FRANCE, AGRICULTURE OF. 



At these, sheep are bred, and experiments in 

 crossing tried. The chief breeds are the me- 

 rino, the naz, a race with small frames and fine 

 wool, and the English long-woolled sheep. 



Of the model farms, Grignon, founded in 

 1829, and containing 1100 acres of land of dif- 

 ferent qualities, is the chief. It consists of 

 arable, pasture, meadow, water meadow, and 

 wood. Pupils are taken here, who pay in the 

 house from 30/. to 60/. per annum, or, if they 

 only attend the courses of instruction, from 8/. 

 to 20/.: the shortest course occupies two years ; 

 and after attending this period, and passing a 

 public examination, the pupil may receive a 

 diploma, taking rank as a sort of master of 

 arts of Grignon. 



The chief veterinary schools are at Alfort, 

 near Paris, Toulouse, and Lyons. The three 

 chief haras, or breeding studs, are at Dupin in 

 Normandy (English blood horses), at Rozieres 

 (a mixed breed called the "race ducale"), and 

 at Pompadour (Arab and Persian). These 

 contain together about 1300 horses. Of tho- 

 rough-bred stock, in 1840, they had 167 stal- 

 lions, 98 mares, and 121 colts and fillies ; for 

 the use of the departments 870 stallions are 

 kept at different stations. These are allowed 

 the following amount of forage at three dif- 

 ferent stations : 



FRANCE, AGRICULTURE OF. 



These various public objects cost the govern- 

 ment 119.452/.; viz., sheep farms, 20,303/.; 

 veterinary schools, 11,2631. ; haras, or studs, 

 70,526/.; 'other items of expense, 32,000/. ; de- 

 partment of government, 3,360/. 



Sir Charles Lemon has given the result of 

 the returns of the agricultural survey of 21 out 

 of the 84 departments of France, comprehend- 

 ing the whole of the north-eastern portion of 

 the kingdom, or the whole or the greater part 

 of the old provinces of Flanders, Artois, Picar- 

 die, Isle de France, Champagne, Lorraine, and 

 Alsace, equal to a surface of 31,720,000 acres, 

 or about the area of all England. (Jour, of Roy. 

 Agr. Soc. vol. i. p. 415.) 



The following table shows the number of 

 English acres tilled with each sort of grain, 

 the produce, and the seed sown, in the 21 de- 

 partments before alluded to : 



In these departments were contained 



Cattle - - - 



Sheep - 



Pigs and goats 



Horses 



Mules and asses - 



- fi,7t>l.Hi7 



- 974.9 IS 



- 99,660 



The food of the small French Farmers! 

 especially in Normandy, is very poor. " Many 

 (says a writer in the Quart. Jour, of Jlr. vol. 

 xii. p. 2), like the common labourers, live upon 

 a few apples or pears, and a bit of bread, with- 

 out the formality of sitting down to a table, 

 and are content with a drink of their own 

 home-made miserable cider." The breed of 

 sheep is very inferior. Although many of the 

 sheep are kept in flocks, 3 r et there is little or 

 no free range for them ; they are usually kept 

 in small lots of three or four, or half-a-dozen, 

 and generally tied together by the legs. The 

 average price of mutton is 3rf. per pound. Of 

 the cattle, the Alderney blood seems to pre- 

 dominate. Bullocks are worked to a consi- 

 derable extent, both in the plough and in the 

 wagon. "Some centuries ago, Normandy 

 was the source whence our Henries, and Ed- 

 wards, and the flower of European chivalry, 

 obtained their chargers ; which were then a 

 breed of large, powerful, active horses, able to 

 bear the weight of an armed knight, with suffi- 

 cient speed for the purposes of war. That 

 breed has long since degenerated into an active 

 and hardy horse, but totally devoid of those 

 qualifications as to size and general appear- 

 ance which we should think essential in a 

 charger even for a common soldier ; they sel- 

 dom attain 15 hands in height, and are very 

 short-necked; they are rather large in the 

 head, have good forelegs, but are frequently 

 imperfect in the hind ones, being too long from 

 the hock to the hoof, and they are often diseased 

 in those limbs from curb or spavine, and defi- 

 cient in width and muscle in the thigh. They 

 have generally, however, good shoulders, back, 

 and loins, many of them possessing very use- 

 ful and short actions in the trot ; and consi- 

 dered generally as a breed, they are able to go 

 faster, and do more work than their appear- 

 ance at first indicates: they are commonly 

 worked at two years of age." With regard to 

 the rotation of crops, there is little worthy of 

 observation. In Normandy, a very common 

 rotation is a three-shift of wheat, barley, clover, 

 wheat; in others, a four-shift of potatoes, barley, 

 clover, wheat. Their agricultural implements 

 are few and defective. Dombasle's plough, mo- 

 delled from that of Small's English plough, is 

 the favourite plough in France ; it has com- 

 monly, however, wheels added. The spade is 

 employed to a considerable extent in the field 

 culture of this great country, and the greatest 

 portion of the country partakes of the nature 

 of garden husbandry. The consumption of 

 2U 505 



