The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-01 00:00:00

FOREIGN CORN,

INSTRUCTIONS TO MR. JACOB, RESPECTING THE

PRICES OF FOREIGN CORN.

[Continued from our paper of Saturday. ]
Avery intelligent and benevolent nobleman, at whosehottse I spent
a few days, assured me,that in the extensive but thinly peopled district
where he had n share in the directing the assessments and expenditure
of the local taxes, there was but or4e family which üb4sted
wholly ou those taxes ; and that utters depended on the kindness
of relatives and friends, with some Occasional assistAnce from the
local fund.

In general the soil of the• Maritime proVintee of Prussia is
so light that it may he easily ploughed with two each, anti:threes
of diminished size and no groat strenoth: I have not unfre•
quently seen, on the smaller portion of land, a single cow drawing
the plough, end Whilst the plough was guides} by the owaer.the
b
cow was led by his wife, The mere ten:scions soils, on:the a4s
of the streams, are commonly but of small extent. There is in-
deed a large portion of land in the Delta, formed by the sepal's).-
non of the ISogat. from the Viettrie, between Damam toe
rienburg, which, under a good. ttstem of Managements would he
highly,
.productiie, and which.reSifaats., Istea,4ser strength to ploughs
There are some others, especially tear `fss' ,s-oS lea extent jrhet
the whole of them, if compared wltfi the^it extent of 'the aisr
fa& Of the country, are Merely snificient te'farrn eacept:ons to the
general classification which may be made of the soil. The Vila
rious implements of husbandry are quite of as low a deseription
m the Working cattle. The ploughs are ill constructed, with very
little iron in them. The harrows are made of wood, without any
iron, even for the tines or teeth. The waggons are mere planks.,
laid on the frame low, and resting egeinst upright stakes; fins,'
into its sides. The ra,ttle are attached to these inqements by
ropes, without any leather in any part of the harness. The use
of the roller is scarcely knowu, and the clods, in' preparing the
fallow, are commonly broiren to pieces by hand.with wooden mal-
lets. In sowing, the seed is oarried in the apron, or the skirts of
the frock, of the man who scatters it on the ground.
The monied value of the live stock on the farms is low. Tice
best !locks of Merino sheep,- exclusive of the wool, is averaged to
he worth about 6s. or 6s. Bd. per head. Cows are worth froni
30s. to 655. A dairy which I saw of the best description, was
let to a dairynian at 365. pet year. The owner told me, he rmt.
lued them at 755.' per head, and though the average 'Weight of
the butter from each, the calf being taken from the Mother when
ten days old; was about 1201 b. each year. The variation in the
price of cows is much greater than in that of sheep, according. to
their race, to the soil on %Odell they ase pastured; and to the die-
tance from large towns requiring supplies of milk and butter.—
The price of the hay varies, according to the situation and quality,
from I4s. to 20s, per ton.
The general' bitrdens of the state in Prussia, are the subject of
complaints among all classes ; anti altheitgh they may appear to us
to amount to a very small stun, rated by the number of per eons,
they must be considered heavy in a country so destitute of little
other capital than that of land, now vastly depreciated in value.
The whole taxes in Prussia amount to about 10s. per head ; but
the effective value of money, 'in exchange for commodities, triay be
considered to be double what it is with us.
Those taxes pressing peculiarly on the land are, first, the Grunt!
Stcuer or land-tax. Tbis is not, however, imposed in each pro-
vince, but only in those where it existed before they were united
to the Prussian monarchy. This is not levied in Brandenburg,
though it is collected in each of the three maritime provinces which
are the subjects of more immediate consideration. This tax was
designed to be 25 per cent on the net value, or annual rent of the
land,. and when imposed was an equable burden. In process of
time, from the improvement-of some estates, and the neglect o!
others, and from a variety of other cause* that rate which was ori•
ginally equal has become in practice at the present day ve,
equal., 7,
The land is divided into six classes, the rent of the lowest
whic.Visaastimated to be about 7d. per acre, and that of the
highest about 4e. an acre.. On this. emounts the tax is 45 per
centS arrt averages in the . three naoritisneaors ,ovine es atuamewhet
less than Ed. per acre. The "gross Sr?iiinotsJiallect-d its the three
'provinces :Annually, according to slassele is about 205,000/.
sterling.
The local taxes, which have been already noticed, dti not fall
wholly on' the land. That for" the disabled soldiers, cad the fa-
milies of such as fell As in the confliets, is in part home by the
cities and towns, though the chide's-eight fails on the land. The
same, in some measure, is the case respectitn; the tax for rosas,
bridges, schools, and the poor. These;. are various in different
districts, so that it is impossible to forin any general estimate of
their amount. In some parts Of the country, I wits told that flu
local taxes were equal to the Cruod Sharer in their district : in
Ernie, that it was higher ; and in others, that it did not amount
to one-tenth. Among the cultivators, I heard wed/ complaint
of the heavy tax on the distilleries. As far es the Let opaeitee to di-
minish the consumption of the grain, or other produeta of the land
from which spirits may be extracted, it is a burden on the land;
but I have reason to believe that, from ,the' mode in wisiell the
tax is collected, those who have distilleries on their fame, by
paying Ore tax at a high degree of strength, and /.01-al,,ing it to
the retailers at a lower etremostim, are so far from beinz'tsSarieved,
that they are really benetitted by the tax..
The village clergy have commonly a house, some, glebe land,
and a fixed annual portion of corn, which in most eases is deliver-
ed to them-by time acrd, in pursuance of an assisnt arrange-
meat. 'The quantity has been long since defined, end not being
subject to any alteration, is scarcely ever spoken of at a burden
on the land.
The other taxes bear no more on the persons employed in testi-
cult/ire than on those engaged in pursuits of a different hind.--s
They are chiefly on the consumption .of fereien commodi-
ties attaching to the consumers, from whatteenr ssurcee they may
draw the revenues by which they are enabled to indulge in the
use of them.
The military service is extremely
.oncrons, as every young
man is compelled to serve three years, from the age of 20 to 24,
as a soldier. This, though not precisely a tax, and not peculiar to
the agricultural crass is a burden which 'perhaps presses as much
on the produefs-e industry of the country ae the heavier taxes
that are collected iu other countries. To this must be added the
quartering of the troops, who are billetbd on private houses ;
and however well discipline may he maintained amongst them,
must be a great annoyance, anti in most cases tin eapeoce, which,
though apparently trifling in amount, becomes weighty to those
whose means of supporting it are mall.
In a country where four-fifths of the inhabitants subsist wholly
by producing food, and depend for the conveniences beside bare
food, on the pried which' they can obtain for their surplus, the
low rate at which that sttrplus can be disposed of must be felt
and obServed in every rank of society.
. •
The scale of living in the country we are conselersng corre-
sponds with the low prices of the' objects in which their labour is
employed. The working class of the inhabitants, amounting in
the maritime provinces to upwards of a million, inchuliug both,
those who work for daily wages and those who cultivate their
own little portionti of land, cannot be compared to any class of
persons in England. This large description; of the inhabithts.
live in dwellings provided with few conveniences, on the lowet4
and coarsest food ; potatoes, or rye or puck wheat, are their chief,
and frequeetly their only footle linen, from flex 'of their own
growth; and wool, spun by their own hands, both coarse :and
both worn u long as they will hold together, furnish tie it drew ;
whilst an earthern pot that will bear fire, forms one one of the
most valuable articles of their furniture.
As fuel is abundant,, they are *finned more by dese stoves than
by the shelter of their Wooden or mod houses, covered by shiagles,
which Admit the piercing cold of the severe 'weather through
abundaut crevices. If they have beds and a plot of chicory, their
produce serves as a substitute for sugar and coffee ; but too often
these must' be sent to market to raise the runty pittattre which
the tax-gralterer demands. Though the price of whiskri: is lows,
yet the farm produce is still lower, 'an'l neither thst !tors rite bad
beer which is commonly brewed, can be afforded by the • •-- •••
s.,
as a usual drink. s •
In common seasons this description of people suffe]4much in
the winter, but in times of scarcity, such as followed the them stootis
harvest of 1816, their distress mill their cotwequent mortality is
largely increased. •
It is not intended to insinuate that all the mill fanners are in
the
circunntances 1,64 described. • In some situations there is a
most pleasing. difference.; on the banks of the Oder, Wow Kits-

Ty 1111