FRANCE. 49 



large quantities of cyder : yet is this pecu- 

 liar to that place, for the like is not to be 

 found in any place in the neighbourhood. 

 I tafted the cyder, and found it but indif- 

 ferent; yet they aflured me an acre of 

 orchard paid them as well as one of vines, 

 which appeared rather extraordinary. The 

 22d, fending my horfes to Verdun, I took 

 my own pafTage, in a market boat, thither, 

 and was very much entertained by the va- 

 riety of profpects the adjacent country af- 

 fords. In fome places the river is bounded 

 by a line of rich meadows ; in others, the 

 corn fields come to the very banks of it, 

 and woods in others, on the fides of hills, 

 hang very beautifully to it. At Ambley 

 the boat flopped, and I had an opportunity 

 of making fome enquiries concerning the 

 hufbandry of this country. I found the ge- 

 neral practice was, to fallow for wheat, and 

 then fow barley. Of the former the crops 

 amounted to about two quarters and a half 

 per acre ; the latter the fame : and no more 

 cattle kept in the country, but a few cows, 

 except the ox teams wherewith they till 

 their lands. They reckon, that a farm of 

 three hundred acres requires fixteen oxen. 

 Vol. IV. E The 



