Book I. 



AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE. 



71 



of the Luxembourg ; but little or no good will result from the collection, or from at- 

 tempting to describe them ; for it has been ascertained, that after a considerable time 

 the fruit of the vine takes a particular character from the soil in which it was planted ; 

 so that fourteen hundred sorts, planted in one soil and garden, would in time, probably in 

 less than half a century, be reduced to two or three sorts; and, on the contrary, two 

 or three sorts planted in fourteen hundred different vineyards, would soon become 

 as many distinct varieties. The pitieau of Burgoyne, and the auvernot of Orleans, are 

 esteemed varieties; and these, with several others grown for wine -making, have small 

 berries and branches like our Burgundy grape. Small berries, and a harsh flavor, are 

 universally preferred for wine-making, both in France and Italy. The oldest vines 

 invariably give the best grapes, and produce the best wines. The Baron Peyrouse 

 planted a vineyard twenty years ago, which, though in full bearing, he says, is still too 

 vigorous to enable him to judge of the fineness and quality of the wine, which it may 

 one day afford. " In the Clos de Vogois vineyard^ in which the most celebrated Bur- 

 gundy wine is produced, new vine plants have not been set for 300 years : the vines 

 are renewed by laying the old trunks ; but the root is never separated from the stock. 

 This celebrated vineyard is never manured. The extent is 160 French arpents. It 

 makes, in a good year, from 160 to 200 hogsheads, of 260 bottles each hogshead. The 

 expense of labor and cooperage, in such a year, has arisen to 33,000 francs ; and the 

 wine sells on the spot at five francs a bottle. The vineyard is of the pineau grape. The 

 soil, about three feet deep, is a limestone gravel on a limestone rock." (Pej/rouse, 96.) 



408. The white mulberry is very extensively cultivated in France for feeding the silkworm. It is not 

 placed in regular plantations, but in corners, rows along roads, or round fields or farms. The trees 

 are raised from seeds in nurseries, and sold generally at five years, when they have strong stems. They 

 are planted, staked, and treated as pollards. Some strip the leaves from the young shoots, others cut these 

 off twice one year and only once the next ; others pollard the tree every second year. 



409. The eggs of the riioth (Bombj/x mori), (Jig. 56.) are hatched in rooms heated by means of stoves to 

 18 of Reaumur. (72|* Fah.) One ounce of eggs requires one hundred weight of leaves, and will pro- 



duce from seven to nine pounds of raw silk. The hatching commences about the end of April, and 

 with the feeding is over in about a month. Second broods are procured in some places. The silk is wound 

 off the coccoons or little, balls by women and children. This operation is reserved for leisure days 

 throughout the rest of the season, or given out to women in towns. The eggs (a) are small round 

 objects ; the caterpillar (b) attains a considerable size ; the chrysalis (c) is ovate ; and the male (d) and 

 female (e) are readily distinguishable. 



410. The olive is treated in France in the same way as in Italy. The most luxuriant plantations 

 are between Aix and Nice. The fruit is pickled green, or when ripe, crushed for oil, as in that 

 country. 



411. The Jig is cultivated in the olive district as a standard tree; and dried for winter use, and ex- 

 portation. At Argenteuil it is cultivated in the gardening manner for eating green. {See Encyc. of 

 Gard. art. Fig.) 



412. The almond is cultivated about Lyons and in different parts in the department of the Rhone as 

 standards in the vineyards. As it blossoms early, and the fruit is liable to injury from fogs and rains, 

 it is a very precarious article of culture, and does not yield a good crop above once in ten years. 



4ia The caper {JigA9.) is an article of field culture about Toulon ; 

 it has the habit of a bramble bush, and is planted in squares, ten 

 or twelve feet plant from plant every way. Standard figs, peaches, 

 \and other fruit trees are intermixed with it. 



414. The culture of the orange is very limited ; it is conducted in 

 large walled enclosure at Hieres and its neighborhood. The 

 ,'fruit, like that of Geneva and Naples, is very inferior to the St. 

 ' Michel's and Maltese oranges, as imported to Britain, but the 



lemons are good. 



415. The winter melon {fig. 57.) is cultivated in different parts of 

 Provence and Languedoc, and especially in the orange orchards of 

 Hieres. It forms an article of exportation. 



4 1 6. Various other fruits are cultivated by the small 

 proprietors in the southern and in all the districts of 

 France, and sold in the adjoining mai'kets ; but this 

 department of rural economy belongs rather to garden- 

 ing than to agriculture. 



F 4 



