THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



411 



him, and desires the rcliel' oT a varied landscape, 

 such as Normandy exhibits. 



The quality ol" soil varies much, but is on the 

 whole ol'finequaiity, — the richest in France — and 

 in many parts it is highly calcareous. 



The larms may be said to average sixteen 

 English acres in extent, and when let they are 

 generally held under leases of nine years certain, 

 and iti at the terminatisn of this period, they 

 should change occupants, agrarian outrages are 

 never the results. 



But one-half of the farms is held by the pro- 

 prietors, who sometimes rent adjoinincj land ; and 

 these proprietors are, in the majority of instances, 

 poor farmers ol" the lowest class, taking their own 

 produce to market, dis()osing of it in person, and 

 living as poor as it is possible to imagine. 



Many of this class, like the common laborers, 

 dine upon a lew apples or pears and a bit of bread 

 without the Ibrmality of sitting down to a table, 

 and are content with a drink ol' their own home- 

 made miserable cider. 



It is not easy for an Englishman to conceive 

 how men can work hard upon the washy diet 

 which is so general in France. We have seen 

 men cutting up wood for fuel (which is hard work) 

 from morning to night, and in the severest winter 

 season, without more nutritious food than indil- 

 lerent fruit and a little bread ; the soup taken 

 perhaps for supper at home, or lor early breakfast, 

 is, if possible, worse as a means of support, for it 

 consists merely of cabbage and hot water, with a 

 little grease or kitchen stuff; it distends the 

 stomach with wind, and therefore is totally 

 unsuited to a working man, who should have solid, 

 not liquid diet. 



The consolidation of farms, and consequent 

 good I'arming, cannot be anticipated in France ; 

 for though an individual here and there may add 

 " field to field," the laws of property render it 

 probable that his farm will be subdivided again in 

 the next veneration. These laws, by rendering 

 property divisible ad infinitum, and annihilating 

 the privileges of primogeniture, destroy aristocracy 

 in its most essential principles, create a vast num- 

 ber of petty proprietors, with very contracted re- 

 sources, and— supposing them to let, not; cultivate 

 their alloimenis — take away all chances of hav- 

 ing an independent thriving tenantry, under a 

 liberal and encouraging landlord, who identifies 

 his own interests with those of his tenant, and 

 can afford to place him in a really comlbrlable 

 position. 



If our great and munificent land-owners had 

 been encumbered with these restrictions, which 

 gradually reduce ownership, and give rise to the 

 paltry system of higgling lor rents, which so 

 much distinguished the class of Squireens in 

 Ireland, and in Scotland too, where would be the 

 splendid improvements and creations of valuable 

 property, with all the consequent train of industry 

 and independence to thousands, which have been 

 effected by the individual efiorts and accuntulated 

 wealth of some of our aristocracy? 



The effect of the principle of equal partition of 

 property, so pleasing to the ears of nnreflcoiing 

 people who have liau no opportunities of seeing 

 the practical consequences, must ever be an 

 insurmountable bar to the accjuisition of perfect 

 skdl in the operations of husbandry in France ; 

 (Small larms can never admit of the purchase uf 



expensive implements, nor ofspcculalive improve- 

 ments, and no parent there lias the power o( leav- 

 ing his property in land (he may divide his mo- 

 ney as he likes, but not by testamentary act,) 

 otherwise than equally among his children, male 

 and female, with the ()rivilege only of giving one- 

 fifth more to a particular child ; and this dependa 

 on the number of children which he may have. 



Where would bo the means of building those 

 exceJIent farm-establishments which we have 

 through the length and breadth of our land, and 

 ofdraininy thousands of acres in a very expensive, 

 hut permanent manner, through the combined 

 powers of the proprietor and the tenant, where 

 the means for conducting those expensive opera- 

 tions on the soil, winch we constantly witness, if 

 the laws of primogeniture did not prevail among 

 us? 



What has been stated applies more generally 

 to France ; we must now confine our observations 

 to the circumstances of Normandy. 



Though there are many sheep kept in this 

 division of France, we cannot properly assert that 

 it is of a pastoral character ; there is little or no 

 free range for sheep, they are kept in very small 

 lots of three, lour, or half a dozen, and usually 

 tied together by the legs even when they have 

 lambs, which, though an economical plan as 

 regards the quantity of produce consumed, checks 

 the condition of these animals considerably. 

 Occasionally they have a comparatively free range, 

 but rarely, and altogether a worse description of 

 sheep cannot be imagined. 



The introduction of the Leicester breed would 

 be a great boon in Normandy, where there is much 

 rich land, and where the enclosures render thia 

 breed more desirable than that of South Downs, 

 or any other breed requiring a good range. The 

 loot-rot is frequent among the Norman sheep, and 

 this would be another circumstance against the 

 breed of South Downs, which are so liable to it. 



The average price of mutton is 3Jd. per lb. in 

 the markets, and the only kind fit for table is the 

 year old ; the purchaser who ventures upon ag-ecZ 

 mutton will generally find that it is extremely 

 tough ; frequently, without of course intending it, 

 he finds that he has brought home part of an old 

 ram which he cannot chew nor digest. 



The management of cows is not a great deal 

 better, yet the cream and butter, which are prime 

 in quality, and abundant in quantity, even in the 

 midst of winter, when frost and snow pervade 

 the land, put us entirely to shame. Instead of 

 having a few thin slices of well salted butter at 

 the breakfast or the tea table, as is so general in 

 this country, through the winter season, the 

 markets of Normandy, as well as those of the more 

 southern parts of France, afford ample euppliea 

 o( the most delicious fresh butter imaginable, at 

 less than half the London price. 



In great tarms the practice is to churn twice a- 

 week in summer, and it is much owing to the 

 shortness of interval during which tfie cream 

 (and this only is put mto the rhnrn) is allowed to 

 stand, that the butler is so well flavored. Dairy 

 cows may be said to yield eight quarts of milk 

 daily during two-thirds of the year, and twelve 

 (juaris during the remaining four months. 



Bf>et, in some departments, is given pretty fi^eely 

 in winter, but the use uf ihiis vegetable lor cattJe 

 It'pdiufj is very partial and limited, lor ikough it 



