98 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part I. 



estimated that about a sixth part of (he Austrian dominions is under tillage. The most 

 e, million rotation is two corn crops, and tallow or rest. 



(7'2b\ The Austrian jtrwAnce of Manivia is ver) fertile; and, with the exception of some 

 districts of the Netherlands, scarcely any part of the Continent is so well cultivated. 

 It bears too, a larger proportion of wheat than any other district in the east of Europe. 



Of the winter corn, wheat is estimated at one fourth, and rye at three fourths; whereas, 

 in the adjoining province of Silesia, the land sown with rye is nearly ten times that sown 

 with wheat. Moravia is defended by tin- Carpathian mountains from the east winds ; 

 anil tin- harvest, the whole way from Teschen to Olmutz, and indeed to Brunn, is nearly 

 six weeks earlier than in Silesia. This better state of things arose from the circumstance 

 of Moravian agriculture finding domestic consumers. It is the chief manufacturing 

 province of the Austrian empire. A greater proportion of the population can afford to 

 live on meat, and to use wheaten flour ; and hence the agriculturists find a market near 

 home for their productions. The demand for animal food, too, being greater, a greater 

 stock of cattle is kept, and more of the land is destined to clover and other green crops ; 

 and it may thence be inferred, that the growth of corn does not exhaust the land, so much 

 as the cattle, by their manure, renew its prolific qualities. (Jacob on the Trade in Corn, 

 ami on the Agriculture of northern Eurojte.) 



o'jT. The viae is cultivated to the greatest extent in Hungary. The well known 

 Tokay is raised on the last chain of the Carpathian hills, in the neighbourhood of the 

 town of Tokay. The district extends over a space of about twenty English miles. 

 " Throughout the whole of this country it is the custom to collect the grapes which 

 have become dry and sweet, like raisins, whilst hanging on the trees. They are 

 gathered one by one ; and it is from them alone that the prime Tokay, or, as it is termed, 

 Tokay Ausbruch, is prepared, which, in 1807, sold for 100 florins the cask of 180 

 halbes on the spot. They arc first put together in a cask, in the bottom of which holes 

 are bored to let that portion of the juice escape which will run from them without any 

 pressure. This, which is called Tokay essence, is generally in very small quantity, and 

 very highly prized. The grapes are then put into a vat, and trampled with the hare 

 feet, no greater pressure being permitted. To the squeezed mass is next added an 

 equal quantity of good wine, which is allowed to stand for twenty-four hours, and 

 is then strained. This juice, without further preparation, becomes the far-famed wine of 

 Tokay, which is difficult to be obtained, and sells in Vienna at the rate of V21. sterling 

 per dozen. The greater part of these vineyards is the property of the emperor; 

 several, however, are in the hands of nobles." (Bright's Travels.) 



6'28. Another sjiecies of Hungarian wine, called Meneser, is said to equal Tokay ; next 

 to that in value come the wines of OSdenburg, Rusth, St. Gyorgy, and Ofen, followed 

 by a great variety, whose names are as various as the hills which produce them. The grape 

 which is preferred for making the Tokay and other Hungarian wines of that character, is 

 a small black or blue grape, figured and described by Sickler in his Garten Magazin of 

 i8()4, as the Hungarian Blue. 



<5'29 Plums are cultivated, or rather planted and left to themselves ; and an excellent 

 brandy is distilled from the fermented fruit. 



6:30. The culture of silk is in the least flourishing state in Hungary ; but succeeds well 

 in Austria and Moravia; that of cotton was tried, but left off" chiefly on account of the 

 unfavourahleness of the autumns for ripening the capsules. The mountain rice (Oryza 

 mutica), from the north of China, was cultivated with success, but neglected during the 

 late wars. " The greatest advantages which it 

 promised arose from the situations in which it 

 would flourish, and the fact of its not requiring 

 marshy lands, which are so destructive to the 

 health of those who are engaged in the cultiva- 

 tion of common rice." The 7fhus Co tin us is 

 extensively collected from the wastes, and used 

 as a tanning plant, especially in the preparation 

 of morocco leather. Woad is cultivated as a ^» 

 substitute for indigo; the Cyperus esculentus 

 (Jig. 69. a), and the Astragalus boe'ticus (6), 

 ;in substitutes for coffee ; the seeds of the latter, 

 and the tubers of the former, being the parts 

 used The Acer campestre, platanoides, and 

 Tseudo-pl.itanus have been tapped for sugar, 

 and the A. saccharinum extensively cultivated 

 for the same purpose, but without any useful 

 result : it was found cheaper to make sugar 

 from the grape. The culture of coffee, olives, 

 indigo, and other exotics, has been tried, but failed 



