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CHAPTER XI. 



Our observations hitherto have been confined to the 

 position in which the Rhenish landlord and farmer stand 

 with respect to that open field of exertion in which suc- 

 cess depends upon a skilful use of natural advantages. 

 That all soils and situations have either peculiar advan- 

 tages, which may be turned to good account by clever 

 farmers, or are saddled with drawbacks that demand no 

 less exertion of skill to compensate, is a fact to which 

 we have seen the Rhenish farmer is keenly alive. He 

 suits his mode of cultivation where he can to his re- 

 sources, and where he cannot choose he follows the 

 demand to his best ability. The chief obstacle to his 

 success we have also seen consists in the imperfect di- 

 vision of labour that prevails in Germany, and which 

 makes nearly every man a producer of the objects of 

 general consumption : by which means the home-market 

 is almost annihilated in times of abundance, while in 

 periods of scarcity there is no surplus of produce to 

 look to. 



We have now to consider the burthens that press upon 

 the land from a quarter that is beyond the cultivators' 

 reach — the taxes levied for general State purposes, as 

 well as for local expenditure. The two heads must be 

 taken together, because many things that in England are 

 left to private management form in Germany objects of 

 solicitude for the government. 



