21 



number of conscripts who are rejected on account of defi- 

 cient health, strength and stature, is constantly on the 

 increase; that forty per cent are turned back from this 

 cause; and that though since 1789 the standard has 

 been three times reduced, as large a proportion of the 

 conscripts is below the required height, (now five feet, two 

 inches,) as ever. — (Rubichon.) Such facts as this show 

 how closely the discussion of agricultural is connected with 

 that of the most profound social evils. 



Switzerland. — To Switzerland, I only allude as one 

 of those countries in which the influence of natural intelli- 

 gence and a fair share of early instruction, has been brought 

 to bear most successfully on the improvement of the soil, 

 and especially of the breeds of stock which are best adapted 

 to its peculiar dairy husbandry. Those advances which 

 require the application of capital and science, such as tho- 

 rough draining and special manuring, are there, however, 

 still unmade ; and it will probably be many years, before, in 

 these respects, the cultivators of the Swiss vallies and 

 mountain slopes, can closely imitate the present improved 

 practices of the British Islands. 



Spain. — The agricultural condition of Spain, suggests 

 melancholy reflections. The central table lands of this 

 country* are reckoned among the finest wheat growing dis- 

 tricts in the world. The culture is rude and imperfect. The 

 soil is scratched with a primitive plough, and is seldom 

 manured, yet the returns are said to be prodigious, and the 

 quality of the grain excellent. But where nature does 



* The two elevated plains of New and Old Castile, and that of La 

 Mancha, separated from each other by the granites and metamorphic 

 rocks of the Sierra Nevada, are composed of a white limestone, occasion" 

 ally covered with the drift of other rocks. These plains are burned up 

 in summer, so as to produce no grass till the October rains fall, bnt they 

 yield magnificent crops of wheat. (Sir E. Head.) 



