92 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



not nutriment. The produce per acre is 300 bushels or five tons, which, Thaer contends, contain more 

 nutriment than twenty tons of turnips, because the proportion of starch in potatoes to that in turnips is 

 more than four to one. The soil is excellent for turnips, but the long series of dry weather, common on 

 the Continent in the beginning of summer, renders them one of the most uncertain of crops. 



584. A brewery and distillery are the necessary accompaniments of every large farming establishment 

 in Germany. The result of many experiments in the latter proved that the same quantity of alcohol is 

 produced from 100 bushels of potatoes as from twenty-four bushels of wheat, or thirty-three of barley. 

 As the products of grain or of potatoes are relatively greater, the distillery is regulated by that propor- 

 tion. During the enforcement of the Continental system, many experiments were tried in making sugar 

 from native plants. Von Thaer found, after many trials, that the most profitable vegetable from which 

 sugar could be made was the common garden turnip (of which variety Jacob did not ascertain), and 

 that whilst sugar was sold at a rix-dollar the pound, it was very profitable to extract it from that root. 

 The samples of sugar made during that period from different roots, the processes, and their results, are 

 carefully preserved in the museum, but would now be tedious to describe. They are certainly equal in 

 strength of sweetness, and those refined, in colour and hardness, to any produced from the sugar-cane of 

 of the tropics. ^ 



585. The improvement of the breed of sheep, which has been an important object of this establishment, 

 as far as the fineness of the wool is regarded, has admirably succeeded. By various crosses from select 

 Merinos, by sedulously excluding from the flock every ewe that had coarse wool, and, still more, by 

 keeping them in a warm house during the winter, Von Thaer has brought the wool of his sheep to great 

 fineness, far greater than any that is clipped in Spain ; but the improvement of the carcass has been 

 neglected, so that his, like all other German mutton, is very indifferent. 



586. The various kinds of wool have been arranged by Von Thaer, with the assistance of the professors 

 of the institution, on cards ; and the fineness of that produced from different races of sheep, is dis- 

 criminated with geometrical exactness. The finest are some specimens from Saxony, his own are the 

 next. The fine Spanish wool from Leon is inferior to his, in the proportion of eleven to sixteen. The 

 wool from Botany Bay, of which he had specimens, is inferior to the Spanish. He had arranged, by a 

 similar mode, the relative fineness of the wools produced on the different parts of the body of the sheep, 

 80 as to bring under the eye, at one view, the comparative value of the different parts of the fleeces ; 

 and he had, also, ascertained the proportionate weight of those different parts. The application of optics 

 and geometry, by which the scales that accompany the specimens are constructed, is such as to leave no 

 doubts on any mind of the accuracy of the results. The scales, indeed, show only the fineness, and not 

 the length of the fibre ; which is, I believe, of considerable importance in the process of spinning. The 

 celebrity of the Moegelin sheep is so widely diffbsed, that the ewes and rams are sold at enormous prices 

 to the agriculturists in East Prussia, Poland, and as far as Russia. 



587. The lyreeding of cows and the management of a dairy are secondary objects, as far as the mere 

 farming is regarded ; but it is attended to with care, for the sake of the pupils, who thus have before their eyes 

 that branch of agricultural practice, which may be beneficial on some soils though not adapted to this. 

 The cows are in good order, of an excellent breed ; and, considering that they are, like the sheep, fed 

 only on potatoes and chopped straw, are in good condition. They yield, when in full milk, from five to 

 six pounds of butter weekly. The custom of kiUing the calves, when only a fortnight or three weeks old, 

 prevails here as well as elsewhere in Germany. There is no disputing about taste ; but though veal is a 

 favourite food in Germany at the tables of the rich, it always seems very unpleasant to an Englishman. 



588. The ploughs at Moegelin arc better constructed than in most parts of Germany. They resemble 

 our common swing-plough, but v/ith a broader fin at the point of the share. The mould-board is con- 

 structed on a very good principle and with great skill j the convexity of its fore-part so gradually 

 changing into concavity at the hinder-part as to turn the soil completely upside down. The land is 

 cleanly and straightly ploughed, to the depth of six and a half or seven inches, with a pair of oxen, 

 whose usual work is about an acre and a quarter each day. 



589. A threshing-machine is rarely used, and only to show the pupils the principle on which it is con- 

 structed, and the effect it produces ; but having neither wind nor water machinery to work it, the flail is 

 almost exclusively used, the threshers receive the sixteenth bushel for their labour. The rate of wages 

 to the labourers is four groschcn a day, winter and summer, besides which, they are provided with 

 habitations and fuel The women receive from two to three groschen, according to their strength and 

 skill. They live on rye-bread or potatoes, thin soup, and scarcely any animal food but bacon, and a very 

 small portion even of that ; yet they look strong and healthy, and tolerably clean. 



590. The culture of the vine and the rearing of the silkworm are carried on in the more southerly of 

 the recent territorial accessions which have been made by Prussia. The culture of culinary vegetables is 

 carried on round Erfurth, and other towns furnished with them whose neighbourhoods are less favourable 

 for their growth. Garden seeds are also raised at Erfurth, and most of the seedsmen of Germany 

 supplied with them. Anise, canary, coriander, mustard, and poppy seeds are grown for distillers and 

 others, and woad, madder, teasel, saffiron, rhubarb, &c., for dyers and druggists. 



591. The present king of Prussia has done much for agriculture, and is said to design more, by lessen- 

 ing the feudal claims of the lords ; by permitting estates even of knightly tenure to be purchased by 

 burghers and non-nobles ; by simplifying the modes of conveyance and investiture ; by setting an 

 example of renouncing most of the feudal dues on his vast patrimonial estates ; and by making good 

 conununications by roads, rivers, and canals, through his extensive territories. {Jacob's Travels, 189.) 



SuBSECT. 4. Of the Agriculture of the Kingdom of Hanover. 



592. The agnculture of the kingdom of Hanover has been depicted by Hodgson as it 

 appeared in 181 7. The territory attached to the free town of Hanover, previously to its 

 elector being made king of Britain, was very trifling; but so- many dukedoms and other 

 provinces have been since added, that it now contains upwards of 11,045 square geo- 

 graphical miles, and 1,314,104 inhabitants. 



593. An agricultural society was founded in Hanover in 1751, by Geo. II., and 

 about the same time one at Celle in Luneburg. The principal business of the latter 

 was to superintend and conduct a general enclosure of all the common lands ; it was 

 conducted by Meyer, who wrote a large work on the subject. The present Hanove- 

 rian ministry are following up the plans of Meyer, and, according to Hodgson, are 

 " extremely solicitous to promote agriculture." 



594. The landed properly of Hanover may be thus arranged : One sixth belongs to 

 the sovereign, possibly three sixths to the nobles, one sixth to the corporations of towns 

 and religious bodies, and less than one sixth to persons not noble. The crown lands are let 

 to noblemen, or rather favoured persons, at very moderate rents, who either farm them or 

 sublet them to fanners. There are six hundred and forty-four noble properties, but 

 few of them with mansions, the proprietors living in towns. For a nobleman to live in 



