FRANCE. 
w 
. have been very partially enforced; so that some of the 
best roads in France, undet'the old government, have 
fallen into complete disrepair. This has 
boundaries of the ki 
ls have been established since the Revolu- 
| epee ache rece . 
state i in any country may gene- 
pon ie 7 -C Som puligaliiel, ediartheo-eole erat 
ich i : If these are conducted on 
agri vi 
on the contrary, if bad rotations are pursued, 
agriculture has made very trifling advanees towards 
perfection. If we judge of France according to this 
rule, we shall decide, that, though over by far the 
est part of the kingdom agri is ina misera- 
state, yet in some parts it is well understood and 
We have mentioned the divisions of France 
into districts, eomaee i ee ane e 
shall now note the principal rotations pursued in 
district. a. 
principally prevail, according to one of which, in Flan« 
Sieo-aaed gunvetAetold; there isino tallow, but a con- 
stant succession of crops. The most and pro- 
ductive rotation is found between Valenciennes and 
Lisle: it consists of wheat, and turnips after it the 
same year; oats, clover, wheat, hemp, wheat, flax, 
coleseed, wheat, beans, wheat. In the provinces of 
Picardy, Isle of France, Normandy, and the other parts 
of Artois, the usual rotation was not in 
pane of fallow, wheat, and 
a open comma Ate nem sete 
and in other i een Di 
Rouen, where the soil is a deep hazle dedi. wpon 
frog Saw mer pena src we 
tion being fallow, wheat, pease, vetches, flax, or 
seed ; wheat, clover, oats. In the rich plain-of Alsace, 
the fields are never fallowed ; the fallow crops being 
potatoes, poppies for oil, , maize, vetches, clover, 
beans, hemp, tobacco, ras err the Limagne 
of Auvergne, one of the richest districts of France, fal- 
lows are partially used; but the usual: rotations, in 
other respects, are so severe, that only such a soil and 
climate could bear them ; it is not unusual to sow rye 
after wheat, and wheat after rye. The latter grain is 
often sown on their best land; and wheat on ‘their 
worst: a common rotation is barley, rye, hemp, rye: 
wheat is grown also after beans: two crops in the year 
are not unusual. 
As soon as ever the maize district of France is enter- 
699 
ed upon, fallows disappear ; that grain being cultivated 
. insuch a manner as to preclude fhe necessity of a fal- 
low. In the plain of the Garonne, the usual rotation is 
maize, wheat; and here also is first found the culture 
of different species of vetches, which are sown both in 
ber and in the spring ; and, er with hemp 
and maize, assist ih banishing fallows. Yet even in 
this highly favoured district, rye is often grown where 
wheat might be cultivated with advantage. Turnips 
are a second crop after wheat and rye. ‘ The culture of 
the white lupin is common here. ; 
In the heath district great quantities of buck wheat 
are grown, and in some parts parsnips: but broom is 
the great object and source of profit; the common 
course being broom sown with oats. The broom is fed 
for three or four years, and then cut; after it wheat is 
taken, then rye, buck wheat, and oats, or broom. This 
last is cultivated for fuel, as the district has neither 
coal nor wood. When the land is exhausted by this 
mode of cropping, it is and burned, abandoned, 
and by time recovered, that a succession of crops may 
bring it once more into the same situation. 
Statistics. 
in the maize 
district ; 
in the heath 
district ; 
In Gascony, the usual rotations are maize, wheat, in Gascony ; 
and turnips ; maize, clover cut once, and then plough- 
ed up for maize again ; rye, millet, haricots or bhinoys 
beans ; maize, rye, millet; and maize, rye, clover. 
In the districts of the Pyrenees, where irrigation is 
practised with considerable skill, and on an extensive 
scale, ‘fallow is superseded by the culture of clover, 
millet, maize, and haricots. Maize, however, is not 
cultivated in such large quantities as in other parts. 
Two crops are gained every year ; but where irrigation 
is not practised, the ground is fallowed, and afterwards 
millet, haricots, or barley sown for forage, before the 
wheat is put in. In Dauphiny, buck wheat is sown on 
the wheat stubbles; and, such is the earliness of the 
climate, that it is frequently in full blossom by the end 
of August. At 
The rotation in the stony district is particularly dis- 
tinguished, by the introduction of potatoes in some 
parts of it, as a preparation for wheat. Where this 
root is not cultivated on a large’ scale, and as a in 
regular rotation, the common course is fidlow: wheat 
or rye, and barley or oats. In the district of chalk the 
rotation is in <ee very bad. In the province of 
Sologne it is fallow and rye: certainly the very worst 
and most unprofitable that can be practised on any 
land. In the district of gravel, especially in the Bour- 
bonnois and Nivernois, the same w: rotation is 
pursued. The district of various loams is chiefly dis- 
inguished by the introduction of turnips into the ro- 
tation ; but, as we shall afterwards have occasion to re- 
mark, the culture of this valuable root is ill understood 
in France. 
From this account of the most common rotations in 
various parts of France, it will be seen, that in general 
they are conducted on very erroneous principles ; and 
that, even where they are good, the climate ought to 
have the-merit rather than the skill of the agricultu- 
rist. In the south of France, the climate enables him 
to take two in the’ season. This advantage is, 
however, also derived in French Flanders, entirely 
the .atterition and skill of the farmer. The 
in that district being ‘carrots, turnips, 
spurry, and yellow clover. 
The following, perhaps, will give a sufficiently 
in the dis- 
trict of the 
Pyrenees ; 
in the stony 
district. 
jre- General re- 
cise and clear view of the general rotations practised “+ 
in France. The arable land, that comprises nearly 
the whole of the kingdom, with the exception of the 
