APPENDIX I 429 



twelve years' leases at an average rental of £2. i6s. an acre. 

 The undertaking gave, for many years, good healthy produc- 

 tive employment for a large number of persons whose wages 

 varied from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. a day. For these labourers and 

 their families a temporary village of comfortable dwellings 

 had been built, with a garden attached to each cottage. The 

 wages spent for manual labour only were about i^200 a week. 

 Besides this the machines, materials, and other things 

 required for the work provided a great deal of outside 

 employment. 



In the Bay of Mont St. Michel alone at the time of my 

 visit, in addition to sales, 3500 acres divided into 50 lots had 

 been let to 43 holders, on leases from 9 to 12 years, at an 

 average rental of £2. 5s. an acre. I noticed that the smallest 

 holding was 2\ acres and the largest 365 acres, the average 

 size being 70 acres. 



It was estimated that on the completion of the enterprise 

 the total value of the reclaimed land — " Good land added to 

 the national territory " — would be no less than about half a 

 million sterling. This undertaking is another instance of the 

 importance which French Governments have always attached 

 to agriculture. I noticed that the reason given in the decree 

 for granting the concession to the Company was "that to 

 favour the reclamation of land from the sea and make it 

 valuable is in the best interests of the community." Honours 

 were conferred on the Managing Director of the Company, 

 M. Maridor, " for important services to the country by the re- 

 clamation of land in the Bays of St. Michel and Des Veys 

 and by putting into cultivation vast stretches of land con- 

 quered from the sea." 



Most of the smaller holdings are used for the cultivation 

 of vegetables. M. Touzard, one of the largest holders, has 

 written an interesting pamphlet on the cultivation of the re- 

 claimed land in the Bay of Mont St. Michel. He speaks of 

 the special fitness of the soil for culture marauhere (market 

 gardening) and the very large profits which are made by 

 vegetables of all kinds when cultivated with care and skill. 

 As an instance, he planted about 3| acres with asparagus, and 

 the fourth year after planting he realized, after paying carriage 



