684 Agricultural Depression at Home and Abroad. 
was passed declaring that wheat was grown at a dead loss when 
it sold at less than 25 lire per quintal, or 43s. hd. a quarter. 
A further increase of 3s. 6d. per quarter in the duty was 
demanded. The fall in prices has swamped the high duties on 
agricultural imports generally ; and, although much has been 
done for the improvement of agriculture by education, improved 
means of transport, co-operation, agricultural credit banks, and 
the improvement of live stock, the condition of the rural popula- 
tion is still miserably low, and emigration goes on extensively. 
Perhaps Switzerland has suffered least from agricultural 
depression among the countries of Southern or Western Europe ; 
but it has not escaped entirely. For some years before 1881 
the condition of the agricultural class had attracted much atten- 
tion, and excited uneasiness, emigration from the rural districts 
having rapidly increased, while the indebtedness of the peasant 
proprietors became serious. But a great deal has been done 
by the Cantonal Governments. Col. de Wattenwyl, and others 
in promoting the improvement of cattle-breeding and the dairy 
industry, while the extension of co-operation and the establish- 
ment of loan banks have greatly helped the small farmers. 
Depending largely upon her dairy industry, which is admirably 
managed by co-operating farmers, and helped by a good sale for 
milk, butter, cheese, and all the minor products of the land, for 
which there is an extensive demand for the numerous foreigners 
who visit the country, Switzerland is bearing the trial of the 
bad times with comparative impunity. 
. Germany. 
The agrarian movement in Germany is familiar to all readers 
of newspapers, and it is evidence of wide discontent with the 
condition of agriculture in that country. High as the duties on 
grain are, prices have fallen to a serious extent, and a great deal 
of land has been laid down in grass, partly for that reason and 
partly from the difficulty of getting labour. For many years 
past migration from the rural districts to the towns and, still 
more, emigration have been on an extensive scale. In the ten 
years ending with 1890 over 1,342,000 people emigrated from 
Germany, and the exodus has been going on briskly since. Tho 
emigration is largely that of the agricultural population, wdio 
leave the country partly because they are dissatisfied with their 
wages as labourers, or cannot make their small holdings pajq 
and partly in order to escape military service. Thus, between 
the emigration and migration on the one hand, and the demands 
of the army on the other, farmers in many parts of Germany 
are sadly at a loss for workmen, and as they cannot afford to 
