BRITISH AND FRENCH AGRICULTURE. 181 



interesting to gather that the harvest is largely got in 

 by gangs, organised very much, it seemed, on the plan 

 adopted in many parts of England. The ordinary 

 labourer's wages amounted, said this informant, on an 

 average to about 32 per annum. In districts more to 

 the south his lot is a harder one, if we may accept the 

 description of a recent charming writer on French 

 country life. 1 In the department of Allier " the yearly 

 receipts of a day labourer in good work, turn by turn 

 haymaker and harvester, thrasher, wood-cutter, and so 

 on ... amount in English coin to twenty-one pounds 

 twelve shillings." 



I must not, however, pursue this subject, which leads 

 to economic considerations quite outside the scope of this 

 paper. One other sociological fact may, however, be 

 noted. From the latest census returns of both countries, it 

 appears that the number of persons engaged in agriculture 

 amounts in France jg 46j>er cent, of the occupied popula- -K 

 tion, while in the United Kingdom it amounts to 12 per 

 cent. The difference in the position of farming in relation 

 to the body politic could hardly be expressed more tersely. 



A comparison of the actual results attained by the 

 agriculturists of the two countries is practically impossible 

 in detail. Official statistics of the produce of the land 

 are in the United Kingdom only available as regards 

 certain crops, and the figures for those which can be com- 

 pared stand as follows for the year 1901 (see table, p. 182). 



It should be observed that the production of hay is 

 from permanent grass only, and that the yield of " beet- 

 root " in France excludes that grown for sugar, and 

 includes only that grown for " fodder." 



It is not without significance that whereas the cultiva- 

 tion of the arable land, as indicated by the crops here 

 given, appears to be much more successful in this country 

 than in France, the management of the grass land on 



1 " The Fields of France," by Madame Mary Duclaux, 2nd 

 edition, 1904. 



