BOOKS.

DE DAVY:HOME'S RURAL ECONOMY OE ENGLAND.' SOME years have elapsed since the appearance of a work on agri- cultural and social economy which combined in so large a degree as this volume, great practical skill and theoretical knowledge, with the power of taking extended views and seizing the latent truths contained in the facts observed. Like all really-profound works, the Rural Economy of M. de Lavergne is larger than its professed subject; and those who only expect an exposition of .English agriculture, will also find various social problems dis- cussed and resolved, and a light thrown on several important economioal questions. The book, though the result of a wide experience in France and of much observation in the British isles, was not altogether spon- taneous. M. de Lavergne had been appointed to a lectureship at the now defunct Agricultural National Institute. The volume is the substance of lectures prepared but not delivered, which were subsequently printed in the Revue des Dean _Blondes. The ap- probation with which they were received has induced their collec- tion into a volume.

The form is that of an inquiry into the rural economy of the British isles. In reality the subject is of a much more extended nature. It involves a full comparison between the agricultural systems of England and France, and the economical results en- suing as as regards modes of cultivation, amount and character of produce, and the wellbeing of the persons directly connected with land—the owner, the occupier, and the labourer—as well as the other classes of society. A geological, sketch of the districts of the two countries indicates their natural features, and the cha- racter of their cultivation, besides furnishing sketches of the social conditions of France and the United Kingdom. M. de Lavergne's investigation into the progress of agriculture during the last ten years involves the mention of several political problems, including the free-trade measures of Sir Robert Peel, to which he does ample justice, though he sometimes mistakes a date. His historical survey. .of, agriculture in England and ,France for the last two centuries contains information both curious and useful. The ex- position county by county, of agricultural practice in England and Scotland, and in a less elaborate degree in Ireland, exhibits a picture of British agriculture as it now exists, with the natural and social circumstances on which it in part depends and which it in part produces.

The economical questions incidentally involved in the exposition appear to us to be quite as important as the agricultural. The au- thor only alludes to Ricardo's theory of rent to dissent from it, and expresses himself in favour of Malthus's principles of popula- lation. We do not, however, know any work where both these doctrines are more shaken in a practical sense, for in a large abstract point of view their truth must yet be admitted. Without direct notice of either question, a considerable portion of M. de Lavergne's book is really occupied in showing from facts, that largely-in- creasing produce has been the ,result of increased applications of labour and capital to the soil; and that the more population has increased, under legitimate conditions, the larger has been the pro- duce to divide among all classes, the labourers especially. England has the densest population in proportion to its size of any country in the world : the working classes of England are better off than the workmen of any other country in Europe at least. The same ob- servation holds good as regards the departments of France : the more densely-peopled are well cultivated, and the labourers better fed than in the scantily-peopled districts. Of course mere num- bers may be mischievous, as we have seen in Ireland. The con- dition is, a legitimate demand for workpeople, to be employed in manufactures and commerce, who in their turn stimulate agri- culture.

M. de Lavergne also brings out very clearly the great value that capital and skilful cultivation have in this country added to the soil. In fact, large as is the produce in England compared with that in other countries the soil of England was naturally but little

capable of producing countries, crops from the predominance of stiff days, light soils, and marshes. The fertility has all been made by skilful husbandry, expensive draining, and costly speculations, as in reclaiminge fens. The conclusions presented in the course of

in our author's inquiry are not indeed new. Mr. Carey, the American economist, published a volume called " The Past, the Present, and the Future," expressly to confute Ricardo's theory, and to main- tain that the prodtictide value of land was continually increased. Within these few months the Oxford Professor of Political Economy has published a course of lectures whose object was to shake the population theory of Malthus. In addition to the cogency of his facts, and to great neatness of statement, M. de Lavergne carries

• The Rural Economy of England, Scotland, and Ireland. By Ldonce de La- scenic. Translated from the French, with Notes by a Scottish Farmer. Published by Blackwood and Sons.

more conviction, because he has ostensibly no theory of population or rent to set up or overturn ; and he stops when his agricultural object is aniwered. M. de Lavergne's fundamental _purpose is to improve ..ne agri- cultural production of France. He starts with a comparison of the natural advantages of soil and climate in both countries ; show- ing that France considerably excels England. Let us now see, he goes on to argue, what are the respective results from the agricul- ture of the two countries, in crops, in cattle, in sheep, in milk, and its produce butter and cheese. Statistics, imperfect as they are for this country, qarefully estimated and skilfully applied, enable him to arrive at approximate results of sufficient accuracy highly in favour of England. This inquiry is pursued with considerable but not fatiguing minuteness, as well into the various branches of produce as into rents, farmers' profits, and wages. It will suffice here to quote the sum of the gross produce.

"England 200 franca per hectare. Lowlands of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales 100 Highlands of Scotland 10 General average 135 francs per hectare.

These tables suggest a host of reflections. Whilst France, taken as a whole, produces 100 francs per hectare, England proper produces 200. The animal produce alone of an English farm is equal to at least the total produce of a French farm of equal area—all the vegetable production being additional. Taking only the three principal kinds of domestic animals—sheep, oxen, and pigs—and not taking poultry into account, the English obtain from these four times more than we do in butcher-meat, milk, and wool. Among the vegetable products, whilst the French soil does not produce quite one hecto- litre and a half of wheat per hectare, the English soil produces three ; and. it gives, besides, five times more potatoes for human consumption. It pro- duces neither rye, maize, nor buckw4eat, but abundantly makes up for this in oats and barley : and this it requires to do, for, less fortunate than we, it has to obtain from one of these crops the national beverage. We are forced,' says Arthur Young, to have recourse to our best land for our beer : the climate of the French gives them a great superiority in this respect, since the most barren soils are available for the cultivation of the vine.' " Neither the practice nor the statistics of agriculture, however, form the sole topics of this volume. Many social and political questions are incidentally touched upon, throwing light on the manners, the history, and the opinions of the two nations. In the discussion of the broader subjects M. de Lavergne shows himself a strong friend of peace and progress, of freedom and free trade, because it is only in conjunction with these that agriculture can flourish. In the direct treatment of agricultural subjects he is distinguished by extensive knowledge, searching acumen, and a guiding common sense, which always bases its conclusions on reality. For example, his own leaning seems to be rather to small properties than to large ; but he holds that large or small is an affair of soil and social circumstances. Small farms are scarcely practicable for sheep-pasturing ; in some countries large farms cannot be culti- vated, from the farmer's want of means ; in some states of pro- gress, large farms, such as are kept up by some of the great land- lords, are of much utility as models, but when they have answered that purpose they may perhaps be dispensed with. The professional farmer, the man who with sufficient capital pursues farming as a business, is very desirable, to develop cultivation to the full ex- tent of existing knowledge ; but he is only possible in a certain economical condition, where a large non-agricultural population and markets are found. The following passage from the chapter on markets may be taken not only as a sample of sense and style, but for the mode in which economical topics are casually intro- duced. Fertility of soil is not the remarkable feature in the early stages of society, but quantity. Money-rents do not exist, not because men only have recourse to the superior soils, but because they have no money to pay them : the rent, such as it exists, is paid in labour or in kind. "In the first place, as to the organization of farming. What charac- terizes English rural economy, is, we know, not so much large farming pro- perly so called, as the raising of farming into a business of itself, and the amount of capital at the disposal of professional farmers. These two fea- tures are both due to the immense opening found in the non-agricultural population.

"If we transport ourselves to France, to the most backward departments of the centre and South, where the metayer system predominates, what do we there find ? A thinly-scattered population, at the most not exceeding on an average one-third that of the English—one head only, in place of three, to five acres—and that population almost entirely agricultural ; few or no large towns, little or no manufactures, trade confined to the limited wants of the inhabitants; the centres of consumption distant, means of communi- cation costly and ,difficult, and expenses of transport equal to the entire value of the produce. The cultivator has little or nothing to dispose of. Why does he work ? To feed himself and his master with the produce of his labour. The master divides the produce with him, and consumes

his portion : if it is wheat and wine, master and metayer eat wheat and drink wine; if it is rye, buckwheat, potatoes, these they consume together. Wool and flax are shared in like manner, and serve tot make the coarse stuffs with which both clothe themselves : should there happen te remain over a few lean sheep, some ill-fed pigs, or some calves, reared with difficulty by overworked cows, whose milk is disputed with their off- spring, these are sold to pay taxes. "Great fault has been found with this system : however, it is the only one possible where markets are wanting. In such a country agriculture can be neither a profession' a speculation, nor an industry. To speculate there must be the means of selling, and that is impossible where there is no one to buy. When I say no one, it it to strengthen the hypothesis, for such an extreme case is rarely met with. There are always in France, even in the most retired districts, some buyers, though limited in number. It is some- times a tenth, sometimes a fifth, sometimes a fourth of the population who earn a livelihood otherwise than by agriculture ; and as the number of con- sumers increases, the condition of the cultivator improves, unless he himself pays the incomes of these consumers under the form of judicial expenses or usurious interest for money, which some of them at least do; but a tenth, fifth, or even the fourth of a population, is not enough to furnish a sufficient market, especially if this population is not itself a producing one—that is to say, engaged in trade or manufactures. 'In this state of things, as there is no interchange, the cultivator is ob- liged to produce those articles which are most necessary for life—that is to say, cereals : if the soil yields little, so much the worse for him ; but he has no choice—he must produce corn or die of hunger. Now on bad land there is no more expensive cultivation than this ; even on good, if care is not taken, it soon becomes burdensome ; but under these conditions of farm- ing no one thinks of taking account of the expense. The labour is not for profit, but for life : cost what it may, corn must be had, or at all events rye. As long as the population is scanty, the evil is not overwhelming, because there is no want of land : long fellows enable the land to produce some- thing ; but as soon as the population begins to increase, the soil ceases to be sufficient for the purpose, and a time soon arrives when the population suf- fers severely for want of food.

"Let us now take the most populous and most industrious part of France —the North-west : still we do not find there a population quite analogous to that of the English—two head only per five acres, in place of three. It is double, however, that which we have anywhere else ; and one-half of this population give their attention to commerce, manufactures, and the liberal professions. The country, properly speaking, is not more thickly populated than the centre and South of France; but we there find, in addition, nume- rous wealthy manufacturing towns, and among them is the largest and most opulent of all, Paris. A large trade is there carried on in agricultural commodities : corn, wine, cattle, wool, fowl, eggs, milk, &o., are directed from all parts to the towns, where they are paid for by manufactured goods. Consequently the leasebecomes possible, and in fact introduces itself. This is the true cause of the lease : its existence is a sure indication of an econo- mical condition, where the sale of commodities is the rule and where, con- sequently,, farming may become a specific branch of industry. "This industry begins as soon as a regular market for it is opened—that is to say, as soon as the industrial and commercial populations exceed a cer- tain proportion, whether it be immediately on the spot, or at a sufficiently moderate distance, with easy means of communication, so that the expenses of transit do not absorb the profits : it becomes more and more flourishing as the market becomes greater and more approachable—that is, the nearer its vicinity to large towns or great centres of manufacture. In that case the market suffices to create profits which rapidly increase capital, farming becomes more and more prosperous, and progresses towards its maximum. This is the case in the departments nearest to Paris. About one-half of France is more or less in this position, the other half possesses only uncer- tain markets : nothing is easier than to distinguish the two at a glance,—in the one the lease prevails, in the other the metayer system.

"In England, the half without markets has long ceased to exist ; in all parts the rural population finds itself near another community ; everywhere the outlet for its produce is as large as in the best parts of France, and in some places much greater. This makes the difference between tho two agri- cultures."

We will take a couple more extracts relating to English agri- culture; one on the important but by the Protectionists somewhat perverted question of the home demand ; the other as a sample of what capital has yet to do for the English soil.

ENGLISH HOME MARKET.

In general, the rural population amounts to a fourth of the whole ; but in particular parts it is much less. In Middlesex there are two cultivators of the land for every hundred of the population; in Lancashire, aix ; in the West Riding, ten ; in Warwick and Staffordshire, fourteen. In no part of France, not even in the department of the Seine, do we find such a disproportion. For an urban population, what is Paris, with its million of souls, compared to the gigantic metropolis of the British empire, which reckons not less than two and a half millions of inhabitants ? What is Lyons, even with its appendage St. Etienne, compared to that mass of manufacturing towns grouped around Liverpool and Manchester, and which form in the aggregate a population of three millions of souls ? One-third of the English nation is congregated on these two points—London in the South, and the manufacturing towns of Lancashire and the West Riding in the North.

These human ant-hills arc as rich as they are numerous. Many workmen in England receive from 48. to 8s. a day ; the average wage may be reckoned at 2s. fid. What becomes of the immense amount of wages paid to this mass of workmen every year ? It goes, in the first place, to pay for bread, meat, beer, milk, butter, cheese, which are directly supplied by agriculture, and woollen and linen clothing, which it indirectly furnishes. There exists, consequently, a constant demand for productions which agriculture can hardly satisfy, and which is for her, in some measure, an unlimited source of profit. The power of these outlets is felt over the whole country ; if the farmer has not a manufacturing town beside him to take off his produce, he has a port; and should he be distant from both, he brings himself into con- nexion with them by canal, or by one or more lines of railway.

Those improved modes of transit not only serve to carry off, rapidly and at a moderate expense, what the farmer has to sell, but they bring him in the same way what he requires—among other things, manures and im-

provers, such as guano, bones, rags, lime, gypsum, soot, oil-cake, &e., all heavy and bulky articles, which could not easily be conveyed otherwise, and the abundance of which supposes a very active industrial development. Among these are also iron and coal, which are every day more and more used in agriculture, and which to a certain extent represent industry itself. Something more productive still than coal, iron, and animal and mineral substances, namely, the spirit of speculation, travels along with them from the manufacturing centres, where it rises, to the fields, where it finds fresh elements to work upon, and brings with it capital ; a fruitful interchange, which enriches manufactures by agriculture and agriculture by manufactures. Notwithstanding the great facility of transport by steamers and railroads, a sensible difference exists in the gross and net agricultural produce between counties which are exclusively agricultural and those which are at the same time manufacturing.

POSSIBLE "Ftrruan" OF ENGLISH FARMING.

All these works of drainage, construction of buildings for atabulation, erection of steam-engines &o., involve great outlays. The expense to the proprietor may be estimated at about 81. per acre' and that of the farmer 41. On the strong lands it must necessarily be more, but on the light much less.

This fruitful outlay accomplished and well executed, of course rents and profits rise beyond their former figure, and that even in places where they have been the least affected by the fall ; it also proeuces an adequate return upon the new capital put into the soil. The land will then produce at least one-third more of alimentary substances. The gross average production, which was equal before to 3/. per acre, will then be 4/. 108., while the ave- rage rent will probably rise to 308., and the farmer's profit to 188. per acre. The only question is this, are proprietor& and farmers in a condition to furnish the required capital ? The question is one involving no less an amount than four or five hundred millions sterling. For any other country than the United Kingdom such an undertaking would be impossible; for her even it is an arduous one, but only arduous. The nation which in the course of a quarter of a century has spent 240,000,0001. upon railways alone, may well employ twice that amount in renewing its agriculture.

These passages will indicate that, with the clearness proper to scientific exposition, If. de Lavergne combines much animation and vigour of style. In fact, when we consider the fulness of matter, the variety of information, the importance of the subject, and the vigour and picturesqueness with which the whole is pre- sented to the reader, The Rural Economy of England may be pronounced one of the best works on the philosophy of agricul- ture and of agricultural political economy that has appeared. The translation is easy, though particular renderings might be improved. A Scotch farmer has appended corrective or expla- natory notes, which are surprisingly few in number when the wide field of the writer is considered, and that he is a foreigner writing about the practical details of a foreign agriculture.