BRITISH AND FRENCH AGRICULTURE. 167 



carried to its utmost development. The work of carting 

 the immense quantity of beetroot to the distillery is 

 facilitated by a portable tramway, which is laid down as 

 required to any part of the land from which the roots 

 are being drawn. The liquid residuum from the process 

 of distilling is said to possess considerable manurial 

 value, and this is conveyed back to the land by an 

 elaborate system of movable conduit pipes. The pulp 

 is stored in pits and used for stock feeding. The working 

 oxen, of which there are sixty, are mainly fed on this 

 pulp, with some green fodder and straw. A considerable 

 breadth of land is devoted to lucerne, a crop which the 

 Vicomte values highly. It is sown with oats and left 

 down for five years. Among the many interesting 

 features of this estate some admirably constructed open 

 sheds, serving either as Dutch barns, or for sheltering 

 waggons and machinery, were especially noticeable. 



The diversity of farm practice, which may be met with 

 even during a short and restricted tour in northern France, 

 is remarkable. For miles along the coast one sees 

 undulating downs, reminding one of Wiltshire or Dorset- 

 shire, save for the fact that they comprise so much more 

 arable land. Then again, one crosses a wide plateau, 

 covered, as far as eye can reach, with golden corn, with 

 interstices of sainfoin, clover, or beetroot, and now and 

 again a brown patch of colza, or a ruddy oasis of buck- 

 wheat. Then the road dips suddenly into a valley, along 

 which a stream flows, edged by two narrow meadows of 

 rich grass. Or one finds, as between Mantes and La 

 Roche Guyon, for example, a rich plain by the river 

 edged with low southern-fronting hills, where la petite 

 culture flourishes, and the land looks like a patchwork 

 quilt with small plots of vines standing prominently 

 amidst a variety of other field and garden crops. 



The numbers of farm live stock in France and the 

 United Kingdom respectively are shown in the following 

 table :— 



