68 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



S94. The value of landed jiropertij is in general lower than in England, being at present 

 (1829) sold at from twenty-two to twenty-six years' purchase. 



395. The farming of lands in France, according to Professor Thouin, naturally divides 

 itself into tliree kinds : 1. The grand culture, in which from two to twelve ploughs are 

 employed, and corn chiefly cultivated ; 2. The middle culture, including the metayers, 

 who also grow corn, but more frequently rear live stock, maintain a dairy, or produce 

 silk, wine, cider, or oil, according to the climate in which tliey may be situated ; and 3. 

 The minor culture, or that which is done by manual labour, and into which live stock or 

 corns do not enter. The middle culture is by far the most common. There are very 

 few farms of six or eight ploughs in France, and equally few farmers who do not labour 

 in person at all times of the year. It is acknowledged by Professor Thouin, that each 

 of these divisions is susceptible of very great improvement. 



Sdbsect. 8. Of the common Farming of France, 



396. The corn farming in France is carried on in the best manner in French Flanders, 

 Picardy, and Brie. The first may be considered as equally well cultivated with Suffolk ; 

 and the last produces three crops in two years, or five in three years. The crops of these 

 districts are wheat, beans, turnips, maize, and buckwheat. The most frequent rotations 

 are, two corn crops and a fallow, or an alternation of corn and green or pulse crops, 

 without a naked fallow. In the heath district, broom enters into the rotation for fuel, 

 and is cut the fourth year ; buckwheat is also extensively sown, and rye and oats. After 

 lands have borne crops, it is usual to let them rest a year or two, during which they 

 produce nothing but grass and weeds, and they are afterwards broken up with a naked 

 fallow. Potatoes enter more or less into the field culture of the greater part of France, 

 and especially of the northern districts ; but in Provence, and some parts of Languedoc, 

 they are still little known. Irrigation, both of arable and grass lands, is adopted where- 

 ever it is practicable. It is common in the Vosges, and remarkably well conducted 

 in the lands round Avignon, formerly for many miles the property of the church. 



397. The meadows of France contain nearly the same herbage, plants, and grasses as 

 those of England ; but though clovers and lucerne are cultivated in many places, yet rye- 

 grass and other grasses, either for hay crops or temporary or permanent pasture,' are not 

 generally resorted to. [Chaptal de VindxLstrie Franqaise, vol. i. p. 157.) 



398. To sheep the French have paid considerable attention from the time of Colbert ; 

 and there are now considerable flocks of short-woolled and Spanish breeds in some 

 places, besides several national flocks. That of Rambouillet (established in 1786 by 

 Louis XVI.) is managed by M. Tessier, a well known writer on agriculture, and when 

 visited by Birkbeck, in 1814, was in excellent order. Sheep are housed, and kept in 

 folds and little yards or enclosures, much more than in England. Great part of the 

 sheep of France are black. (^Birkbeck.) Some curious attempts have lately been made to 

 inoculate them for the claveau and the scab, but a definite result has not yet been ascer- 

 tained, at least as to the latter disease. Birkbeck considers the practice of housing as the 

 cause why the foot-rot is so common a disease among sheep in France. "Where flocks 

 remain out all night, the shepherd sleeps in a small thatched hut or portable watchhouse, 

 placed on wheels. He guides the flock by walking before them, and his dog guards them 

 from the wolves, which still abound even in Picardy. During summer, in the hottest 

 districts, they are fed in the night, and housed in the heat of the day. Hay is the 

 general winter food; and, in some parts of the Picardy climate, turnips. In 1811, 

 Bonaparte monopolised the breeding of Merinos, and from that time to the passing 

 of an act for the exportation of wool and rams in 1814 they declined; but they are 

 now greatly on the increase. Among the most extensive flocks, are those of the cele- 

 brated M. Ternaux. 



399. The beasts of labour are chiefly the ox on small farms, and the horse on the larger. 

 Both are kept under cover the greater part of the year. The breeds of oxen are very 

 various; they are generally cream-coloured. The best oxen are in Auvergne, Poitiers, 

 and Languedoc. Normandy furnishes the best breed of working horses ; as Limosin 

 does of those for the saddle. In the south of France the ass and mule are of frequent use 

 in husbandry. There, as in many parts of Italy, the poor people collect the stolones of 

 .^grostis, and creeping roots of couch, and sell them in little bundles to the carriers and 

 others who keep road horses. A royal stud of Arabians has been kept up at Aurillac in 

 Limosin, for a century ; and another has been lately formed near Nismes. Studs of 

 English horses and mixed breeds of high blood, have been established by government 

 in several departments. 



400. The best dairies are in Normandy ; but in this department France does not excel. 

 In the southern districts, olive, almond, and poppy oil supply the place of butter ; and 

 goats' milk is that used in cookery. 



401. The goats of Thibet, have been imported by M. Ternaux, who has been success- 

 ful in multiplying them and in manufacturing their hair. 



