Military Division— Pay 



de-dome, Cantal 



21st Military Division— Creuse 



Mean general price 11 27 



Hay. Straw. Oats, 



Fr. Ct. 



7 07 



7 90 



6 25 



7 25 

 6 22 

 5 60 

 4 72 



7 25 



6 00 



5 95 



6 18 

 5 45 



4 66 



4 33 



7 22 



5 25 

 5 00 



Fr. Ct. 



23 03 



23 35 



22 76 



23 74 



21 12 



22 13 

 22 50 



22 04 



21 61 



23 75 



22 50 



27 20 



22 62 



21 ,35 



21 00 

 19 50 



22 50 



21 13 



25 70 



22 00 



What consequences may we deduce from these figures, 

 and the statement published in the Moniteur ? Legitimate 

 desire to prevent the prices from reaching a maximum, and 

 the proof also of the insufficiency of the high roads now 

 existing, completed as they already are, to prevent the 

 value of the same commodities at different points of the 

 empire from varying from par to the double. 



The Sliding Scale. 

 The agriculturists are at this moment greatly disturbed ; 

 they want to know the position in which they will be 

 placed by the laws for the importation and exportation of 

 cereals. We have flagrant witness of the feeling, which we 

 seek to express with moderation, in the agricultural votes 

 of some of the general councils, and in speeches recently deli- 

 vered. We must be excused quotations in such a matter. 

 We are always afraid of deceiving ourselves when we view 

 things rather by the heart than by the understanding. 

 Where we can calculate with mathematical or chemical pre- 

 cision, we do not hesitate ; but when it relates to matters 

 Tfhich the scales or the formula cannot ascertain, we confess 

 that we experience hesitation, and seek advice of volunteers 

 more experienced. What, then, do the agriculturists tell 

 OS through the organ of those who enjoy their confidence ? 

 See, in the first place, a letter addressed to us from the 



centre of France, and which refers to a discourse delivered 

 at the general council of La Nievre, by M. le Baron Charles 

 Dupin. 



" Mr. Editor,— I am surprised, on reading the commer- 

 cial review of the 5th September of the Journal of Practical 

 Agriculture, to see M. Borie exhibit himself as a partizan of 

 the admission into France of foreign wheat, and advocating 

 the suppression of the sliding scale. Is such a wish favour- 

 able to the interests of agriculture ? 



" I am not the declared enemy oia/ree exchange, but, to 

 be just, it must be entire, absolute, unlimited ; that all ma- 

 nufactures and products should be free, tissues, iron, sugars, 

 coffees, &c. Everybody would then get out of it as he 

 might; </(e jS<aieytr6<, but everybody would then be upon 

 an equal footing. 



" Is it just, in fact, to admit the free entry of foreign 

 wheat, and not allow the agriculturist to purchase his iron, 

 tissues, clothing, from countries where they are cheaper 

 and of better quality ? Is it just to raise against him a 

 competition whilst taking from him the means of combating 

 with it H 



" We want, therefore, equal protection for all industries, or 

 absolute freedom for all; beyond this dilemma it is oppres- 

 sion, and not justice. 



" 'But,' say they, ' bread must be cheap.' Well, then tissues 

 and cottons must also be cheap ; for it is as indispensable to 

 be clothed as to be fed. Grant, then, the same favour to these 

 two articles of first necessity. 



" But is it so much the interest of the working class to have 

 wheat at a low price ? The city workman would perhaps con- 

 gratulate himself upon it ; but the rural peasant would regret 

 it. It would always be better for him to pay a reasonable price 

 for his bread, according to the wages he earns, than to purchase 

 it sometimes vfry dear, and other times at au excessively low 

 price. In the first case his wages become insufficient ; in the 

 second, he does not always find work ; for, proprietors and 

 farmers being cramped, reduce considerably their operations. 



" You were quite right, Mr. Editor, in ?aying, at the meet- 

 ing at Dijon, ' The reduction of the price of cereals impo- 

 verishes and ruins the agriculturist, and produces enormous 

 sufl'enugs, of which we have been, and are, alas! the wit- 

 nesses. It leads by degrees to a less production, a neglect of 

 culture, scanty harvests, and scarcity.' 



"If we wish to see a return of the excessive prices of the 

 years 1854, 1855, and 1856, we have only to arrange so that 

 the agriculturist continues to lose by his produce whilst having 

 abundant harvests. 



" If we consult the manure merchants, they will tell us that 

 for a year past their sale has diminished more than one-third. 

 Add to that the enormous diminution in the number of cat- 

 tle required for that year, for want of the ability to feed them, 

 and see where all this leads us — to a famine before two years 

 if such a state of things continues. 



The government ought, therefore, to endeavour to secure to 

 the cultivator a remunerating price for his products. Its in- 

 terest as well as its solicitude for two-thirds of the population 

 of France ought to enforce this. 



" The emigration from the country to the towns has already 

 been disastrous enough, let us not promote it more by ren- 

 dering the position of the rural population more unfortunate. 



" 1 conclude by quoting the remarkable words that M. Ic 

 Baron Charles Dupin has just spoken at the General Council 

 of la Nievre on the subject of the sliding scale. ' With respect 

 to our cereals, we must not abolish without law — thejiaw which 

 protects them, and which for tweuty-six years has defended 

 agriculture : we should not dare to act thus to reduce again 



