158 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



almost entirely agricultural ; few or no large towns, 

 little or no manufactures, trade confined to the limited 

 wants of the inhabitants ; the centres of consumption 

 distant, means of communication costly and difficult, 

 and expenses of transport equal to the entire value of 

 the produce. The cultivator has little or nothing to 

 dispose of. Why does he work ? To feed himself and 

 his master with the produce of his labour. The master 

 divides the produce with him, and consumes his por- 

 tion : if it is wheat and wine, master and mdtayer eat 

 wheat and drink wine ; if it is rye, buckwheat, potatoes, 

 these they consume together. Wool and flax are shared 

 in like manner, and serve to make the coarse stuffs with 

 which both clothe themselves : should there happen to 

 remain over a few lean sheep, some ill-fed pigs, or some 

 calves, reared with difficulty by overworked cows, whose 

 milk is disputed with their offspring, these are sold to 

 pay taxes. 



Great fault has been found with this system ; how- 

 ever, it is the only one possible where markets are 

 wanting. In such a country agriculture can be neither 

 a profession, a speculation, nor an industry. To specu- 

 late there must be the means of selling, and that is im- 

 possible where there is no one to buy. When I say no one, 

 it is to strengthen the hypothesis, for such an extreme 

 case is rarely met with. There are always in France, 

 even in the most retired districts, some buyers, though 

 limited in number. It is sometimes a tenth, sometimes 

 a fifth, sometimes a fourth of the population who earn a 

 livelihood otherwise than by agriculture ; and as the 

 number of consumers increases, the condition of the cul- 

 tivator improves, unless he himself pays the incomes of 

 these consumers under the form of judicial expenses or 

 usurious interest for money, which some of them at least 



