FRANCE 



3290 



FRANCE 



France. Map showing the departments, principal railway lines, and the frontier as determined by the Treaty of Versailles, 



1919. Inset, the island of Corsica 



board, tunny-fish and sardines ; 

 Boulogne and Fecamp have heavy 

 herring-catches ; cod fleets go out 

 to the N. Sea and Atlantic from 

 several Channel ports. 



The N. and N.E. are the 

 most fertile parts of the country. 

 Most of the cultivation is done by 

 peasant proprietors. The average 

 size of the holdings is well under 

 25 acres, and only 2i p.c. of the 

 total number of farms" are over 100 

 acres. At the same time it must 

 be noticed that nearly half the 

 total amount of land is owned by 

 large holders. Since about 1870 

 the number of small farms which 

 could support an owner and his 

 family has shrunk ; the number of 

 peasants with holdings of an acre 

 or two, who are obliged to hire 



themselves out as labourers, has 

 been increasing. Eighty p.c. of 

 those engaged in agriculture own 

 their land ; of the remainder more 

 than two-thirds pay rent, while 

 the others work on the metayer 

 system, which divides the produce 

 between the cultivator and the 

 owner of the land. 



More wheat is grown than any 

 other cereal ; oats come next, then 

 rye, which used to be the staple 

 food of the people until wheat took 

 its place. French farmers do not 

 raise enough cattle and sheep to 

 supply the national demand for 

 meat, nor are their breeds of these 

 animals exceptional. Horse-breed- 

 ing is a national industry, and for 

 heavy breeds of horses France is 

 famous. The Percheron and some 



Flemish stocks are unrivalled. In 

 the S., however, there are few horses 

 on farms. Hay is scarce, owing to the 

 climate and the nature of the soil. 

 Oxen are, therefore, used as draught 

 animals, as in Italy and Spain. They 

 are bred specially for this purpose, 

 but generally end by being eaten. 

 In many mountainous regions the 

 goat supplies most of the milk and 

 a large proportion of the meat. 



France still enjoys its reputation 

 as the land of good wine. Vine- 

 growing is a form of cultivation 

 employing large numbers and 

 adding much to the country's 

 prosperity, though the amount of 

 land devoted to it has diminished, 

 owing chiefly to the harm done by 

 fungus and phylloxera. This in- 

 sect did so much damage that it was 



