IMPORTANT PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. 585 



ness or intoxication in any degree and I may add, that so far 

 as my observation goes, there is not a more temperate people, 

 than are to be found in the wine-growing departments of France. 

 I need not add, that under the auspicious circumstances in 

 which the United States are placed, her agriculture must be con 

 stantly increasing in importance to the country itself, and to the 

 civilized world, for her commerce penetrates every sea, and her 

 bread-grains, as they have already been, may be of immense im 

 portance, and of indispensable necessity, in feeding the inhabit 

 ants of the old world. 



This completes the task which I undertook of giving, from 

 personal observations, an account of European Agriculture and 

 Rural Economy. I commend my work to the indulgence and 

 candor of my readers. It was an undertaking too great for an 

 individual to accomplish as one would desire that it should be 

 done. It must satisfy me, I hope it will satisfy my friends, that 

 I have, with unceasing anxiety, sought to execute it as well as I 

 could. It was not to be expected that I should give a complete 

 system of agriculture ; but I have constantly endeavored to col 

 lect and present that information which would be most useful : 

 and to convey it in a simple and practical form. I have omitted 

 many circumstances, because they are well known. I have 

 given full details wherever I thought they were required. As to 

 my opinions on any subject upon which I have treated, I can 

 only answer that they are my own ; that I am quite ready to 

 yield them, when I find, upon further information, reason so to 

 do; and, above all, that my opinions or judgments do not en 

 croach upon the personal right of independent judgment and 

 opinion in any and all others. 



European agriculture lies under many burdens, from which 

 the United States are free, and I pray may long remain so. The 

 weight of taxation in most of the countries of Europe is very 

 oppressive. The unproductive classes are numerous to an excess. 

 Immense standing armies ; governments enormously expensive, 

 and in a great measure irresponsible to the people ; ecclesiastical 

 establishments, and their attaches, demanding large contributions 

 from labor, and returning, in many cases, little more in value than 

 the bishop s blessing in JEsop s fable, are all to be sustained from 

 the soil, and by the labor of those who cultivate it. In their 



