spring is ninety-nine Fahrenheit, it contains 1.83 per cent. of saline matter. It may seem extraordinary that the waters at Moutiers, which have only half the strength of sea-water, should repay the expense of evaporation; but the process by which it is effected is both simple and ingenious, and might be introduced with great advantage on many parts of our own coast, should the salt-duty be entirely removed. It is obvious that water, so weakly impregnated with salt as to contain only one pound and a half in every thirteen gallons, could not repay the expense of evaporating by fuel in any country. The water of the north-sea contains two and a quarter per cent. of salt, and yet it has never been attempted, to make salt from it by evaporation with coal-fires, even on the coast of Northumberland or Durham, where refuse coal, suited to the purpose, might be purchased for one shilling and sixpence per ton. In order to make salt from the saline water at Moutiers, it was necessary to concentrate it by natural evaporation; and to effect this speedily, it was required to spread the surface of the fluid over as large a space as possible, the ratio of evaporation being, cæteris paribus, in proportion to the extent of the surface exposed to the action of the atmosphere. The first attempt at Moutiers was made in 1550, by arranging pyramids of rye-straw in open galleries, and letting the water trickle through the straw gradually and repeatedly. This was abandoned, and faggots of thorns were substituted: these faggots are suspended on frames, the water is raised to their height, and spread by channels so as to trickle through them: it passes through three separate sets of frames of thorns, and has then become so concentrated as to contain nearly 22 per cent. of salt; it is then boiled in pans in the usual manner. Evaporating on vertical cords, erected in a house open on all sides, is a third method, which succeeds even better than the mode by thorns. The water, by repeatedly passing over the cords, is found in forty-five days to deposit all its salt on them, and the saline cylinder is then broken off. The cords are renewed once in twenty or thirty years, and the faggots once in seven years. Minute details of these simple but very ingenious processes will be found in the very scientific Travels of Bakewell. (Vol. i. 230.) SECT. III. Of the present State of Agriculture in France. 375. The first agricultural survey of France was made in 1787, 8 and 9. by the celebrated Arthur Young. Since that period no similar account has been published either in France or England; but several French writers have given the statistics and culture of different districts, as the Baron de la Peyrouse; and others, general views of the whole kingdom, as the Abbe Rozier, and Professor Thouin. From such works, some recent tours of Englishmen, and our own observations in 1815 and 1819, we have drawn the following outline of it progress since the time of Louis XIV.; its general circumstances in respect to agriculture; its common agriculture; its culture of vines and maize; and its culture of olives and oranges. SUBSECT. 1. Progress of French Agriculture from the time of Louis XIV. to the present Time. $74. That France is the most favorable country in Europe for agriculture is the opinion beth of Professor Thouin and Arthur Young. Its climates are in great variety, and all excellent; and its soils are not less varied than its climates. It admits of the culture of most of the useful plants, and of the rearing of most of the profitable animals. It has a numerous population for home consumption, and rivers and sea-shores favorable for exportation. 375. French agriculture began to florish in the beginning of the seventeenth century, under Henry IV., and its precepts at that time were published in the work of Olivier de Serres. In 1621, great quantities of corn were exported to England, in consequence of a wise ordinance of Sully, permitting a free commerce in corn. In 1641, the draining of fens and bogs was encouraged; and in 1756, the land-tax taken off newly brokenup lands for the space of twenty years. Colbert, during the minority of Louis XIV., prohibited the exportation of corn, and checked the progress of its culture. This circumstance, and the wars of that king, greatly discouraged agriculture, and produced several dearths. Fleury, under Louis XV., was not favorable to agriculture; but in 1754, an act was passed for a free corn trade, which effected its revival. The economists at this time, however mistaken in their views, inspired a taste for the art; and agricultural societies were first established in France under the patronage and at the expense of government. In 1761, there were thirteen of such societies in France, and nineteen co-operating societies. Those of Paris, Lyons, Amiens, and Bourdeaux, have distinguished themselves by their published memoirs. At Tours a georgical society was established, and directed by the Marquis of Tourbili, a patriot and agricultural writer. Du Hamel and Buffon gave eclât to the study of rural economy, and many other writers might be mentioned as having contributed to its improvement. M. de Trudaine introduced the Merino breed of sheep in 1776, and Comte Lasteyrie has studied that breed in Spain, and written a valuable work on the subject. $76. Agriculture in France was not altogether neglected during the revolution. Buonaparte established many new agricultural societies and professorships; botanic and economical gardens for the exhibition of different modes of culture, and the dissemination of plants; and he greatly enlarged and enriched that extensive institution, "the national garden," whose professor of culture, the Chevalier Thouin, is one of the most scientific agriculturists in Europe. But after all this exterior show, Chateauvieux seems correct in stating that little was gained to the art either from these institutions, or political changes. The domains seised by the nation, he says, were sold at a low price, and a great many proprietors created, the greater number of whom do the labor of their farms for their own profit or subsistence. "It is probable, in time, these families may enjoy the state of prosperity which they expect to derive from their new situations, F The but, at present, they have done nothing for the improvement of agriculture. national property is not in sufficient estimation in public opinion to have attracted the manufacturing capital necessary to call forth its real value. This is every where perceptible in France: it is neglected, the buildings are badly kept up, the enclosures broken down, the young trees in the orchards destroyed, the dressed vines in ruins. We see, every where, the purchasers too much in haste to take possession, the natural consequence of the circumstances in which they were placed; in short, it appears incontestable, that within the last twenty years the lay purchasers have cultivated the land worse than when it was in the hands of the monks; even then, when time, which influences every thing, shall have given the purchasers a secure possession, I doubt whether the class of proprietor cultivators will effect any useful improvements in the land. Every thing requisite is wanting to accomplish it, talent and capital. These little farmers seem placed in a country to check the progress of innovation, and to prevent all improvement in agriculture. 377. That there has been considerable improvement in France, he continues, “cannot, however, be doubted; but it is entirely produced by persons who have been thrown out of their situations by the revolution, and whose exertions and leisure have been directed to agriculture. They have spread a taste for it from one to another, in consequence of the success of their experiments; but still I cannot think it has been effected by throwing national domains into the capital of the nation." (Letters, &c.) 378. M. Chateauvieux is an agriculturist of great experience, and an able political economist. He has been in most parts of Europe at different times, and seems a very impartial writer: his opinion, therefore, as to French agriculture may be considered as the nearest the truth of any that has yet appeared. SUBSECT. 2. Of the general Circumstances of France in respect to Agriculture. 379. The surface of France has been divided by geographers into what are called basins, or great plains, through which flow the principal rivers, and which basins are separated by original or secondary ridges of mountains. The chief basins are that of the Loire, (fig. 48. a); of the Seine, (b); of the Garonne, (c); and of the Rhone and Saone, (d). (Journal de Physique, tom. xxx.) 380. The soil of France has been divided by A. Young into the mountainous district of Languedoc and Provence (e); the loany district of Lemosin (f); the chalky districts of Champagne and Poitiers (g); the gravelly district of Bourbonnois (h); the stony district of Lorraine and Franche Comte (i); the rich loam of Picardy and Guyenne (k); and the heathy surface on gravel, or gravelly sand of Bretagne and Gascoigne (1). (Agr. France, chap. ii.) 381. The climate of France has been most ingeniously divided by A. Young into that of corn and common British agriculture, (fig. 48. l, b, k); that of vines, mulberries, and common culture (y, a, h, g, i); that of vines, mulberries, maize, and common culture (c,f,d,i,); that of olives, vines, mulberries, maize, oranges, and common culture (o e). It is singular that these zones (m m, n n, and o o) do not run parallel to the degrees of latitude, but obliquely to them to such an extent that the climate for vines leaves off at 47 on the west coast (y m), but extends to 49 on the east (g m). These zones, as may naturally be expected, extend into Germany, in which the vine is cultivated as far north as lat. 522. 382. The central climate, that admits vines without being hot enough for maize, (y, a,k,g, i), Young considers as the finest in the world, and the most eligible part of France or of Europe as to soil. "Here," he says, "you are exempt from the extreme humidity which gives verdure to Normandy and England; and yet equally free from the burning heats which turn verdure itself into a russet brown: no ardent rays that oppress with their fervor in summer, nor pinching tedious frosts that chill with their severity in winter, but a light, pure, elastic air, admirable for every constitution except consumptive ones." This climate, however, has its drawbacks; and is so subject to violent storms of rain and hail, that "no year ever passes without whole parishes suffering to a degree of which we in Britain have no conception." It has been calculated, that in some provinces the damage from hail amounts, on an average of years, to one-tenth of the whole produce. Spring frosts are sometimes so severe as to kill the broom: few years pass that they do not blacken the first leaves of the walnut trees; the fig-trees are protected with straw. $83. Of the vine and maize climates (c, f, d, i), some account is given by M. Picot, baron de Peyrouse, an extensive and spirited cultivator. He kept an accurate account of the state of the crops and seasons in his district for twenty years from 1800; and the result is, that he has had twelve years of fair average crops; four years most abundant; and four years attended with a total loss. 384. In the olive climate (o, e) insects are incredibly numerous and troublesome, and the locust is injurious to corn crops; but both the olive and maize district have this advantage, that two crops a year, or at least three in two years, may be obtained. The orange is cultivated in so small a proportion of the olive climate as scarcely to deserve notice. The Caper (Capparis spinosa) (fig. 49.) is also an article of field culture, and the Fig. 385. The climate of Picardy and Normandy is the nearest to that of England, and is rather superior. The great advantage France possesses over Britain in regard to climate is, that by means of the vine and olive, as valuable produce may be raised on rocky wastes as on rich soils. (Young's France, ch. iii.) 386. The lands of France are not generally enclosed and subdivided by hedges or other fences. Some fences are to be seen near towns, and in the northern parts of the kingdom more especially, but in general the whole country is open; the boundaries of estates being marked by slight ditches or ridges, with occasional stones or heaps of earth, rows of trees, or occasional trees. Depredations from passengers on the highways are prevented by gardes champêtre, which are established throughout all France. Farms are sometimes compact and distinct, but generally scattered, and often alternating in the common field manner of England, or run-rig, of Scotland. From the operation of the present law of inheritance, estates and farms are continually breaking down into smaller divisions, so that the number of farms may be said to encrease every year. The farm-houses of large farms are generally placed on the farm; of smaller ones in villages often at some distance from the lands. 387. The value of landed property is in general lower than in England, being at present (1823) sold from twenty-two to twenty-six years' purchase. 388. The farming of lands in France, according to Professor Thouin, naturally divides itself into three kinds: 1. The grand culture, in which from two to twelve ploughs are employed, and corn chiefly cultivated. 2. The middle culture, including the metayers who also grow corn, but more frequently rear live stock, maintain a dairy, or produce silk, wine, cider, or oil, according to the climate in which they may be situated: and 3. The minor culture, or that which is done by manual labor, and into which live stock or corns do not enter. The middle culture is by far the most common. There are very few farms of six or eight ploughs in France, and equally few farmers who do not labor in person at all times of the year. It is acknowledged by Professor Thouin, that each of these divisions is susceptible of very great improvement. SUBSECT. 3. Of the common Farming of France. $89. The corn farming in France is carried on in the best manner in Picardy and Alsace. The first may be considered as equally well cultivated with Suffolk; and the Their crops are wheat, latter produces three crops in two years, or five in three years. beans, turnips, maize, and buckwheat. The rotations are, generally, two corn crops and a fallow, or an alternation of corn and green or pulse crops, without a naked fallow. In the heath district, broom enters into the rotation for fuel, and is cut the fourth year; buckwheat is also extensively sown, and rye and oats. After lands have borne crops, it is usual to let them rest a year or two, during which they produce nothing but grass and weeds, and they are afterwards broken up with a naked fallow. Potatoes enter more or less into the field culture of the greater part of France, and especially of the northern districts; but in Provence and Languedoc they are still little known. Irrigation, both of arable and grass lands, is adopted wherever it is practicable. It is most common in the south, and remarkably well conducted in the lands round Avignon, formerly for many miles the property of the church. 390. The meadows of France contain nearly the same herbage, plants, and grasses as those of England; but though clovers and lucerne are cultivated in many places, yet rye-grass and other grasses, either for hay crops or temporary or permanent pasture, are but rarely resorted to. 391. To sheep the French have paid considerable attention from the time of Colbert; and there are now considerable flocks of short-wooled and Spanish breeds in some places, besides several national flocks. That of Rambouillet (established in 1786 by Louis XIV.) is managed by M. Tessier, a well known writer on agriculture, and when visited by Birkbeck, in 1814, was in excellent order. Sheep are housed, and kept in folds and little yards or enclosures, much more than in England. One-third of the sheep of France are black. Some curious attempts have lately been made to inoculate them for the claveau and the scab, but a definite result has not yet been ascertained, at least as to the latter disease. Birkbeck considers the practice of housing as the cause why the foot-rot is so common a disease among sheep in France. Where flocks remain out all night, the shepherd sleeps in a small thatched hut or portable watchhouse, placed on wheels. He guides the flock by walking before them, and his dog guards the flock from the wolves, which still abound even in Picardy. During summer, and in the hottest districts, they are fed during the night, and housed during the heat of the day. Hay is the general winter food; and in some parts of the Picardy climate, turnips. In 1811, Buonaparte monopolized the breeding of Merinos; and from that time to the passing of an act for the exportation of wool and rams in 1814, they have declined. 392. The beasts of labor are chiefly the ox on small farms, and the horse on the larger. Both are kept under cover the greater part of the year. The breeds of oxen are very various; they are generally cream coloured. The best oxen are in Normandy, which furnishes also the best breed of working horses; as Limousin does those for the saddle. In the south of France the ass and mule are of frequent use in husbandry. There, as in many parts of Italy, the poor people collect the stolones of agrostis, and creeping roots of couch, and sell them in little bundles to the carriers and others who keep road horses. 393. A royal stud of Arabians has been kept up at Aurillac in Limousin, for a century; and another has been lately formed near Nismes, from an extensive importation by an Englishman, purchased by government at great expense. 394. The best dairies are in Normandy; but in this department France does not excel. In the southern districts olive, almond, and poppy oil supply the place of butter; and goats' milk is that used in cookery. 395. Poultry is an important article of French husbandry, and well understood as far as breeding and feeding. Birkbeck thinks the consumption of poultry in towns may be equal to that of mutton. The smallest cottage owns a few hens, and a neat little roost (fig. 50.), in which they pass the night secure from dogs, wolves, and foxes. 396. The breed of swine is in general bad; but excellent hams are sent from Bretagne, from hogs reared on acorns, and fatted off with maize. Pigeon-houses are not uncommon. 397. The management of fish-ponds is well understood in France, owing to fish in all catholic countries being an article of necessity. In the internal district there are many large artificial ponds, as well as natural lakes, where the eel, carp, pike, and a few other species, are reared, separated, and fed, as in the Berkshire ponds in England. 398. The implements and operations of the common farms of France are in general rude. The ploughs of Normandy resemble the large wheel-ploughs of Kent. Those farther south are generally without wheels; often without coulters; and an iron mould-board s rare. In many parts of the south the ploughs have no mouldboard, and turn the earth in the manner of the simplest form of Roman plough. (110.) Harrows are generally wholly of wood; and instead of a roller, a plank is generally used. Large farmers, 50 as in Normandy, plough with four or six oxen: small farmers with two, or even one; or, when stiff soils are to be worked out of season, they join together, and form a team of four or six cattle. Their carts are narrow and long, with low wheels, seldom shod, in the remote parts of the country. The guimbarde of the Seine and Oise (fig. 51.) is a light 51 and useful machine. Corn is reaped with sickles, hooks, the Brabant, and cradle There seythe (fig. 52.). Threshing, in 52 daughters reap, thresh, plough, dig, and perform every part of the farm and garden work indifferently. Such farmers" prefer living in villages; society and the evening dance being nearly as indispensable to them as their daily food. If the farm be distant, the farmer and his servants of all descriptions set off early in the morning in a light waggon, carrying with them their provisions for the day.” (Neill.) Hence it is, that a traveller in France may pass through ten or twenty miles of corn-fields, without seeing a single farm-house. $99. Large farms have generally farmeries on the lands; and there the labor is in great part performed by laborers, who, as well as the tradesmen employed, are paid chiefly in kind. 400. All the plants cultivated in British farming are also grown in that of France; the turnip not generally, and in the warm districts scarcely at all, as it does not bulb; but it is questionable, as Birkbeck remarks, whether, if it did bulb, it would be so valuable in these districts as the lucerne, or clover, which grow all the winter. Of plants not usually cultivated in British farming may be mentioned, the chiccory for green food, fuller's thistle for its heads, furze and broom for green food, madder, tobacco, poppies for oil, rice in Dauphine, but now dropped as prejudicial to health, saffron about Angouleme, lathyrus sativus, the pois Breton or lentil of Spain, lathyrus setifolius, vicia lathyroides, vicia sativa, cicer arietinum, ervum lens, melilotis siberica, coronilla varia, bedysarum coronarium, &c. They have a hardy red wheat, called l'epautre (spelt), said to be a distinct species found wild in Persia by Michaux and Olivier, which grows on the worst soil and climates, and is common in Alsace and Suabia. They grow the millet, the dura or douro of Egypt, (Holcus sorghum, L.) in the maize district. The flowerstalks and spike of this plant are sold at Marseilles and Leghorn, for making chamberbesoms and clothes brushes. The hop is cultivated; the common fruit-trees; and the chestnut is used as food in some places. An oil used as food, and also much esteemed by painters, is made from the walnut. The other fruits of field-culture, as the almond, fig, vine, caper, olive, and orange, belong to the culture of the southern districts. 401. The forest culture of France is scientifically conducted, both in the extensive national forests, and on private estates. The chief object is fuel, charcoal, bark; and next, timber of construction; but in some districts other products are collected, as acorns, mast, nuts, resin, &c. The French and Germans have written more on this department of rural economy than the English. 402. A remarkable feature in the agriculture of France, and of most warm countries, is the use of leaves of trees as food for cattle. Not only are mulberry, olive, poplar, vine, and other leaves gathered in autumn, when they begin to change color, and acquire a sweetness of taste; but spray is cut green in July, dried in the sun or in the shade of trees in woods, faggoted, and stacked for winter use. During that season they are given to sheep and cattle like hay; and sometimes, boiled with grains or bran, to cows. The astringency of some sorts of leaves, as the oak, is esteemed medicinal, especially for sheep. Such are the outlines of that description of agriculture which is practised more or less in all the districts of France. |