ae aie 
we 
" ‘Tobacco. 
Carraway. 
FRANCE. 103 
"Statistics. for other crops, as lucerne is, In England, sain- 
—Y~ foin generally lasts from eight to twelve years. In 
France, it lasts more than four or five years. It 
is usually sown with a second or third crop of corn ; 
and, in some the farmers do not think of this 
cae their are so full of weeds, and so ex- 
, that will produce corn no longer. This 
management, the circumstance that their leases are 
generally short, seldom extending beyond nine years, 
sufficiently accounts for this crop not being kept in the 
ground pete in England ; for certainly with 
respect to soil, France is peculiarly favourable for 
this-crop ; and yet in some ofthe districts where it 
might be introduced with great advantage and profit, 
it is not grown: The culture of tobacco was formerly 
prohibited in France, ex in certain parts: as Pont 
de l’Arche ; Normandy ; Vertus, in the department of 
the Marne ; Picardy ;. Mont Auban; Tonnung, asmall 
town in the department of the Lot and Garonne ; Cle- 
rac, another town in the same department. Hainault, 
Artois, and Franche Compté, were canes exe a 
y 
but the soil of these provinces was deci e to 
the cultivation of the tobacco plant. At present, it is 
principally cultivated in Alsace. The average uce 
of France is estimated at twelve million pounds annu- 
ally but the quality is not good. 
t has ly incidentally appeared, that millet is 
cultivated to a considerable extent in the southern dis- 
tricts of France. \ In some of Gascony, it is sown 
on three feet ri with irregular rows on each 
i and ully hoed. In other parts, it is sown 
idge for ridge in the same fields with rye. In order 
to the millet from its chaff, the French d it in 
dap hep evtcinsait oumchaseo poven: Se pmlabeine 
eep su ly to ent the grai i 
crushed. In the southern unsafe. especially 
in the vicinity of Bourdeaux, they prepare from the 
winnowed millet seed boiled in milk, a very favourite 
mess, not unlike rice milk ; they also e the seed 
into cakes, pastry, &c. Millet is * grain, that thrives 
well urider irrigation, which is liberally bestowed upon 
- com = oe phertifall F 
way grows 'y in France, and is sent 
particularly fom Languedoc and Provence in large 
iti —— where pit ok consumption 
it among the druggists, ies, confectioners, 
distillers, &c. Flax is cultivated largely in many parts 
of France ; but more i ly in French Flanders, 
Alsace, in La Maine, jou, Languedoc, Brittany, and 
Normandy. It is also found in the garden, or small 
farm of every peasant, for domestic use. The flax hus- 
bandry is carried to the greatest perfection in the vici- 
nity of Lisle, where it is raised every six years without 
injuring the soil. Land that has carried a crop of 
w. or oats after clover, is preferred. Repeated 
ploughings, harrowings, and plenty of rape’ cake or 
night soil, are given. In every part of France where 
flax is cultiv: a good crop, that is, flax of fine quali- 
- ty, is to a large and res at Be 
ir 
haps obtain the fine stapled flax, of which 
cambrics and lawns. are made. Hemp is cultivated in 
Flanders, Picardy, in she. tornitcna at Rennes, St Malo 
and Dol in Brittany, bf ra at: by pita Om 
large space ; in Upper Languedoc, in Au- 
same ahemnshenel te peculiarly adapted to its cul- 
ture. But perhaps of all the provinces of France, Al- 
sace, i part of what is called the plain of Al- 
pc i lc ous for the culture of hemp. 
ly fam’ 
It is also. rown like flax in the gardens, &c. of the peas 
5 
sants, for their domestic use. Neither hemp nor flax Statistics. 
is -cultivated in sufficient abundance for home con- 
sumption. Previously to the Revolution, the naval 
consumption alone of hemp was 400 millions of pounds, 
more than one-third of which was imported. : 
Many plants used in dyeing are cultivated extensive- Madder. 
ly in France. Madder is grown in the vicinity of Avig- 
non, and in other of the south, but to a much 
greater extent in Alsace. Into this province it was in- 
troduced during the reign of the Emperor Charles V. 
and by the exertions of that sovereign himself; but the 
cultivation of it was not of much consequence till about 
sixty years ago, since which time the growers and 
makers of it have been able to rival the Dutch in 
supplying the manufactures of France. This extend- 
ed cultivation was. principally the effect of a decree of 
council in 1756, which promised privileges and ex- 
emptions to those who, in clearing marshes, should 
plant them with madder ; for though it was soon found, 
that this plant will not thrive nearly so well on marshy 
land as on a dry and kindly soil, yet. this measure of 
the French government directed the attention of the 
farmers of Alsace and other districts to this plant. Be- 
_fore the Revolution, it was calculated that 3000 acres 
were under madder in the department of the Lower 
Rhine, and principally in the vicinity of Haguenan. 
The Revolution was injurious to its cultivation ; for, in 
1796, 7, 8, and 9, there were only 600 or 700 acres in 
cultivation : in 1800, the plantations had increased to 
850 acres; and, since that time, the culture has ex- 
tended, though it has not nearly reached what it was 
before the Revolution. An.acre produces, in common 
years, 12 or 15 cwt. of dry madder. The crop of 
1778 was uncommonly abundant, being 50,000 ewt. ; 
in 1780, 34,000 cwt. was produced; in 1798, only 
8000 cwt.; in 1799, 10,000 cwt.; at present, about 
15,000 ewt, , 
After much trouble and repeated trials, the manufac- 
turers of madder in Alsace succeeded in rendering it near- 
ly equal in quality to that of Zealand ; and it is said, that 
ermany and Switzerland prefer it for their red dyes. 
On account of the smallness of the crops, the whole 
produce is consumed’ within the year by the circumja- 
cent manufacturers, except a 1 quantity that is ex- 
to Switzerland and Germany ; but from 1776 
to 1796, when Lower Alsace uced annually from 
40,000. to 50,000 cwt., about one half was used in 
France alone; the remainder went to England, Ger 
many, Switzerland, and even Italy ; houses at Genoa, 
Milan, and Leghorn, being supplied from Haguenau, 
There are nine fabrics or manufactures of madder in 
the department of the Lower Rhine, besides which 
there are five madder mills, and about eighty dyeing 
houses, : 
Weld is very common in many of the French pro- wy, 
vinces, pa a in the environs of Paris ; and in 
Normandy, ially about Rouen., It is usually sown 
in the fields harricots, hoed frequently, and. drie 
carefully after cutting, 
uedoc has long been nay es San Woag. 
of woad: the best grows in r loc, parti- 
cularly in the pom of. Alby. What we style a ball, 
they call cocagne ; and such a source of wealth was this 
t in former times, that pais de cocagne is still a 
rench phrase for a country of abundance. This arose, 
not merely from the great quantity of woad sold, but 
from its leaving the soil in an excellent state for grain, 
in consequence of the extraordinary culture which it 
required. At that period, it was the great staple of. 
