392 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



are those of the county of Venaissin ; those from 

 Chiron in Tourraine are ihe worst. The en- 

 virons of Aix are particularly noted of all parts o! 

 Provence, lor the abundance of almonds they pro- 

 duce: they are an unceriain produce; a frosiy 

 niiiht will sometimes come on, while they are in 

 blossom, wJiich is commonly about the end of Ja- 

 nuary, and in a Cew hours the greatest part of (he 

 crop will be destroyed. At the time when the al- 

 monds are gathered, it is a curious sight at jf\ix to 

 see the women silling at their doors cracking them 

 for the merchants. The shells being an excellent 

 article of fuel, great interest is made to get the al- 

 monds to crack, which is paid by having the 

 shells: a certain measure in the shells, is expect- 

 ed to produce a certain measure without them. 

 The person cracking them has a basket of fruit 

 on one side of her, and another basket on the 

 ■other side to receive them when cracked : she has 

 a flat piece of stone on her knee, and a bone with 

 a knob to it in her hand ; and laying the almond 

 on the stone, she strikes it with the bone, which 

 seldom (ails to crack it at the first stroke : it is then 

 thrown shell and all into (he receiving basket, and 

 when that is full, the almonds are emptied out 

 upon a large table, and the kernels picked from 

 among the shells. The whole process is perform- 

 ed with wonderful dexterity and rapidity. 



t'igs are another important article among the 

 productions of Provence, as well as of several 

 other districts of the south of France. The most 

 celebrated is a very small green, or white fig, as 

 it is often called, which grows only in the territo- 

 ry of Marseilles, whence it takes its name of the 

 fig of Marseilles. Brignolles in Provence, a town 

 about thirty miles li-ora Marseilles, is one of the 

 most famous places in the kingdom for the dried 

 plums, which are so well known by the name of 

 French plums. Prunes, or St. Catheiine's plums, 

 constitute a lucrative branch of traffic, almost ex- 

 clusively carried on at Tours and Chatelherault. 

 These prunes are gathered at La Haie, Sainte 

 Maurevaux, Maudion, &c. They are prepared 

 with the greatest care at the places where (hey 

 are grown ; and sent to the merchants of Tours 

 and Chatelherault, who supply every other part 

 of France, as well as Ibreign countries, with them. 

 The grand purchases of this fruit are made at the 

 commencement of the new year, and of Lent: 

 during the latter season, the demand is particular- 

 ly great at Paris, and in other large cities and 

 towns in France. Dried plums of excellent qua- 

 lity are also prepared at Agen, Culroen, Toulouse 

 and Bordeaux. • 



Mulberries succeed best in (he olive climate of 

 France ; Tours being the only place north of the 

 maize climate, where they are cultivated lor silk 

 with any success; the spring frosts being fatal 

 impediments to their culture in the central, and 

 even sometimes in the southern districts of the 

 kinirdom. Considerable experiments have been 

 made for introducing (hem into Normandy, &c. 

 but without success. In proceeding li-om Paris 

 to the south, they are not met with till we come to 

 Causade near Montauban ; there are a few at 

 Auch, and even at Tours; the district in which 

 they are grown is of small extent. Before the 

 time of Henry IV., the mulberry trees had been 

 propagated for silk-worms only in (he Lyonnois, 

 Dauphiny, Provence, and Languedoc ; but that 

 king carried thcin as far north as Orleans y he also 



planted them near Paris, and attempted to breed' 

 silk-worms at the Tuileries. FonOinebleau, and 

 the castle of Madrid, but without success. In the 

 Lyonnois the while mulberry succeeds extremely 

 well, and a great many eilk-vvorms are reared: 

 the worms are kept in houses, and the leaves car- 

 ried to them. It is a pin<iular spectacle to see 

 whole trees stripped of their leaves, and bearing 

 the appearance oi" winter when other trees are in 

 full Ibliage. A second crop of leaves, however, 

 comes out, but not with the beauty and luxu- 

 riance of (he first ; and they are often gathered to 

 i?ive to the sheep and cattle when other food fails. 

 The white mulberry tree bears a more delicate 

 kind of leaf than 'the black, /or which reason (hey 

 are always given to the silk-worms, as the silk 

 produced from them is of a much finer quality: 

 (he fruit is vapid and good (or nothing. The leaves 

 are purchased and paid for according to the size 

 of the tree, by those who keep silk-worms, but;' 

 have not mulberry plantations of their own. 



The limits of the olive climate have been al- 

 ready defined : They comprehend a very small 

 portion of the south and south-east of the king- 

 dom. In France, there is a great difference in 

 the quality of the oil produced from them; (hat 

 of the territory of Aix is reckoned the finest- 

 Here the trees are very small, commonly from 

 about eight to fourteen or fifteen feet in height. 

 About Toulon and Hieres the trees are taller, but 

 (he oil is of a less delicate quality. The tree re- 

 sembles a pollard willow in the general appear- 

 ance, and is by no means either beautiful or pic- 

 turesque. The fruit is gathered green for making 

 the oil, but if left to ripen, it becomes almost black. 

 When they are preserved, or pickled, they are 

 sailed first for a i'ew days, and (hen put in(o jars 

 wi(h oil and vinegar. In most houses in Pro- 

 vence lamps are used in thR kitchen ins(ead of 

 candles ; and amons the lower classes they are 

 used universally. Olive oil is used in them. The 

 wood of the olive tree makes excellent fuel when 

 a brisk fire is wanted ; but it partakes so much of 

 the greasy nature of the fruit, that while it burns 

 very bright it also consumes very fast. The time 

 of gathering (he olives is soon alter the vintage. 

 In the hard winter of 1789, so many olive trees 

 were destroyed by the frost, and during the revo- 

 lution so few young (rees have been plan(ed, that 

 Aix, which was the principal seat of the com- 

 merce in oil, has almost entirely lost this, its first 

 and most lucrative branch of trade; and as these 

 trees are many years in coming to perlection, this 

 loss is not likely to be soon compensated. 



As (here were aides and customs levied on the 

 consumption and export of wine previously to (he 

 revoliilion, it might have been supposed that the 

 quantity of vineyards in the kingdom might have 

 been estimated wi(h a tolerable decree of cer(ain(y, 

 yet there is an amazing difi'erence of opinion on 

 this subject. M. de Trone, author of a work on 

 the provincial administration of the taxes, is of 

 opinion, that their extent is 1,600,000 acres. In. 

 this calcula(ion, M. Mirabeau coincides; but the 

 author of Credit National, who published only 

 one year afterwards, calculates (he quantity at 

 18,000,000 arpents. M. Lavoisier supposes the 

 produce 80,000.000 livres. The economists in the 

 Encyclopedie, make the annual produce 500,- 

 000,000. This, at an average produce per acre of 

 175 livres, would, give 2,857,142 acres. Mr. 



