532 
Rural Kconomy of France since 1780. 
Now the average rent cannot be estimated at less than lOs.^an 
acre. At 33 years' purchase, or 3 per cent., these figures would 
fix the selling value of tlie land at not quite 11. an acre in 1789, 
and 16/. at the present time. These figures would show that the 
rent and consequently the price of land have increased since 
1789 at a greater ratio than the gross produce ; but one of the 
causes that may explain this fact is no doubt the abolition of 
feudal rights and of tithes, and also the permanent improvements 
which have been accomplished of late years. 
It remains now to ascertain what is the tenant's profit now, 
and what it was at the time of the Revolution. 
It is generally found that the profit is proportionate to the 
working capital engaged in any undertaking. In 1789 the 
working capital engaged in agriculture was about one-half of 
what it is now, and may be calculated at 16.?. per acre, including 
the woods and forests and the waste land, which comprised 
tlien one half of the territory. If we deduct that extent of land 
demanding little or no capital, we shall come to an average of 
o2s. per cultivated acre. This average cannot now be less than 
32.S. per acre of the whole territory, or about 2Z. 8s. per culti- 
vated acre. 
Next comes the question of taxation. The land in 1789 bore 
the greatest part of the burthen of taxation ; the budget, which 
amounted then to 24 millions sterling, drew from landed property 
at least 14 millions, including tithes. In our times, although 
direct taxation is a little diminished, yet all public charges, 
and the ljurthens on land among the rest, have been enormously in- 
creased. Formerly the dutv on sales of land belonged to the 
lords ; now it belongs to the state, and is six times more pro- 
ductive than it was in 1789, and altogether it may be safely 
assumed that French agriculturists pay twice as much as they 
did before the Revolution, tithes included. But on the other 
hand, it must be borne in mind that owing to the increased 
produce of the land, and the development of its resources, this 
taxation, though doubled in amount, is much less scA'erely felt 
than it was in 1789. M. de Lavergne here very truly observes, 
that the ideas of 1789 have furnished France with the means of 
paying that enormous increase of taxation ; but if they had fully 
been realised, there would not be any occasion for that increase. 
The price of labour is another interesting question to inves- 
tigate, in order to complete the comparison. Arthur Young 
estimates the average wages of labourers at the time of his travels 
at 19 sols, about 9|f/. per day ; it is now 1,?. 3c?. As the rural 
population of France is now the same in point of number as it 
was in 1789, there is probably a greater demand for labour, and 
consequently a greater number of days in which labourers are 
