28 



The spring here is cold and rainy, the fine season lasts for only a month and a half 

 from June into August. 



The annual mean temperature of Caen is a little higher than that of Paris, which 

 is 10.6° C. The winter on an average is less cold than at Paris and the sunmier is 

 ■not so warm. The predominating winds come from the west, north, and south. 

 Violent storms often desolate the fields at the time of the ei^uinoxes. It rains oftener 

 on the border than in the interior of the department. The rainfall is 74 cm. (29 

 inches) annually, being not quite etjual to the average in France, which is 77 cm. 

 (30 inches). « 



A student of the geolog}^ of Nonnand}-, M. de Ctiumont, has pub- 

 lished a remarkable statement in regard to the influence of the soil 

 upon the quality of these ciders in which he sa3's: 



The quality of the ciders produced upon different soils shows very great differences, 

 as those who use these ciders have been able to determine by comparing the prod- 

 ucts of several cantons. These ciders, like wines, are more or less strong, and one 

 is able to preserve them a greater or less time, according to the soil upon A\hich they 

 were produced. 



If my observations have not deceived me, the presence of fragments of quartz and 

 silicious (flint) rocks in the earth, is very favorable to the production of a good cider, 

 that which above all has the most agreeable taste. Therefore, the Ijest cider prod- 

 ucts in the arrondissements of Bayeux and of Caen are produced upon the mottled 

 sandstone soils, earths covered very often with a great quantity of alluvium, with 

 nodules of quartz and flint, or upon the hard limestones and lower oolite soils of a 

 limestone and clayey character, which are covered up themselves with fragments of 

 quartz and flint, as near Cartigny and the environs of Tsigny, and several communes 

 of the cantons of Crevise, Littry, etc. 



In the arrondissements of Lisieux and Pont I'Eveque the best productions are taken 

 from the chalk formations covered with an argillaceous formation carrying flint 

 nodules in quantity. * * * 



These numerous observations lead us also to think that the apples harvested from 

 a soil where lime is in excess, as upon the great oolite plains of Caen and of Falai.se, 

 are less sugary than these others which grow upon an argillaceous soil. The cider 

 produced from fruits grown upon our limestone plains becomes acid at an earlier 

 stage, and it is very inferior in quality to that made at Bessin and the regions of the 

 chalk substrata like Lisieux and Pont I'Eveque. I have made these observations 

 not only in Calvados, but in the commune of Orne, where the regions vary equally 

 as much in their geologic characters as in Calvados. « 



At Danestal, in Calvados, some daj^s were spent during November 

 observing- the work of the small landed proprietors or peasants (Plate 

 IV), and as this coimtr}- is t,ypical of the very best cider-producing 

 area of France, the soil was carefully examined and its agricultural 

 value ascertained. 



The soil on warm southern and southeastern slopes was very rich in 

 the first reaches above the streams, but grew thinner very markedly 

 toward the summits of the low hills. The best soil was a rich brown 

 loam, showing abundant nodules of flint, and at a depth of 12 inches 

 or more a grayish sand became predominant. Along the upper slopes 

 a gray soft sandstone showed occasionally and seemed to dip down 

 into the hills as though erosion had carried away what was once the 



« Translation from manuscript notes furnished by IM. Truelle. 



