Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-09-17
from Our Regular Correspondent
European Letter.
BERLIN, Sept. LIST, 1879.

European Letter.
BERLIN, Sept. LIST. 1879.
have now for some weeks been looking
into the agriculture of the district around
Dresden-on the west as far as Leipsic,
and on the north as far as Berlin. find
that, though the price of wheat is here
reduced by the command America has
obtained over the wheat market of the
world. agriculture is not in the suffering
condition to which it has been reduced in
England The reasons of this are what
it would be useful for us to know. My
observations and inquiries have brought
me 10 believe that the simplest expression
of these reasons is that the land is here
for the most part cultivated in farms of
about fifty acres by their owners. | will
endeavor 10 point out some of the most
obvious and noteworthy consequences of
these two facts. Q) As the farmer and
his family generally work on the farm,
lhere are about 100000 landowners in
Prussia there is comparatively little ex-
pended in hired labor. To understand how
this acts we must suppose farms in the
United States averaging about fifty acres,
and that on these fifty-acre farms the
owner and his family in most cases take
the lead in the work. On any thousand
acres, then, there might be twenty fami-
lies working with the will of owners, not
for wages, but supported by what they
could themselves produce. (2) What hired
labor is required is more efficient than
hired labor is in England, because the la
borer works with, generally lives with
and feels that he belongs TO the same class
as the farmer, and not to quite different
class, made one in sentiment by the con-
seriousness of all its members that they are
all alike without properly, all practically
incapable of attaining TO property, and
that they all alike have nothing to fall
back upon except but the poor rate. (S)I
The land is, l might almost say beyond
comparison, kept cleaner here than it is
in England. There are no hedges or
bitches acting as nurseries for weeds and
giving harbor to vermin. The heart of the
owner is in his land, and every weed that
appears upon the land is felt to be growing
at the cost of the owner and of his family
( (4) The farmer has no rent TO pay; that
was paid once for all when the land was
purchased. generally by some ancestor OF
the present owner This, besides now an.
nually securing TO the farmer higher re-
ward for his labor, saves him in bad times
from the auxielies and entanglements of
having 10 borrow. will only mention
one more cause, and regard it rs a very
effective one, of the strength of the agri-
cultural system that obtains in his part of
the cohtnent-I might, indeed, say over
the greater part of the continent. The
land being held in small farms, far
greater variety of produce is extracted
from it than is possible under any other
system. Potatoes are produced to an ex-
tent that surprises even non-agricultural
Americans. The same may be said of
fruit, vegetables, poultry, milk and butter
Ii would be interesting to know, if it could
be ascertained. how many hundred-I
might, indeed, say how many thousand
miles of fruit trees decorate and turn to
good account, without the slightest pro-
lection, the margins Of the roads and paths
in this part of Germany. That this can be
done is indicative of a very satisfactory
trait in the character of the people, not
only of this district, but of the continent
generally. Of course it is easily explained
by the general diffusion of property. In
these small farms absolutely no space is
wasted. In places where the surface APP
pears to be pure sand and no agricultural
plant could live, have everywhere found
plantations Of Scotch fir and of birch, the
only trees that could maintain themselves
in such starving barrenness. 1t was nee
essary at first to set the young trees in
deep burrows that they might not be blown
out of the ground, and that the rain that
fell might be conducted to their roots. In
all the plantations of this kind l saw,
noticed that every individual tree was
carefully foresled, and that no briars or
nettles or underground of any kind We're
allowed to spring up on the decayng
leaves and so rob the plantation. On land
not yet good enough for producing grain.
though somewhat better than that appro.
pria.ed to Scotch fir and birch, the yelo "
lupiue is grown for forage.