Book I. 



AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE. 



69 



small farmers with two, or even one ; 



as in Normandy, plough with four or six oxen 

 or, when stiff' soils are to 

 be worked out of season, 

 they join together, and form 

 a team of four or six cattle. 

 Their carts are narrow and 

 long, with low wheels, ' - 

 seldom shod, in the remote 

 parts of the country. The 

 gvimbarde of the Seine and 

 Oise (Jig. 51.) is a light 

 and useful machine. Corn is reaped with sickles, hooks, the Brabant, and cradle 

 scythe (Jig. 52.). Threshing, in *^ j2 



Normandy, is performed by the flail ' 



in houses, as in England ; in the 

 other climates in the open air by 

 flails, or the tread of horses. There 

 are few permanent threshing-floors ; 

 a piece of ground being smoothed in ' 

 the most convenient part of the field 

 is found sufficiently hard. Farmers, 

 as we have already observed, perform 

 most of their operations without ex- 

 tra laborers ; and their wives and 

 daughters reap, thresh, plough, dig, and perform every part of the farm and garden work 

 indiflferently. Such farmers '* prefer living in villages; society and the evening dance 

 being nearly as indispensable to them as their daily food. If the farm be distant, the 

 farmer and his servants of all descriptions set off" early in the morning in a light waggon, 

 carrying with them their provisions for the day." (Neill.) Hence it is, that a traveller 

 in France may pass through ten or twenty miles of corn-fields, without seeing a single 

 farm-house. 



399. Large farms have generally farmeries on the lands; and there the labor is in 

 great part performed by laborers, who, as well as the tradesmen employed, are paid 

 chiefly in kind. 



400. All the plants cultivatedin British farming are also grown in that of France; the 

 turnip not generally, and in the warm districts scarcely at all, as it does not bulb ; but 

 it is questionable, as Birkbeck remarks, whether, if it did bulb, it would be so valuable 

 in these districts as the lucerne, or clover, which grow all the winter. Of plants not 

 usually cultivated in British farming may be mentioned^ the chiccory for green food, 

 fuller's thistle for its heads, furze and broom for green food, madder, tobacco, poppies 

 for oil, rice in Dauphine, but now dropped as prejudicial to health, saffron about An- 

 gouleme, lathyrus sativus, the pois Breton or lentil of Spain, lathyrus setifolius, vicia 

 lathyroides, vicia sativa,' cicer arietinum, ervura lens, melilotis siberica, coronilla varia, 

 hedysarum coronarium, &c. They have a hardy red wheat, called Vepautre ( spelt j, said 

 to be a distinct species found wild in Persia by Michaux and Olivier, which grows on 

 the worst soil and climates, and is common in Alsace and Suabia. They grow the millet, 

 the dura or douro of Egypt, (Holcus sorghum^ L.) in the maize district. The flower- 

 stalks and spike of this plant are sold at Marseilles and Leghorn, for making chamber- 

 besoms and clothes brushes. The hop is cultivated ; the common fruit-trees ; and Uie 

 chestnut is used as food in some places. An oil used as food, and also much esteemed by 

 painters, is made from the walnut. The other fruits of field-culture, as the almond, fig, 

 vine, caper, olive, and orange, belong to the culture of the southern districts. 



401. The forest culture of France is scientifically conducted, both in the extensive 

 national forests, and on private estates. The chief object is fuel, charcoal, bark ; and 

 next, timber of construction ; but in some districts other products are collected, as acorns, 

 mast, nuts, resin, &c. The French and Germans have written more on this department 

 of rural economy than the English. 



402. A remarkable feature in the agriculture of France, and of most warm countries, 

 is the use of leaves of trees as food for cattle. Not only are mulberry, olive, poplar, 

 vine, and other leaves gathered in autumn, when they begin to change color, and acquire 

 a sweetness of taste ; but spray is cut green in July, dried in the sun or in the shade of 

 trees in woods, faggoted, and stacked for winter use. During that season they are given 

 to sheep and cattle like hay ; and sometimes, boiled with grains or bran, to cows. The 

 astringency of some sorts of leaves, as the oak, is esteemed medicinal, especially for 

 sheep. Such are the outlines of that description of agriculture which is practised more 

 or less in all the districts of France. 



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