How much do the productive powers of the nations already owe tothe importation of foreign breeds of animals and to the improvementof the native breeds; and how much has yet to be done in thisrespect! All the silkworms of Europe are derived from a few eggs,which (under Constantine) were brought to Constantinople in hollowsticks, by Greek monks from China, where their exportation wasstrictly prohibited.France is indebted to the importation of theThibet goat for a beautiful product of her industry.It is verymuch to be regretted, that hitherto the breeding and improving ofanimals has been chiefly carried on in order to satisfy therequirements of luxury, and not in order to promote the welfare ofthe large masses.The descriptions of travellers show that in somecountries of Asia a race of cattle has been seen which combinesconsiderable draught power with great swiftness of pace, so thatthey can be used with almost the same advantage as horses forriding and driving.What immense advantages would such a breed ofcattle confer on the smaller agriculturists of Europe! What anincrease in means of subsistence, productive power, andconvenience, would the working classes thereby obtain! But even farmore than by improved breeds, and importation from one country intoanother of various animals, has the productive power of the humanrace been increased by the improvement and importation of trees andplants.This is at once evident, if we compare the original plantsas they have sprung from the bosom of nature, with their improvedspecies.How little do the primitive plants of the various speciesof corn and of fruit trees, of edible vegetables and of the olive,resemble in form and utility their improved offspring! What massesof means of nourishment, of enjoyment, and comfort, and whatopportunities for the useful application of human powers, have beenderived from them! The potato, the beet-root, the cultivation ofroot crops for cattle, together with the improved systems ofmanuring and improved agricultural machines, have increasedten-fold the returns of agriculture, as it is at present carried onby the Asiatic tribes.
Science has already done much with regard to the discovery ofnew plants and the improvement of them; but governments have notyet devoted to this important object so much attention as theyought to have done, in the interests of economy.Quite recently,species of grass are said to have been discovered in the savannasof North America, which from the poorest soil yield a higherproduce than any fodder plants, which are as yet known to us, dofrom the richest soil.It is very probable that in the wild regionsof America, Asia, Africa, and Australia, a quantity of plants stillvegetate uselessly, the transplantation and improvement of whichmight infinitely augment the prosperity of the inhabitants oftemperate climates.
It is clear that most of the improvements and transportationsof animals and vegetables, most of the new discoveries which aremade with respect to them, as well as all other progress,inventions, and discoveries, are chiefly calculated to benefit thecountries of the temperate zone, and of those most of all, themanufacturing countries.
NOTES:
1.Esprit des Lois, Livre xx.chap.xxiii.
2.According to Chardin, the Guebres, an unmixed tribe of the oldPersians, are an ugly, deformed, and clumsy race, like all nationsof Mongol descent, while the Persian nobility, which for centurieshas intermarried with Georgian and Circassian women, isdistinguished for beauty and strength.Dr Pritchard remarks thatthe unmixed Celts of the Scottish highlands are far behind theScottish Lowlanders (descendants of Saxons and Celts) in height,bodily power, and fine figure.Pallas makes similar observationsrespecting the descendants of the Russians and Tartars incomparison with the unmixed tribes to which they are related.Azaraaffirms that the descendants of the Spaniards and the natives ofParaguay are a much more handsome and powerful race of men thantheir ancestors on both sides.The advantages of the crossing ofrace are not only apparent in the mixing of different nations, butalso in the mixing of different family stocks in one and the samenation.Thus the Creole negroes far surpass those negroes who havesprung from unmixed tribes, and who have come direct from Africa toAmerica, in mental gifts as well as in bodily power.TheCaribbeans, the only Indian race which chooses regularly its womenFrom neighbouring tribes, are in every respect superior to allother American tribes.If this is a law of nature, the rise andprogress which the cities of the Middle Ages displayed shortlyafter their foundation, as well as the energy and fine bodilyappearance of the American people, are hence partly explained.