FRANCE. 
thrown together without being trodden, it loses the Statistics, 
ce, whicha —_— sun acting on it, while “~~” 
Ir must have sufficiently. from the‘account 
already given of the agriculture of France, that the 
meadows and p of that country bear a very small 
Eprcton to the arable land, and that comparatively 
dependance is placed on their produce, for the 
breeding or ing of cattle or . Indeed as the 
cattle and of tracts of land are entire- 
ly ty agree edeyi lucerne, &c. and as the climate 
of by far the greatest part of the kin, is not well 
their husbandry. The 
calculates the meadows at 15,000,000: arpents ; is, 
at one-fourth of what he makes the arable land. But 
they do not amount to one- 
quantity, and estimates the meadows and 
at 4,000,000 English acres ; not 
arable land. This ‘seems a very small 
: can form a 
‘very small proportion indeed of the area of France. 
most extensive, and certainly the most fertile, 
oospes-orbidy ete are to be Sethi ganashe Goce 
moisture climate, aided by the generally 
and rich soil of this province, is extremely fevectitbble 
to ; and as the farmers here are certainly equal 
at in intelligence, capital, attention, and skill to 
those in other of France, those ad are 
turned to the best account. oA ne, Seat 
d’ Auge are i celebrated ; and of these, 
‘to be found in any country, In 1789, when Mr Young 
visited these pasturages, the rent of the highest was 
about £4: 7: 6 the acre, measured by the perch of 22 
feet; and the price about £87, 10s. the acre. In seve- 
ral of the provinces, there ate also salt marshes that are 
as meadows, to the fattening of cattle, particu» 
in Normandy, about Isigny and Carentan, in Poi- 
&e. 
tou, Sain’ itonge, 7] 
The of hay in is very slovenly. 
‘It is not unusual to see the produce of a field carried 
away in sheets and blankets, or even in the arms, ‘and 
one-fifth of the crop lying scattered in the roads and 
the fields. It is‘in al too much exposed to the 
sun. The women here, as in all the other of agri- 
cultural labour, the ipal part of the work, 
sa tin: hay into the cart. The fork they 
‘make use of for this purpose is a very awkward one. 
In the central and southern provinces, where the cli- 
‘midte is very steady, the farmer stacks his hay in small 
cocks, where it grows, and only carries it away at his 
leisure, - When -carried: to the hay loft, being merely 
3 
107 
little fi 
it was making, had left.it. The clover hay, however, 
especially in the northern provinces, is better mana-~ 
ged; after standing for some days in large cocks, it is 
tied with straw bands, in bundles of 14Ib. each. The 
lucerne also, in these districts, is with great care, so 
much, indeed, that the colour is beautiful; the green 
is often not in the least faded, but so vivid that it al- 
most appears improved in drying. 
Normandy, the Limosin, Auvergne, Brittany, Franche Horses. 
Compté, Poitou, and Burgundy, are most celebrated for 
their breed of horses. Normandy has long been noted 
for eters It is said moe liam I. won the’ deci- - 
sive le of Hastings, by the superiority of his caval- 
ry which he brought over with nek: The Norman hors - 
ses are in general low and thick, and very steady, sure, 
and strong. They will make a of 30 miles with- 
out a bait, and eat the coarsest food. They, as well as 
the horses in other of France, and also the cattle, 
are accustomed to feed aboutthe lanes, and in the com- 
mon fields, after the corn is carried off. The best sad- 
dle horses are those ‘of Limosin. They are seldom fit 
for riding till they are six or seven’years old; but then 
they are very useful, and last a long time. This breed 
has been lately much im , by crossing it with the - 
Arabian, Turkish, and English. Auvergne produces 
some good hacks for common use. ‘A great many foals 
are reared in Brittany, which are sent to the pastures - 
of Normandy. A t many horses are also bred in 
Franche Compté, especially in the hilly part of the 
country. One year with another, their studs produce: 
of 5000 colts, most of which are bought, when 
six months or a year old, by the horse dealers in Cham- 
pagne, Burgundy, Brie, and Berry. ' The’trade in hor- 
ses is an object of some importance and 
value in Franche Compté. In different parts of the 
i ; there have long been Haras, or depots de che- 
vaux for the supply of the royal studs ; and Bonaparte, 
sensible that cavalry is one of the main sinews of war, 
paid ee ere attention to the breed and supply of hor- 
ses; bu 
t, as in many other that he undertook, 
his plans were not calculated to produce the object he 
had-in view, in ence of the impatience, obstina- 
, and tyranny of ‘his disposition. On the whole, 
erefore, i balls of honed and probably the num- 
ber, are not equal to what they were previously to the 
Revolution. os the year 1802, the total number was, 
of plough horses 1,500,000 ; horses kept at Paris 35,100 ; 
in all other towns 200,000; in the armies 100,000: 
making in all 1,835,100. With respect to the Hie 
assigned for agricultural purposes, it may appear high, 
when we cobiled that Rs are v thy 9 oot fet 
only in the pl h, but in carts ; that where hor- 
ses are employed in the plough, there are seldom more 
yoked than two. The number of horses in Paris is sin- 
y small. Between 1802 and 1812, the number of 
, at least of those bred in the government studs, 
was probably much increased ; but during the Russian 
ign, ina few months of 1812 and 1813, the loss, 
according to the of-the year 1814, amounted ‘to 
230,000- , which, it is stated, could not be repla- 
ced at a less expence ‘than 105,200,000 francs. ‘The 
rice of farm horses in the northern districts of France, 
is about £17 sterling. 
Mules are much employed in the middle and south Mules. 
of France, especially ‘in the latter, for treading out the 
corn. Anjou carries on # particular trade for these ani- 
mals, known by the name of! Miredalais, In the de- 
