Essays; Political, Economical, and Philosophical — Volume 1

by Graf von Benjamin Rumford

To preserve good order and harmony among those who were detached upon these working parties, a certain proportion of officers and non-commissioned officers were always sent with them, and those commonly served as overseers of the works, and as such were paid.

Besides this permission to work for hire in the garrison towns, and upon detached working parties, which was readily granted to all those who desired it, or at least to as many as could possibly be spared from the necessary service of the garrison; every facility and encouragement was given to the soldier who was a native of the country, and who had a family of friends to go to, or private concerns to take care of, to go home on furlough, and to remain absent from his regiment from one annual exercise to the other, that is to say, ten months and a half each year. This arrangement was very advantageous to the agriculture and manufactures, and even to the population of the country, (for the soldiers were allowed to 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 little collection of garden-seeds; and I have no doubt but in a very few years we shall see potatoes as much cultivated in Bavaria as in other countries; and that the use of vegetables for food will be generally introduced among the common people. I have already had the satisfaction to see little gardens here and there making their appearance, in different parts of the country, and I hope that very soon no farmer's house will be found without one.