FRANCE. 57 



k a rule never to turn any cattle Into it, ex- 

 cept in Autumn, for the laft growth, which 

 does not rife high enough to anfwer mow- 

 ing; all the reft is mown, and carried to 

 the ftables, the houfes for cows and other 

 cattle, and the ftyes for fwine. They find 

 all thefe cattle thrive better upon it than 

 upon any other food. It yields four crops 

 every Summer; and an acre of it fufficesfor 

 keeping four or five working oxen, from 

 April to September, both inclufive. One 

 farmer here has feven acres of it, upon 

 which he ufually feeds fixteen working oxen, 

 one hundred fheep, two horfes, fix cows, 

 five young beafts, and fix and twenty head 

 of fwine : and his way of giving the lucern, 

 to fave trouble, is, to confine all this cattle 

 promifcuoufly to a large pen, that is paled 

 in, and the lucern is given twice a day, in 

 racks; the great cattle dropping enough for 

 the meep and fwine. This pen he litters 

 with ftraw, and now and then fpreads fand 

 about it to imbibe the urine ; a plan that 

 feems very rational. But I objeded, that 

 fuch a mixture of cattle muft be injurious to 

 the (heep, and fometimes to the reft. He 

 replied, very rarely : that the accidents 

 D 3 which 



