FRANCE.' 30? 



horfes, mules, and oxen, ufed in drawing 

 the ploughs. I faw a fallow working for 

 the firft time, which was ploughed by a 

 girl, for (he was not full grown, with a 

 pair of afles, and fhe held the plough and 

 drove them by means of reins : I flopped 

 rny horfe to obferve what fort of tillage {he 

 made j and it was with furprife that I found 

 fhe did the work very well, deep, regular, 

 and ftraight in her furrows ; but the foil was 

 light, and the afles very docile. I have 

 often thought, when I have feen them fo 

 much ufed abroad, that this animal might 

 be rendered much more ufeful than it is in 

 England, where it is fo much defpifed : it 

 fupports hard labour in the fouth of France 

 better than either a horfe or an ox, though 

 not equal to a mule, and it is eafier fed than 

 either of the three. After working for four 

 hours, they are turned into the roads, or 

 into bare commons, for fupport ; and in 

 the afternoon they go to work again, and 

 in the evening meet with little better fare ; 

 yet they fupport their work very well, and 

 are in all refpe&s very profitable to the pea- 

 fants. The management of the open fields, 

 in the hands of metayers, is generally fallow, 

 X 2 rye, 



