FRANCE. 135 



the cattle which draws the plough have 

 little to do with the letting the farms. 

 However, I found that horfes are ufed in 

 fome places where the fmall culture pre- 

 vails, and oxen where the great is com- 

 mon ; which is a circumftance that deftroys 

 one of their diftindions. 



In the great culture, the fand is much 

 better cultivated than in the fmall ; for the 

 farmers having leafes, and all the profit 

 to themfelves, they have confequently much 

 more fpirit in exerting themfelves, than if 

 they only receive a portion of the products 

 in return only for their labour ; for the taille 

 ^adls equally upon both. But there is, even 

 in the great, but a very incomplete agri- 

 culture carried on, fince it extends no far- 

 ther than the rontine of the parifli where it 

 is practifed. Hence, therefore, France 

 does not want the enlargement of the great 

 culture, fo much as the inclofure of com- 

 mon fields; that management, though bet- 

 ter than the other mode, yet remedies none 

 of the inconveniencies of open lands. The 

 farmers are tied down through three fourths, 

 nay, probably four- fifths of France to fow 

 only fuch crops as their neighbours agree 

 K 4 in ; 



