1807.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
PARTICULARS of the PRESENT STATE 
of POLAND, by dn ENGLISH GENTLE- 
Man, recently returned from. that 
Particulars of the present State of Poland. 
é 
COUNTRY, dfler @ RESIDENCE tn it of 
TWO YEARS. 
FAMILLE foil of Poland, with the excep- 
tion of the few plains, morafies, 
&c: 1s almoft entirely of fand; or, if it 
varies, 1t is to alight loam, in which the 
fand greatly predominates. Hence its 
cultivation, in the manner it is there 
conduéted, is attended with little trouble 
aud expence. We no where fee more 
than a ploughman with his plough and a 
fingle pair of {mall bullocks, not biever 
than E niglith fteers, to produce a fallow. 
There is fearcely fuch a thing as manure 
to be feen, and the’ produce is propoi- 
tionally antl: The aver: age crop 1s {1x 
to one of the quantity fown: of thetfe 
fix parts, two only are calculated to go 
to market, the reft being appropriated 
to defraying the expences ae cultivation, 
living, &c. The tkilful farmer will in- 
ft: antly difcover, that the agriculture of 
Poland is fulceptible of great improve= 
ment. It is but jutt to. acknowledge, 
however, that the Pruffian divifion ex- 
hibits various marks of increafed atten- 
tion to this important object. I obterv- 
ed that the lands, in a few inftances, 
begin to be enclofed: for, generally 
{peaking , the whole country is without 
any enclofare ; the ftones, which are of- 
ten abundant, are collected into large 
heaps, in ede to be conveyed away 5 
and here and there is to be feen a finall 
quantity of manure. The villages, too, 
are in fome places partially rebuilt, and 
the houfes more firmly pati ncred: In 
particular, the farm-houfe of a village 
towers more confpicuoufly above the 
reit, is fometimes built of brick, and 
mites wafhed.. There are initances of 
this in Auftrian Poland, but they are far 
lefs frequent. Thei improvements in this. 
divifion, though fome have unquettion- 
ably taken place, are lefs obvious ; 
and coniilt rather in the general benefits 
of greater fecurity arifing from the pro- 
teé Hon of a regular eovernment. 
‘The lands are commonly let out into 
farms; and in fome inftances farmed by 
the proprietor, who is almoft always a 
noble. ‘The latter mode is rarely refort- 
ed to, except perhaps in refpeét of a 
finall quantity of land lying contiguous 
to the cou mitry-feat of the poffetfor: for, 
as every thing muft be done by agents, 
thefe confume and even pilfer too large a 
Monit MagGi No. 154. 
3 
i 
portion of the profits. A.Polifh farm, of 
any confiderable extent, commonly con- 
fifts of feveral Pe ionoe of acres, includ- 
jng open land and forett; and the annual 
rent of fuch a farm amounts to four or 
five hundred ducats (about 200 or 25el, 
fterling). Its value, however, is not efti- 
mated by the number of acres, but by the 
number of villages within its circumfer- 
ence: for, as the population uf Poland 
bears no fort of proportion to its vaft ex- 
pantion, the firft enquiry of a farmer about 
to contract for a farm is, how 1s it peopled > 
The population of the country is univer- 
fally allowed to be very inadequate to 
the proper cultivation of the joil. I thal 
give the reader a more accurate eftimate 
of the average revenue of lands, by the 
following ft itement. The territory of a 
nobleman, the extent et wluch L had an 
Opportunity of afcertaiming with fome 
exactnefs, is about five thonfand fquare 
miles; which produces an income of 
about 100,000 ducats, or 50,0001. fter- 
ling: this gives only 50]. a year for every 
twenty fquare miles. 
Poland produces almoft every fpecies of 
grain, though wheat is the prineipal. 
Rye is alfo very abundant ; for the bread 
cf the peafantry coniifts aloft entirely 
of this grain. he general tharket is 
Pantzic, where farmers from the interior 
of the country refide, during the fum- 
ner, for fix weeks or two months tove- 
ther, or till they have fold the quantity 
of corn they have had conveyed thither. 
Heavy nnpoits, however, have been laid 
by the Prutian government on all arti- 
cles tranfported on the Viftula. Speaking 
of the navigation of this river, | ought not 
to forget the immenfe floats of ‘timber 
which « are feen every now and then moy- 
ing flowly down the ftream: for the 
current is not rapid, except in the fpring. 
On thefe floats are conftruéted finall 
cabins, which ferve for the habitation of 
the pilot, or floatman, during his long voy- 
age. The ditch of the fortifications at 
Dantzic 1s fo ttufled with pieces of tim- 
ber, though not wattled together like 
the floats, that in fome places you may 
almott crofs, ftepping from one to the 
other. ‘The Dantzickers, expeétimy at 
this time a vilit from the Preach, mutt 
have cleared their ditch. 
The cattle are in general very fimall, 
and commonly very poor w hen killed for 
the table. Even at the beit houfes, the 
beef is frequeatly larded with bacon. 
The veal is fomewhat better. Mutton 
feems to be the mofi rare: have fel- 
1% dona 
