FARMERS' REGISTER. 



269 



autumn, because ihey sow it in lliat season ; tlie 

 other is called spring barley: This is the coni- 

 uion sort soa'n in France; they be<j;in to sow it 

 towards the end of April. This grain rs the com- 

 mon Ibod in many parts; either made into bread 

 by iist'if, or mixed with wheat flour. It is al.so 

 made inio p<^(>led barley : the best peeled barley 

 comes lloin Viiry-le- Francois, a considerable town 

 in the department ol' Mame. Good peeled bar- 

 ley is also made at Charpnton, near Paris. Re- 

 s|)ecliniT the culture ol' oats, there is nothing that 

 calls lor notice. Rye, as it may have been ob- 

 served from the rotations which have been spe- 

 cified, is very generally cultivated, principally tor 

 its grain, but in some places as green food. In 

 the latter way, the ridges ol' tlie wheat stubble 

 are split down, as early as possible after the crop 

 is oil the ground, and rye is sown, which in April 

 or JMay is cut lor the cattle; and, ifthe weather 

 proves liivorable, in some parts of France it is 

 mown three times. The rye in France is very 

 liable to a disease called ergot, which seems to be 

 unknovvn here ; and which produces, in those 

 wlio eat the grain so affected, the most dreadlul 

 complaints. The average produce ol' rye, when 

 reaped, is very small, perhaps not more than 15 

 or 16 bushels the English acre. 



The animal produce of wheat, rye, barley, and 

 oats, which may be considered as the chief arable 

 products of France, has been dillerently esti- 

 mated; and, indeed, only an ap|)roximauon to 

 the truth can be looked for on tins account. Ac- 

 cording to Vauban, in his tmie. the annual pro- 

 duce of these grains was 59.175,000 eepiiers of 

 12 Paris bushels, or 240 pounds weight. Accord- 

 ing to Quesnay, the failier of the sect of the eco- 

 nomists, it was 45,000,000 septiers. In the opi- 

 nion of the Abbe d'Expilly, 78,472,380. Lavoi- 

 sier calculated it at 50,000,000 septiers; and Mr. 

 Arthur Young at 75,000,000. The variations 

 here are very considerable ; but if we take the 

 average of all these sums, it will give 61,519.672 

 septiers, as the annual produce of wheat, barley, 

 uais and rye in France. The proportions of these 

 difierent grains it is not easy even to conjecture, 

 with any probability of approaching the truth. 

 Rye and wheat are certainly produced in by lar 

 the greatest proportions ; perhaps in pretty nearly 

 equal proporiions. Barley and oats are cultivated 

 on a very small scale ; the latter, especially in the 

 south, from tiie too great heat of the climate, are 

 not so much grown as in the north, and where 

 grown, are in general unproductive. 



Bean:;, such as we cultivate in England, are 

 principally ffrown in French Flanders ; besides 

 these, the French grow what they call feces de 

 marais, or beans of the marsh, which they eat 

 only when green and fresh. They also dry them, 

 but in that state they serve only as Ibod for cattle. 

 Some persons eat them in Lent; buying them 

 green, and peeling the skin ofi, they split them in 

 two, and dry them in the open air. Haricots or 

 kidney beans are pretty generally cultivated as a 

 fallow crop ; they are carefully hoed, and are very 

 productive. 



The limits of the maize district have already 

 been noticed, in treating of the climate of France ; 

 and the importance of this grain in an agricultural 

 point of view, has also been sulTiciently pointed 

 out, in the account of the rotations pursued in the 

 south of the kingdom. It is planted in rows or 



squares, so far asunder that all necessary tillage 

 may be given between them. A considerable part 

 of ilie summer it aflbrds, as it were, a rich meadow, 

 the leaves being stripped regularly for oxen, afford- 

 ing a succulent and most laltening food, which 

 accounts for the high order of all the cattle in the 

 south of France. The meal of maize, besides 

 being used extensively as Ibod fbr man, is also 

 employed fbr fattening oxen, hogs, and poultry. 

 Thus it appears that iliis most valuable grain is a 

 meadow to leed the cattle in summer, and nou- 

 rishing Ibod to fatten them in winter. In some 

 parts of France, it is sown broadcast and thick, 

 for the purpose of mowing to suit cattle. This 

 practice is pursued in the northern districts, where 

 the climate is not sufficiently warm to ripen it ; 

 and even in the southern districts it is not uncom- 

 mon to sow it as an after crop, in the same man- 

 ner, and for the same purpose. Near Rousillon, 

 it is sown in May, to be cut green in August, at 

 which time more is generally in progress, to be ap- 

 plied to the same purpose in December. In the 

 north, it is sown in the beginning of May, on well 

 (lunged fallow, and cut when beginning to come 

 into ear. An arpent will maintain Ibur cows Irom 

 June to September ; and the wheat that succeeds 

 is always good. Although maize is undoubtedly 

 an exhausUnii crop, yet in the Pays de Basques, 

 on the low and humid lands of that province, it is 

 cultivated lor three years successively without 

 manures ; and this mode of farming, which is par- 

 ticularly mentioned by M. Parmenlier in his 3Ie- 

 moire siir le Blaise, is even recommended as good 

 by that author. 



As maize, where intended to stand for harvest, 

 is always planted in rows, little seed is required ; 

 in general, only the eighth part of the seed which 

 would be necessary if wheat were sown ; and the 

 arpent yields more than double of that grain. la 

 some very fertile and well managed spots, an ar- 

 pent has yielded 2400 pounds, "it is commonly 

 ripe in the month of September ; and even when 

 later, the grain is protected from the inclemency 

 of the season, by its broad and strong leaves. It 

 is usual in most parts of France, to spread it under 

 the roofs of the cottages to dry ; the eaves of the 

 houses being made to project 10 or 12 feet from the 

 plane of the walls for this purpose. When the 

 corn is cut, it is tied up in bunches, and suspended 

 from light raficrs, horizontally placed under the 

 j shelter ol these eaves. 



Buckwheat is cultivated to considerable extent, 

 particularly on the poorer soils ; and being of rapid 

 growth, sufficient lime is allowed to clean the land, 

 before the succeeding crop of wheat or rye is 

 sown. It is much used as Ibod fbr man ; and, in 

 some parts, as has been already noticed, as green 

 food for cattle: in this case, it is a stubble crop. 



A very Itjw years before the revolution, conside- 

 rable exertions were made by the iniendants of 

 the several provinces, to introduce the regular and 

 general culture of turnips. They distributed seed, 

 and published small treatises on the proper man- 

 agement, and great advantages ol this root; but 

 their exertions seem to have been in a great mea- 

 sure unsuccessful ; for turnips are very little culti- 

 vated in any part of France. Mr. Birkbeck, who 

 travelled in '1814 from Dieppe through Paris and 

 Lyons to the Pyrenees, and back by the route of 

 Toulouse, says he did not see a single acre of tur- 

 nips, or even o[ raves, in his whole journey. That 



