266 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



the harrows, all of wood, at 8s. 4cl. each. The [ tateg. Hence the waste lands remain unchanged 

 third branch o( the estimate ig the servants' vva<res I iind iiuimproved. The covernment of Frar7ce, 

 The number is eifrht ; three { bp(i)re tlie revolution, loolv-^pome measures to en- 



f'or 15 months 



ploughmen, one man to talce care ol" the young 



iiorses, a shefiherd, two women, and a swineherd ; 



their wages, one with another, being 41.: 11: 8 



per annum each. The wages oC the laborers are 



rated at from Sd. to Is. per day. The n)airite- 



iiance of the 15 plough horses and lOyoung horses 



for 15 months, is estimated at about 150Z. It is 



probable that capital to the same amount is re- 

 quired in the other parts of France, where agricul- 

 ture is well understood, and carried on with spirit 



and success. In the other districts, where it is 



far behind, of course the capital will be much less. 

 The prevailing opinion, that France is entirely 



an open country, is very erroneous. It is certain!}" 



much less inclosed than England. All Brittany, 



the western part of Normandy, and the northern 



part of tliat province as far as the Seine, most 



of Atijou and Maine, Lower Poiton, Touraine, 



Sologne, Berry, Limosin, the Boiubonnois, and a 

 great part of Nivernois, part of Auvergnc, and 



Quercy are inclo?ed. The whole district of the 

 Pyrenees is thicUIy inclosed. This district of 

 country comprehends 11,000 square leagues; so 

 that if the other parts of France that are inclosed 

 he added, they will raise the total to a full half of 

 llie kingdom. But though so large a portion is in- 

 .closed, the inclosures in general are ill- planned, 

 and badly kept; and their value and utility so lit- 

 tle understood, that the same rent is given for in- 

 closed and open fields, provided both are arable. 

 Perhaps the province of Berne exhibits more at- 

 tention to the proper nianafjeniont of inclosurf^s 

 than niosi other districts of Friince. There is 

 not a county in England closer, thicker, or better 

 inclosed; and, what is uncommon in France, the 

 4iates and sliles are in good order. Commons are 

 not met with in France, at least not in the same 

 sense in which they occur in England ; but com- 

 mon fields abound, and they are cursetl with all 

 the mischievous consequences which attend them 

 in England, such as rights of common pasturage 

 commencing on given days when under corn, and 

 throughout the fallow year. There is a great 



deal of common field land in Picardy, Arlois, t,icts, both iii the north and south of the kingdom, 

 part of Normandy, the Isle of France, Brie, the |a little ploujih called a binrf. is employed, jirinci- 

 Pays de Beauce, and along the whole course of j pally {or the purposes of fidlowing anil destroying 



lorce or liicilitate a general inclosure with respect 

 to some of the provinces, more particularly with 

 lesard to Lorraine, in 1764 and 1765 ; but the po- 

 pular objeciions and prejudices against inclosures, 

 had such weight, that at the commencement of 

 the revolution, strong remonstrances were pre- 

 sented against them, and certainly the proportion 

 of inclosed land lias not considerably increased 

 since that event. 



The agricultural implements in general use in 

 France are very rude and imperlect in principle 

 as well as in construction; the plough in most 

 parts is almost entirely of wood, and scratches 

 and pushes Ibrward the soil, instead of penetrat- 

 ing to any depth, or turning it over. In the vi- 

 cinity of the Pyrenees, a light imperfect plough, 

 similar to what the Romans used, and drawn by a 

 pair of weak cows, is not uncommon. In the 

 neighborhood of Toulouse, a better plough is 

 seen, of pretty good construction, to which two 

 strong oxen are yoked, the ploughman driving 

 them by means of a long staH, that answers the 

 double purpose of a goad and a paddle. The use 

 of oxen in the plough is pretty general in France, 

 and they are yoked in a diH'erent manner from 

 what is practised in Entrland : A piece of wood, 

 of about one-sixth of the weight of an English 

 yoke, is put across the forelicad of the cattle, the 

 extremities of which are neatly hollowed out, so 

 as to fit ihe mould of ihe head, and the hollows 

 lined with a piece of woolly sheep skin, to answer 

 tlie purpose of a soft pad or cushion. This light 

 and easy yoke is braced to the horns with a small 

 thong of' leather, to the middle of which the beam 

 of the plough is attached ; the animals are thus 

 completely equipfied lor their labor. It seldom 

 haf)pens that more than two oxen are yoked in a 

 plough. In the north of France, as well as in 

 some of Ihe eastern, western, and middle pro- 

 vinces, horses are more commonly used than 

 oxen ; generall}^ two hors«^s, but in some instances 

 three. Besides the plough that is used (i)r the 

 general purposes of airriculture, in several dis- 



the Loire. In this last district, the larmers are in 

 the practice of making an exchange with the 

 poor, who have the riijht of common pasturage. 

 This they buy off, assigning an acre or more to 

 every cottage in the parish. 



It is a singular circumstance, that some of the 

 poorest and least improved provinces, are precise- 

 ly those which are best ami most generally in- 

 closed : lieiice it is easy to perceive, that the niere 

 existence of inclosures is not in France, as in 

 England, a prool" of the advancing state of agri- 

 culture. The chief cause of new inclosures in 

 France, is, that the communities in many parishes, 

 in dilferent parts of the kingdom, and more espe- 

 cially in the vicinity of the Pyrenees, being pro- 

 prietors of the wastes, sell them to any person 

 who applies lor the property, in absolute assiirn- 

 ment ; in consequence of which, the purchaser 

 lias the power of inclosure : whereas, in the waste 

 plains of Brittany, Anjou, Maine, and <Guienrie, 

 the seigneurs are the sole and absolute proprie- 

 ;ors, and they will not sell, but only li-u their es- 



ihe weeds. In some respects the biiiot resembles 

 a pfouixh, with a double or scufRer share, and two 

 mould hoards, but it has no coulter. In the French 

 Netherlands, were agriculliire is carried on in a 

 regular and systematic manner, some farmers 

 have three binots to eight ploughs, some two 

 binots to five ploughs, and some two to .'bur 

 ploughs. Onl}' one ploughman and two horses 

 are employed ; the furrow which it makes is from 

 five to six inches in depth. lis operation is dif- 

 ferent from that of the common plough, since it 

 does not turn over the land, but elevates it into 

 small ridges, by which means the weeds are ex- 

 posed to the action of the frost and of the dry 

 weather. Afier the binot, the land is always 

 ploughed for the seed furrows. The harrows, in 

 general use, are equally imperfect in principle and 

 construction with the |)loughs, and have always 

 wooden teeth. In most parts of France rollers 

 are unknown, and their use is supplied by a plank, 

 on which a boy rides over the land. Their carts 

 and wagons display equal ignorance of mechanic 



