Boox I. AGRICULTURE IN GERMANY. 



95 



and the straw of the rye and barley, with the potatoes, constituted the winter food of the 

 sheep. [Travels, p. 265.) 



610. The general rotation of crops in Saxony, according to Jacob, is two corn crops, 

 and a fallow, or two corn crops and pease. There are some exceptions ; and cabbages, 

 turnips, and kohl-rabi are occasionally to be seen. The plough has two wheels, and is 

 drawn by two oxen; " and sometimes, notwithstanding the Mosaic prohibition, with a 

 horse and a cow." There are some fine meadows on the borders of the brooks near the 

 villages; but they are in general much neglected, and for want of draining yield but 

 coarse and rushy grass. The houses of the farmers are in villages, the largest for the 

 amptman, and the next for the metayers and leibeigeners. " The whole tract of land, from 

 Meissen to within two English miles of Leipsic, is a sandy loam, admirably calculated 

 for our Norfolk four-course system, by which it would be enabled to maintain a great 

 quantity of live-stock, and produce double or treble the quantity of corn it now yields. 

 In the whole distance from Wurzen, about fifteen miles, I saw but three flocks of sheep ; 

 two were small, the other, which I examined, consisting of about one thousand ewes, 

 wedders, and tags, belonged to a count, whose name I did not ascertain. As he is lord 

 of a considerable tract of country, the flock has the range of many thousand acres in the 

 summer, and in the winter is fed with chopped straw and potatoes. Upon our system, which 

 might be advantageously introduced, the same quantity of land would maintain ten times 

 as many sheep, and still produce much more corn than it does at present." (Ibid. 301.) 



611. The cows near the villages, between Meissen and Leipsic, were numerous compared with the sheep, 

 r ut generally looked poor. " As I saw," continues Jacob, " no hay or corn stacks in the whole distance, 

 I had been puzzled to conceive in what manner their cows could be supported through the winter. Upon 

 enquiring, I learnt a mode of keeping them, which was quite new to me, but which I cannot condemn. 

 The land is favourable to the growth of cabbages, and abundant quantities are raised, and form a material 

 article of human sustenance; the surplus, which this year is considerable, is made into sour-krout, with 

 a less portion of salt than is applied when it is prepared as food for man. This is found to be very good 

 for cows, and favourable to the increase of their milk, when no green food, nor any thing but straw can 

 be obtained. " ( Travels, 303.) 



612. The land ivithin tiro miles of Leipsic is almost wholly in garden-culture, and is vastly productive 

 of every kind of culinary vegetable. The fruit trees and orchards, notwithstanding manv of them showed 

 vestiges of the war, surprised Jacob by their abundance. The inhabitants subsist much less on animal 

 food than we do, but a larger quantity of fruit and vegetables is consumed ; and hence they have greater 

 inducements to improve their quality, and to increase their quantitv, than exist in those rural districts of 

 Great Britain which are removed from the great towns. 



613. Jacob's opinion of the agriculture of Saxon?/ is, that it is equal to that of Prussia. 

 In one respect he thinks it superior, as no portion of the soil is wholly without some 

 cultivation; but that cultivation is far below what the land requires, and the produce 

 much less than the inhabitants must need for their subsistence. 



Subsect. 6. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Bavaria. 



614. Bavaria, till lately, was one of the most backward countries of Germany, in regard to 

 every kind of improvement. A bigoted and ignorant priesthood, not content with possess- 

 ing a valuable portion of the lands of the country, had insisted on the expulsion of the 

 Protestants, and on the strict observance of the endless holidays and absurd usages which 

 impede the progress of industry among their followers. " Hence a general habit of 

 indolence and miserable backwardness in all arts, and especially in agriculture; and in 

 point of learning, a complete contrast to the north of Germany." During the electorate 

 of Bavaria, one of its electors, contemporary with Joseph II. of Austria, desirous of 

 introducing improvements, abolished monastic orders in some parts of his dominions ; but 

 the people were not ripe for such a change, notwithstanding the existence of masonic 

 societies, ignorantly supposed to have rendered them ripe for any sort of revolution. 



615. The agricultural improvement of Bavaria commenced at the time of the French 

 revolution, when the church lands were seized by the government, and sold to the people, 

 and a system of schools was established in every canton or parish, for the education of the 

 lower classes. Soon afterwards agriculture was taught in these schools by a catechism, 

 in the same way as the Christian religion of Scotland is taught in the schools there. In 

 consequence of this state of things the country is rapidly improving in every respect, and 

 will soon be equal to any other in Germany. The names of Monteglas and Hazzi should 

 not be passed over in this brief statement ; nor that of Eichthal, who spent upwards of a year 

 in Britain, and chiefly in Scotland, to study its agriculture, which he has introduced on 

 his estate near Munich by a Scotch manager and a Scotch rent-paying farmer. 



616. The surface of Bavaria is mountainous towards the south ; the ground rising in 

 the direction of the Alps, and containing a number of lakes and marshes. To the 

 northward are extensive plains and also wooded mountains ; round Nuremberg is a tract 

 of warm sandy soil, and along the Danube are occasional plains of fertile alluvion, partly 

 in meadow and partly under com. 



617. The crops cultivated are the usual corns, legumes, and roots; and the produce 

 of corn and turnips, under proper culture, is equal to what it is in the north of England, or 

 in Haddingtonshire. In the dry warm sand around Nuremberg garden seeds are raised 



