FRANCE. 



FRANCE. 



1060 



According to a recent return of the whole surface of France 

 (131,069,931 acres), including Corsica, there were 13,808,171 acres 

 under wheat; 11,715 acres were sown with spelt; 2,251,439 with 

 mixed corn (maslin); 6,369,879 with rye; 2,936,453 with barley; 

 7,416,297 with oats; and 1,561,372 with maize: and the products 

 were in bushels 191,284,670 of wheat ; 374,348 of spelt ; 32,530,982 

 of mixed corn; 76,482,175 of rye; 45,819,020 of barley ; 134,474,408 

 of oats ; and 20,955,726 of maize. This gives a total cereal produce 

 of 501,921,629 bushels, and the average corn produce for the whole 

 of France at only 14 '6 bushels per acre. The average yield of wheat 

 per acre for the whole of France is hardly 14 bushels. In England no 

 strictly accurate statement of the average can be given for want of 

 agricultural statistics ; it is however all but certain that the average 

 yield of wheat per acre for all England is about 28 bushels. 



Since the above return was published the corn-produce has increased 

 considerably in favourable years, and France has since the abolition 

 of the English corn-laws exported corn largely. The increased facilities 

 for transit by means of railroads has no doubt also, among other causes, 

 operated as a stimulant to agricultural industry. The cultivation of 

 the vine, of the artificial grasses, of pulse, and above all of potatoes, 

 has greatly increased within the present century. Beet-root is exten- 

 sively grown for the manufacture of sugar. The esculent roots and 

 table-vegetables are common. Flax, henjp, and oleaginous seeds are 

 cultivated extensively. Hops, tobacco, and madder are grown. The 

 olive and the mulberry are also extensively cultivated : of the latter 

 there are between fifteen and twenty millions of trees planted in the 

 departments that lie in the basins of the Rhone, the Garonne, and .the 

 Upper Loire. The departments of Gard, Drome, Vaucluse, and 

 Ardeche are the most distinguished for their mulberry plantations, 

 and for the produce of silk. The industry of the peasants in some 

 of the more sterile districts is very great : in the CeVennes and in 

 Auvergne they build walls to retain the alluvial soil brought down by 

 the mountain streams, and cultivate the sides of the mountains by 

 means of the terraces thus formed. 



In the south the soil of the hills is stony, which suits the vine, but 

 is unfit for the growth of corn ; between the hills there are valleys 

 which .abound in every kind of produce, and where there is a command 

 of water to irrigate the fields the most productive water-meadows may 

 be made. The French bean is extensively cultivated for its seeds, 

 which when boiled are said to contain more nutritive matter than 

 any other seed in the same compass. The arable land and pastures 

 are not intermixed as in England, but generally lie wide of each other. 

 The horses and cows are fed chiefly on clover, lucern, sainfoin, and 

 other artificial grasses, of which no greater extent is raised than is 

 absolutely necessary. More attention is now given however to the 

 feeding of cattle for the markets, and cattle-shows are coming into 

 vogue hi Paris and the chief provincial towns. 



The agricultural implements in use in France are in most instances 

 few, and not of an improved kind. Each province has its own fashion 

 in making ploughs, most of which are rude and do their work im- 

 perfectly. At cattle-shows there are, as in England, exhibitions of 

 improved agricultural instruments, which will thus come immediately 

 under the notice of farmers, and no doubt cause a general amelioration 

 in this respect. The corn is reaped with the sickle. In the northern 

 parts the barns are very large, to hold the whole crop of the farm ; 

 for stacking corn, or even hay, is almost unknown. In the south the 

 corn is thrashed out in the field, and put into granaries immediately 

 after harvest. The size of farms in France is much less than the 

 average of English farms. 



Model farms and establishments for the diffusion of agricultural 

 knowledge have been established in various parts of France. At 

 Grignon, near Paris, is an agricultural establishment supported by 

 the government; and in several of the provinces similar establish- 

 ments have been founded of late years. They cannot fail gradually 

 to introduce improved methods of cultivation. 



The vine is one of the most important objects of cultivation in 

 France. In 10 of the 86 departments it is not grown for the purpose 

 of making wine, or at all upon a considerable scale : in the other 

 departments it is more or less an object of attention. The amount of 

 land occupied by this culture is about 5,000,000 acres. The average 

 yearly produce of the French vineyards is estimated at 42,000,000 

 hectolitres (about 924,000,000 gallons), of which about one-seventh 

 in converted into brandy. The departments drained by the Garonne, 

 the Charente, and the Adour; those lying along the Rhone and the 

 Saone ; the basin of the Loire ; the region of the Moselle ; valleys of 

 the Seine, the Yonne, and the Marne, produce wines of the finest 

 growth and the greatest variety. The banks of the Charente produce 

 no wines of reputation, but the grapes grown on them yield the best 

 distilled spirits in the world, Cognac brandy. The department of 

 Gers also is famous for a mild and delicate brandy called Armagnac. 

 The wine* of Languedoc, Provence, and Roussillon are remarkable for 

 fulness of body. The average annual produce of the vineyards is 

 estimated at 720,000,000 of francs, or about 28,500,0002. In the 

 departments of the north and north-west, which do not produce the 

 vine, cider forms the usual drink of the poorer classes. The actual 

 quantity of wine produced during the last few years is as follows : 

 1S48 . 1,135,687,344 gals. I 1850 . 983,786,lGSgals. I 1852 , 626,133,222 gals. 

 1848. 782,214,686 | 1851 . 867,443,058 | 1853 . 108,557,774 



Of the fruit-trees which are cultivated on a considerable scale iu 

 France, the mulberry is one of the most important : it is reared for 

 the nourishment of the silk-worm. This branch of culture has much 

 increased of late years. The olive, the orange, the lemon, the pista- 

 chio, are grown along the shore of the Mediterranean : the plum when 

 dried furnishes a considerable article of export. The apple and the 

 pear are grown in Normandie and Bretagne for making cider and 

 perry, which furnish the peasantry with their common drink : the 

 apple is also exported in a dried state. The chestnut furnishes the 

 peasantry of the more barren districts with an important article of 

 food, and the walnut is grown for its oil. 



Of forest-trees France has the oak, the cork-tree, which is culti- 

 vated in the departments of the south-west, the elm, the ash, tho 

 beech, the birch, the poplar (white and black), the larch, the juniper, 

 the wild cherry, and the pine. The box, the cornel, the maple, and 

 others furnish the cabinet-maker with ornamental wood. The eastern 

 part of central France is the best wooded district, and the former 

 province of Bretagne is the most destitute of wood. As in France 

 wood is almost universally used for fuel, it is an object of considerable 

 attention ; and it is calculated that about one-seventh of the whole 

 country is occupied as woodland. The principal forests are on the 

 various mountain ranges ; except on the Alps and Pyrenees, which 

 are rather bare of wood. The ranges of the Jura and the Vosges 

 furnish good deals ; and the forests of the maritime pine enable the 

 peasant of the Landes between the Garonne and the Adour to turn 

 that otherwise barren tract to some account : these forests yield 

 charcoal, rosin, and pitch. 



Animals. The domesticated animals of France are, for the most 

 part, similar to those of Great Britain. 



Horses in France are by no means equal either in number or in 

 excellence to what they might be under a better system of agriculture. 

 A considerable number are imported annually, although the richness 

 of the soil should rather enable the French to export. Considerable 

 pains have been taken by the establishment of government studs and 

 by other means to improve and increase the breed. The horses of 

 the provinces of Normandie, Picardy, and Alsace are well adapted for 

 war, posting, and agriculture ; those of the departments of Orne and 

 Calvados are excellent for the saddle or the carriage ; those of the 

 departments of Maine-et-Loire and Sarthe, and the departments 

 adjacent to the mountain chains of the Alps and the Jura, are adapted 

 for light cavalry ; the horses of Limousin, Auvergne, Guieune, Gas- 

 eogne, and Bourn are in the highest repute for the combination of 

 lightness and strength. The horses of Bretagne are a rough hardy 

 breed. 



The ass, though probably superior to that of Great Britain, is, 

 except in the department of Vienne, far inferior to the ass of Spain or 

 Italy. Mules are bred in many parts, and some of them are exported. 

 Oxen in France are much employed in the labour of the field instead 

 of horses : they are of many different breeds and sizes : among the 

 smallest are those of Bretague, and the mountain cattle of the Alps, 

 Pyrenees, and Cdvennes. Oxen are frequently bred in one part of 

 the country and fattened in another part. The rich plains of Lower 

 Normandie afl'ord pasturage to great numbers of oxen which are 

 brought thither from various quarters, especially from the hilly 

 districts of central France where they are bred. The sheep are of 

 various breeds, some of which have been so far improved as to furnish 

 a wool equal to that of Saxony. The number of sheep in proportion 

 to the population is by 'no means equal in France to what it is in 

 England ; they are most numerous in the former provinces of Berri, 

 Bourbonnais, Normandie, Picardie, Ile-de-Frauce, Orlcanais, Rouergue 

 iu Guieune, and part of Languedoc. The sheep of Poitou and 

 Picardie, and of some parts of Normandie, the lle-de-France, and 

 Guienue, are the fattest ; those of Bourgogne and the Ardennes are 

 most esteemed for their mutton : but the best mutton on the whole 

 is fed on the sandy districts near the sea. The sheep of Roussillon 

 approach nearest to merinoes in the fineness of the fleece. Some 

 goats s"e bred in the mountainous districts : the Tibet goat, the hair 

 of which is woven into Cashmere shawls, has been naturalised in the 

 Pyrenees. The swine are of three races : the original breed, which 

 existed hi the time of the Celts, and which is still found in Nor- 

 mandie, especially in the valley of Auge ; the Poitevin breed, and 

 that of Perigord : from the crossing of these breeds a number of 

 varieties have resulted. The trade in salt provisions forms an im- 

 portant branch of industry in the department of Basses-Pyreudes 

 (where the Bayonue hams are cured), and in the frontier departments 

 of the cast and north-east. 



The rearing of poultry is in most parts much attended to. By a 

 peculiar mode of treatment the livers of the duck and goose are ren- 

 dered very large and very delicate. The duck-liver pies of Toulouse 

 and the goose-liver pies of Strasbourg are known to epicures. 



Of wild animals the black and brown bears have their haunts in 

 the French Pyrenees ; the lynx is found, though very rarely, in the 

 recesses of the higher Alps ; and the wolf and the wild boar are 

 common in the forests. The chamois and the wild goat are found on 

 the summits of the Alps and the Pyrenees. The stag, the roebuck, 

 the hare, and the rabbit are common. The marmot inhabits the Alps 

 and the Pyrenees, and the ermine and the hamster are found in the 

 neighbourhood of the Vosges. 



