AGRICULTURE OF ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 25 



agricultural population of five or six inillions, pro- 

 duces enougii for eighteen millions of inhabitants, 

 besides sending us over a million or two of bushels 

 to keep us from starving.* What is the cause of 

 this difference is an important inquiry; and we may 

 farther be permitted to ask, how it happens that the 

 productiveness of cultivated land in England is con- 

 stantly increasing ; while here, it is an undeniable 

 fact, that, as a whole, its fertility is retrograding] 

 We have selected England as a point of comparison, 

 because her agriculture, though not as perfect in 

 some things as that of Holland or Belgium, is more 

 familiar to us ; and, from the nature of the climate 

 and soil, presents more instances in which we might 

 profit by a comparison. Of the two and a half mill- 

 ions of bushels of grain imported from abroad, though 

 we have had cargoes from almost every nation of 

 Europe, still the greatest quantity has been sent 

 from England ; while at the present moment there 

 is not an article of human subsistence which we 

 could find a market for in that country. They would 

 be glad of raw materials, silk, wool, or cotton for 

 their manufacturers; but of bread and meat they 

 have not only enough for themselves, but abundance 

 to spare. 



It must be remembered, however, that the agri- 

 culture of England is confined to a single object, the 

 production of food. Her five millions have nothing 

 to do with foreign markets ; they produce no article 

 of such consequence to them, that grain, when com- 

 pared with it, becomes of secondary importance ; 



* This is strongly put, and may lead to a wrong conclusion. 

 That this country has, wiihin the last three years, imported 

 breadstiiffs from England, is true ; though, in every such in- 

 stance, it is believed to have been foreign grain bonded in that 

 couniry. Such, however, is not the ordinary course of things. 

 England has little, if any, grain beyond her own wants, in the 

 most favourable seasons : the United Stales always produce morr 

 than they require for home consumption, exrep' m the mvst u»- 

 favourable seasons. 



II.— c 



