FARMERS' REGISTER. 



327 



bottom, which latter is the "canal (Tarrosement,^^ 

 in its turn lor the land below. 



The manner of applying the water is extreme- 

 ly simple. A dam is made across the upper chan- 

 nel, from which the water flows jjently into a fur- 

 row made by tiie plouirh along the higher side o( 

 the field, and in a few hours soaI<s through the 

 whole soil, until it reaches the lower side, which 

 completes the operation. 



The following, which is one of the usual prac- 

 tices of the district, may show what this amphi- 

 bious husbandry can effect. In August, they 

 scratch the wiieat stubbles with their little Roman 

 plough, which does not turn a furrow, or move a 

 fourth of the surface. They then sow annual 

 trefoil, which they cover very slightly by planking, 

 that is, drawing a plank on which a boy rides, 

 over the land, thus breaking the clods and smooth- 

 ing the surface. This is equivalent to our rolling, 

 as the scratching is to our ploughing. The weeds 

 and t.fubhle are but little affecfed by this process 

 of ploughing and planking. However, that mat- 

 ters not, jbr the water is now introduced ; the tre- 

 foil starts as it were instantaneously ; and in Oc- 

 tober or November is three deep and fed off by 

 the sheep. Water is applied from time to time ; 

 and in January or February it is led again ; and 

 lastly, in May it is mown for hay, a heavy crop. 

 Immediately as the hay is removed, another 

 scratch is given, millet or haricots are sown, irri- 

 gation goes on, the crop is reaped, and the ground 

 receives lour ploughings, as a preparation lor ano- 

 ther crop of wheat, to be sown in October or No- 

 vember. This is the history of one year, under 

 familiar and constant practice." 



The richest arable land, when watered, sells 

 for nearly double what land of as good quality not 

 capable of being watered will bring. Besides the 

 districts already mentioned, where irriiration is 

 practised on a large scale, and with great skill and 

 effect, every spot of land in the mountains of the 

 Limosin is watered ; and a considerable part of 

 the vale of the Limange of Auvergne, as well as 

 some of the mountainous districts of that province. 

 At Isoire near Clermont, the gardens, are plant- 

 ed in quick succession by means of it. There 

 are also here what they call vergers ; that is, wa- 

 tered meadows planted with apples and other 

 fruit trees, which are very productive. Irrigation 

 is applied to the culture of hemp in Auveryne. 



Besides the improvement of the mountainous 

 districts in the centre and south of France by 

 means of irrigation, by another process, calcareous 

 mountains, which generally rise in shelves, are 

 rendered productive by culling away the rock be- 

 liind the shell; which supplies materials lor a low 

 wall around the edge. Tlie interval is alierwards 

 filled with earth, and the barren mountain is 

 crowned with luxuriant terraces. 



It must have sufficiently appeared, from the ac- 

 count already given of the agriculture of France, 

 that the meadows and pastures of that country 

 bear a very small proportion to the arable land", 

 and thai comparatively little dependence is placed 

 on their produce, for the breeding or ffittening ol 

 cattle or sheep. Indeed, as the cattle and sheep 

 of great tracts of arable land are entirely support- 

 ed on clover, lucerne, &c., and as the climate of 

 by far the greatest part of the kingdom is not well 

 suited for meadows or pasturage, the French agri- 

 culturists have little reason to regret, or alter This 



feature in their husbandry. The author of the 

 Credit National calculates the meadows at 15 - 

 000,000 arpents :' that is, at one-lburth of what he 

 makes the arable. But Mr. Young conceives 

 that they do not amount to one-third oTthat quan- 

 tity, and estimates the meadows and rich pastur- 

 age together at 4,000,000 English acres ; not one- 

 seventeenth of the arable land. This seems a 

 very small proportion ; but il will not be deemed 

 too small, when it is recollected, that in those dis- 

 tricts where in England we find extensive mea- 

 dows, that is, by the sides of the rivers, there are 

 in France very ihw, and those very inconsiderable. 

 For instance, the plough moves to the water's 

 edge of the Marne. There are very few mea- 

 dows on the banks of the Loire. The Seine is 

 bounded either by hills covered with wood, or by 

 gravelly plains under tillage. The land near the 

 Garonne is principally arable; and the Rhone 

 presents rocks and vines on its banks through the 

 greater part of its course. On the smaller de- 

 scription of rivers, indeed, there are meadows, es- 

 pecially on the banks of the Saone ; but it is evi- 

 dent that these, taken together, can form a very 

 small proportion indeed of the area of France. 



The most extensive, and certainly the most fer- 

 tile pasturages in France are to be found in Nor- 

 mandy. The moisture of the climate, aided by 

 the generally deep and rich soil of this province, 

 is extremely favorable to the pasture; and as the 

 farmers here are certainly equal at least in intelli- 

 gence, capital, attention and skill, to those in any 

 other pan of France, those advantages are turned 

 to the best account. The grazing lands of the 

 Pays d'Auge are particularly celebrated ; and of 

 these, the valley of Corbon may perhaps class 

 with the finest to be found in any country. In 

 1789, when Mr. Young visited these pasturao-es, 

 the rent of the highest was about 41.: 7: 6 the a'cre, 

 measured by the perch of 22 fijet ; and the pi ice 

 about 87Z. 10s. the acre. In several of the pro- 

 vinces, there are also salt marshes that are applied 

 as meadows, to the fiittening of cattle, particularly 

 in Normandy, about Isigny and Carentan, in Poi- 

 tou, Saintonge, Langaedoc, &c. 



The management of hay in general is very 

 slovenly. Ii is not unusual to see the produce of 

 a field carried away in sheets and blankets, or even 

 in the arms, and one-fifth of the crop lying scat- 

 tered in the roads and the fields. It is in ffeneral 

 too much exposed to the sun. The women here, 

 as in all the other parts of agricultural labor, 

 perform the principal part of the work, even 

 pitching the hay into the cart. The fork they 

 make use of for this purpose is a very awkward 

 one. In the central and southern provmces, where 

 the climate is very steady, tlie farmer stacks his 

 hay in small cocks where it grows, and only car- 

 ries it away at his leisure. VVhen carried to the 

 hay loft, being merely thrown together without 

 being trodden, it loses the little fi\igrance, which 

 a burning sun acting on it, while ii was making, 

 had left it. The clover hay, however, especialfy 

 in the northern provinces, is better managed; af- 

 ter standing for some days in large cocks, it is tied 

 wiih straw bands, in bundles of 14 lbs. each. The 

 lucerne also, in these disiricts, is got with great 

 care, so much, indeed, that the color is beauhlul ; 

 the green is often not in the least faded, tiut so 

 vivid that it almost appears improved in drying. 

 Normandy, the Limosin, Auvergne, Brittany, 



