As a

labor, and render the produce an article of sale. further means of exciting industry, the proprietor annually distributes three prizes as rewards to those whose gardens are found to be in the highest state of cultivation. This judicious mode of rewarding industry has been beneficial also in producing a spirit of emulation amongst the rival gardeners, whose grounds being separated only by paths, the comparative state of each is easily determined.

Mrs B. This is indeed an excellent plan; the leisure hours which the laborers might probably have passed at the alehouse are occupied in raising an additional stock of wholesome food, and the money which would have been spent in drinking is saved for a better purpose it may form perhaps the beginning of a capital, and in process of time secure a little independence for himself and his family.

CONVERSATION XI.

ON REVENUE.

Modes of employing capital to produce revenue. Which of these is most advantageous.-Varies according to the state of the country.-Garnier's observations on the employment of capital.-Equality of profits affords a criterion of the due distribution of capital.Natural arrangement of the distribution of capital.Equality of profits in agriculture, manufactures, and trade.-Why those profits appear unequal.

MRS B.

In our last conversation we have in some measure di

430. What does Mrs B, say of this plan?

gressed from our subject; but I trust that you have not forgotten all we have said upon the accumulation of capital. Let us now proceed to examine more specifically the various modes in which it may be employed in order to produce a revenue or income. Capital may be invested in Agriculture, Mines, Fisheries, Manufactures, and Trade.

Caroline. Of all these ways of employing capital, agriculture, no doubt, must be the most advantageous to the country, as it produces the first necessaries of life.

Mrs B. In these northern climates it is almost as essential to our existence to be clothed and lodged as to be fed; and manufactures are, you know, requisite for these purposes.

Caroline. True; but then agriculture has also the advantage of furnishing the raw materials for manufactures; it is the earth which supplies the produce with which our clothes are made and our houses built.

Mrs B. Yet without manufactures these materials would not be produced; it is the demand of the manufacturer for such articles which causes them to be raised by the farmer; agriculture and manufactures thus react on each other to their mutual advantage.

Caroline. It may be so; but still it does not appear to me that they can be equally beneficial to the country. Manufactures do not, like agriculture, actually increase the produce of the earth; they create nothing new, but merely put together under another form the materials with which they are supplied by agriculture.

Mrs B. True; but by such operations they frequently increase the value of these materials a hundred

431. In what is it said that capital may be invested?- -432. What investment does Caroline consider best?--433. What is the reply of Mrs B.-434. What further consideration does Caroline offer in favor of agriculture?- -435. But what makes the raw materials valuable ?- -436. What reason does Caroline still give why manufactures cannot be equally beneficial with agricul ture?

fold. And you are mistaken if you suppose that agriculture can do more than arrange and combine the particles of bodies under a new form. In this respect it differs from manufactures merely from the circumstance of the process being performed by nature in the bosom of the earth, and in a manner which eludes our observation. But agriculture is no more capable than manufactures of creating a single new particle of matter; it is merely by a chemical change of combination that it alters their form and nature, and increases their value.

Caroline. But in agriculture nature facilitates the labors of man; she seems to work together with the husbandman; and provided that he but ploughs the field and sow the seeds, she performs all the remainder of the task. It is nature that unfolds the germe, and raises up. the plant out of the ground; she nourishes it with genial showers, she ripens it with sun-beams, and leaves the farmer little more to do than to gather in the fruits of her labors.

There

How different is the case in manufactures! man must perform the whole of the work himself; and notwithstanding the aid he derives from his mechanical inventions, it is all the result of his own toil; whether it be the labor of the head or the hands, it is all art.

Mrs B. We are accustomed to speak of art in opposition to nature, without considering that art itself is natural to man. He is endowed with the faculties of invention and contrivance, which give him a considerable degree of command over the powers of nature, and render them in a great measure subservient to his use.

437. How does Mrs B. say that agriculture differs from manufactures in the production of materials?--438. By the operation of what scientific principle are agricultural products perfected?439. What comparison does Caroline make between the operations of nature and of art?- -440. How does Mrs B. say we are accustomed to speak of art?- -441. How is man said to have command over the powers of nature.

The

He studies the peculiar properties of bodies in order to turn them to his advantage; he observes that light bodies float on the surface of the water, and he builds himself a boat; he feels the strength of the wind, and he raises sails; he discovers the powers of the magnet, and he directs his course by it to the most distant shores : but the water which supports the vessel, the wind which wafts it on, and the magnet which guides it, are all natural agents compelled by the art of man to serve his purposes. We cannot, therefore, say that it is in agriculture alone that nature lends us her assistance. miller is as much indebted to nature for grinding his corn as the farmer is for raising it. In manufactures her share of the labor is sometimes even more considerable than in agriculture. You may recollect our observing that the effect of machinery in facilitating labor, consisted chiefly in availing ourselves of the powers of nature to perform the principal part of the work; and there are some processes of art for which we seem almost wholly indebted to nature. In bleaching, it is the air and light which perform the entire process; in the preparation of fermented liquors, we are ignorant even of the means which nature employs to accomplish this wonderful operation. In short, it would be difficult to point out any species of labor in which nature did not perform a share of the task.

Caroline. That is very true; and it requires only a little reflection to discover how much we owe to her assistance in every work of art. We could not make a watch without the property of elasticity natural to steel, which enables us to construct a spring; nor could the spring be fabricated without the natural agency of fire, rendered subservient to art.

-443.

-444.

-445.

442. How do nature and art cooperate in navigation?What is said of the miller in illustration of this subject? What is said of bleaching and the fermentation of liquors?What cases does Caroline mention in which the operations of nature are necessary to the productions of art?

But, Mrs B., in agriculture we avail ourselves of machinery as well as of those secret operations of nature which produce vegetation.

Mrs B. Undoubtedly we do; for every tool which facilitates manual labor is a machine-the spade and hoe, which save us the trouble of scratching up the earth with our hands-the plough and harrow, which still more facilitate the process-the flail, which prevents the necessity of rubbing out the corn-and the threshing machine, which again diminishes the labor. Machinery is however, not susceptible of being applied to rural occupations with the same degree of perfection as to the arts, because the processes of agriculture are extremely diversified, carried on over an extensive space, and dependent to a very considerable degree on the vicissitudes of the seasons over which we have no control.

Agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, are all essential to the well being of a country; and the question is not whether an exclusive preference should be given to any one of these branches of industry, but what are the proportions which they should bear to each other in order to conduce most to the prosperity of the community.

Caroline. That is all I ask. I never imagined that every other interest should be sacrificed to that of agriculture but I feel persuaded that in this country at least, trade and manufactures meet with greater encouragement than agriculture.

Mrs B. That is a point on which I cannot pretend to decide; and when you are a little better acquainted with the subject, you will be more aware of its difficulty.

446. What instances are there in which machinery is subservient to the purposes of agriculture?-447. Why is not machinery as susceptible of being applied to rural occupations as to the arts?448. What does Mrs B. say is a proper question in relation to agriculture, manufactures, and commerce?