In this condition of the community, the only land that can be well cultivated is the small portion of demesne which is in the hands of the lords, who, from their stock of cattle, could make manure to dress and improve the soil. These demesne lands are, however, though cultivated for the lords, plough ed by the tenants, who are bound by their tenures to do certain stipulated work for their superiors. The consequence of this is, that the work is badly performed, and at such seasons as best suits the te. nant's own labour. The demesnes too feel the want of capital ; for the lords have little besides their estates and the cattle upon them, and these being too generally left to the care of managers, who are less thrifty than as proprietors they would be, suffer con siderably from that circumstance.
The foregoing sketch is a description of the prac tice on the far greater portion of the land in Ger many; and, in consequence of it, the soil, though superior in original fecundity to the greater part of England, is gradually deteriorating, and does not at present yield more than five-eighths of what we raise on the same quantity of land. From the poorer classes eating nothing but rye or potatoes, and from having three-fourths of its population employed in agriculture, Germany is enabled to export corn in most years; but when an unpropitious season occurs the distress is dreadful, and is increased by the small ness of the different states, and the power being re stricted of circulating grain freely from one to an other ; an evil which was severely felt and lamentably deplored in the calamitous year 1817.
The land of Germany produces but little beyond the absolute and indispensable wants of its inhabit ants except in wine, flax, and wool. The culture of the vines is much less attended to than in France, and wine is the production but of a very small por tion when compared with the whole extent of the country, whereas in France almost every part yields it. The quantity made in Germany is not calculat ed to be more than one-sixth of what France sup plies ; the whole is computed to be about two mil lion pipes of one hundred gallons each ; but a very small part of this finds its way to foreign countries.
The flax frequently forming, as before stated, the fallow crop, is important by the employment it af fords, during the long and cold nights of their severe winter, to the female members of the peasants' fa milies, and by the trade it creates in the export of its productions in the form of yarn or of linen cloth.
Woel is generally the property of the lord, and its annual clip is frequently the principal revenue de rived from extensive possessions. This has induced many to pay great attention to the improvement of the wool, and much of it, especially from Saxony, is superior to any that the Merino flocks of Spain af ford. It is within the few years that have elapsed since the expulsion of the French, that the great ex tension of the breed of fine woolled sheep has taken place. The implements of husbandry are in a very imperfect state, and as much so from want of informa tion as from want of capital in Germany. The ploughs are generally small, light, and without a due curvature in the mould-board. The harrows are fre quently of wood. That useful implement the roller is rarely seen, the waggons and carts are badly con structed, and the harness of all, either of ropes or twisted straw.
There are exceptions to these observations on the agriculture of Germany, but they are too few to me. rit any particular notice.
Germany is generally a manufacturing country, and can supply itself with, by far, the greater part of all the commodities that it needs. The manufac
turers of that country are not placed in different dis tricts, but in the same towns ; and in almost every town of a moderate population, woollen, linen, cot ton, silk, and iron wares are made. Thus their esta blishments are mostly upon a small scale, and they cannot avail themselves of those minute divisions of labour which are essential to the perfecting and to the cheapness of the goods. Linens are the most valuable article, and are made, from the coarse ones of Westphalia, which are used for negro clothing, to the finest shirting and table linen of Silesia and Saxony, and of all the intermediate qualities. Wool lens, of all kinds, are made, and sufficient for the consumption ; so that those of England and France are scarcely needed ; nor do the Germans allow that any foreign fine cloth is equal, either in quality or price, to those manufactured in Saxony, Silesia, and the newly acquired Prussian provinces on the Rhine, from wool of native growth. The Cassimeres and Vigonia cloths, in that last mentioned district in the towns of Eupen, Machren, and Aachen, are preferred to any that are brought from other countries. The fa brief; of cotton had much increased during the conti nental system of exclusion, and had arrived at a con siderable degree of perfection, but the return of tran quillity has checked the progress of all, and annihilat ed many. The most considerable districts for these kinds of goods are the kingdom of Saxony, the Prussian provinces of Juliers, Berg, and Cleeves, and on the banks of the Ens, in the Austrian domi nions. The silk manufactures have never been con siderable ; some goods of the kind are made in many of the cities, but the principal establishments are in Vienna, at Roveredo, in the Tyrol, at Creveldt, at Cologne, and Berlin. Leather, iron, steel, and the wares prepared from them, are made at home. Porce lain and common earthenware are well made, and the two great royal manufactories of the first at Ber lin and Dresden, equal any from Seve, from Wor cester, or Etruria. The glass-ware of Bohemia, though of tr very bad quality, is universally diffused, not only through Germany, but in most other parts of the world. Paper is a considerable article among the German manufactories. That for printing is coarse, and of a bad colour, and the writing paper is very imperfectly made. There are 506 mills, which deliver annually about 60,000 bales, but none of it goes to other countries. Chemical preparations are made upon an extensive scale, and comprehend alum, vitriol, smiths, white-lead, Prussian blue, sal ammoniac, and verdigrease. Salt and sugar are refin ed for home consumption. Tobacco, snuff, wax, oils from plants, are also supplied from domestic manu factories. The quantity of beer furnished by the breweries in every town in the north is very great, and the distilleries of ardent spirits from grain is a most extensive manufactory, as is vinegar, mostly from grapes in those districts where they do not ripen sufficiently to be made into wide. The minu ter articles, such as musical, mathematical, surgical, and optical instruments, with watches and clocks, are well and cheaply made. Wooden toys and plait ed straw are important objects of employment to many of the inhabitants. Most of the fabrics of Germany are fettered by the laws of the guilds, or corporations, to which the masters are obliged to be long, and this acts as an impediment to their arriv ing at a high degree of perfection.