FARMERS' REGISTER. 



329 



rich pasture. Vast quantities ol' sheep and cattle 

 are bred and fkttened here. About 3000 horses 

 are con)puied to be bred annually, wilh oxen and 

 sheep in profiorlion. The oxen are reserved ciiiei- 

 ly fur ihe sufiply of the marine at Toulon. They 

 diH'er in color Ironi tho>e generally met wiili in the 

 rest ol" the kingdom, being a small tilack breed, 

 not unlike Scotch cattle. 'J'hey make excellent 

 beef. They are very wild, and olien very mis- 

 chievous ; so that when the droves of them go to 

 Toulon, they are always preceded by a man on 

 horsebac-k, wilh a javelin in his hand, who keeps 

 at a short distance ahead ol' them, to warn peo- 

 ple of iheir approach. 



The Norman cows, similar toithose of Alder- 

 ney, are the most celebrated lor the quality ol" the 

 milk they yield. This province, pspecialiy the 

 neighborhood of Isigny In Lower Normandy, and 

 Crittany, especially near Lanion, in the depart- 

 ment of the north, and the Boulonnais, supply 

 excellent butter, boih fresh and salt. Gournay, a 

 town in the department of ilie Loire, is particu- 

 larly celebrated for iis market of hue Iresh butter, 

 which is chiefly consumed in Paris. In tlie neiiih- 

 horhood ol' Marseilles, where cows arc seldom 

 seen, milk is furnished from sheep and goats: but- 

 ter is only made from sheep's milk: a kind of 

 curd is also made Irom this milk, which is called 

 beurrefrcds : it is made into little |iots, and brought 

 aboiu by the country people lor sale. Cheese is 

 very little made in France. Languedoc, Pro- 

 vence, Brittany. Normandy, Forez, and Bresse, 

 ilirnish it in the g-^eatesl quanlil}^ That of Brie 

 is esteemed the best. On the borders of the Saone 

 are a range of hills, which Irom ih^ir excessive 

 fertility are called Monts d'Or. Several villages 

 are dispersed over them, in which a very small 

 delicate cream cheese is made. 'J'hey are sent to 

 very distant parts in little boxes, made exactly to 

 the size of the cheese. 



It IS calculated that the number of oxen em- 

 ployed in husbandry are about 3,208,000 ; feeding 

 oxen 404,500; young oxen, 1,456,000; cows, 

 1,016,000 ; making a total of 6,084,500. 



The native breeds of sheep in France are, 1. 

 The Picardy, hornless, white faces, and silky 

 hanging ears ; these are probably a bastard Fle- 

 mish breed ; their wool is coarse, and of middling 

 iength. 2. The Norman, with red legs and (aces, 

 and coarse wool. 3. The Berry, resembling 

 somewhat the South Down sheep; the wool fine. 

 4. The Kousillon, similar to the Spanish, with 

 very fine wool. 5. Near Mirepoix, in the de- 

 partment of the Upper Pyrenees, there is a sort 

 of sheep, resembling the Norlijik breed, wilh 

 horns, black faces and legs. The leading charac- 

 teristics of the native French sheep are their long 

 legs, thin carcasses, and coarse wool ; the mutlon 

 in ge:ieral is bad. The same characteristics pre- 

 vail from north to south, except in the north the 

 sheep are larger, stouter, and bear finer fleeces. 

 These circumstances, however, principally arise 

 from their being better managed in the north than 

 in the south. 



Louis XV[., in 1786, first established a flock of 

 Merinos at Rambouillet. The produce, (or some 

 lime, was given away. Recourse was then had 

 to public sale. The sheep sold high, but the manu- 

 facturers did not give a proportionally high price 

 for the wool. At this crisis, the revolution came 

 on. There were at that period (bur principal es- 

 Vor.. VIII— 42 



tablishments for Merinos, namely, those of Ram- 

 bouillet, Alfert, Perpignan and Pompadour; but 

 Ihe revolution still (arther depressed the demand 

 for their wool. In 1811, Bonaparte published a 

 decree, by which he iniended and hoped to cover 

 France with fine-woolled (locks; but, by this iil- 

 ad vised measure, the (inal blow was given to the 

 Merino breed. From that time ihey have been 

 declining in France. In the expose (or the year 

 1814, it is asserted that Bonaparte's (breed attempts 

 to introduce the Merino breed of sheep, cost the 

 government 200 millions of francs; and that, after 

 all, so far from succeeding, the breeds of native 

 sheep were rather deteriorated. 



Sheep are kept in all parts of France, but prin- 

 cipally in Rousillon, Languedoc, Provence, Dau- 

 phiny, Auvergne, Guienne, Gascony, Beam, 

 Marche, Limosin, Poilou, Maine, Anjou, Britta- 

 ny, Tourraine, Champagne, Alsace, Franche 

 Comple, Normandy and French Flanders. In. 

 most parts of France, the sheep are shut up in 

 stables at nigh!, and sheltered from the sun at 

 noon, during the summer. They are irenerally 

 (bided in the fields till November. When the 

 snow is deep, they are sometimes fed on the 

 l)ranches of trees. On the whole, the manage- 

 m.ent of sheep is bad in France, especially in 

 keeping them too hot during night in iheir houses, 

 and too confined in their (bids. 'J'he flocks are- 

 not large, seldom reaching 400. 



On the mouniains of the Cevennes, which run 

 along the northern parts of the lower or eastern 

 Languedoc. numerous flocks are fed in the sum- 

 mer on the aromatic herbs with which they 

 abound. During the cold of the winter, they de- 

 scend into the plains. But the most extensive and 

 singular emigration of sheep is that which takes 

 place annually, and as regularly as in Spain, from 

 the Camargue, or Delta of the Rhone, and the 

 desert of La Crau, lo the mountains of Provence 

 and Dauphiny, especially to the mountains of Gap 

 and Barcelonetta, and back again. The migra- 

 tion to the mountains lakes place in May, whence 

 they return again in October or November, and 

 sometimes earlier. The migration is not regulat- 

 ed by any other written iaws, than some arrets of 

 the parliament to limit their roads to five toises of 

 breadth. If they do any damage beyond that, it 

 is paid for. The Barcelonetta mouniains are tfie 

 best, as they are covered with fine turf 



The emigration is coiiducied with nil the order 

 and regularity of the inarch of an army. The 

 flocks belong to several proprietors, who reside 

 principally about the Crau, at Aries, Salon, &c. 

 M. Darluc, the author of the Natural History of 

 Provencp, as well as other writers, calculates the 

 sheep kept in the Crau and the Camargue at one 

 million. They travel in flocks of from 10.000 to 

 40,000, and are from twenty lo thirty days on the 

 journey. Among Ihe shepherds that have the care 

 of them, one is chosen as chie( during the season. 

 Ele regulates every thing relative to the march, 

 and is treasurer for the company ; all the money 

 lor ihe expenses of the route being lodged in his 

 hands, and he [)aying (or every ihii]g. In order 

 to check him, another of the company is appoint- 

 ed secretary. In his presence all payments are 

 made, and he enters them immediately in his 

 book. The rest of the shepherds form a council, 

 whom the chief consults in case of any difficulty. 

 To every thousand animals, three shepherds are 



