We find, therefore, that the average weight of oxen according to the official report of 1858 for the year 1852, was, for common beasts, 858 lbs., the net weight of the food (four quarters) being 506 lbs., while for fed beasts the weights were respectively 1,058 lbs. and 858 lbs., the net weight of the food in the latter case being equal to the gross weight of the animal in the former; but, further, while in the former case the relation of the net available food to the gross weight was only 59 per cent., in the latter it was 81 per cent. If, again, we compare the mean of these two net weights with the mean of the net weight of the flesh available for food on the oxen of ten years previous, namely 1842, according to the statistics we shall find they stand thus:--For the first, 682 lbs., for the second, 546, showing an average increase of flesh in oxen during ten years, of 136 lbs. weight, equal to 25 per cent.

If we proceed to examine the results with regard to cows and calves, we shall find them to be equally satisfactory. They are tabulated as follows:

The increase in the mean weight of the butchers' meat is more strikingly shown, however, in the following table, which is derived from official documents published in 1856, from the records of the slaughter-houses of the chief towns:

cultural Society of Scotland for 1874, pp. 312-23, in which he says, 'It appears that the digestive organs of animals increase according to the amount of indigestible fibre that passes through them.'

And if we analyse the results of this table we shall find that the ratios of increase in weight per annum of butchers' meat of oxen, cows, and calves have been during the forty-six years respectively, two-ninths, one-third, and two-fifths per cent.

Again, the produce of milk from such improved cows has greatly increased and become more valuable, for we find that while in 1862 the mean gross produce of a cow had been valued at 6l. 158. per annum, in 1842 the official statistics represent it as not so much as onefourth of that sum, thus indicating that during these twenty years of improvement not only had the lactiferous qualities of the cows been increased by an improvement in the breed, but by at least an equally great improvement in their aliment. Since 1862, the price of milk has increased considerably, and doubtless also the quantity, though there appears to be as yet no further particulars obtained upon this head.

Horses and sheep have not increased in France in the same way as cattle for various reasons which it is scarcely necessary to refer to, but which are not of a nature to invalidate the indications of continuous prosperity which we have been describing. Indeed, however, it may be said, parenthetically, that a decrease in sheep is sometimes a good sign of agricultural prosperity, inasmuch as it indicates an increase in cultivation and a diminution of waste lands; and this feature of improvement is even more marked in Prussia than in France, for in the former

country the decrease of sheep between 1867 and 1873 amounted to more than 10 per cent. This kind of stock is liable, however, to great annual fluctuations, and no important inference can, therefore, be based upon it, or indeed upon any but the sure and gradual improvements which occupy considerable periods of years.

In France, however, the gross and net weights of sheep have increased between the years 1842 and 1862, in a ratio that would indicate a satisfactory improvement in the individual animal, and the prices per head in that period have on the average, like those of cattle, doubled, or nearly so. The weight of swine has also on the average increased. In 1839, the live weight of this animal averaged 200 lbs.; in 1852, 229 lbs.; and in 1862, 260 lbs.; the weights of butchers' meat in those three years being respectively 161 lbs., 180 lbs., and 193 lbs., and the increase of price per head has been in the twenty years, from 1842 to 1862, at the rate of 50 per

cent.

If, then, we place all these facts in juxtaposition, we cannot but regard the increase in the prosperity of the agricultural population of France as one of the most remarkable character; for, while we have seen that numbers, weights, and prices all have risen together exceedingly, as well as upon the whole uniformly, we cannot omit the consideration that the greater amount of wealth and of income thereby derived falls to be divided amongst a number of individuals not increased, but for many years diminishing.

Such a consideration indicates, first, the great labour and prudence which are practised by the French; and, second, the remarkable salutariness of the system of peasant proprietorship under which they live and prosper. are, therefore, quite prepared to receive the testimony of Mr. L. J. Sackville West, when he reports that the

We

CH. V.

6

PEASANT PROPRIETORSHIP.

139

prevalent opinion as to the advantages or the disadvantages of the tenure of land by small proprietors is, decidedly, that it has been advantageous to the production of the soil, and has tended to the improvement of the material condition of the agricultural population.' In the report which accompanies the 'Enquête Agricole,' it is stated that au point de vue de la production il est hors de doute que la diffusion de la propriété a été favorable. Le cultivateur qui cultive pour lui-même cultive mieux que le salarié pour celui qui le paye, et des soins plus assidus assurent des produits plus abondants;' and with respect to the condition of the cultivator:-'Il résulte des recherches faits par les Commissions d'Enquête qu'aucun signe extérieur n'accuse de gêne plus grand que jadis chez les cultivateurs. Loin de là l'immense majorité des déposants a reconnu que toutes les conditions de la vie du cultivateur s'étaient améliorées universellement et dans une proportion notable. Logement, nourriture, vêtements, tout dans ses habitudes démontre un bien-être inconnu il y a trente ans.'

What can be more conducive to the prosperity of any people than the knowledge that that which they sow they shall also reap; that what they place in the soil today may be securely extracted from it next season, nay, even 20 or 30 years afterwards? Of this nature, farmyard dung, which Mr. Lawes, of Rothamsted, informs us, comes up still to fructify the crops after many years, preeminently consists. But the agricultural capabilities of the soil are dependent upon the constant and ungrudging supply to it of manures of all kinds, organic and inorganic, artificial and natural, which cannot be extracted from it at once. These advantages are possessed by the French in the greatest measure. It results that capital-which is, relatively to this country, scarce in France-can be

1

Report on the Tenure of Land in France. Paris, Nov. 19, 1869.

securely committed to the soil. It is the best bank that can be had, because it is the most secure, because it is the most productive, and because the percentage of return depends upon the individual investor himself.

When we seek to test the condition of the rural population of France by the standard of natural increase—that is, the relation between the birth rate and the death rate— we find that there is a material difference between it and the rural parts of the United Kingdom. The normal birth rate in the rural parts of France is about 2.5 per hundred inhabitants, and the normal death rate 2:21 per hundred inhabitants, the difference being o'29 per hundred inhabitants. In Ireland, the birth rate, for a series of late years has been 2.75 per hundred, but approaches 300 in the western and southern districts; the death rate is under that of France. In Scotland, the birth rate is 315, and the death rate 2'01. In England, the birth rate is 360, and the death rate 2:23. The difference between the natural rate of increase in the rural parts of France and the United Kingdom is, therefore, a very great one. Now the total births in the rural parts of France are at the rate of nine-tenths those of the towns, but the rate of illegitimate births in the former is only two-fifths that of the latter. On the other hand, the rate of mortality amongst the rural population is from 15 to 20 per cent. beneath that of the towns population.1 It is, therefore, apparent that the rural population is the more moral and also the more healthy of the two. It is interesting to note what Mr. Prévost-Paradol has said on this subject. General prudence and the desire not so much of wealth as of a quiet and sure competency is the main feature of French temper. The children are loved in France with a tenderness often excessive, and

1 Annuaire de l'Economie Politique et de la Statistique, 1876, pp. 8–13. 2 France, by M. Prévost-Paradol, 1869.