have no doubt that, if the same quantity of agricultural labour as is
employed in France, were here bestowed upon an area equal to the French
territory, the quantity of produce would fully equal that of France.
Timber, coal, iron, and other useful minerals, abound; the harbours and
rivers teem with fish; cattle of all sorts thrive and multiply with
astonishing rapidity; every fruit that flourishes in Spain and Italy
comes to the highest perfection; and Nature fully performs her part in
bestowing upon man the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life.


_Value of Land, &c._

I was told that an estate of 10,000 acres might be obtained for a mere
trifle. This was true. I have got 20,000 acres, and they did not cost
me more than 2s. per acre. But I imagined that a domain of that extent
would be very valuable. In this I was wholly mistaken. As my estate
cost me next to nothing, so it is worth next to nothing. It is a noble
property to look at; and "20,000 acres in a ring fence," sounds very
well in England; but here, such a property possesses no exchangeable
value. The reason is plain: there are millions upon millions of acres,
as fertile as mine, to be had for nothing; and, what is more, there
are not people to take them. Of my 20,000 acres I reckon about 5,000
to be woodland, though, indeed, there are trees scattered over the
whole property, as in an English park. For my amusement, I had a rough
estimate made of the money that I could obtain for all this timber,
were it growing in any part of England. The valuation amounts to above
£150,000.


_Building_.