F A R M E R S' REGISTER. 



391 



the farmer may be prevented from plantin<r at the 

 right time by accidents, or bad weather. In such 

 cases, let them try this remedy. 



AGRICULTURE OF FRANCE. 



(Concluded from page 331.) 



The wood of France may be divided into six 

 classes: 1. For ship-buildinfr. 2. For the use of 

 house carpenters. 3. For the construction of car- 

 riages. 4. For joinery. 5. For vine props. 6. 

 For fuel. Oak is chiefly used lor the first class 

 for the second, oak, fir, linden, and aspen trees 

 for the third, ash, oak, maple, and especially elm 

 lor (he fourth, fir, beech, elm, pear tree, apple 

 cherry tree, cornil tree, aspen, poplar, linden, &c.-. 

 lor the fifth, osiers, and branches of different trees 

 that destined for fuel is divided into new and old, 

 and is distinguished by the names, bois perdu, bois 

 carnard, and bois entrain. The cork-tree flou- 

 rishes on the French side of the Pyrenees, and 

 produces very fine cork-wood. 



Under the old government, the national forests 

 embraced 3,000,000 arpents, and gave about 12,- 

 000,000 franks to the royal treasury. By the re- 

 volution, all the forests formerly held by the cor- 

 porate bodies and the emigrants were annexed to 

 these of the state, which thus were increased to 

 upwards of 4,000,000 arpents. These, added to 

 the forests in Belgium, and on the left bank of the 

 Rhinp, in the year 1806, yielded rather more than 

 70,000,000 francs, according to the budget for that 

 year. All forests above 300 acres were alcso added 

 to the national domains, and declared inalienable. 

 In the year 1800 the national forests were thence- 

 forward exempted from the land tax. The revo- 

 lution did not abolish the arbitrary laws under 

 which the private proprietors of woodlands labor- 

 ed. According to tliese laws, the government 

 appointed persons, who were proper judges of ship 

 timber, to examine all the woods, and to mark 

 such trees as they deemed fit for their purpose, 

 after which the proprietor durst not lay the axe to 

 the roots of them. Besides, no individual propri- 

 etor of woodland could cut down his timber, or 

 clear his land, under a heavy penalty, without 

 making, six months previously, a declaration of 

 his intention to one of the conservators, whose re- 

 port determines the government either to grant or 

 refuse permission to that effect. 



To this general account of the woods in France, 

 we shall add some short notices of such trees as 

 are sources of national wealth, independently of 

 the timber which they afford, as an appropriate 

 introduction to our account of the vine husbandry, 

 and the wines of France. 



The fine turpentine tree is found in the southern 

 pans of France, as well as in the Isle of Chio, 

 and in the Indies : the juice is the Chio, or Cyprus 

 turpentine of the shops. Considerable quantities 

 of turpentine are also made in the vicinity of Stras- 

 burs, from the silver fir; it is known by the name 

 of Strasburg turpentine. 



Beech oil, drawn by expression from \he mast 

 of the beech tree, after it has been shelled and 

 pounded, is very common in some parts of France, 

 especially in the department of the Aisne, and is 

 used mstead of butter. Afier the oil has been ex- 



tracted from the mast, the marc, as it is called, is 

 also used for food, in various ways; sometimes 

 simply as the extraction leaves it, in which state 

 it is also given to poultry, pigs, oxen and cows ; 

 or as flour, being ground in a flour mill and boult- 

 ed ; or as a kind of cheese, (fromage,) in whicfi 

 case, as it comes from tlie press, it is moistened 

 with milk, and put into moulds. In Burgundy 

 Hud Franche Compte, the marc of walnuts is 

 niiide into this kind of fromage, after the oil is ex- 

 tracted fiom it. Walnuts are grown very exten- 

 sively in France, and a great deal of oil is made 

 from them. 



Chestnuts abound in France, particularly in the 

 Limoisin, where the land is almost every where 

 covered with chestnut trees. The fruit serves for 

 food to the country people, but not, as has beea 

 asserted, reduced into flour to make bread. Their 

 manner of preparing chestnuts for food is as fol- 

 lows: they take off the first peel or rind, when 

 they are dry, then they boil them a little, to take 

 ofl the second peel ; and afterwards they boil 

 litem entirely, to reduce them into a kind of pap. 

 Thus prepared, they are said to afford a pleasant 

 and nourishing article of food to the peasantry of 

 the Limoisin, and other parts of France. 



The caper shrub grows in great perfection in 

 the southern provinces, especially in the vicinity 

 of Cuges, between Aubagne and Toulon, where 

 an extensive valley is wholly devoted to the culture 

 of them. The caper is not suffered to grow here, 

 as it does in many places, into a bush ; but is made 

 to creep on the ground in long runners ; and being 

 cultivated only lor the trade, is never leit to flower, 

 it being the little bud of the flower that is used for 

 pickling. The fruit also, which resembles a very 

 small gherkin, is pickled ; but these have the 

 name of cornichons, the French name for gher- 

 kins : it is tlie flower-bud which has the appella- 

 tion of capers. When suffered to flower, it is a 

 very beautiful 6hrui>. 



The islands of Hieres, not far from Toulon, 

 were formerly famous (or their orange groves. In 

 the year 1565, Charles IX. visited these islands 

 in a progress he made through the south of 

 France : he was accompanied by the young king 

 of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. and the Duke 

 of Anjou ; and there was then an orange tree so 

 large, that these three royal personages, taking 

 each other by the hand, could but just encircle the 

 stem : it had produced in one year 14,000 oranges. 

 But the climate even of the south of France, is 

 not steadily warm enough for this fruit ; the se- 

 vere winter of 1789 killed every tree in the Hieres, 

 down to the roots ; and the trees at present there 

 are only such as have shot up from their roots. 

 Most of the oranges of Hieres are sent to Paris. 

 In these islands, and in some other parts of the 

 south of France, the lemon, citron, date and po- 

 megranate, are not uncommon, the lime is culti- 

 vated, especially in Provence. 



The trade of almonds carried on in France is 

 considerable, both on account of their oil, and the 

 large quantity of them used in Lent, either shelled 

 or unshelled : a great quantity of the sweet al- 

 monds are used in sugar-plums, and of the bitter 

 ones in biscuits, confectionary, &c. The grocers 

 and druggists of France have both sorts from the 

 provinces in the middle and south of France, es- 

 pecially Provence, Languedoc, Tourraine, the 

 county of Venaissin, Avigr.on. &c. The best 



