AGRICULTURE. 



department of avt ; the former, by his 

 treatise on plants; the latter, by his re- 

 Commendation of the practice of drill 

 husbandry. Since their successful and in- 

 genious efforts, a series of valuable ex- 

 perimentalists and writers have performed 

 to their country very essential service, by 

 communicating the most useful informa- 

 tion, and exciting 1 a spirit of acute re- 

 search and unwearied exertion. 



In France, the political expedience of 

 guarding against that scarcity, which, in 

 time of war, either necessitated the yield- 

 ing to harsh terms from the enemy, or 

 exposed to the miseries and horrors of 

 famine, by continued hostilities, induced 

 the government, in the late reigns, to be- 

 stow on the subject of agriculture con- 

 siderable attention, and to hold out nu- 

 merous encouragements to it. The court 

 was present at various experiments in 

 husbandry. Prize questions were pro- 

 posed at Lyons, Bourdeaux, and Amiens, 

 for its promotion, and no less than fifteen 

 societies, for the express purpose of ad- 

 vancing agriculture, were established, 

 wit!) the approbation, probably at the sug- 

 gestion, of' the governing powers. But, 

 notwithstanding all those efforts, which, 

 however, can by no means be presumed 

 to have been totally useless, French hus- 

 bandry continued in a very deplorable 

 state, ascribable, in a great degree, to that 

 tenure of lands, by which, through the 

 greater part of the kingdom, the land- 

 lord contributed the stock, and the occu- 

 pier the labour, dividing the profits in 

 certain proportional shares. This cir- 

 cumstance, with several others, operated 

 to keep the cultivation of this country in 

 an extremely low state ; and a compara- 

 tive estimate of the produce of an Eng- 

 lish and of a French estate, of precisely 

 similar natural advantages, at the period 

 when this practice prevailed, would shew 

 that, in consequence, principally, of so 

 absurd and perverse a regulation, the su- 

 periority of the former to the latter was 

 at least in the ratio of 36 to 25. But the 

 revolution of France, changing every 

 thing, has swept away, with many excel- 

 lent individuals, and some valuable insti- 

 tutions, a practice so impolitic and injuri- 

 ous ; and although our intercourse with 

 that country, since this event, has scarce- 

 ly been such as to afford accurate and 

 detailed information of the present state 

 of its husbandly, it cannot easily be 

 doubted, that the repeated transfers of 

 landed property, the annihilation of par- 

 tial burdens upon cultivation, the re- 

 searches of ingenious chemists, and the 



general view of government to the pro- 

 ductiveness of its territory, and to the 

 promotion of its arts and sciences, must 

 be connected with considerable improve- 

 ment in this most valuable of national 

 concerns. 



In Germany, lectures have for many 

 years been given on this subject, in va- 

 rious states of it ; and several princes in 

 the empire, particularly the present king 

 of Bavaria, have directed to it their parti- 

 cular attention and patronage. In Rus- 

 sia, the late Empress gave it every facili- 

 ty which could be applied in the semi- 

 barbarous state of her dominions, and 

 sent gentlemen into this and ot-her coun- 

 tries, with a view to acquire information 

 on rural economy, for the benefit of their 

 own. In the Dutchy of Tuscany, the 

 Archduke Leopold recently diffused the 

 active spirit of improvement by which he 

 was himself animated, and an academy 

 was endowed for the promotion of agri- 

 culture. A society for the same purpose 

 was instituted about the year 1759, at 

 Berne, in Switzerland, consisting of men 

 of great political influence, and also of 

 great personal experience in rural econo- 

 mics. The Stockholm Memoirs suffi- 

 ciently evince that Sweden, under the 

 influence of the great Linnaeus, applied 

 to this science with extraordinary success 

 and advantage. Even the indolence and 

 pride of Spain were roused to exertion 

 on this interesting subject, and the go- 

 vernment of that country made overtures 

 to the Swedish philosopher, for the su- 

 perintendance of a college directed to the 

 advance of natural history, and the art of 

 husbandry. 



In our 'own country, however, from a 

 happy combination of circumstances, the 

 exertions of individuals, societies, and 

 government, have been directed, within 

 the last thirty years, to the subject under 

 consideration, with more energy and effect 

 than have been displayed in any other 

 part of Europe. The gentry and nobility 

 have liberally patronized, and many of 

 them judiciously and successfully prac- 

 tised it. The Royal Society, the Society 

 of Arts, and various others, have been 

 of distinguished service in collecting" and 

 diffusing information, and in promoting a 

 spirit of emulation, with respect to the 

 management and productions of their 

 native soil. The names of Kaims and 

 Hunter, of Anderson and Marshall, of 

 Sinclair and Young, are celebrated by 

 publications, exhibititi;-; a union of philo- 

 sophical sagacity aad patient experiment; 

 the results of which have been of meal- 



