ABSTRACT
Agriculture was encouraged by the official societies, publications and prizes for successful innovations (the improved sugar beet, better fertilizers and feed crops, increased outpUt of grain, new veterinary techniques). Wheat, potato and beet production rose swiftly. Flax and hemp, on the other hand, declined, while the effort to raise home cotton was disappointing. Taking all crops into account, agricultural production under Napoleon seems to have no more than held its own in proportion to the growing population. In fairness it should be added that given the insatiable drain of manpower into the armies of the Empire, the fact that agriculture could even hold its own speaks well for French energy and ingenuity in the face of serious difficulties.
