1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



207 



and daughters of wealthy farmers. Last Sunday 1 

 spent in a small country town, and among the hun- 

 dreds, I might say thousands whom I saw at church 

 and in the streets, there were not a dozen who wore 

 bonnets of any kind, but the Sunday caps — how shall 

 I describe them ? Some are certainly two feet high, 

 fitting closely around the forehead and ascending like 

 a funnel, crowned by a circular or semicircular piece 

 that inclines forward, behind there are two streamers 

 that hang down upon the shoulders. A broad black 

 velvet band attached to each side, and fitting under 

 the chin, retains it in its proper position, and sets off 

 the whole to advantage. Some of these I observed 

 were made of the finest muslin and lace, and were 

 worn by elegantly dressed country ladies to such ad- 

 vantage that I really admired them. Nothing in the 

 Chinese or Turkish costume strikes me as more re- 

 markable than these caps. But these things I ought 

 not to mention, they are qnite foreign to my purpose 

 in writing ; but this is not the first time that ladies 

 and their affairs have diverted me from my purpose. 

 Since my last letter my travels have been through 

 Normandy, northwest of Paris, and between that city 

 and the English Channel, through the districts of 

 Seine and Oise, Eure, Orne and Calvados, a region 

 which sustains the reputation of being one of the best, 

 as regards agriculture, in France. It is cntierly dif- 

 ferent in its appearance, and in its culture and pro- 

 ductions, from the Loire region. It very muoh re- 

 sembles England, except that in many places it has 

 more forest, and the land is divided into smaller allot- 

 ment.-;. The vine is not cultivated at all except on 

 walls in the garden, but apples for cider are exten- 

 sively grown. In some localities one v*-ould suppose 

 the whole country an orchard. Norman cider is 

 quite celebrated. It is the common beverage here as 

 the common wine is in other localities. The country 

 is beautiful. The roads are as well kept as labor 

 can make them, every inch over which I have trav- 

 eled is like a race course. They are divided into 

 short sections, each of which is placed under the care 

 of one person who sees that there is not a blemish to 

 mar their perfection. What a comfort to travel over 

 such roads ! There every house has a garden, not 

 in name but in reality, filled in every corner with the 

 best productions, and every wall of the house, and 

 every foot of the garden fences is festooned with 

 vines or covered with espalier trees. But wherever 

 we go in France we find that passion for gardening 

 prevails both in town and country. I stopped at a 

 village hotel the other day, vyhich had a small court 

 about 25 or 30 feet square, and this instead of being 

 filled up, as is not unusual elsewhere, with empty 

 barrel.^, boxes, kc, it was converted into a little floral 

 paradise.' In the centre was a circular bed, contain- 

 ing 30 rose trees of the best varieties known, in the 

 highest state of perfection. Around the sides were 

 little rustic arbors and coffee rooms, covered with fes- 

 toons of roses. Mignunelte in profusion was filling 

 the air with its perfume. In this little spot, which to 

 most people would be quite useless, I counted up 

 nearly all the roses that are pre-eminently fine. The 

 landlord v.as the gardener, and a good one. I found 

 the same sort of taste in Paris. In the courts of the 

 hotels, where there was no possibility of cultivating 

 plants in the ground, groups of pot plants were as- 

 semLled around, which made a garden of it. Why 

 cannot our hotel keepers give some attention to 

 this matter 1 They generally have leisure, and it 

 could not fail to make their houses more aofreeable 



and attractive, and give them reputation as people of 

 refined taste. The weary traveler who has to spend 

 an hour, or a day waiting about a hotel, finds it more 

 agreeable to sit in a pleasant garden bower, than 

 in either a bar room or a parlor. 



In Normandy, as with us, v.heat is one of the sta- 

 ple productions. The crop this season is very fine, 

 I am told however that southward there is a partial 

 failure, which begins to be already speculated upon. 

 There is much more oats grown tlian v/ith us, and 

 also barley, but they have no Indian Corn, Veiches 

 are cultivated extensively, and fed green to horses, 

 cattle, and sheep. The crop is now all cut, and the 

 ground is plowed, and in the course of preparation 

 for a crop of turi;eps. I see both lime and manure 

 spread on all the fields, and the ground being pretty 

 well cleaned v>'ith the vetches gives a good crop of 

 turneps. Turnep seed is grown extensively. I no- 

 ticed hundreds of acres of it lying cut. Threshing 

 had commenced. This is done by the hand flails in the 

 field. Wheat usually succeeds a crop of potatoes or 

 turneps, for which the ground has been manured. — 

 The implements are rather, as it seems to me, behind 

 the age. The plow is a curious affair, with a 

 straight beam and two large wheels, say 3 feet in 

 diameter. I have a figure which v.'ill be given here- 

 after, in connection with others. The plowing gen- 

 erally is very light, in rare cases has anything like 

 subsoil plowing been attempted. 



The animal stock is pretty fair, a great number of 

 the best breeds of cattle and sheep have been recent- 

 ly introduced, and the horses, the pure blooded 

 French horses, are as fine work animals as are in the 

 world — largo, powerful, active, and tractable. The 

 better class of Canadian horses show their descent, 

 but they are wofully degenerated in Canada. Here 

 they are square built, with fine, straight, well propor- 

 tioned, powerful limbs. It is quite rare to see one of 

 them knee sprung or spavined, although they are 

 loaded and drove unsparingly. They are admirably 

 trained. On the highways, I have often seen mere 

 boys driving four of them at tandom, before a heavy 

 load, without a rein, depending wholly on the whip, 

 which, in a Frenchman's hands, means something. 

 In the crowded cities, too, where the streets are nar- 

 row, you Vvill see three, four, or six, as it happens, at- 

 tached to an enormous load, and wliirling it around 

 short corners and through narrow lanes, at a speed 

 really frightful, but always in perfect safety, ami no 

 reins, the word and the whip only. They are all 

 stallions too, and as fat as it is possible to make them. 

 We have found it impossible to get a man Vv-ho could 

 drive safely tvv^o such horses, wilh the best of reins 

 and tackling. At the changes of the diligence 

 horses at the stations, the whole four or six are turn- 

 ed out of the stable together like sheep. I wish 

 sometimes that our teamsters could see a little of their 

 management. The government is doing much for 

 the improvement of domestic animals. Here in Nor- 

 mandy, within a few miles of Jlrgentan, it has a large 

 and fine establishm.ent where all the best breeds of hor- 

 ses, cows, and other animals, are introduced for the ben- 

 efit of the surrounding country. The domain (Duaro) 

 comprises a large tract of beautiful land ; buildings 

 arc fitted up in the most commodious manner for all 

 the different races, ages, kc. It has a lecture room 

 with library and anatomical subjects to illustrate the 

 physiology of animals and treatment of diseases. — 

 There is for every department a professor or head. 

 A blacksmith shop is attached, and the most complete 



