Nor, while rivers are numerous and useful, are canals unknown, to connect the different portions of the kingdom with each other, as rivers connect all parts of it with the sea. In the eastern extremity of the kingdom there arc two large canals; one that connects the Pregel and Memel rivers, and another which stretches from the Pregel to the Vistula. The canal of Bromburg unites the navigable river Brahe to the Netz, which falls into the \Vartha, which last stream, likewise navigable, joins the Oder. And as we have already mentioned that the Oder and the Elbe are connected, partly by the Spree and partly by a canal, there is evidently a line of communication by means of canals, running at right angles with the rivers from the eastern al most to the western extremity of Prussia, or a distance of about 800 miles. There are also various other canals of minor importance, but all of them of great local benefit. Six hundred barges, of thirty tons each, besides smaller boats, continually ply on the Bromburg canal, which serves to unite the Vistula and the Oder ; and the canals which connect the Oder and the Elbe exhibit a still more busy and commercial appearance. No country can boast of such advantages ; and they are such as, with the industry and energy which characterize the Prussians, cannot fail soon to raise them, in point of internal resources, to a le vel with the most opulent nations of Europe.
Prussia, from the level nature of the country, may be expected to contain numerous lakes. This, indeed, as stated above, is the fact, in an eminent degree, particu larly in the eastern provinces, in Pomerania, and in Bran denburg. In East Prussia there are, it is reckoned, 300 lakes, of which the Spelding See is the largest, being 20 Bri tish miles in every direction : there are 160 in 'West Prus sia; and no less than 680 in Brandenburg. The name of TVerder, as Marienwerder, which is of frequent occurrence, particularly in West Prussia, signifies 'a drained marsh, or land surrounded by water, which indicates that lakes were more abundant in former times than at present. Lakes are more or less common in every quarter of the kingdom ; and the rivers, from the laziness of their currents, fre quently stagnate, and spread their waters so wide, often many miles, that the space thus occupied may, with pro priety, be regarded as a lake. The estuaries of the Oder, Vistula, and Memel, form large maritime sheets of water, termed in German Huffs. Thus, at the mouth of the Me mel is the Curisch Haff; at that of the Vistula Frisch Haff (with another inland creek called the lake of Drau sen) as that of the Oder is the Grass Haff. This last is thirty-six miles long, and from one to nine in breadth ; the Curisch Haff is sixty miles in length, with a mean breadth of ten miles, while the Frisch Haff is seventy miles in length, with a breadth varying from three to ten. There are other Haffs of an inferior size ; they are nearly all filled with fresh water, as their supplies come from the land, and their connexion with the sea is by a very narrow outlet. None of them is deep, but they are all navigable to ves sels of a greater or less size.
The climate of Prussia is not remarkably favourable ; for though considerably various in the several provinces, it is in general moist, cold, and ungenial. This is occasioned by the number of marshes, the extent of forests, and the inundations of the rivers and of the sea, of which we have already spoken. Rain is also very common, not only during the winter, which, in sonic places, lasts about eight months, but even in autumn, sometimes making a dreadful devasta tion. In the eastern districts, and along the shores of the Baltic, cold predominates to a degree unknown in the same latitude of the Netherlands or of England, a circum stance which is accounted for by the reasons already stated, and from the prevalence of easterly winds blowing along the bleak surface of Russia. In the western and midule provinces, the climate is uncommonly mild and genial, and not inferior, if not superior, to what we enjoy in Britain. The heat on the sandy plains of Brandenburg is often quite intolerable ; and so great a variety is there in the several subdivisions of the kingdom, that in some parts summer seems to have arrived, when in others the inha bitants are experiencing all the rigour of severe winter.
There are no endemic diseases in any quarter of Prussia, and many instances of longevity occur; yet the climate is not remarkable for great salubrity, the deaths averaging 3 in 69, or one male in 33, and one female in SE. In England, it may be remarked, the proportion of deaths be tween 1810 and 1820 was 1 in 51, and the general propor tion is calculated as one in 45.
From former observations, some idea must already have been formed of the soil. Though the kingdom is exempted from the bleakness and unproductiveness occasioned by mountains, a great part of it is far from being genial or fertile. This results chiefly from the great tracts of heath and sand which we have already mentioned, and partly from the want of cultivation. Silesia, Posen, the neigh bourhood of Tilsit in East Prussia, and the provinces bordering upon the Rhine, (though the first in its northern parts partakes a good deal of the sandy features of Bran denburg,) are the most fertile, as well as the best cultivated, producing grain of every description, culinary vegeta bles, fruits, and even grapes in considerable perfection. Both indeed in the provinces just specified, and in other portions of the kingdom, the soil is loamy, deep, and extremely rich, and, if agriculture were cultivated with much assiduity and judgment, is susceptible of the highest improvement. But agriculture, though not entirely neglected, is yet in its infancy. Farming can scarcely be regarded as a distinct profession, as in Britain. Farms are extremely small; the sum applied to agricultural purposes very inconsiderable; and two-thirds of the farmers are at the same time manufacturers, and realize a livelihood as much in the latter capacity as in the former. The system of green-cropping, of fallow, and of rotation of crops, is beginning to be understood, and in some parts of the king dom is very generally practised. The quantity of land in tillage in 1817 was 29,000,000 .acres, exclusive of about 300,000 acres appropriated to garden culture and vine yards. The following is the average increase on the differ ent kinds of grain—which affords a pretty correct estimate of the quality of the soil, or the degree of cultivation which it undergoes. The average increase of wheat is 6 to 1, of barley 52 to 1, of rye 4 to 1, and 4+ to 1 of oats. But though agriculture be a little deficient, Prussia raises more corn than its consumption requires, and in favourable years the value of the surplus exported has amounted to 2,000,000 florins, or 2,00,0001. sterling. Buck wheat is more extensively grown than any other species of grain. In speaking of the sandy soils of Brandenburg, Marshal observes (and the remark is applicable to other districts,) that " the inhabitants find that the only very profitable crop upon these lands is buck wheat, which they sow in large quantities, and they get a product which equals the best soils applied to that grain. When a piece of land has been more carefully managed than ordinary, it will yield a good crop of rye ; but as to wheat or barley it is hardly to pc seen." Flax is extensively cultivated, particularly in Westphalia and Silesia, and after supplying the demand of their own domestic manufactures, the growers annually export about 22,000,000 of pounds. Hops, peas, beans, tobacco, are also grown to a considerable extent, and form no inconsiderable articles of export. Wood, which is so abundant in the eastern provinces, is exported, but chiefly that which grows in the vicinity of rivers, as land convey ance is both difficult and expensive. Coffee being a favourite beverage, certain enterprising individuals, think ing that the large quantities of it imported tended to im poverish the nation, attempted, so far hack as 1780, to find a substitute for it on their own soil. Several plants were tried. Succory was found the most suitable, and this plant is in consequence cultivated to a great extent in every quarter of the kingdom. It is not, however, used alone, but is mixed with coffee, making a very wholesome and delicious drink.