FARMERS' REGISTER 



325 



hoed. In other parts, it is sown ridge for ridge in 

 tile same fields with rye.' In order to free the 

 miller (i-om its chafl, the French pound it in a 

 wooden mortar, or pass it between millstones, 

 which they keep sufficiently asunder, to prevent 

 the grain being crushed. In the southern parts ol' 

 France, especially in the vicinity of Bourdeaux, 

 they prepare li'om the winnowed millet seed boil- 

 ed m milk, a very lavoriie mess, not unlike rich 

 milk; they also make the seed into cakes, pastry, 

 &c. Millet is a grain, that thrives well under ir- 

 rigation, which is liberally bestowed upon it in the 

 district ol' the Pyrenees. 



» * # # » • 



The harvest in the south of France generally 

 commences about the middle or end of June, in 

 the central provinces about the middle o( July, and 

 jn the north of France about the beginning of 

 August; but in the high grounds, especially in 

 Auvergne the harvest is very late, oats being 

 not unfi-equently green in the middle of August. 

 It has already been mentioned, that women are 

 principally employed in ihe harvest operations: 

 indeed, agricultural operations of all kinds are 

 conducted more frequently, and on a more exten- 

 sive and independent scale, by them in France 

 than in most other countries. The Hainault 

 sickle is used in French Flanders, and in parts of 

 the north and east of France : The sickle more 

 generally, and the common scythe in some dis- 

 tricts, even lor the wheat. The harvest opera- 

 lions are by no means carried on with neatness or 

 method ; and the excellence of the climate is such, 

 in most parts of the kingdom, that these defici- 

 encies are seldom attended with much loss. 



Scarcely any corn stacks are to be seen in 

 France ; by far the greatest part of the corn being 

 either put into barns, the size of which, in some 

 districts, is enormo'js, or thrashed out immediately 

 after harvest, in the open fields ; this mode of 

 thrashing, however, can be practised only in the 

 southern parts of the kingdom. There harvest is 

 not considered as finished till the thrashing is done. 

 Where it is performed by the flail in the open field, 

 the thrashing-floors are generally in a corner of it, 

 thrashing-floors they may be called ; ibr all the 

 preparation is merely shovelling aside the loose 

 mould, and a good sweeping. The size of course 

 is in proportion to the number of people, which is 

 from two !o twelve; rarely more than the latter. 

 They thrash and winnow about seven Wmches- 

 ter bushels in a day. Where the corn is trodden 

 out, instead of being thrashed by the flail, horses 

 and mules are employed: oxen, whicli are used 

 in most of the other operations of husbandrj^, are 

 seldom or never employed in this. The number 

 of horses or mules varies: sometimes there are 

 lour mules and lour men ; sometimes only two 

 mules and two men ; sometimes twelve or four- 

 teen mules or horses together, and sometimes even 

 as many as twenty-four. The mules or horses, 

 as well as men, are generally hired, at forty sous 

 for each mule or horse, and the same Ibr each 

 man : the latter have their board besides. With 

 24 horses or mules, their drivers (who are paid in 

 kind, three sacks per hundred of the grain thrash- 

 ed,) and 15 men, it is calculated that they can 

 thrash of wheat from 120 to 180 bags of 200 lbs. 

 per day ; at an average of 150 bags per day, it 

 costs about 4d. per English bushel. The common 

 practice is to lay three or four layers of wheat. 



barley, oats, &c., upon some part of the field, ge- 

 nerally under a central tree: the horses and mules 

 are then driven upon and around it, in all direc- 

 tions, a woman being in the centre, like a pivot, 

 and holding the reins : the horses are sometimes 

 driven by little girls. The corn thrashed out ia 

 cleared away by the men; others winnow it; 

 others heap it ; others supply fresh layers. After 

 the corn is separated, they continue treading the 

 straw, until it is reduced almost to chafl', to im- 

 prove the Ibdder, and forward the maturation of 

 the dung. Such is the stability of the climate, 

 that this process is going on in the open air, 

 through the whole country, without any means of 

 protection against a sudden change. Indeed a 

 soaking rain could not possibly do harm, as a day'a 

 sunshine, or even the heat of the night, would 

 soon evaporate it. 



The means used in France to improve the soil 

 or particular crops are, manures, draining, paring 

 and burning, and irrigation. In most of the dis- 

 tricts, there is nothing very peculiar in the ma- 

 nures employed, or in the mode of managing 

 them. The small towns and villages, in the au- 

 tumn, present a disagreeable scene ; from one end to 

 the other they are littered with straw, like a farm- 

 yard, for the purpose of its being converted into a 

 manure, so that it is like walking all the way upon 

 a dunff-hill. When the straw becomes sufficient- 

 ly saturated, it is piled on each side the door of the 

 proprietor's house, to make room Ibr fresh straw 

 being laid on ; so that, besides the dung-hill in 

 the street or path, there is a range of them on 

 each side. In Frencli Flanders, very minute and 

 particular attention is paid to the subject of ma- 

 nure. In the vicinity of Lisle, the dung of cattle 

 and horses with the straw, ashes, lime; the urine 

 of animals collected with care in brick cisterns ; 

 the cakes of rape and iiemp-seed reduced to pow- 

 der in a mill, and sometimes put in the urine cis- 

 terns; sour water, obtained by washing the tubs 

 of starchmakers ; the urine of cattle I'at'ened at 

 the distilleries, which sells at a high price; the 

 dung of pigeons ; that of sheep carelully gather- 

 ed ; marl ; the refuse of horns, and night soil, are 

 carefijlly and judiciously employed. Although the 

 price of this last article is only dd. per ton to the 

 scavengers, and 9d. to the farmers, the town of 

 Lisle alone produces as much as would sell for 

 about 4200/. a year. Besides these manures, 

 Dutch ashes are extensively employed as a dress- 

 ing for clover: these are the ashes of the peat or 

 turf, brought principally from Friesland : by their 

 application, great crops of clover are raised, and 

 the subsequent crops are also improved. From 

 the nature of the soil and climate, draining is re- 

 quisite only in very lew parts of France ; and in 

 the practice, there is nothing particular or com- 

 mendable. The marshes in s".nie of the cea dis- 

 tricts have been partially drained, but (his im- 

 provement is by no means carried on with spiri', 

 Louis XIV, made a present to Marshal Turenne 

 ol' the marshes of Bourgoigne, in the depart- 

 ment of It^ere, on condition that he would drtiin 

 them ; but neither he nor his successors have ever 

 accomplished it. In some provinces, a singular 

 kind of husbandry is practised ; the ponds are 

 drained, and cultivated lor a few years, till they 

 lose their fertility, when ihe water is again per- 

 mitted to accumulate, and the same process is re- 

 [cated. Respecting paring and burning, which 



