Variation in the Price and Supply of Wheat. 
159 
Colonel Stanton's Report on Poland * gives a graphic picture 
of the retrograde and barbarous condition of agriculture in that 
unhappy land ; but whether we look on this picture, or on that 
of some new and prosperous colony, we see that improved agri- 
culture requires an outlay of capital which can only be incurred 
in a wealthy and populous country. 
FREifbH Agricultube. 
We shall commence a brief sketch of the corn countries by a 
short account of the agricultural condition of France, the nearest 
and greatest of our neighbours. The French press constantly 
refers to the rise in the price of wages and the scarcity of agri- 
cultural labourers, arising from "emigration from the fields," 
and the continual drafting of the youngest and best workmen 
into the towns, where they find better-paid employment. An 
increased labour-bill is a heavy burden to the French farmer, 
and nearly the whole of its weight falls on wheat, which is 
his staple production. "The growth of wheat," says a French 
agricultural writer, " is the sole aim and object of almost all 
French farmers." The breadth sown is three times as much as 
that of roots and green crops ; while in the United Kingdom it 
is only in the proportion of two to three. The burdens of rent 
and taxation have also increased ; and in the case of the numerous 
small proprietors, it is to be feared that the equivalent for rent 
— the interest on capital sunk in the purchase of land — has in- 
creased in still greater proportion. The competition for small 
plots of land in rural districts, owing to the intense desire for 
ownership among the peasantry, has artificially raised its price. 
They are ignorant of any art but that of farming, and of any 
mode of investing their savings except by the purchase of land, 
after the fashion of their forefathers. The transfer of these 
minute properties is costly, and the peasant-proprietor is often 
overburdened and short of capital before he reaps his first acre 
of wheat. If the price be low, he becomes extremely pinched, 
as was the case in recent years. His attachment to routine, his 
want of intelligence and observation, and, above all, of capital, 
are much to be lamented. But the ruin of a small farmer is a 
slow process in any country, especially in France. Losing his 
capital is only a short step towards it; his credit remains ; he 
takes to rye-bread, and sells all his wheat instead of only a 
portion of it. He and his must work harder and live harder ; the 
beloved plot of land suffers latest of all ; but by-and-bye, where 
little was spent nothing can be afforded, and the end seems 
See Appendix, 
