EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



NINTH REPORT. 



CXIL FRENCH AGRICULTURE. 



THE agriculture of France is its great and commanding inter 

 est. Its manufactures and commerce are considerable ; but its 

 manufactures are mainly concerned in the fabrication, and its 

 commerce in the transportation and exchange, of the products of 

 its own soil. I should have no difficulty in giving the statistical 

 returns of the agriculture of France j but this comes only in a 

 limited degree within my province, and a long table of mere 

 numbers would convey little instruction to my readers. It is of 

 great advantage to France, however, that it procures these returns 

 regularly ; and thus, as in the late scarcity of grain and in the 

 failure of the potato crop, enabled the government to provide 

 early, with a humane foresight, against the sufferings which were 

 likely to follow. It is sufficient to say that France has nearly 

 thirty-six millions of inhabitants ; and that in ordinary seasons 

 she is able, to a great extent, to feed her own people from her 

 own soil. 



CXIIL -SOIL AND ASPECT. 



The agriculture of a country of necessity corresponds to its 

 climate, soil, and aspect. Besides these physical conditions, it 



