383 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



THE IMPEDIMENTS TO THE ADVANCE OF AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE. 



If the art of agriculture needed any proof of the 

 paramount importance it possesses in the economy of 

 society, a very striking one might be adduced from the 

 jealous anxiety and care manifested by all the ruling 

 powers, in respect of questions and measures bearing 

 upon the food of the communities over whose destinies 

 they preside. Happily for us, that great interest is 

 finally adjusted in our country; and no one can say 

 but it has hitherto worked satisfactorily, either from its 

 own intrinsic merits, or from a concourse of favourable 

 though may be fortuitous circumstances. 



In France a different principle has been acted upon. 

 A complete liberty is established on one side, whilst on 

 the other a strict prohibition is maintained ; or in other 

 words, foreign agricultural produce is admitted free, or 

 next to free, whilst native produce must be sold and 

 consumed in the home markets. 



It is now seven years since this policy was introduced, 

 and a fresh decree, dated from the camp at Chalons, 

 prorogues these regulations to the 30th of September 

 1858; so that, up to the expiration of that period, corn 

 of every description, potatoes, and even chesnuts grown 

 upon the French territory, cannot be exported. Even 

 grain reaped upon French soil cannot be distilled. 



At first sight this regulation appears both unjust and 

 impolitic, for nothing can be more unfair than a 

 partiality, which opens the market to foreign produce, 

 and prohibits the export of native ; but after a little 

 calm consideration, the measure must appear harm- 

 less, inasmuch as it scarcely can exercise any cifect 

 whatever upon the market. For if there is plenty at 

 home, cheapness mustensue, and the market from its low 

 rates cannot encourage foreign produce to appear; and 

 as long as the demand is equal to the supply, the native 

 produce always finds a ready local market, at a price 

 which freedom of export could not enhance. It would 

 be in the case of an extraordinary superabundance alone 

 that the opening of the ports should be made free, after 

 a certain provision for the contingency of barren 

 years had been effected, in order to give an outlet to 

 the overflowing plenty of a good harvest. But such 

 a contingency, likely as it might appear, from the 

 enormous surface of cultivated soil, and its natural 

 fertility in France, is as remote as anything can be. 



Hitherto the French Government have confined their 

 efforts to mere external measures, tending to stimulate 

 progress among agriculturists by means of liberal prizes 

 at district and general shows, rewards in the shape of 

 medals, crosses of the Legion of Honour, pieces of plate, 

 and so forth. But it is only land proprietors and amateur 

 agriculturists who have vied for these honours. The 

 mass of the farmers have remained inert, as if these 

 solemnities, these prizes, these rewards, had nothing 

 to do with their class, and were solely intended for 

 their betters. Prejudice, ignorance, and poverty weigh 

 them down as a ponderous incubus, which mere exter- 



nal and mediate i-emedies will never remove, and 

 which the exclusive protection so carefully bestowed 

 upon the manufacturing interest — a protection which 

 tends to enhance the price of all the raw materials of 

 agriculture — is only rendering heavier and more sted- 

 fastly fixed every day. 



A few instances of the difficulties with which French 

 agriculture has to contend will suffice to illustrate the 

 foregoing propositions. A recent tour and a lengthened 

 stay through the principal agricultural districts of France 

 have enabled us to collect facts, the authenticity of 

 which we can safely guarantee. 



In the first place, the leases are so framed, so clogged 

 with senseless and mischievous restrictions on the part 

 of the landlords, that the wonder is there are tenants 

 to be found to accept their terms, and that crops, 

 sufficient to pay the rent, can be grown. Will it be 

 credited in England that in many districts, especially 

 in Normandy, one of the most fertile and enlightened 

 provinces of France, there are to be found leases strictly 

 forbidding the cultivation of root crops, and making 

 ploughing at a greater depth than three inches a breach 

 of covenant, liable to instant discharge and other penal- 

 ties. The effect of this is that the land, generally un- ' 

 drained, remains weedy and stifi"; the unfortunate 

 farmer is obliged to plough it in high ridges, merely 

 scratching the surface, except in the furrows, where, to 

 obtain an open drain, he pares off the sod, and throws 

 it back again upon either side of the ridge. Owing to 

 the high price of iron, so jealously protected by the 

 French Government, the harrows used are of the rudest 

 and most inefficient description, and are entirely made 

 of wood. The rollers are sometimes made of stone, but 

 generally of wood also ; and the ploughs themselves 

 are rarely made of iron, the mould-board being gene- 

 rally made of wood, the share being alone furnished 

 with iron. 



English implements, owing to custom-house restric- 

 tions, duties, and annoyances, are next to prohibited, 

 the expense attending their import being nearly equal 

 to 25 per cent. 



As regards manure, the peasants, as a rule, never 

 buy any ; in fact, they cannot do it. Still their flocks 

 and herds do not supply them with a sufficient quan- 

 tity. The effect of this is plain enough. Their lands 

 become more and more impoverished ; and not having 

 the resource of root crops and artificial manures, they 

 are obliged to fallow their lands, which, being neither 

 ploughed-up nor drained, are soon covered with a 

 closely-netled web of various herbs, upon which they 

 graze their cattle ; so that their land is even debarred 

 from the benefits of the fallow system. 



The use of salt as manure is a matter of utter impos- 

 sibility in France ; that substance is the object of a high 

 monopoly on the part of the State, and is so dear that 

 it is an item upon which the economy of housewives is 



