66 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



The diversity of our climate, and, what is more, our 

 national genius, which naturally aims at quality in 

 variety, as that of England seeks quantity in uniformity, 

 give us promise of immense progress in those crops which, 

 to a certain extent, are dependent on art. We have not 

 yet shown all we can do in this respect ; our labourers, 

 like our mechanics, by means of improvements and novel- 

 ties, can compensate for our deficiencies in amount of 

 production. The art of horticulture, affording as it does 

 such large returns upon a small extent of land, would, 

 by extension, add considerably to our wealth ; and the 

 same may be said of improved methods in the fabrica- 

 tion of wines and brandy, as well as in the production 

 of sugar, silk, oil, &c. 



Still, it is impossible to be blind to the fact that, as 

 matters stand, the English, with their two or three 

 crops upon a large scale, produce, by the univer- 

 sality and simplicity of the means they employ, much 

 superior results in the aggregate results which we also 

 obtain in particular parts of France where the same 

 system is followed. Those of our departments most 

 resembling England in the nature and distribution of 

 their crops, are those also which attain, upon the whole, 

 the best returns ; and if in some parts they are below 

 the English average, it is because the proportion of ex- 

 hausting crops there is still too great, notwithstanding 

 the progress made by means of the ameliorating crops 

 during the last fifty years. 



