326 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



is very partially practised, and scarcely ever for 

 any other purpose, or at least with any other ef- 

 j'ect, but ',0 impoverish and exhanst the land, it is 

 unnecessary to enter into details. 



Irrigation is the most remarkable ligature in the 

 mode of improving land in France, or to speak 

 more correctly, in the mode of increasing its fer- 

 tility, — and its effects are vvonderlul. Irrigation, 

 however, is by no means general, in travelling 

 Irom Calais to the Pyrenees, Mr. Young ob- 

 serves, he first met with it in La Marche, between 

 La Ville au Erun and Bossie, alter he had passed 

 over considerably more than halt' the kingdom ; 

 thence it is practised, with little interruption, to 

 the Pyrenees, and the whole district of those 

 mountains from Perpignan almost to Eayonne is 

 watered. Through all the north of France, 

 comprehending every thing north of the Loire, 

 there are only a few imperlect traces ol" it in some 

 pans of Normandy, and in the Beauvoipi^?. In 

 Picardy, Flanders, Artois, Champagne, Franche 

 Cornpte, Burgundy, and the Bourbonnois it is 

 unknown. In Alsace and Lorraine, it is par- 

 tially practised tor their meadows. On the 

 whole, hardly more than one third of the king- 

 dom can be said to understand and practise irriga- 

 tion. 



But where it is practised, it is upon a large 

 scale, and with wonderful spirit and success. By 

 means of it, artificial lertiliiy is conferred on some 

 of the barren mountains of the Cevennes. As the 

 waters that run down the sides carry considerable 

 quantities of earth into the ravines, walls of loose 

 stones are constructed, which permit the waters lo 

 pass when they are clear ; but when turbid, their 

 load of earth is gradually deposited against the 

 wall, and atlord a quantity of excellent soil. Suc- 

 cessive ramparts are thus erected to the very top 

 of the mountain ; and the water having no long- 

 er a violent fall, nourishes, instead of injuring the 

 crops. In order to give security and consistence 

 to the new acquisition of soil, fruit trees are plant- 

 ed at certain intervals. Perhaps the greatest ex- 

 ertion in irrigation to be seen in France, occurs in 

 Languedoc, m the vicinity of the town of Gange : 

 a solid stand of limber and masonary is lormed 

 across a considerable river between two rocky 

 mountains, to lorce the water into a very fine 

 canal, in which it is, on an average, six feet broad 

 by five deep, and half a mile long, built on the 

 side of a mountain, and walled in ; a wheel, with 

 a hollow periphery, raises a portion of the canal 

 to the height of 30 feet ; an aqueduct conducts it 

 on arches built on the bridge, across the river, to 

 water the higher grounds ; while the canal below 

 carries the larger part of the water to the lower 

 fields. Meadows are watered in some parts of 

 Gascony, and in the vicinity of Avignon ; — an 

 unusual thing in the south of France. 



But the most extraordinary instances of irriga- 

 tion, are to be met with in the singular desert ol' 

 La Crau, already described, and in the Pyrenees. 

 In advancing Irom Salon into the Crau, about 

 ibur miles bel'ore it commences, the road crosses 

 the canal ol Borsgelin. "The old canal of Crap- 

 pone, at the same place, is seen distributing water 

 in various directions, for the amelioration of one of 

 the most arid tracts that is to be met with in the 

 \»^orld. The canal of Crappoiie takes its water 

 irom ilie Durance at La Roche, and carries it to the 

 southern part of it at Isires. This canal is 40 



miles long. That of Bois Selin receives it from 

 the same river at Malavort, and crossing the other, 

 divides it into three branches : one of which leads 

 to the lands in the neighborhood of Istres ; the 

 second to St. Saumus and Magran, and this part 

 of the Crau ; the third is a small one that turns lo 

 the lelt towards Salon. In consequence of water 

 being thus conducted to a region where it is so 

 much wanted, some very capital improvements 

 have been wrought. Some large tracts of the 

 Crau have been broken up, and planted with vines, 

 olives, mulberries, and converted into corn and 

 meadow.'- The corn has not succeeded ; but the 

 meadows, according to Mr. Young, are amongst 

 the most extraordinary spectacles that the world 

 can afiord, in respect to the amazing contrast be- 

 tween the soil in its natural and in its watered 

 slate, covered richly and luxuriantly with clover, 

 chicory, ribgrass, and avena elatior. 



In describing the irrigation of the eastern Py- 

 renees, we shall use the words of Mr. BirKbeck, 

 who in his tour through France in 1814, observed 

 every thing relative to its agriculture with the eye 

 of a most shrewd and intelligent observer, and 

 who has recorded his observa'.ions in the most 

 clear and impressive manner. 



'■ The copious and pure streams issuing from the 

 Pyrenees, from their source to their union with the 

 Mediterranean, are most economically and skilfiil- 

 ly directed to the purpose of irrigation. On the 

 mountain sides, the streamlets, as they trickle from 

 the rocks, are collected into channels, above every 

 little portion of arable ground, which they render 

 surprisingly fertile. These rills uniting, form 

 larger streams ; and these, with great labor and 

 ingenuity, are kept up by artificial channels, and 

 only sutiered to descend as they perform the office 

 of irrigation. The same attention is paid to the 

 larger streams united, which become a considera- 

 ble river in the lower lands of Rousillon. This is 

 divided and subdivided, unites, and is again di- 

 vided, so that every portion of the surface seems 

 to enjoy its due share. The soil of Rousillon is 

 sandy, and apparently not very rich ; but, by the 

 joint influence of water and sun, vegetation is vi- 

 gorous beyond any thing I had ever belbre wit- 

 nessed. Where a mountain side, or a portion of 

 the land, is so situated, as lo be inaccessible to the 

 water, it is planted with vines, to which watering 

 is not applicable, as it injures the quality of the 

 wine, without increasing the quantity sufficiently 

 to compensate. On the contrary, to olives, irri- 

 gation may be applied with prodigious advantage, 

 an instance of which came under my observation. 

 This crop had generally liiiled, owing to the ex- 

 traordinary coldness of the early part of the sum- 

 mer ; and one-half of a large olive ground was, 

 like the rest of the country, without I'ruit ; the 

 other half, which had been watered several times, 

 was laden to a degree equal to the most plentiful 

 season. How this couniry, and other valleys of 

 the Pyrenees, were originally laid out so judicious- 

 ly with channels of irrigation, systematically ar- 

 ranged lor the benefit of the whole, is a mystery 

 I have not heard explained. A master's hand 

 seems to have planned and executed all, belbre 

 the appropriation of the soil, otherwise private in- 

 terest would have interfered and marred the de- 

 sign. However that may have been, every man 

 now finds a '■'■ canal d'arroseme.nt,'''' passing above 

 his field, and a ^' canal de dessechement,^^ al the 



