1 62 Notes aftd Gleanings. 



example by establishing model farms, and has begun an experiment on his own 

 account, that he is still prosecuting, it is to be hoped successfully, with a view 

 to bringing into cultivation, and rendering of some value, a large tract in the 

 south of France that has hitherto been little more than a barren desert. 



The scenery of much of France is sometimes complained of as being unin- 

 teresting and monotonous. This may be true to some extent ; but it is hardly, 

 I think, justly liable to the sweeping denunciation of dulness that I have heard 

 applied to it : and those who are satisfied with fertility and cultivation, with 

 pleasant valleys, sunny hills, and cheerful plains, dotted with groves and wa- 

 tered by numerous rivers and streams, will not have much occasion to complain 

 of the landscape. It is true, that, speaking of it in very general terms, France 

 may be said to be a level country ; not flat, but consisting of swells of land, inter- 

 mixed with rolling plains. Yet this description would be applicable to but a 

 portion of it ; for in parts of its territory it is occupied by ranges of hills, 

 and chains of mountains. On the south, there are the Pyrenees, that sepa- 

 rate it from Spain, and the hills that bound the Mediterranean ; on its east- 

 ern border, there are the Alps, the chain of the Jura, and the Vosges ; more in 

 the interior, that of the Cevennes, and the mountains that border the course of 

 the Rhone, — enough, without naming others, to show that France is not desti- 

 tute of mountainous scenery, nor wholly wanting in that which is productive of 

 picturesque effect. Except to those who see no beauty but in mountain-scenery, 

 that of the north-west of France can hardly fail to be interesting and attractive. 

 Here are highly-cultivated, swelling hills, and beautiful valleys, with much varied 

 outline, winding rivers, passing by sunny slopes, and fields bounded by hedge- 

 rows ; almost everywhere fertility and high cultivation, numerous orchards, cot- 

 tages, and gardens, that, combined, tend to form a landscape not unlike that so 

 often met with in England. So, too, those who are satisfied with views from 

 which grandeur and sublimity are absent can hardly fail to be pleased with such 

 as often present themselves to the traveller as he passes down the course of the 

 Loire through a country covered with vineyards, orchards, and corn-fields, — a 

 country, that, for beauty, fertility, and cultivation, has sometimes been called the 

 Garden of France, and was once a favorite residence of its kings, as is proved 

 by the ruins of Plessis les Tours and the yet existing Chateau of Chambord. 



In consequence of the law of inheritance, that requires property to be equally 

 divided among the children of a family, much of the land in France is very much 

 subdivided; and although the law commends itself, as founded on principles 

 of justice, its effect on the agriculture of the country is somewhat questionable : 

 for these small properties cannot afford to avail themselves of the advantages to 

 be derived from the employment of agricultural machinery ; neither have their 

 proprietors the capital to invest in draining the land or the purchase of special 

 manures, no matter how desirable it might be, or whatever profits such an invest- 

 ment would promise. Generally, the farming population of France reside in 

 villages, and not in cottages upon their several properties ; this being, as I sup- 

 pose, more in accordance with their habits and tastes, although necessarily attend- 

 ed with some inconvenience. In much of the country, there are no enclosures 

 to mark the boundaries of the different properties ; and as these are often small. 



