36 Afjriculhiral Implements and Produce. 



prodiuts. In France the vegetable products form four-sixtl;s of 

 the whole, and the animal products two-sixths only ; showing at 

 first sight, an exhausting cultivation, and one at least stationary. 

 In the United Kingdom the animal products are equal to the 

 vegetable. Thus the animal products alone of an English farm 

 are equal to the entire products, animal and vegetable, of a French 

 farm of the same extent. 



Sheep. 



"The most remarkable feature of British farming, In com- 

 parison with that of France, is the number and quality of the 

 sheep. According to the statistical returns and estimates, the 

 number of sheep in France and in England is about equal, about 

 35,000,000 of. sheep in France and 35,000,u00 in England. But 

 this apparent equality conceals an inequality the most marked. 

 35,000,000 of slieep in the United Kingdom live on 31,000,000 

 hectares of land. 35,000,000 of sheep in France live on 53,000,000 

 hectares. France, in order to have as many sheep in proportion 

 as the United Kingdom, ought to have 60,000,000. If the com- 

 parison is made with En2:land alone, the difference is far greater'. 

 England feeds 30,000,000 of sheep on 15,000,000 hectares of 

 land ; that is, proporticmally, three times as many as France. 



" But the great difference is in the quality of the sheep, upon 

 the breeding and improving of which, with a view to weight and 

 early maturity, so nmch care and attention has been bestowed. 

 The weight of an English sheep is twice that of a French sheep ; 

 so that an English farm on an equal surface gives six times as 

 much mutton as a French farm. 



Horned Cattle. 



" In the case of cattle, the same care in breeding from selected 

 animals in the United Kingdom, and continually improving the 

 races, in studying meat-producing qualities and early maturity, 

 has effected results similar to tlie results produced in sheep. 

 France possesses 10,000,000 head of cattle, the United Kingdom 

 8,000,000. In France, three products are demanded from cattle 

 — labour, milk, and meat: in England only two — milk and 

 meat. The yield of these two valuable productions is materially 

 interfered with by requiring work also from cattle. It might 

 appear, at first sight, that tlie work of cattle (ould not in an 

 important degree influence the supply of meat, and it is not diffi- 

 cult for people to persuade themselves that labour in utilising the 

 life of an ox enables meat to be sold at a lower price, But expe- 

 rience has proved, that if this is sometimes a truth in detail, it is 

 an error in the gross. 



" T'lic habit of laI;our forms hardv, vigorous rac?s, wliich, like 



