Complete Works of Helvétius

wealthy landowners from remaining in the countryside. As for the less affluent landowners who are obliged to stay there, they are in the same situation as the peasant.

One must therefore begin the entire treatise on agriculture with a treatise on finance and government to make the inhabitant of the countryside wealthier. Let it be in his interest to be industrious, and leave that interest to work; you can be sure that he will cultivate the land well. It is then that the insights of physiciens natural scientists could be useful to farmers. If one does not begin by putting the inhabitants of the countryside at ease, and if the wealthy landowners have no interest in living on their lands, I then regard everything that is said about agriculture as useless. It is like a man who would make a very beautiful machine, but who, when it