244 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



FEB. 1, 1?4 3. 



ENGLAND AND FRANCE. soil, or of climate — but to the general system of 



The following "Notes" we copy from the Maga- j liig'ier cuUivation, and of deep tillage, which they 

 zine of Horticulture, but with additions and enicn 



dations bv the author. 



AoifS oil Ene:land and France, during two several 

 visits to those Coimtries, in the years 1840, 1841 

 and J842 ; ivith some remarks on their Buildings 

 and Horticulture, and on Rural .flffairs, ^-c. liy 

 William Kenrick, Nonantum Hill, Newton. 

 Hiverpool, which I visited for the first time in 

 December last, is in lat. 53" 27' north ; and, being 

 near the northwestern coast, is deemed a very cold 

 part of England. The sun rose at that time and 

 place at half-past 8 o'clock, and remained above 

 the horizon only seven hours, its greatest eleva- 

 tion being liut thirteen degrees at noon. From 

 these causes, vegetation is neither so rapid, nor is 

 its growth so prolonged, at that place, as in the 

 more southern and inland counties, and in the vi- 

 cinity of London. The gardens and nursery 

 grounds of some of the most distinguished culti- 

 vators, are protected from cold winds by numerous 

 sub-divisions of hedges, which screen them from 

 the cold, thus essentially promoting the growth nl' 

 various tender plants. These hedges being trained 

 very close and flat, occupy but little space. They 

 consist sometimes of the beech, which retains its 

 leaves and protecting power for a long time when 

 dry, and till late in winter ; or the Sorhus hybridus, 

 or silver-leaved mountain ash, being very hand- 

 some and well furnished with branches, is also 

 sometimes used ; evergreen privet being at times 

 combined with this, or with the beech, to render 

 the bottom more impervious and secure. 



The country of England, through which 1 passed, 

 was generally sub-divided by hedges: it seemed a 

 rolling country, with but few stones ; ane in the 

 liighest state of cultivation. These hedges being 

 planted on the edge of a dry ditch, are seldom 

 pruned ; thus managed, they occupy much ground ; 

 yet though they have frequent breaches, or weak 

 parts, they seem to answer as an effectual fence to 

 the well-trained English cattle ; but I doubt wheth- 

 er they would answer for ours, accustomed as ours 

 usually are, at an early age, to roam in the under- 

 bush and woods. The only perfect and properly 

 trained hedges which I have ever seen, are those 

 pruned in pyramidal form ; thus pruned, and thus 

 only, they retain their branches to the ground, bo- 

 coming impervious to their base. 



Between London and Portsmouth are immense 

 tracts of low, barren lands, black and boggy, or 

 wet, producing only the heath, or other useless 

 herbage, and extending in some places, as far as 

 the eye can reach. From Wimbledon Common to 

 Salisbury Plain, and for many miles further south, 

 1 think I must have seen full 50,000 acres of bar- 

 ren or deserted lands, which I am persuaded might 

 with skill be reclaimed. In some parts, the soil 

 appeared shallow, resting on chilk, or calcareous 

 rocks. These chalky rocks abound with flint 

 stones, which are here so abundant, that ihoy are 

 used in forming roads — roads thus formed, being 

 nearly as hard and as compact as iron. 



In that country, and also in the north of France, 

 and especially in the vicinity or suburbs of the 

 cities of London and Paris, vegetation commences 

 earlier than with us ; and it appeared to me that 

 their fruits, their trees, and most other vegetable 

 productions, generally made much greater growth 

 during the whole season than is usual with us. 

 This I ascribe, not to any natural superiority of 



pursue. By this system, the roots strike down 

 wards deep into the soil, from whence alone they 

 are able to draw continual sources of nourishment 

 in times of drought. Yet from the comparative 

 obscurity of their atmosphere, and other causes, 

 these droughts are, as I understand, not near so 

 frequent or so scorching as with us. 



Throughout those fertile districts of England 

 and of France, through which I traversed, oxen 

 were never used ; at least I never saw but one 

 working ox, and that ox in harness, toiling with 

 horses. About the cities of London and Paris, 

 donkies are much used; a hardy, patient, and emi- 

 nently useful race, inasmuch as they are long-lived 



troduced, cimsisting of large sheets of felt, formec 

 of the coarsest wool or of woollen rags; these be- 

 ing saturated or dipped in asphaltum, are said tcl 

 be both durable and cheap. The walls of largt 

 public buildings are strengthened at frequent inter 

 vals, and at all outward angles, by strong projeci 

 ing abutments, or upheld by other effectual modes 

 many of the churches being built in form of a cross 

 the walls of large churches or cathedrals beinj 

 strengthened by ranges of massive columns within 

 these being strongly connected with the side-walji I 

 at top, serve not only to support the roof, but ti 

 keep also the walls in place. Still more durabli I 

 structures are the large' and ancient abbeyi 

 These, so far as I have seen, are built of extraordi 

 nary strength, with compound or double side walls 



and will subsist on very ordinary fare. 'J'hc heavy these parallel or double walls being firmly unitei 



dray hoises of London, which are employed almost 

 exclusively in the transportation of porter, are of 

 Flemish origin and of prodigious size. It is stated 

 that the best-trained farm and cart-horses of the 

 English, are never allowed to run, but are taught 

 only to walk at the quick step. These horses are 

 generally large and fine, and infinitely more useful 

 than the English race-horse. Whether the team 

 consists of two or more horses, the plowman mana- 

 ges both his plow and his well-trained horses alone 

 — two horses working abreast. 



The horses of Normandy, or those which carry 

 tlie diligence between Havre and Paris, are str.nt 

 and strong, and compactly built, and evidently of 

 that same hardy breed which we here call French 

 or Canadian horses, and which, without doubt, 

 were originally brought from this same country in- 

 to Canada, by the original emigrants from Nor- 

 mandy. These horses are large and handsome : 

 owing to a colder climate, those of Canada being 

 evidently of diminished size. 



The lands in the vicinity of Paris, and, as I be- 

 lieve, throughout most of that country, are seldom 

 enclosed. In that country, and in the suburbs of 

 that city, flocks of sheep are occasionally seen 

 feeding in the open fields, guarded and attended 

 only by the shepherd-dog, who marches around the 

 flock in a circle continually, and the sheep that at- 

 tempts to stray is quickly arrested and brought 

 back to the fold. 



At the great railroad depots or stations in Eng- 

 land, the car houses are never built of wood, but 

 of iron incombustible, with roofs of sheet-iron or 

 of slate. Walls of stone or brick, or pillars of 

 hollow cast iron support the superstructure, the 

 plates, purlines and rafters being of the precise 

 form of the edge rail, which is used on our rail- 

 roads ; — round rods of iron serve as ties or stays ; 

 similar rods also serve as cross-beams to connect 

 the plates on which the rafters rest. These con- 

 necting rods are elevated in the centre, to allow 

 greater head. room and space above — the slates be- 

 ing secured, resting on narrow strips of iron, which 

 are laid horizontally at intervals across the ralters. 

 The houses and public buildings are almost uni- 

 versally built of stone, or of brick, and covered 

 with slate or tile ; except only the cottages and 

 out-buildings, in some particular sections of the 

 country, are sometimes covered with thatch, to the 

 thickness of a foot; this thatch being composed of 

 straw, and an otherwise useless wild grass, called 

 ling. Timber, in those countries, being compara- 

 tively scarce, shingles of wood seem never to be 

 used, or to be quite unknown. The straw-thatched 

 roof seldom or never takes fire in that moist cli- 

 mate. A new article for roofs has been lately in- 



by numerous transverse and massive partitions, o 

 strong sub-dividing walls, a range of numerou 

 small compartments, or cells, or cloisters, bein) 

 thus formed within the walls. Such were thi 

 sanctuaries or abodes of the monks of former dayi 

 The stone which is principally used in Londoi 

 is a species of sandstone, soft at first, and easy t 

 extract from the quarry, and to work ; and on thea 

 accounts even far more extensively used than harde 

 granite. The high chalky clifl^s which bound th 

 British channel on both sides, appear to be but 

 variety of this same sandstone. From Havre t 

 Paris, and on both sides of the river Seine, a goO' 

 portion of the country appears to be underlaid wit 

 this same stone — a considerable portion of Par 

 being built up from stones obtained from vast qua> 

 ries or subterraneous caverns, ^vhich have beftll, 

 formed beneath the city itself; the openings (||, 

 these caverns being now principally closed, by o; i 

 der of government. In the suburbs, and partici i j 

 larly on the side of Vitry and Vincennes, numiJ 

 rous and new openings are to be seen in the mid. ii_ 

 of the fertile fields, through which the stones a 

 drawn upwards by a great wheel, thirty feet in d 

 ameter, from the vast caverns beneath, pillars b 

 ing left at intervals to sustain the superincunibe 

 weight. At some other places, as at the hill of t 

 Cloud, on the road to Versailles, these caverns a 

 entered horizontally, and near the base of the liil ; „■ 

 The streets of these two great cities are pav ; 

 generally with stones of a cubical, but never of 

 round form. In the latter city, especially, asphalti 

 being cheap, is already much used for side-wall 

 The new and splendid mansions and other bull 

 ings at the west end of London, are general 

 formed of brick, and covered with a couipoaitii 

 which in appearance perfectly resembles stor 

 Stone being at that place comparatively scarce,) 

 use is principally confined to the public buildinf 

 But at Paris, where the stone is abundant, and tl 

 cheapest material, many splendid mansions a 

 formed of the rough, unhewn sandstone and CO 

 ered with the composition, which while soft Bl 

 plastic, may be moulded in any desirable or ortt 

 nental form. 



The Londoners, of the best informed class, a 

 notorious for their republicanism. In their fearle 

 independence and manner, I recognized only tho 

 peculiar traits of character which belong so excl 

 sively to the citizens of our own republican count 

 and tree States. Of their government and counti 

 and of ours also, and of " those peculiar insiitutioni 

 they speak boldly and freely. * * [We nn- 

 omit tho writer's opinions which follow here, 

 being improper for our columns. — Ed.] 

 [To be continued.] 



