168
AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
Dr. Income.
£ S. d.
For brood ewes
and lambs . . 15 6
Profit on model
farms. . . . 176 16 1
Sundry credits . 10 0 0
Expenditure. Cr.
£ s. d.
Eentcfrreadow 21 11 6
Breeding; cattle 13 O O
Bent and expenses
on the model
farms . 127 15 O
Sundry purchases
as below . . 142 6 O
Sundry debits . 14 6 0
Balance in hand . 82 4 3
|
£1027 5 3 £1027 |
5 |
3 | |||
|
1837. £ s. |
d. |
Stock of the Society. 1838. £ s. |
d. | ||
|
10 |
8 |
4 |
Capital advanced . . 10 |
8 |
4 |
|
12 |
15 |
0 |
Shares in Merino breeders 12 |
15 |
0 |
|
2176 618 259 |
10 7 0 |
0 1 |
Value of land at Idstein and Improvements in .land and Cattleandimplements . 275 |
0 13 3 |
8 4 6 |
|
55 |
0 |
0 |
Furniture ... 55 |
0 |
0 |
|
44 |
5 |
0 |
Matrices for medals . . 44 |
ɔ |
0 |
|
258 21 |
10 16 |
0 6 |
Stock of annuals and weekly Stock of prize medals . 0 |
4 0 |
G |
|
37 |
10 |
6 |
Cash in hand ... 82 |
4 |
3 |
|
£3494 |
2 |
7 |
Total of stock . . £3684 |
14 |
7 |
|
1179 |
3 |
1 |
Moneyborrowed . 1183 |
6 |
8 |
|
£2314 |
19 |
6 |
Property of the society £2501 |
7 |
11 |
|
Many of the items in this account are well worthy of | |||||
|
consideration. |
The liberality of the government, the | ||||
excellent economy by means of which two farms are
managed, and a journal with a circulation of 1500 copies
published, prizes liberally distributed, and information of
the most valuable description circulated at a cost of 600Λ
per annum, are equally deserving of admiration.
While stranger guests are devouring sumptuous meals
in palace-like dining-saloons, and the four quarters of the
AGRlCUbTUBE ON THE RHINE.
169
world are taxed to furnish a bill of fare for ten tables
d’hôte, that may be safely called the best furnished, and
the Cheapestdinnersin Europe, the said peasant burgesses
are sitting down to their homely meal, at which the rye-
bread figures that has grown upon their land, been carted
by their horses, and ground at one of the eleven privileged
mills of the district, little supposing that his outlay for
food is not much less than that of his more travelled guest
at the Rose, or the Four Seasons. Yet this is un-
doubtedly the case, and not only at Wiesbaden, but over
the greater part of Germany, as a result of the distance
at which the lands lie from the houses of the peasantry.
There happens in most parts to be land enough ; and
where the population is most dense, the climate multiplies
its powers. Thus the pressure of actual want is rarely
felt by the present number of inhabitants ; but how much
capital that ought to accumulate is wasted, how much
Hbour that might be advantageously employed in other
ways is lost in this most expensive system of agriculture !
The face of the country round Wiesbaden presents a
faɪr picture of the vast extent of level land that stretches
from the Taunus eastward, to the Spessart, Oden, and
Blackforest mountains ; and to the south as far as Breisach,
comprising the valleys of the Lower Maine, and one-half
of the vale of the Upper Rhine. The soil is alluvial
throughout, and of varying but nowhere of less than
average fertility. Between Wiesbadcn and the rise of
the Spessart beyond Hanau, the soil is especially suited
for wheat, and the dryness of the ground that is un-
favourable for meadowing on the heights, admits of the
cultivation of artificial grasses. This last branch of farm-
ing is here well understood by every peasant, even by