178 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
$ero publications. 
« EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE AND RURAL 
ECONOMY.” 
The first number of this work, by Rev. Henry Col- 
man, has just been issued by A. D. Phelps, Boston. It 
is likewise published simultaneously in London. It is 
well printed, and is written in the peculiarly interesting 
and happy style of the author. The present number is in 
a degree miscellaneous, and can be considered scarcely 
more than an introduction to the general work, yet it 
embraces many valuable observations, and we think can¬ 
not fail to give satisfaction to its numerous patrons in 
this country. Among its contents, are chapters on the 
science of agriculture—English agriculture—English ca¬ 
pital—general appearance of the country—hedges and 
inclosures—iron and sunken fences—the English parks— 
ornamental shrubs and flowers—climate of England— 
agricultural population—landlords, rents, and taxes—the 
farmers—the agricultural laborers—the allotment system. 
Of the energy with which agricultural improvement is 
pursued at this time in England, and of the importance 
of agriculture, he thus writes:— 
££ England presents at this time a more brilliant exam¬ 
ple than any age or country has before witnessed of the 
application, I will not say of science, for that would not 
comprehend the idea which I wish to express, but the ap¬ 
plication of mind to agriculture. The practice of agri¬ 
culture, and the philosophy of agriculture, are matters of 
universal interest. Men of all grades and conditions are 
laboring in this great cause, and are asking for the how, 
and the why, and the wherefore. The brightest intel¬ 
lects are directing their talents to agricultural inquiries; 
and the humblest in their humble but not inefficient way, 
are seconding their efforts. So many minds concentra¬ 
ting their rays upon the same point, they must be sure to 
Illuminate it with an extraordinary brilliancy. 
« Agriculture is now getting to be recognized as the 
commanding interest of the state; so it must ever be as 
lying at the foundation of all others. Few persons are 
apprised of their obligations to agriculture; and it is dif¬ 
ficult to estimate the extent of these obligations. Every 
man’s daily bread, his meat, his clothing, his shelter, his 
luxuries, all come from the earth. The foundation, or 
as the French would say, the materiel of all commerce 
and manufactures, is agriculture; and its moral influences 
are innumerable and most powerful.” 
In the chapter on English capital,” Mr. Colman 
says: 
££ Another marked distinction, already alluded to, be¬ 
tween the condition of the proprietors of the soil here 
and with us, is in the amount of capital existing here. 
It is absolutely enormous; and almost distances the sys¬ 
tem of enumeration which we are taught at our common 
schools. Let me mention some facts which have been 
stated to me on credible authority; and let me premise 
that a pound sterling is about equal to five dollars United 
States currency. Under a law of the present government, 
here, levying a tax upon every man’s income when it 
exceeds one hundred and fifty pounds sterling a year, 
persons liable to taxation are required to make a just re¬ 
turn of their income under a heavy penalty. A confec¬ 
tioner, in London, returned, as his annual income, the 
sum of thirty thousand pounds sterling, or one hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars, or, six times as much as the 
salary of the President of the United States; which 
showed, at least, how skilful he was in compounding 
some of the sweets of life. A nobleman, it is said, has 
contracted with a master builder to erect for him, in 
London, four thousand—not forty—not four hundred— 
but four thousand houses of a good size for occupation. 
In some of the best parts of London, acres of land, vast 
squares, are occupied with large and elegant dwelling 
houses, paying heavy rents, in long rows, blocks, and 
crescents, and all belonging to some single individual. 
One nobleman, whose magnificent estate was left to him 
by his father, encumbered with a debt of some hundred 
thousand pounds, by limiting as it is termed here, his 
own annual expenditure to thirty thousand pounds, has 
well-nigh extinguished this debt, and, in all human pro¬ 
bability, will soon have his patrimonial estate free of 
encumbrance. The incomes of some of the rich men in 
the country, amount to twenty, twenty-five, fifty, one 
hundred thousand, two hundred thousand pounds sterling 
—even three hundred thousand pounds annually. It is 
very difficult for New England men even to conceive of 
such wealth. A farmer in Lincolnshire told me that the 
crop of wheat grown upon his farm one year was eight¬ 
een thousand bushels. The rent annually paid by one 
farmer in Northumberland, or the Lothians, exceeded 
seven thousand pounds, or, thirty-five thousand dollars. 
These facts, which have been stated to me by gentlemen 
in whose veracity I have entire confidence, and who cer¬ 
tainly are incapable of attempting any “tricks upon travel¬ 
lers,” show the enormous masses of wealth which are 
here accumulated.” 
Speaking of the state of ££ English agriculture,” he 
says: 
“ The condition of practical agriculture in Great Brit¬ 
ain, as far as I have had an opportunity of observing it, 
must be pronounced highly improved. Many parts of 
the country present an order, exactness, and neatness of 
cultivation greatly to be admired; but a sky is seldom 
without clouds, and there are parts of England where the 
appearance is any thing but laudable, and where there 
are few and very equivocal evidences of skill, industry, 
or thrift. We are often told in America that England is 
only a large garden, in which art and skill and labor have 
smoothed all the rough places, filled up the hollow pla¬ 
ces, and brought every thing into a beautiful and system¬ 
atic harmony, and into the highest degree of productive 
ness. This is not wholly true; indeed, although there 
are many farms to be altogether admired for the degree 
of perfection to which their cultivation has been carried, 
yet there are not a few places where the indications of 
neglect and indolence and unskilfulness are but too appa¬ 
rent; and where, in an obvious contest for victory be¬ 
tween the cultivated plant and the weeds, the latter 
triumph from their superiority both in force and numbers.” 
Of the condition of the laboring agricultural class, he 
says— ££ The condition of the laboring agricultural class is 
certainly, in many parts of England, exceedingly de¬ 
pressed; and though in frequent instances it may be 
called comfortable, in few that I have seen can it be 
considered prosperous. Their labor is not extraordinarily 
severe; they are by no means treated with unkindness, 
or, excepting through the misfortune of the ill-temper of 
their employer, with severity; they are decently clad, 
and there is a great amount of active benevolence every¬ 
where at work to assist them, and to alleviate their dis¬ 
tress in sickness and misfortune. But they are very 
poorly fed; with many exceptions, they are wretch¬ 
edly lodged; their wages are inadequate to their com¬ 
fortable support—and their situation affords little or no 
hope of improvement—at least, the power of making it 
better does not rest, where it should, with themselves.” 
££ I am not at all disposed to quarrel with any of the 
institutions of this great and enlightened country—great 
and enlightened as a whole, beyond almost any prece¬ 
dent. I am not disposed, in any offensive form, to 
profess my own preferences for institutions to which birth 
and education may have strongly attached me, founded 
as they are on the great principles of universal liberty as 
the birthright of every man, and of social equality as 
conformable to nature, and the only relation in which 
men can stand to their Creator, or under which they 
would dare to approach him. But to my mind, it is ob¬ 
vious that no great improvement can take place in the 
character and condition of the laboring population while 
they remain a distinct and servile class without any 
power of rising above their condition. At present the 
most imaginative and sanguine see no probability of their 
rising above their condition, of being any thing but la¬ 
borers, or of belonging to any other than a servile and 
dependent class. The low state of their wages absolutely 
forbids the accumulation of any property. They cannot 
own any of the soil which they cultivate. The houses 
which they occupy belong not to themselves, and they 
may at any time be turned out of them. They must ask 
leave to live, or they must take it by violence or plunder 
