'I! " Christopher Brown--an English Farmer in Brandenburg.Prussia in the Eighteenth Century By HANS-HEINRICH MfJLLER NGLAND in the eighteenth century undoubtedly had the most ad- vanced and modern system of agriculture in Europe, despite consider- E able regionalvariations. Its leading position was generally acknowledged on the continent of Europe. J. H. G. Justi, the well-known German student of "public affairs, expressed it thus in I76I : "England is the only country in Europe that can boast of having improved its agriculture and the cultivation of its soil beyond that of any other European nation. The condition of English agricul- ture, compared with that of our own, is like light contrasted with shade."x Many other farmers and economists in Germany, France, and other countries were of the same opinion as Justi. English agriculture clearly served as the model that enlightened farmers most wished to emulate. After 175o, as prices rose with the onset of agricultural prosperity, it became increasingly evident that output could not keep pace with growing demand, and so the English improvements began to be adopted in feudal Germany. English influence in Germany was first evident in the translation of English books. In 175o the first translations of works by Samuel Trowell and Philip Miller appeared. Two. years later followed Tull's Horse-hoeing Husbandry, published in German as Essays on Agriculture. Subsequently, translations rapidly in- creased in number. 2 The writer most widely read in Germany, as on the whole of the European continent, was Arthur Young, whose descriptions of English and Irish agriculture found their way to Germany in the 'seventies. Strange to say, few translations were published in Brandenburg-Prussia, although the Prussian government gave considerable support to the intro- duction of English farming methods. However, some important works were printed in Prussia. In 1777 Young's Political Arithmetic appeared in K6nigs- berg. Count yon Podewils at Gusow, a farmer who was greatly admired by Albrecht Thaer, and to whom we owe one of the few descriptions of farming on a manor east of the Elbe, 3 produced two important translations of William 1 CL J. H. G. yon Justl, Von denen Hinternissen einer bliihenden Landwirtschaft, I76I. 2 Cf. Appendix. z Graf yon Podewils, Wirtschafts-Erfahrungen in den Giitern Gusow und Platkow, 4 parts, Berlin, I8oi-4. 120 CHRISTOPHER BROWN IN BRANDENBURG-PRUSSIA 121 Marshall's books on agriculture in the counties of Norfolk (i797), and York- shire (i8oo). His father, Count Otto Christopher von Podewils, was for many years an envoy of Frederick II in Petrograd, The Hague, and Vienna, and a private minister of state and war minister. He had already employed certain English agricultural methods at Gusow and Platkow (Oderbruch) in the 'seventies, especially extending the cultivation of clover? In the early 'sixties Johann Christopher W611ner translated Francis Home's The Principles of Agriculture and Vegetation, which appeared in its third edition in x782. W611ner was the son of a Brandenburg country parson, and was himself a private tutor and tenant on Itzenplitz's manor, Great Behnitz, in Havelland, and a progressive farmer. He became a teacher of Frederick William II, and an influential reactionary minister. Thus he was one of those peculiar eigh- teenth-century figures who represented in an unusually clear manner declining feudalism together with the kaleidoscopic brilliance of its contrary tendencies. He was instrumental in the adoption and spread of many English ideas in Prussia. In the preface to Home's Prin@les, he impressively describes the superiority of England's capitalistic agriculture, refers to the advantages of its consolidated estates and the new intensive crop rotations, and recommends the cultivation of lucerne and turnips. The supposed advantages of Prussian agri- culture, resulting from its continued system of feudal legal rights, were sub- jected to devastating criticism. In his Guide for a Small but Select Library... of the Best Boobs on Agriculture, which was an annotated agricultural biblio- graphy, the English were represented as "the masters of agriculture. ''~ The bibliography itself opens with a review of two English works: A Compleat Body of Husbandry by Thomas Hale (London, I756 ) and Mortimer's The Whole Art of Husbandry or the Way of Managing and Improving of Land (London, I7Zi). 3 Both books were also translated into German. The former, especially, was in W611ner's estimation: "a book of husbandry, which, because of its great quali- ties, leaves all other celebrated economic texts far behind." Even more signifi- cant is W611ner's work: The Abolition of Commons in the Electorate of Branden- burg, considered in the Light of its great Agricultural Advantages (Berlin, I766 ), which he dedicated in a French translation to the Prussian king. 4 It is infused with the spirit of English agrarian progress. By countless examples drawn from English agriculture--"the high school of agriculture," as he called it--he con- vincingly defended the enclosure of commons and showed its importance for 1 'Naehricht fiir die Gusowsche Wirtschaft', in Annalen des Ackerbaues, ed. A. Thaer, vol. I, Vienna-Berlin, I8o5, p. 438 If. 2 j. C. W611ner, Unterricht zu einer kleinen aber auserlesenen Bibliothek bestehend in einer Anzeige der besten 6konomischen Biicher und deter vornehrnsten in gr6sseren Werken zerstreut befindlichen Abhandhmgen iiber alle Teile tier Landwirtschaft, pt I, Berlin, r764, p. 5. a The first English edition of Mortimer was published in I7o7. 4 The German title was Die Aufhebung der Gemeinheiten in der Mark Brandenburg nach ihren grossen gkonomischen Vorteilen betrachtet, Berlin, I766. '!l i: 122 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW the cukivation of green fodder and root crops, and for the introduction of new systems of cukivation. The work undoubtedly had a great effect on Frederick II, and a lasting influence on Prussian legislation on enclosures. Having the best examples of improvement in England in mind, Frederick II repeatedly designated "everything that goes by the name of commons" as detrimental to the public good, and urged their abolition..~d from about 1769 onwards the pace of enclosure was noticeably accelerated, at least on the estates of the nobility and the crown. Finally, it should be mentioned that W611ner, in his Essay on the Manuring of Fields without Manure (i774) , gave an account of Tull's efforts and proclaimed himself a pioneer of manuring with marl. 1 The English literature on husbandry was also reflected in the numerous journals which appeared; several in Hanover were particularly assiduous in spreading news of agricultural improvements. Indeed, Hanover may be seen as the port of entry for English influence3 Familiarity with English agricukural literature prompted both farmers and the Prussian government to imitate the English example. This, of course, pro- duced sharp differences of opinion about methods of practical application, but it also aroused the desire for some first-hand knowledge of English farming. In 1764 Frederick II expressed the wish that "young people of intelligence and understanding, with agricultural abilities and interests" should go to England to gain an exact knowledge of English farming? He commissioned the ap- propriate authorities, particularly the Chamber of the Electorate of Branden- burg, to choose suitable people from the ranks of crown tenants, including sons of well-known tenants, who would be prepared to spend an extended period in England. Crown tenants, or rather, prospective crown tenants, were deliber- ately given preference. The young men chosen for the journey were called "apprentices" and on their return were to introduce on to royal estates the farming methods they had learnt from their own observations; they were, of course, wealthy, enterprising, educated farmers, who in their own interests were much more likely to co-operate with the king's intentions to improve Prussian farming than were the members of the aristocracy, whom Frederick considered "too conservative. ''~ Thus in 1765-6, at the king's expense, four 1 The German title was Versuch zur Diingung des Ackers ohne Diingung, 1774. 2 Cf. G. Schr6der-Lembke, 'Englische Einfliisse auf die deutsche Gutswirtschaft im 18. Jahr- hundert', in Zeitschriftfiir Agrargeschichte undAgrarsoziologie, I, 1964, p. 3o ft. 3 The descriptions of English farming in Brandenburg-Prussia are taken from sources in the German Central Archives, Merseburg section: Gen. Dir., Gen. Dep., Tit. LxnI, No. 4, Tit. LXXX, No. I; Gen. Dir. Kurmark, Tit. xlx, No. I, Tit. vI, No. 8, Tit. LXI, Nos. I-3, Tit. LXVII, NO. 15, Tit. LXXlII, NOS. 1-2. Also the Potsdam State Archive, Rep 2, DI8oI, DI819-1823, D1833-I834, D1264I-I2643, DI468o. 4 Cf. H.-H. Miiller, 'Dom~inen und Dom~inenpiichter in Brandenburg-Preussen im 18. Jahr- hundert', Jahrbuchfiir Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 1965, pt 4, P. 171 ft.; W. Mertineit: Die Frideridanische Verwaltung in Ostpreussen, Heidelberg, 1958, p. I 12. i j CHRISTOPHER BROWN IN BRANDENBURG-PRUSSIA 123 sons of tenants toured the English counties of Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Derby- shire, Herefordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, North- amptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, and Yorkshire. They prolonged their stay at three farms, at Weymor Grange near Ludlow in Herefordshire, at Chapel Town near Leeds in Yorkshire, and at Battersea near London, which belonged to the famous gardener, de la Rocque. In frequent reports to the Feudal Chamber and the Silesian minister, yon Schlabrendorf, the four travellers gave detailed information about the impres- sive condition of English farming1: they described systems of cultivation, especially alternate husbandry, infield-outfield, and common-field cultivation, methods of cultivating cereals, green fodder, and root crops; harvesting methods; the use of old and up-to-date implements, cattle-breeding, dairy- farming, and feeding methods; conditions of tenure; the pay and conditions of farm workers; and also some urban industries. The first consequence of this journey was an increase in the cultivation of green fodder and root crops.