102 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part I. 



become very numerous; but since the Emperor of Russia lias gained the dominion over 

 Poland, the use of titles has been restricted. The whole of the lands being made alien- 

 able may now be purchased by persons of any rank, and are actually held by some who 

 are burghers or peasants; the Jews alone are prohibited from becoming proprietors of the 

 soil, though they have very numerous mortgages upon it. When they foreclose, the 

 lands must consequently be sold; and as these Jews, the monied capitalists, cannot 

 become purchasers, the prices they yield are very trifling. (Ibid.) 



650. The cultivators are chiefly peasants. They have a limited property in the lands 

 which they occupy, and the cottages in which they live, under the condition of working a 

 stipulated number of days in each week, on their lord's demesne, and paying specified 

 quantities of produce, such as poultry, eggs, yarn, and other things, in conformity with 

 ancient usage. The extent of these holdings varies, according to the quality of the land, 

 and the quantity of duty-work, or of payments in kind, which are to be fulfilled. The 

 peasantry of Poland were declared free in 1791, and this privilege was confirmed to 

 them in 1815; and though their ignorance and poverty have hitherto prevented the prac- 

 tical effects of liberty from being very obvious among them, yet they are so far elevated 

 in sentiment, at least, as to feel their superiority to the peasantry of Russia. (Ibid.) 



651. The arable culture of Poland is abundantly simple: the course of crops is, in 

 most places, 1st, wheat, barley, or rye; 2d, oats ; 3d, fallow, or several years' rest to 

 commence with fallow. In a very few places clover is sown, and also beans or peas, 

 but only in small quantities. The Digitaria sanguinalis is sown as a plant of luxury in 

 a few places, and the seeds used as rice ; the buckwheat is also sown, and the seeds 

 ground and used as meal. Almost every farmer sows linseed or hemp, to the extent 

 required for home use, and some for sale. Rye is the bread corn of the country. 

 Potatoes are now becoming general, and succeed well. The mangold., or white beet, 

 was cultivated in many places in 1811 and 1812, by order of Bonaparte, in order that 

 the natives might grow their own sugar; but that is now left off, and the peasants have 

 not even learned its value as a garden plant, producing chard and spinach. Turnips 

 or cabbages are rarely seen even in gardens ; few of the cottagers, indeed, have any 

 garden ; those who have, cultivate chiefly potatoes, and kohl rube. Many species of 

 mushrooms grow wild in the woods and wastes, and most of these are carefully ga- 

 thered, and cooked in a variety of ways as in Russia. The wastes or common pastures 

 are left entirely to nature. There are some tracts of indifferent meadow on the Vistula, 

 at Warsaw, Thorn, and Cracovie, and some on the tributary streams, which afford a 

 tolerable hay in summer, and would be greatly improved by draining. 



652. The implements and operations are incredibly rude. We have seen lands ploughed 

 (after their manner) by one cow, tied by the horns to the trunk of a young fir tree, one 

 of the roots sharpened and acting as a share, and the other serving the ploughman as a 

 handle. In other instances we have seen 

 a pair of oxen dragging a wretched imple- 

 ment (fig. 74.) formed by the peasant, who 

 is in all cases his own plough and wheel 

 wright, as well as house carpenter and 

 builder. Their best or usual plough has 

 no mould-board ; and the crop is in many 

 cases more indebted to the excellence of the 

 soil, and the preceding winter's frost, than 

 to the fanner. Horses are their general beasts of labour ; their harness is very rude, 

 often of straw ropes, and twisted willow shoots. The body of their best market carts, 



in which even the lesser nobles visit each 

 other, are of wicker-work (fig. 75.), and 

 the axle and wheels are made without any 

 iron. 



653. The live slock of Poland is very 

 small in proportion to the land. Poultry 

 are abundant, and swine ; but the latter 

 of the yellow long-legged breed. The 

 horses are very hardy animals, and of 

 better shapes than might be expected from their treatment. "The best-shaped are in the 

 province of Lublin, but they are far inferior to the breed of Saxony. The cows are 

 a small race, and generally kept in bad condition both as to food and cleanliness. 

 Warsaw and Cracow are supplied with beef and veal, chiefly from the Ukraine. Mutton 

 is little used. 



654. The extensive forests of Poland are little attended to, except on the banks of 

 the principal rivers, and where oak abounds, from which bark and wheel spokes may be 



