Essays vol 1 | Page 6

marry,) and served not a little to the
establishment of harmony and a friendly intercourse between the
soldiers and the peasantry, and to facilitate recruiting.
Another measure which tended much to render the situation of the
soldier pleasant and agreeable, and to facilitate the recruiting service,
was the rendering the garrisons of the regiments permanent. This
measure might not be advisable in a despotic, or odious government;
for where the authority of the Sovereign must be supported by the
terror of arms, all habits of social intercourse and friendship between
the soldiers and the subjects must be dangerous; but in all
well-regulated governments, such friendly intercourse is attended with
many advantages.
A peasant would more readily consent to his son's engaging himself to
serve as a soldier in a regiment permanently stationed in his

neighbourhood, than in one at a great distance, or whose destination
was uncertain; and when the station of a regiment is permanent, and it
receives its recruits from the district of country immediately
surrounding its head-quarters, the men who go home on furlough have
but a short journey to make, and are easily assembled in case of any
emergency; and it was the more necessary to give every facility to the
soldiers to go home on furlough in Bavaria, as labourers are so very
scarce in that country that the husbandman would not be able without
them to cultivate his ground.
The habits of industry and of order which the soldier acquired when in
garrison, rendered him so much the more useful as a labourer when on
furlough; but not contented with merely furnishing labours for the
assistance of the husbandman, I was desirous of making use of the
army, as a means of introducing useful improvements into the country.
Though agriculture is carried to the highest perfection in some parts of
the Elector's dominions, yet in others, and particularly in Bavaria, it is
still much behind-hand. Very few of the new improvements in that art,
such as the introduction of new and useful plants--the cultivation of
clover and of turnips--the regular succession of crops, etc. have yet
found their way into general practice in that country; and even the
potatoe, that most useful of all the products of the ground, is scarcely
known there.
It was principally with a view to introduce the culture of potatoes in
that country that the military gardens were formed. These gardens (of
which there is one in every garrison belonging to the Elector's
dominion, Dusseldorf and Amberg only excepted[3]) are pieces of
ground, in, or adjoining to the garrison towns, which are regularly laid
out, and exclusively appropriated to the use of the non-commissioned
officers and private soldiers belonging to the regiments in garrison. The
ground is regularly divided into districts of regiments, battalions,
companies, and corporalities (corporalschafts,) of which last divisions
there are four to each company; and the quantity of ground allotted to
each corporality is such that each man belonging to it, whether
non-commissioned officer or private, has a bed 365 square feet in
superficies.
This piece of ground remains his sole property as long as he continues
to serve in the regiment, and he is at full liberty to cultivate it in any

way, and to dispose of the produce of it in any manner he may think
proper. He must however cultivate it, and plant it, and keep it neat and
free from weeds; otherwise, if he should be idle, and neglect it, it would
be taken from him and given to one of his more industrious comrades.
The divisions of these military gardens are marked by broader and
smaller alleys, covered with gravel, and neatly kept; and in order that
every one who chooses it, may be a spectator of this interesting scene
of industry, all the principal alleys, which are made large for that
purpose, are always open as a public walk. The effect which this
establishment has already produced in the short time (little more than
five years) since it was begun, is very striking, and much greater and
more important than I could have expected.
The soldiers, from being the most indolent of mortals, and from having
very little knowledge of gardening, or of the produce of a garden, for
use, are now becoming industrious and skilful cultivators, and they are
grown so fond of vegetables, particularly of potatoes, which they raise
in great quantities, that these useful and wholesome productions now
constitutes a very essential part of their daily food. And these
improvements are also spreading very fast among the farmers and
peasants, throughout the whole country. There is hardly a soldier that
goes on furlough, or that returns home at the expiration of his time of
service, that does not carry with him a few potatoes for planting, and a