surface, is from three to four times as great. Hence, there is little manure to keep up the fertility of the soil; and the most intelligent agriculturists do not estimate the produce of wheat, rye, barley, and oats, at more than four times the seed. Mr Jacob thinks it does not exceed three times. The farmers fallow every third year, by ploughing three times when rye is to be sown, or five times for wheat, and allowing the land to rest without any crop the whole year. Very little of the land is fit for raising wheat. Rye is the grain universally consumed by the working classes, and is even generally preferred to wheat by the wealthy. Hence, if there be no foreign demand for wheat, only a very little of it can be sold for pastry, &c. A crop of barley or oats follows wheat or rye, and thus the land bears corn only two years out of three; and the second crop does not yield more than three times the seed. From a table given in the Appendix, it appears that in 1824, which was considered a good year, 4864 culti vated acres yielded only 10,000 quarters. Since the English market was closed against foreign corn, very lit tle wheat is raised, and the proprie tors are now devoting their attention to Merino sheep. Potatoes are cultivated, but, what appears strange, chiefly for distillation. Every well managed farm has a distillery annexed to it, and the calculation is, that two bushels of potatoes yield as much ardent spirit as one of barley, and the residuum, with which draft bullocks are fed, still retains two-thirds of the alimentary power originally in the potatoes. Generally nine bushels of potatoes are mixed with one of malt. The spirit, which is of our proof strength (50 per cent. alcohol), pays 6d. per gallon duty, and is sold to retailers at 1s. 2d. per gallon. Sometimes the potatoes are converted into treacle, and this is said to pay, though the manufacture of sugar from them did not. (The measures and the money referred to by Mr Jacob, conformably to his instructions, are always those of England.) The free produce of the land is extremely small, and hence nearly all the estates are under mortgage. Of a list of 262 estates in West Prussia shown to Mr Jacob by an official person, 195 were encumbered with mortgages, and of these 71 were under sequestration. The abolition of feudal tenures has raised the bondsmen to the rank of small proprietors. They generally raise on their patches of land potatoes and bread-corn for themselves, with provision for two oxen, and sometimes for five or six sheep, whose wool, with a little flax, spun by themselves, supply them with clothes. They consume nearly all their produce themselves. Labourers receive about 5d. per day. There are small local assessments for the support of the poor. The value of live stock is low, The best Merino sheep sell at 6s. or 6s. 8d; cows from 30s. to 65s. The land tax is 25 per cent. on the rent, the land being valued and divided into six classes, whose estimated rents rise from 7d. to 4s. per acre. The tax does not come to 3d. per acre on an average in the three maritime provinces, and yet it is found to be very oppressive. There are no tithes, the clergy receiving a fixed quantity of corn from the proprietors, in pursuance of an ancient arrangement. The military service is felt to be a grievous burden. Every young man serves three years in the army, from the age of twenty-one to twentyfour. The Provincial States in their last Session presented an address to the King, complaining heavily of the depressed state of agriculture," and urging the King to take some measures of a decided nature respecting the introduction of British goods, in order to induce our Government to make some alteration in the Corn Laws. The reply of the King, which has been published, gives an air of probability to the rumours, that it had an object in some degree of this kind." With regard to the prayer for an intercession with the English Government to repeal the Corn Bill, his Majesty expressed a hope, that, to improve the intercourse between the two nations, a change will take place in the English Corn Laws.Berlin, 26th November 1825, from the Hamburgh paper The Correspon dent. From documents put into his hands by a man high in office, Mr Jacob estimates the cost of producing wheat on average soils at 28s. 9d. per quarter; and from a very detailed table in the Appendix, it appears that the average price of wheat sold at Dantzic and Elbing for exportation from 1791 to 1825, was 45s. 11d. per quarter. "Although, since the return of peace, no alleviation of the public contributions has been applied, and no diminution of the other subjects of expenditure, which compose the cost of growing corn, has been experienced, yet the contrast between the first and last five years since that event took place, in the prices of corn, is so striking, that it deserves to be noticed. In Dantzic the average of the five years, from 1816 to 1820 inclusive, gives for wheat 54s. 5d. per quarter, and that for the years 1821 to 1825 inclusive, 26s. 2d. In Berlin, the average for the first five years is 46s 4d. and for the second 26s. 7d.” With these details, we must close our notice of the state of the Prussian provinces which have access to the sea. Let us now advert to Mr Jacob's statements, in reference to Poland. His details of the state of agriculture in this country are even more novel and interesting than those which relate to Prussia. We shall lay before our readers, in the words of Mr Jacob himself, as much of his Report as we find that our limits for the present month will admit. The net produce of the soil in Poland above the gross produce is surprisingly small, and may be partly accounted for by the exhaustion which the soil is undergo ing by overcropping, and the want of manure to renew its fertility,-by the unskilful and comparatively very expensive manner in which the operations of agriculture are carried on,and chiefly by the want of easily-accessible markets for the sale of produce. The far greater part of that division of ancient Poland which is now comprehended in the viceregal kingdom of that name, is a level country, with scarcely an ascent or descent, except where the courses of the rivers have formed channels below the general level of the country. As these rivers, though in summer they appear small streams, are swollen by the rains of autumn, and the melting of the snow on the Carpathian mountains in the spring, they form large chaunels, extending on both sides to a great distance; and their deposit, in many parts, enriches the land, and it presents, in the summer, the aspect of verdant and luxuriant meadows. In other parts the periodical swellings of the streams have formed morasses, which, in their present state, are not applicable to any agricultural purposes. The plains which extend from the border of one river to another, are open fields, with scarcely any perceptible division of the land, and shewing scarcely any trees even around the villages. The portion of woodland on these plains is very extensive; but they are in large masses, with great intervals of arable land between them. The soil is mostly sandy, with occa, sional mixture of a sandy loam; it is very thin, resting chiefly on a bed of granite, through which the heavy rains gradually percolate. Such a soil is easly ploughed ; sometimes two horses or two oxen, and not unfrequently two cows, perform this and the other operations of husbandry. This representation of the kingdom of Poland is strictly applicable to six of the eight waiwodeships or provinces into which it is now divided. To the south of the river Pilica, (200 miles from the sea) which comprehends the two provinces of Sandomir and Cra cow, the appearance of the land and the face of the country improve; and in proceeding south to the banks of the Vistula, there is to be seen a more undulating district, and a more tenacious and fruitful soil. Much of the land is a clayey loam, requiring three or four horses to plough it, yielding, when tolerably managed, crops of excellent wheat and oats; and where the husbandry is so good as to have adopted the practice of sowing clover between the two corn crops, the produce is very abundant. The southern point of this district, forming now an independ ent Republic, called, from the name of its capital, Cracow, is very fertile. It extends along the Vistula about 20 miles, and contains in 500 square miles, or 320,000 acres, about 100,000 inhabi tants. Some of the estates in Poland, belonging to the nobility of the highest rank, are of enormous extent; but owing to the system of dividing the land among all the children, unless a special entail se cures a majorat to the eldest son, which is in some few instances the case, much of it is possessed in allotments which we should deem large, but which, on account of their low value, and when compared with those of a few others, are not so. Of these secondary classes of estates, 5,000 or 6,000 acres would be deemed small, and 30,000 or 40,000 acres large. There are, besides these, numerous small properties, some of a few acres, which, by frequent subdivisions, have descended to younger branches of noble families. The present owners are commonly poor, but too proud to follow any profession but that of a soldier, and prefer to labour in the fields with their own hands rather than to engage in trade of any kind. As titles descend to every son, and are continued through all the successors, the nobility have naturally become very numerous; but since the Emperor of Russia has gained the dominion over Poland, the use of titles has been re stricted. No one can assume that of Baron, unless his clear income from his estates exceed 1,000 gulden, or £.25; none that of Count, whose rents are less 3,000 gulden, or £.75; and none that of Prince, who has less than 5,000 gulden, or £.125. Various important details on the state of Polish society and agriculture follow, which we regret we have not room to insert. We must close with the following quotation: Among the real Poles, there is no regular gradation of ranks between the noble proprietor and the wretched peasantry. The polish gentry are too proud to follow any course but the military career; and the Government, by its large standing army, encourages the feeling, though the pay is scarcely sufficient to supply the officers with their expensive uniforms. The church has too few prizes, among many thousand blanks, to induce any but the lower classes to enter on that profession. The offices of Government can employ but few, and those are ill paid, and said to depend on small peculations, rather than on their salaries. Whatever difficulties may present them. selves to the placing out young men of good family, none have had recourse to commerce; and if they had, such would be treated by others as having lost their caste, and descended to a lower rank of society. The manufacturers and the artizans in Poland are almost all of the German nation. If a joiner, painter, mason, tailor, shoemaker, or a person of other similar occupations, including, too, the medical profession, is wanted, he will commonly be found only among the Germans. The merchants, bankers, and traders, are nearly as exclusively of the Jewish race, and that, too, of all classes, from the importer of wines and colonial produce to the dealer in rags and old clothes,-from the monied man who traffics in foreign loans and foreign exchanges, down to the lender of small sums, which the poor can obtain by pledging their miserable furniture or implements. An estimate was made by a person eminently skilled in the value of land, who formed it upon actual sales made in the last four years. He divided it into three classes, according to their fertility. The lowest land in a state of cultivation, with good building and a competent number of peasants, he stated to be worth one thousand florins the huff. Valuing the florins at sixpence, though worth a fraction less, and taking the huff of thirty Magdeburg morgens as equal to twentytwo English acres, the estimate would be a fraction less than twenty-two shillings sterling the English acre. The other kinds of arable land of superior qualities vary. The great mass is of the second class, or worth about thirty shillings; but some is estimated at five thousand florins the huff, or five pounds ten shillings; but little, however, is in this class, and that little is in the vicinity of the cities, on the banks of the great rivers, or in some favoured spots in the southern provinces. This estimate was rather founded on the state of affairs three or four years ago, than in their present condition; for I was told that such a number of estates had lately been offered for sale, that no price could be obtained for the greater part. The Jews are almost exclusively the dealers in money. They are precluded from becoming landed proprietors, and their exclusion from the market tends to depress the prices in a very great degree. Though some of the richer individuals of that people pass through the ceremony of baptism, especially when they have mort. gages on large estates, and mean to foreclose; the whole number of those who thus become qualified to purchase, bears but a small proportion to that of the properties that are offered for sale. I was assured from so many, and such various quarters, that I have no reason to doubt the report, that almost every estate is deeply involved in debt. The bankers of Warsaw discount each other's drafts at per cent. per month, but 10 per cent. may in general be easily obtained for money. Cows are of various races, and, I think, differ more in their value than in any country I ever visited. The common breed of the country are worth about 27s. or 28s. per head. The Ukraine, or the best, from Podolia, are estimated much higher, averaging £.3; and some, few, very good, are worth £.410s. Flocks of sheep vary too, but not so much as cows; the lowest of the native breed are worth per head 3s. and the best about 5s. 6d. or 6s. Merinos are very rare at present, and worth from 8s. to 9s. per head. The corn spirit, or whisky, is sold in the country at 10d. per gallon; but pay. ing a high duty, or being a subject of monopoly, farmed by the Government to distillers on the entrance of the cities and towns, is retailed in them from 3s. to 3s. 6d. per gallon. Horses, except those of foreign races, are as low in proportion as cows and sheep. The price of meadow hay in the capital was from 14s. to 15s. per ton; so little is sold in the country, that it would have been difficult to state what is the value before the expense of conveyance is paid. There are few burdens laid exclusively on the land, except the tenth Groschen tax. That was originally a war-tax, and is so still denominated, though continued after ten years of a peace, and there exists no present probability of its being speedily withdrawn. A small sum is levied in each district for the repairs of roads, bridges, and other local purposes; but that and the land tax scarcely exceeds 25 per cent. on the presumed annual value of the land. The tithes are very moderate, and chiefly compounded for at fixed rates, which can never be altered, without the consent of the owner. The secular parochial clergy are commonly men of slight education, usually the sons of peasants, to whom the somewhat elevated character of priest, with its small emoluments, and freedom from hard labour, forms a sufficient inducement to enter on the ecclesiastical profession. The whole revenue, according to the statements of official men, does not exceed £.2,000,000 sterling. As one-fourth of the population, the tenants and peasants of the Crown, are exempted from paying the tenth Groschen tax, the heaviest of all the imposts, the sum extracted from the rest of the subjects amounts to 15s. per head annually. The whole population of the present kingdom is between 3,800,000 and 4,000,000 having increased since its estabalishinent 250,000. The revenues do not pay the expenses of the Government, but the deficiency is made up by remittances from Peters. burgh, which usually amount to 4,000,000 silver roubles, or nearly £.500,000 sterling. The forced military service, and quartering of troops, are burdens on the land, which are difficult to reduce to any money estimation. The young men of good families are expected to become cadets in a service whose pay will scarcely clothe them; and the strongest of the labourers are selected as privates, without the formality of asking their consent, or drawing lots. When in quarters, the officers occupy the best apartments in the houses of the proprietors, whilst the pri vates are lodged in the peasants' cottages. At present, the military are under good` discipline; but still they have means of extorting, from those on whom they are quartered, something beyond the use of bare walls. I did not hear of any other goods than woollen cloths made for distant markets; but of late establishments, have been formed for making linens, cottons, iron wares, and paper, solely for domestic consumption, and chiefly by the aid of capitals to which the Government has contributed. At Warsaw, for a period of twentyfour years, from June 1796, to June 1820, the average price of wheat was 33s. per quarter, and in the ten years from 1815 to 1824, it was 31s. The price, at the time of my visit, was 14s. 9d., which, in the opinion of Count Mostoski, was only about half its cost to the grower. I should suppose the cost of wheat in the province of Massovia to have been nearly between 27s. and 29s. the quarter, for the last thirty years. Assuming that the cost price of wheat was at the medium between the points to which in its fluctuation it had approached, we may calculate the cost in England thus:— › Cost of the quarter of wheat at Warsaw Conveyance to the boats, and charges for loading and stowing, and securing it by mats Freight to Dantzic Loss on the passage, by pilfering, and by the rain causing it to grow Expences at Dantzic, in turning, drying, screening, and warehousing, and loss of measure Profit or commission, as the case may be, to the merchant at Dantzic Freight, primage, insurance, and shipping charges, at Dantzic and in London 2 609 96 VOL. XVIII. 8 0 48 6 4 F The account obtained at Cracow, shews that for ten years and two half-years, the average price of wheat was 25s. 1d., though between the first and last part of that period the difference is enormous; the first part showing an average of 38s., and the last of only 17s. 5d. If, in the absence of better data, it be Cost of wheat at Carcow Conveyance to boats, loading, &c. Freight to Dantzic assumed that the selling price of wheat near Cracow has been for a series of years at 25s., and that the grower's profit has been ten per cent., and the coast price thus taken at 22s. 6d., the rate at which it would reach this country may be thus estimated : Loss by pilfering, and damage from wet In the four years from 1821 to 1824, when the whole quantity shipped from Dantzic and Elbing has been no more than 299,000 quarters, the difference in price between Cracow and Dantzic has been only 8s. 8d., and between Warsaw and Dantzic, only 4s. 8d. According to several representations which I received, and which cannot be materially erroneous, the quantity of wheat raised in the interior of Poland has been gradually lessening, but with much more rapidity since 1819, than before that period. During the years 1821, 1822, and 1823, very little wheat passed down the Vistula, as appears by the accounts obtained at Thorn. By the official accounts, the whole in the three years was only 83,600 quarters: the growers being then induced to withhold from shipping, as long as their necessities would allow. In 1824, the pressing demands of creditors and mortgagees forced their holders to sell, and in consequence of it, there was sent down in that year 93,968 quarters. The pres sure of distress still continuing, and the harvest of 1824 being very good, there was forwarded in 1825, by the commencement of the harvest of that year, 176,215 quarters, or as much as in the four years which had preceded it.-In every part of my journey through Poland, the impression made, in looking at the fields, whether with growing crops, in stubble, or under the operations of the plough, was, that they were approaching to a state of exhaustion from excessive cropping. It appears, from tables procured by Mr Jacob, that the whole export of corn from Dantzic in 166 years, has been 19,581,947, or 117,963 quarters per annum, the latter equal to about the consumption of the British Isles for three days, and the former only to 16 months. A large proportion of this comes out of Volhynia and Podolia, (from 300 to 500 miles from the sea), which now form part of Russia, unconnected with what is called the kingdom of Poland. These provinces are said be very fertile, and to have a considerable surplus of corn, but their most easy communication is with the Black Sea, and the expense of transportation to the Baltic must render their trade through the latter channel extremely circumscribed. The following table, from a German statistical work, is given for 1802, and is no doubt founded on official documents. It is for Volhynia. |