Notes arid Gleanings. 163 



and those adjoining each other often under different kinds of crops, with a dis- 

 tinct vegetation, its appearance gives the idea of the squares of a chess-board. 

 This absence of enclosures must necessarily prevent the use of the land for 

 pasturage, and requires that the cattle should be fed by soiling. 



The climate of France, in some parts of the empire, differs very much from 

 that of others. Although the winter is comparatively short in the north, frost and 

 ice, with much wet weather, are usual, yet. in the south, these are of rare ocr.ur- 

 rence. The past autumn, even in Paris, dahlias and other plants were in full 

 flower as late as Nov. 12 ; and would probably have continued so until the ist 

 of December, had they not been cut down to receive their winter's jDrotection : 

 while in the south, especially along the coast of the Mediterranean, roses bloom 

 through the winter, camellias and other half-hardy plants flourish in the open 

 air, and orange-trees laden with fruit may be seen wholly without protection. 



The kinds of crops raised in the northern and central parts of France are 

 those that are usually cultivated in all temperate climates, — wheat and other 

 cereals, potatoes and other roots, together with the common vegetables ; in 

 addition to which, large quantities of beets are grown for the making of sugar, 

 of which a large amount is manufactured. I have never noticed any thing pecu- 

 liar in the mode practised in growing these crops, and no remarks upon the 

 subject seem called for. The growing of beets for sugar is an important culti- 

 vation in France. I have seen it stated, that, in the department of the north, 

 there were more than a hundred and fifty establishments for the manufacture of 

 sugars from the juice of this plant. In the southern part of France, a large 

 quantity of silk is produced ; and, still farther south, the olive is grown for the 

 making of oil. But, after that of the cereals, the most important cultivation is 

 that of the vine : it extends in a greater or less degree, according to circum- 

 stances, through eighty-one out of the eighty-three departments into which 

 the empire is divided, and produces a very important part of the income derived 

 from agriculture. Large as this culture is, it is supposed that it could, with- 

 out much difficulty, be largely increased. The vine appears to thrive readily if 

 it have a climate and exposure suited to it : it seems to grow in almost all sorts 

 of soils, — calcareous, silicious, and argillaceous ; sometimes, even, it may be seen 

 loaded with fruit in the midst of pebbles and flint-stones. In the south-west, 

 they sometimes make a hole with an iron bar, put in a vine-shoot with a handful 

 of vegetable earth, and in a short time have a fruitful grape-vine. Manure has 

 a beneficial effect on the vine ; and, in the spring, laborers are constantly to be 

 seen carrying it up the steep hillsides in baskets where the vines can be reached 

 in no other way. In France, the vines are usually planted in rows about four 

 feet apart, trained to small stakes about four feet high. Sometimes three or 

 four vines will be planted near together ; and, being drawn and bound together at 

 top, they are thus made to support each other. Occasionally I have seen the 

 vines grown much higher, trained to stakes six or eight feet high, or else with 

 their tops bent over and trained to lower stakes ; thus forming, as it were, arbors 

 or festoons : in these cases the trunks or stems of the vines seemed very old, 

 with a new growth only from their tops. I noticed this last method as prevailing 

 especially on the slopes of the Lower Pyrenees, where a strong wine not very 



