Rouen. 501 



of some British gentlemen of high agricultural character, 

 who had solicited to become members of the Rouen Society, 

 and promised to become regular correspondents, but who have 

 never said or done any thing for the Society since. We were 

 not at all surprised at the Abbe's statement; for who in Eng- 

 land, that is not independent, can afford to love any art or 

 science purely for its own sake ? The Abbe informed us that 

 the Rouen Society had for a number of years past been per- 

 suading the farmers to leave off naked fallows, as recom- 

 mended by the Board of Agriculture ; but they now found 

 that those who took their advice had rendered their land so 

 foul, that half the crop produced was weeds, and the Society 

 were at present recommending fallows again. The Abbe Gos- 

 sier has been some time in England and in Scotland, and is an 

 intelligent, liberal, and most amiable man, worthy of the ease 

 and elegance in which he lives, and of that which alone seems 

 wanting to complete his happiness. We are happy to have 

 formed so interesting an acquaintance in a part of France 

 which we so much admire, and which, if we ever leave Eng- 

 land, will be the place of our retirement. We are obliged by 

 the honour he has done us in procuring our election as a cor- 

 responding member of the Rouen Agricultural Society ; and 

 if we do not fulfil the expectations of the Society any better 

 than other British members, we at any rate did not solicit the 

 honour, and, on receiving it, made no promises. 



A small Villa near Qiievilly. — The grounds, which are but 

 little varied, may contain 30 or 40 acres ; the house is a part 

 of a large chateau ; and the general impression of the whole 

 is, that of a deserted and neglected residence, on a site capable 

 of being made something. An Englishman who has not left 

 his own country cannot form an idea of such apparent wretch- 

 edness as these grounds present ; and yet the proprietor was 

 said to be a man of wealth, and he must have known what 

 comfort is, for there is a newly-formed and well-stocked 

 kitchen-garden. This kitchen-garden was laid out by M. 

 Prevost (p. 372.), and contains examples of his mode of 

 training peach trees a la Forsyth ; i. e. allowing the shoot 

 from the bud to form a main stem, and laying in the laterals 

 horizontally, or at a very large angle. The tree is thus never 

 cut at all. It soon rises to the top of the wall and bears fruit ; 

 but it seldom fills the wall regularly, and, when any branch 

 dies, it is not so easily filled up as by the fan method of 

 training, which, even for an easy method, is greatly to be pre- 

 ferred. It is but justice to M. Prevost, however, to state that 

 he wishes the trees to be cut so as in the end to present the 

 appearance of Mr. Forsyth's apricot tree (£. of G. p. 720, 



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