'208 AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE. 



and this novelty was early adopted in the Palatinate, of 

 which the district we are now in formed a part. If the 

 traveller will stroll out to the villages of llandshuhsheim 

 and Weinheim, or along the river's bank to Wiblingen, 

 he will find that green crops, as manures, are perfectly 

 well understood, and in constant practice amongst the in- 

 telligent peasantry. On entering the small inns of the 

 villages, he will be treated with very fair wine of the 

 growth of the adjacent hills, which, with little flavour, has 

 less acid than the Rhinegau wines. He will on this 

 excursion observe with pleasure an absence of total desti- 

 tution in any class of the inhabitants ; but that a large 

 portion of the population stands on the verge of great 

 poverty, while a still greater number is involved in pri- 

 vations inseparable from the incrcase of mouths without 

 a corresponding augmentation of the field of labour, will 

 not escape him. Agriculture alone cannot confer wealth ; 

 and if the agricultural population anywhere exceeds a 

 fair proportion of the whole, there will arise distress. In 

 another volume we shall inquire why it has been found 

 so difficult to introduce manufactures amongst these in- 

 telligent and industrious peasants. Here we shall only 

 remark, that, for want of other occupations, the wages of 

 labourers are exceedingly low, averaging from lOd. to Is. 

 per diem for men, and 7d. to 8d. for women. If food be 

 given, 10 kreutzers, or 3^d.,\s all that is added in money. 

 On the larger farms 41. per annum is the pay of the 

 farm servants, whose board is valued at 5/. From this 

 and the adjacent districts the greatest number of emi- 

 grants proceed annually to America. The pleasing part 

 of the prospect afforded by these villages, is the evident 

 economy and exertion on the part of individuals to build 



