96 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



to such an extent as to supply the greater part of Germany and a part of France, and tlicy 

 are even sent to Holland and England. 



6 1 8. The forests of Bavaria are extensive ; and, in consequence of a law of the state, 

 all the public roads are bordered with rows of fruit trees, chiefly the cherry and the apple. 

 These trees are raised in nurseries by the government, and sold at cost. 



SuBSECT. 7. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Emjnre of Austria. 



619. Agriculture is in a very backward state throughout the whole of the Austrian 

 dominions. The soil, surface, and climate are almost every where favourable for hus- 

 bandry ; but the political circumstances of the country, and the ignorance of its 

 inhabitants, which is greater than in most other parts of Germany, have kept it in nearly 

 a fixed state for several centuries. Various attempts have been made during the eighteenth 

 century to improve the condition of the peasantry, and simplify the laws relating to 

 landed property, especially by Joseph II. ; but they have produced no effect, chiefly, as 

 it appears, because too much was attempted at once. There are agricultural societies at 

 Vienna, JPesth, Prague, and other places ; and a very complete agricultural school has 

 been established at Keszthely in Hungary, by the patriotic Graf Festetits. A copious 

 account of it has been given by Dr. Bright {Travels in Hungary, in 1814, 341. et seq.), 

 by which it appears much more extensive than those of Hofwyl or Moegelin. 



620. The landed property of Austria is under similar circumstances of division and 

 occupation with that of the rest of Germany. Perhaps the number of large estates is 

 greater in proportion to the small properties. In Hungary they are of immense extent, 

 and cultivated alinost entirely by their proprietors. " In considering a Hungarian pro- 

 perty," Dr. Bright observes, " we must figure to ourselves a landed proprietor possessing 

 ten, twenty, or forty estates, distributed in different parts of the kingdom, reckoning his 

 acres by hundreds of thousands, and the peasants upon his estates by numbers almost as 

 great ; and remember that all this extent of land is cultivated, not by farmers, but by his 

 own stewards and oflHcers, who have not only to take care of the agricultural management 

 of the land, but to direct, to a certain extent, the administration of justice amongst the 

 people : and we must further bear in mind, that perhaps one third of this extensive 

 territory consists of the deepest forests, affording a retreat and shelter, not only to beasts 

 of prey, but to many lawless and desperate characters, who often defy, for a great length 



. of time, the vigilance of the police. We shall then have some faint conception of the 

 situation and duties of a Hungarian magnate." 



621. To conduct the business of such extensive domains, a system of officers is formed, 

 which is governed by a court of directors ; and on well regulated estates, this band of 

 managers exhibit, in their operations, all the subordination of military, and the accuracy 

 of mercantile, concerns. For this purpose an office is established at or near the estate 

 on which the magnate resides, in which a court of directors is held at stated periods, 

 usually once a week. This court consists of a president or plenipotentiary, a director 

 or solicitor, a prefect, auditor, engineer or architect, a fiscal for law affairs, the keeper 

 of the archives, besides a secretary, clerks, &c. Its business is to review all that has 

 taken place on the different estates, whether of an economical or judicial nature, to 

 examine accounts, and regulate future proceedings. The steward of each separate estate 

 has also a weekly court. It consists of the fiscal or lawyer, the bailiff, the forest master, 

 the engineer, the treasurer, foreman and sub-foreman, police officers to guard prisoners 

 and keep them at work, forest-keeper, rangers, and a gaoler. The estates of Prince 

 Esterhazy, which are the largest in Europe, of Graf Festetits, and Prince Ballhyani, are 

 examples of this mode of government and culture ; of which it may be observed, that, like 

 many German plans, it is very accurate and systematic, but very unproductive of profit. 



622. The crown has immense tracts of lands, especially in Gallicia ; and, independently 

 of these, the personal estates of the reigning family amount to upwards of 100,000/. 

 sterling a year, all of which are farmed by stewards. In the Moravian, Bohemian, and 

 Austrian districts, however, where the estates are not so large as in Hungary, and the 

 people in rather better circumstances as to property and knowledge, they are frequently 

 farmed on the meyer system. 



623. The Austrian dominions, like the rest 

 of Germany, are unenclosed, with the usual 

 exceptions ; the farm-houses and cottages are 

 usually built of wood, and thickly covered 

 with thatch or with shingles. The cottages 

 are remarkably uniform in Hungary, and vil- 

 lage scenery there, according to Dr. Bright, 

 must be the dullest in Europe. Not less so 

 are their cultivated plains. Speaking of a plain near Presburg, he says, " The peasants 

 were employed in ploughing the land, and my driver {fig. 67.) cheered the way by n 



