406 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



should be done indeed, that every thing should be done which 

 can be done to educate and so to elevate the laboring classes. 

 I want that they should be treated, not as too often they are 

 treated, as mere animals and machines, to be used and applied as 

 we have the power and inclination to use and apply them ; but 

 as beings who have minds as well as bodies minds destined 

 to be immortal ; and who should be rendered capable of self- 

 direction. I cannot think that their duty would be less faith 

 fully, because it would be more intelligently, performed. What 

 ever benefits the humbler classes must essentially benefit those 

 above them. In agriculture we have learnt one great and 

 important lesson, which seems destined to confer the greatest 

 benefits upon the art, that when, as in subsoiling, the lower 

 strata are loosened, their superabundant moisture drained off, 

 and the air admitted, they become prepared to be mingled with 

 the surface soil ; and thus the whole is enriched, and its produc 

 tiveness greatly increased : so in society, just in proportion as 

 the humbler classes are educated, improved, and elevated, the 

 whole mass of society is enriched and benefited. 



CXXII. ABATTOIRS, OR SLAUGHTERING HOUSES. 



There are other establishments in Paris which are intimately 

 connected with agriculture ; and among these the abattoirs, or 

 great slaughtering houses, deserve to be considered. There are 

 at least five of these large slaughtering establishments for cattle 

 in Paris, just at the barriers of the city. No cattle are allowed 

 to be driven through the streets of Paris, unless it be very late at 

 night, when the streets are empty ; and no person is allowed, 

 under any circumstances, to slaughter cattle in the city. These 

 abattoirs are enclosed by high stone walls, excepting at the 

 entrance, where there is a handsome iron paling ; and the space 

 covered by each of them embraces some acres. These are mag 

 nificent establishments. The enclosure of one of them, for 

 example, and they are all built upon the same model, though not 

 all of equal size, is 645 feet in one direction, and 570 in the 



