FRANCE. 311 



pay the farmer thereby better than if 

 under wheat, if the price is low. The com- 

 mon culture of maiz is as follows : 



They plough the land at Michaelmas, 

 and again in March, chufmg a dry foil, 

 and, if fandy, the better; but on wet and 

 clayey grounds it will not thrive. In April 

 they fpread dung upon the grounds, and 

 pretty plentifully, fometimes to the amount 

 of thirty flones per acre. This work I faw 

 many peafants about as I pafled through 

 the country j the end of the month the dung 

 is covered by another ploughing j in this 

 ploughing they are careful to leave, at regu- 

 lar diftances, a furrow open for planting 

 the maiz, which is done by dibbling at the 

 bottom of thofe furrows, by a man, and a 

 child follows with a baiket of feed, dropping 

 two or three in each hole. The furrows 

 are ufually two feet from each other, and 

 the holes in them the fame diftance; fo that 

 the plants come up in the quincunx form. 

 The reafon of fowing more than one feed 

 in a hole, is for fear of mifcarriages, which 

 are often met with, even where three feeds 

 are dropt ; but when the plants come up, 

 they draw out all above one that have 

 X 4 grown. 



