Book I. AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE. 65 



spring is ninety-nine Fahrenheit, it contains 1.83 per cent, of saline matter. It may seem extraordinary 

 that the waters at Moutiers, which have only half the strength of sea-water, should repay the expense of 

 evaporation ; but the process by which it is ettfected is both simple and ingenious, and might be introduced 

 with great advantage on many parts of our own coast, should the salt-duty be entirely removed. It is 

 obvious that water, so weakly impregnated with salt as to contain only one pound and a half in every 

 thirteen gallons, could not repay the expense of evaporating by fuel in any country. The water of the 

 north-sea contains two and a quarter per cent, of salt, and yet it has never been attempted, to make 

 salt from it by evaporation with coal-tires, even on the coast of Northumberland or Durham, where 

 refuse coal, suited to the purpose, might be purchased for one shilling and sixpence per ton. In order to 

 make salt from the saline water at Moutiers, it was necessary to concentrate it by natural evaporation ; 

 and to effect this speedily, it was required to spread the surface of the fluid over as large a space as 

 possible, the ratio of evaporation being, cceteris paribus, in proportion to the extent of the surface exposed 

 to the action of the atmosphere. Theiirst attempt at Moutiers was made in 1550, by arranging pyramids of 

 rye-straw in open galleries, and letting the water trickle through the straw gradually and repeatedly. This 

 was abandoned, and faggots of thorns were substituted : these faggots are suspended on frames, the water 

 is raised to their height, and spread by channels so as to trickle through them : it passes through three 

 separate sets of frames of thorns, and has then become so concentrated as to contain nearly 22 per cent. 

 of salt : it is then boiled in pans in the usual manner. 



372. Evaporating on vertical cords, erected in a house open on all sides, is a third method, which suc- 

 ceeds even better than the mode by thorns. The water, by repeatedly passing over the cords, is found in 

 forty-five days to deposit all its salt on them, and the saline cylinder is then broken off. The cords are 

 renewed once in twenty or thirty years, and the faggots once in seven years. Minute details of these 

 simple but very ingenious processes will be found in the very scientific Travels of Bakewell. ( Vol. i. 230.) 



Sect. III. Of the j^resent State of Agriculture in France. 



373. The first agricultural survey of France was made in 1787, 8 and 9. by the cele- 

 brated Arthur Young. Since that period no similar account has been published either 

 in France or England ; but several French writers have given the statistics and culture 

 of different districts, as the Baron de la Peyrouse ; and others, general views of the whole 

 kingdom, as the Abbe Rozier, and Professor Thouin. From such works, some recent 

 tours of Englishmen, and our own observations in 1815 and 1819, we have drawn the 

 following outline of it progress since the time of Louis XIV. ; its general circumstances 

 in respect to agriculture ; its common agriculture ; its culture of vines and maize ; and 

 its culture of olives and oranges. 



SuBSECT. 1. Progress of French Agriculture from the time of Louis XIV. io the present 



Time. 



374. That France is the mostfavorable country in Europe for agriculture is the opinion 

 both of Professor Thouin and Arthur Young. Its climates are in great variety, and all 

 excellent; and its soils are not less varied than its climates. It admits of the culture of 

 most of the useful plants, and of the rearing of most of the profitable animals. It 

 has a numerous population for home consumption, and rivers and sea-shores favorable 

 for exportation. 



375. French agriculture began to florish in the beginning of the seventeenth century, 

 under Henry IV., and its precepts at that time were published in the work of Olivier de 

 Serres. In 1621, great quantities of corn were exported to England, in consequence of 

 a wise ordinance of Sully, permitting a free commerce in corn. In 1641, the draining 

 of fens and bogs was encouraged ; and in 1 756, the land-tax taken off newly broken- 

 up lands for the space of twenty years. Colbert, during the minority of Louis XIV., 

 prohibited the exportation of corn, and checked the progress of its culture. This circum- 

 stance, and the wars of that king, greatly discouraged agriculture, and produced several 

 dearths. Fleury, under Louis XV., was not favorable to agriculture; but in 1754, 

 an act was passed for a free corn trade, which efltected its revival. The economists 

 at this time, however mistaken in their views, inspired a taste for the art; and agri- 

 cultural societies were first established in France under the patronage and at the expense 

 of government. In 1761, there were thirteen of such societies in France, and nineteen 

 co-operating societies. Those of Paris, Lyons, Amiens, and Bourdeaux, have distin- 

 guished themselves by their published memoirs. At Tours a georgical society was 

 established, and directed by the Marquis of Tourbili, a patriot and agricultural writer. 

 Du Hamel and BufFon gave eclat to the study of rural economy, and many other writers 

 might be mentioned as having contributed to its improvement. M. de Trudaine in- 

 troduced the Merino breed of sheep in 1776, and Comte Lasteyrie has studied that 

 breed in Spain, and written a valuable work on the subject. 



376. Agriculture in France was not altogether neglected during the revolution. Buo- 

 naparte established many new agricultural societies and professorships ; botanic and 

 economical gardens for the exhibition of different modes of culture, and the dissemin- 

 ation of plants ; and he greatly enlarged and enriched that extensive institution, " the 

 national garden," whose professor of culture, the Chevalier Thouin, is one of the 

 most scientific agriculturists in Europe. But after all this exterior show, Chateauvieux 

 seems correct in stating that little was gained to the art either from these institutions, or 

 political changes.' The domains seised by the nation, he says, were sold at a low price, 

 and a great many proprietors created, the greater number of whom do the labor of 

 their farms for their own profit or subsistence. ** It is probable, in time, these families 

 may enjoy the state of prosperity which they expect to derive from their new situations, 



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