-138 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



holders who may be interposed between him and the landlord. It is obvious that such a system must pre- 

 vent the growth of agricultural capital : this, joined to the exertions of the middlemen, has been the 

 true cause of the universal prevalence of the cottage system, and the minute subdivision of farms. 



836. The tithes in Ireland have long been collected with a severity of which hardly 

 any European state furnishes an example. This has arisen from the wealth and influence 

 of the clergy, joined to the destitute situation of their parishioners. They fall, by the 

 law of that country, only on the tillage of land ; the greater part of which is held by 

 cottar tenants ; and thus the rich are exempted from bearing their share of the burden. 



837. Another grievance, though not so extensive, is the fine imposed upon a township, 

 for having had the misfortune to have a seizure for illicit distillation made within its, 

 bounds. 



838 . These evils have been attended with the usual depressing effects of oppression. They ' 

 have prevented the growth of any artificial wants, or any desire of bettering their con- 

 dition among the mass of the people. Despised by their superiors, and oppressed by all 

 to whom they might naturally have looked for protection, the Irish have felt only the 

 natural instincts of their being. Among the presbyterians of the north, and in the 

 vicinity of manufacturing towns, higher notions of comfort may have imposed some 

 restraint on the principle of population ; but the poor humiliated catholics, enjoying no 

 respectability or consideration in society, have sought only the means of subsistence ; 

 and finding, without difficulty, potatoes, milk, and a hovel, have overspread the land 

 with a wretched offspring. 



839. To these causes of a redundant population, of which the government of the 

 country is, directly or indirectly, the source, are to be added others of a different kind. 



840. The first, is the influence of the parish priests, who encourage marriage, in order to increase their 

 own emoluments, and the superstition of the people, who regard it as a religious duty. 



841. The second cause, is the general ignorance of the people. 



842. On the influence of education in restraining the tendency to early and imprudent marriage, it 

 would be superfluous in this place to enlarge. 



843. Various other circumstances have combined to multiply to a great degree the 

 facilities of population, and to expand, in this country, beyond almost any other, the 

 means of subsistence. 



844. The fertility of the country may be mentioned as one of the most obvious of these 

 circumstances. The soil of Ireland is in general so rich, that it will yield an alternate 

 crop of wheat and potatoes for ever, without any very great labor, and with little manure. 

 The introduction of the potatoe, and its singular adaptation to the soil and climate of 

 Ireland, is another concurring cause. An acre of potatoes, according to Newenham, will 

 yield four times as much nourishment as one of wheat. By thus expanding the means 

 of human subsistence, the potatoe has greatly promoted the population of Ireland ; but 

 as the able writer, from whom we have selected the above remaks, observes, " unless 

 the people are predisposed, from other causes, to press upon the means of subsistence, 

 it has no tendency to augment their redundance. Under the government and political 

 institutions of the Irish, the population of the country would have been equally redundant, 

 though much smaller than it now is, if they had lived on oats or wheaten bread. The 

 introduction of the potatoe may be the cause why the population is now six in place of 

 three millions : but it is not the cause why, during the whole period of this increase, 

 the numbers of the people have been greater than, under existing circumstances, could 

 be comfortably maintained." {^Sup, Encyc. Brit, art. Ireland.) 



Chaf. VI. 



Present State of Agriculture in Ultra European Countries. 



845. In this department of our history the reader will not expect more than a very slight 

 outline ; not only from our limited space and the comparative scarcity of materials, but 

 because the subject is less interesting to general readers. We shall notice in succession 

 the principal countries of Asia, Africa, Australasia, and America. 



Sect. I. Present State of Agriculture in Asia. 



846. The agriculture of Asia is of a very different character from that of Europe, 

 owing chiefly to the great difference of climate, and partly to the difference in civili- 

 zation. The culture of this division of the globe is chiefly of two kinds, water culture 

 and pasturage. Very little can be done without artificial watering, excepting in the 

 northern and mountainous parts, where the climate resembles that of Europe. Even 

 the palm and other fruit trees are watered in some parts of Persia and Arabia, and 



