of the Neighbourhood of Dijon. 1 ] 5 



game, which consists principally of hares, rabbits, and roe- 

 bucks. It is the principal department in France, in respect 

 to the extent of its forests, and the fifteenth in respect to its 

 cereal productions. It contains many iron mines, coal pits, 

 quarries of marble, porphyry, alabaster, gypsum, &c. It 

 also contains many mineral, as well as saline, springs. All 

 the cereal productions are cultivated ; lentils, melons, truffles, 

 &c. Beet root is cultivated in great quantities, for the pur- 

 pose of manufacturing into sugar. The forests occupy a space 

 of 243,088 hectares, and the vineyards 20,053 hectares. The 

 wines are celebrated in the order following: — Cote de Nuits, 

 la Romanee Conti, la Romanee Saint Vivant, le Clos Vougeot, 

 la Tache, le Chambertin, leTart-sur-Morey, le Saint Jacques- 

 sur-Gevrey, Cote Beaunoise, Vollena}', Pommard, Beaune $ 

 Alaxe (Corton), Savigny Chassague, Monthelie, Auxey, and 

 Santenay. 



The chief town (chef lieu) of the department is Dijon, for- 

 merly the capital of Burgundy, whose population is 25,552 : 

 it is situated in a fertile basin which extends as far as the 

 mountains of Savoy, and is about four miles from the foot of 

 the Cote d'Or. The cathedral is a prominent object on en- 

 tering the town, and is surmounted by a spire 330 ft. high. 

 The botanic garden is as yet in its infancy, and was founded 

 by a M. Legouz. It has two considerable streams of fresh 

 water running through it ; and use is made of them to form 

 artificial marshes, as well as to ornament the grounds. I saw 

 here an experiment which seemed somewhat novel; it was 

 that of grafting the chestnut on the oak : the individuals that 

 I saw seemed to be thriving exceedingly well. The country 

 about Dijon consists principally of chalk, upon which the 

 chestnut will not grow, whilst the oak thrives vigorously. In 

 some of our botanical excursions, a man from the botanic 

 garden accompanied us into the woods, for the purpose of 

 grafting the oak trees. They wish to have the chestnut tree 

 naturalised, as well on account of its fruit as its wood. A 

 museum of natural history is also attached to the garden, of 

 which M. Nodot is curator ; a gentleman of considerable prac- 

 tical knowledge in ornithology and entomology. The mu- 

 seum, as well as the garden, is yet in its infancy. A public 

 promenade, called the Park, is a small enclosure close to the 

 town, planted with trees, and is the favourite resort of the 

 inhabitants of Dijon on a summer's evening. 



A lover of natural history may, however, here find other 

 beauties of nature to admire, than those which she has placed 

 at the head of her innumerable varied forms. In the recesses 

 of the thick plantations is found the ,4'sarum europse N um, to- 



k 2 



