206 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Ski 



and as rich as it needs be. In the next place they 

 provide abundance of icaler. In nearly every garden 

 exceeding half an acre in extent, I found a horse 

 pumping water. It is forced into a reservoir so ele- 

 vated that ii tlows in pipes through all parts of the 

 garden, into tanks, when it is at tlie hand of the work, 

 men to apply it. That horse pumps all day, and a 

 certain nuinhor of men, 4 or 5 on a two acre garden, 

 water all day, not in the morning and evening, but 

 all dav, am! tliey do not sprinkle it on, but absolutely 

 deluge every thing with it. This with the rich, deep 

 ground and a hot sun, gives the plants a tropical cli- 

 mate that makes them grow like mushrooms. If a 

 day iiappens to be cool, they have large bell glasses, 

 is" inches to two feet in diameter, enough to cover 

 the whole garden if necessary. Melons are a great 

 culture ar.d well understood by the French gardeners. 

 But this watering process is universal. As soon as 

 there is the least deficiency of moisture, on goes 

 the water. All the parks and gardens of Paris, all 

 the cemetrie?, Sic, are drenched daily. No plant is 

 allowed to suiier. The gardeners never say my 

 plants are sufiering from the want of rain. They 

 spare neither labor nor expense. I have heard it said 

 that the French were not an industrious people ; but 

 I have never seen any people more so. At four 

 o'clock in the morning these market gardeners are in 

 town with their products. Some have wagons or 

 carts. Some have baskets that they put on an ass's 

 back. I have seen three or four large baskets on 

 each side of the back of an ass, and a woman mount- 

 ed on the top. In most cases the w^omen do the mar- 

 keting, for the men have to attend to the garden. It 

 is astonishing how far these people will walk, and 

 what a load they will carry. I have seen in the 

 country tov»-ns both men and women come into market 

 with an immense load of vegetables, from a distance 

 of 6 or 7 miles. In all the gardens and nurseries 

 the men work from 4 o'clock in the morning till 8 at 

 night, having half an hour for breakfast and an hour 

 for dinner, and they work hard with heavy instrments. 

 They are paid 40 els., that is 2 francs per day. Talk 

 about being lazy ! every where the farm laborers 

 are in the tield as soon as they can see to work ; but 

 this brings me to French farming, of which I intend- 

 ed to say something. 



In agricultural implements the Fr.nich are greatly 

 behind, in most parts of the country. The live stock 

 also is very inferior. The land is too much divided 

 into sm.ill l--vr. Wherever this is the case, farming 

 must be poor, yet I have seen as fine crops of wheat, 

 grass, and clover, as can be produced any where. — 

 The wheat crop this season is good all through 

 France. I find everywhere a spirit of improvement. 

 At tlie exhibition I observed Frenchmen very active 

 in examining and in buying implements, and in tak- 

 ing note of every improvement that they met with. 

 In much of tlie country I have passed through, the 

 land is owned by persons who reside in small villages. 

 There is no division fences, nor any regularity in 

 the size and outlines of the lots. This gives the 

 country the appearance of a piece of patch work, for 

 one man grows one crop and his neighbor a different 

 one ; though a great portion is occupied with a 

 sort of grape, small black, similar to the Black Clus- 

 ler3, from which the common red wine, " vin ordi- 

 nairt' is made, and there is so much of this used tiiat 

 it id a profitable crop. It is the common beverage 

 of all the working and middle classes, farmers, Jic. 

 A bottle in Paris is charged at a franc in the ho- 



tels, in the wine stores about half tha', and in the 

 country 50 or 100 miles from Paris, it is not worth 

 more than 5 cts. The working people use it wholly 

 instead of coffee and tea, and vt-ry few think of ('rlnk- 

 ing water. At the dinner table of the best hotels 

 and in the wealthy private familie?, it is used with, 

 seltz or soda water. The French people consume 

 large quantities of bread (which is excellent) and 

 vegetables, and but little butter or meat ; soups are 

 invariably used at hr akfaf^t and dinner. The mode 

 of living is wonderfully diil'erent from ours, and I 

 must add, on the whole much better ; laborers eat 

 three times a day as with us, but proprietors only 

 twice — breakfast at 9 or 10 o'clock, and dinner at 

 4 or 5, and no more. Johny Bull, on the contrary, 

 eats five times, and the Frenchman wonders how he 

 can attend to any business, or how he can live any 

 way. I am well pleased with French living and 

 French society, and if my knowledge of the French 

 language were more perfect I should enjoy it still 

 more ; but what a misery it is to come here without 

 at least some knowledge of the language. I have 

 seen many such instances and heard of many. And 

 without hiring an interpreter, which is expensive and 

 unpleasent, no information can be collected, no basi- 

 ness accomplished, no pleasure taken, you cannot go 

 a step alone. There are many Americans here now. 

 Most of those who came to attend the exhibition at 

 London, stay but a short time, and then make their 

 way here. Mr. and Mrs. Bateham are here at 

 present ; I have had the pleasure of seeing them fre- 

 quently. They are both actively engaged in seeing 

 the lions of Paris, and will give an interesting report 

 to their paper. I will finish my journey in a week 

 or so and return to England, when I shall soon leave 

 for home. P. B. 



Caen, France, July 7th, 1851. 

 In my last letter I gave you some items respecting 

 Paris and its vicinit)^, and a portion of the country 

 lying southwest of Paris on the Seine and Oise, Loi- 

 ret, Loire and Cher, Indre and Loire, and Maine and 

 Loire. In this section of the country the climate is 

 mild, and the grape, as I have said before, is the prin- 

 cipal culture. The whole country looks like a gar- 

 den it is so divided and subdivided into small patches. 

 I intend to say something about their mode of culture 

 of the grape. It is exceedingly simple. The vines 

 are planted in rows three or four feet apart, and the 

 plants stand about three feet apart in the rows, in 

 some cases more. They are close pruned every win- 

 ter and kept low. The stakes for their support are 

 about four feet high. The summer culture consists 

 simply in keeping the ground clean as we rio our 

 corn frolds, and in tying up the growing shoots as 

 they require. The, work is mostly performed by wo- 

 men, and I was delighted with their expertness in 

 arranging and tying up the shoots. Tiiey are out at 

 it by 4 o'clock in the morning, walk 2 or 3, perhaps 4 

 miles from the village, take their bottle of vin or- 

 dinaire and loaf of bread, and stay till sun down, 

 when they return with a heavy back load of veget- 

 ables or fruits. These women, by the way, have no 

 regard for their complexion. They escheu- all such 

 things as sun bonnets. The hair is combed smoothly 

 back and a small tight cap or baadage keeps it there. 

 The face is wholly exposed, and you may be assured 

 it is *•■ done brown." And this is the practice even 

 with the better class of country people, the wives 



