24 AGRICULTURE. 



there can be no manure, so without manure there 

 can be no abundance."* 



3. The land is generally worked by farmers 

 hired for that purpose, or by renters on short leases ,-f 

 which in neither case betters the condition of the 

 soil ; the one having no interest in improvements, 

 and the other too small a one to justify any ex- 

 pense in making them. 



4. A good rotation system, adapted to the soil and 

 climate, is not absolutely unknown, and may be 

 found even in whole districts (as in French Flan- 

 ders), but much too rarely. We have seen wheat 

 and fallows alternating for years, and wheat and rye, 

 hemp and rye, and many others equally ridiculous. 



5. To the eye, more than one half of France is a 

 common, without fences of any kind, excepting gar- 

 den or park walls. Can there be order, economy, 

 or security under such circumstances? Can the 

 police and the gens d'armes be sufficient substitutes ? 



VIII. Holland, though essentially commercial, 

 has, from causes rarely occurring, become also 

 highly agricultural. To the descendants of Dutch- 

 men, the following description of her industry, in 

 this respect, cannot but be acceptable. It is from 

 the pen of an excellent judge and faithful narrator. J 



* French agriculture has undergone great changes since Her- 

 bin wrote. The large estates have been mostly cut up into 

 small ones by the events of the revolution, and are now farmed 

 by small proprietors : the culture of the sugar-beet, and the al- 

 ternation of crops, have succeeded the old system of culture ; 

 cattle are consequently more numerous and better conditioned ; 

 a national central agricultural society, with numerous auxiliary 

 societies, has been established ; men of science have applied 

 their learning to the improvement of the soil, and the govern- 

 ment has been actively engaged in encouraging this great branch 

 of national industry, by giving liberal bounties to those who dis- 

 tinguish themselves in making improvements. J. B. 



t Herbin's Statistique general de la France, vol. i., Introduc- 

 tion. 



t M. Yvart, Professor of Agriculture at Elfort. See his In- 

 troductory Address to his Class in 1806. 



