508 
But the greatest impediment to all 
improvement, whether in. agriculture or 
any of the other useful arts, is the 
lamentable state of ignorance in which 
the inferior classes of society are kept, 
by the discipline of the Romish hie- 
rarchy. ’ 
The prohibition of all education, ex- 
eept such as shall emanate from its 
own pastors, has had the effect of keep- 
ing the peasantry in a state of igno- 
rance approaching to barbarism. France 
abounds with able writers and compilers 
of treatises in almost every branch of 
science and art; but it is of little avail 
for the French savans to propose theo- 
ries and publish learned dissertations, if 
they be not applicable or intelligible to 
the great mass of the community. That 
this is the fact, with regard to many of 
the mechanical and operative arts, in 
France, is perfectly well known. But 
probably in no other department does 
it prevail to so great an extent as in 
that of Agriculture. It is not, however, 
the want of industry or.of proper imple- 
ments, so much as the obstinate adher- 
ence to old systems, which makes the 
French farmer so much inferior to the 
English, in rendering a given portion of 
land available to the greatest possible 
extent. The ordinary French farmer 
is too ignorant to be aware of 
the importance of what an_ English 
farmer considers only as the first rudi- 
ments of his art,—the alternate course 
of creps. ‘But as the writer of the arti- 
cle in the Revue is the best authority 
that can be adduced on this subject, I 
shall here beg leave to quote a few of 
his remarks. ‘ 
By way of recommending an improved 
system of cultivation to his countrymen, 
he observes, f 
“‘ That the system of alternate cultivation 
has now been adopted nearly forty years in 
the major portion of Great Britain. It has 
also extended to several parts of Germany ; 
and, that its adoption has been invariably 
followed by a great increase of the popula- 
tion, and of national riches.”.... “ That 
instead of producing bread only, according 
to the old system, year after year, with a 
diminishing product in all cases, after the 
first breaking up of the land, the new mode 
of culture yields a variety of products, more 
agreeable, more substantial, and in greater 
abundance.” 
Speaking of England, he farther ob- 
serves, 
‘“‘ That many enlightened men are appre- 
hensive of a superabundant produce! The 
opulence of the agriculturists ; the easy cir- 
eumstances of their agents; and the generah 
Comparative View of French and English Agriculture. [{Jan.1, 
amelioration of the condition of the lower 
class of society*, in England, evidently 
prove the great advantages of the improved 
mode of agriculture. Why then should, we 
be the last to profit by it? Is it not asto- 
nishing, whilst the English, who obtained, 
in the first instance, the mode of alternate 
cultivation from Flanders (one of our own 
provinces), and who have followed it with 
such decided advantages for the last forty 
years, that this mode of cultivation should 
be nearly forgotten among us, ‘and “scarcely 
ever adopted even in Flanders, its. birth- 
place !” j 
The writer then proceeds to give the 
following reasons why there is so much 
difference in the adoption of improved 
methods of cultivation by the two 
nations :— 
“The Flemish farmer (labourer) is the 
best working farmer in Europe: but he is 
scarcely ever able to read or write. All his 
knowledge has been derived from his fore- 
fathers, from whose methods of working, he 
never ventures to deviate. Place him ina 
new situation, or on a different kind of soil, 
where the maxims he has acquired are in- 
applicable, and he becomes quite embar- 
rassed, and incapable of proceeding. The 
English cultivators, bcing better educated, 
do not confine themselyes to a servile imi- 
tation. The facts presented to them by the 
Flemish methods, they have educated into a 
regular system. They have, in short, formed 
a complete Theory of the art, and, at the 
same time, put it in practice; while their 
numerous publications haye contributed to 
disseminate its advantages among all classes 
of society who are capable of reading.” 
The writer then states some of the 
advantages to be derived. from what he 
calls the new system of culture, and 
again takes occasion to state that the 
principal cause which has _ hitherto 
operated to retard the progress of agri- 
cultural improvements, “and which still 
exists,” is, that “ education has made 
such very little progress among the class 
of cultivators.’ But that “many rea- 
sons exist to render the present period 
very favourable to the advancement of 
agriculture in France.” 
These extracts would alone suffice to 
shew theaccuracy of thc previous remark, 
as to the primary cause of the low state , 
of agriculture in France,—the absence 
of all kinds of education among the 
peasantry. But as the preceding re- 
marks formed part of a review of the 
“ Annals of Agriculture,” recently pub- 
lished by M. Dombasle, which work 
refers 
* We should be glad to see this improve- 
ment. in the condition of the lower class of 
agriculturists.—Eb, 
