502 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



opinion that perfection has been reached in either of these arti 

 cles of culture, for to what that is human does that term 

 perfection, in any but the most qualified sense, apply ? but 

 certainly the culture of these articles is pursued with the most 

 exemplary diligence and enterprise I may add, with as much 

 diligence and enterprise as are applied in any cultivation in any 

 country, and with success. 



CXXVIII. FARM NEAR VERSAILLES. 



I shall hereafter recur to the subject of the agriculture of 

 France ; but I may in this place say, that I have met examples 

 of farming in France, which for excellence of culture and 

 arrangement, and the success of the farming, are nowhere within 

 my knowledge exceeded. A farm in the neighborhood of Ver 

 sailles, with the intelligent proprietor of which I had the pleasure 

 of an intimate acquaintance, in its excellent management may 

 be considered as a model farm. It consists of about seven hun 

 dred acres. The husbandry is of a mixed kind ; a large milking 

 stock is kept on the farm, which, though not reared on the farm, 

 are very carefully selected ; and kept and fed in well-arranged 

 and capacious stables, where the best arrangements by gutters 

 and cisterns are made for collecting and saving all the liquid as 

 well as all the solid manure. Abundant crops of lucern are 

 grown both for green feeding and hay, and likewise of sainfoin. 

 Good crops of wheat are likewise raised, and of colza. Carrots 

 are cultivated extensively for the stock ; and potatoes especially 

 for the manufacture of starch. This manufacture, very simple 

 in its character, constitutes a large object of attention ; and what 

 with the potatoes grown upon the place, and those which are 

 purchased, more than one hundred thousand bushels are used in 

 this manufacture in the course of the year. The refuse water or 

 liquor from this fabrication is first collected in tanks or open 

 reservoirs, where it makes a considerable deposit from the matter 

 still floating in it. The liquid portions are conveyed by small 

 channels or canals on to the grass-fields, which are thus irrigated, 

 and the solid portions are taken out and spread. The effect of 

 this manure is extremely beneficial, and it scarcely differs in 

 strength from the best animal or stable manure. 



