64? Foreign Notices ; — France. 



been omitted or neglected, and the supplies for the establishment Were 

 drawn from two gardens in the valley near the dwelling of the pro- 

 prietress. Adjoining the garden is what is termed the park, which con- 

 sists of a considerable tract of land with alleys planted in the formal 

 French style, some of them very wide, and others double, with rows of 

 trees between. A great part of this land has not been yet reclaimed ; 

 whilst other parts are under cultivation, and mostly preparing for sarrasin 

 [buckwheat], after potatoes or lentils. The elevated site of this spot, and the 

 abundance of shade which must in a few years result from the growth 

 of the trees, will render it, in spite of the neglect and want of taste con- 

 spicuous therein, a great acquisition, and source of pleasant exercise 

 in the season, to the visiters of the baths, especially when the stones of 

 which the roads are made, are broken small or well covered with gravel. 

 The accommodation for visiters at the baths is extensive ; and the sleeping 

 apartments, in the new and largest part, excellent. We were assured 

 that at times in the season there had been 100 bathers in a day. There 

 are two series of baths, one for gentlemen and the other for ladies, with 

 each its dressing recess, under the same roof; and across the yard is a 

 large bath through which a strong stream of warm water is always running, 

 with pipes for douckes, &c, capable of accommodating many persons at 

 one time. The natural temperature of the water is about 50° Fahrenheit ; 

 but the private baths may be had of any warmth desired, by means of 

 artificial heat. The Forest of Ardennes is the most considerable in the 

 north-west part of France ; its extent could not be ascertained when we 

 were there, as it had never been measured, surveyors for that purpose 

 being expected daily. Under the general head of this name, it is subdivided 

 into very extensive portions, each of which has its appropriate and subor- 

 dinate name, as the " Foret de la Ferte Mace," &c. From traversing it 

 in various directions, and from the best information we could obtain of 

 resident officers of the forest and other persons, it must comprise in the 

 whole many thousand hectares of land : it is national property, and, like 

 all the rest of the national forests in France, is at present wretchedly ma- 

 naged. The outskirts of this forest, to the extent of six or eight thousand 

 English acres, were like several other of the national forests, to be sold ; 

 and in all probability at prices which would well repay a judicious and 

 capitaled speculator. The timber consists chiefly of beech, oak, and ash ; 

 the underwood of all these, with the alder, willow, birch, &c. In or near 

 the centre of the forest, and on high ground, is a large circular space cleared 

 of trees, from which diverge eleven spacious avenues or alleys, each of 

 which leads to some town or village in its immediate neighbourhood. The 

 views from this central point, called La belle Etoile, are very striking, 

 and the display of such multitudes of magnificent trees grand and impres- 

 sive in the extreme. On the northern borders of the forest ores of iron 

 abound, which are fluxed with the charcoal made in the forest. It is 

 doubtless in this part of the country that the chalybeate springs of Ba- 

 gnoles originate, though at a distance of some miles ; there is said to be 

 a small portion of sulphur also detected on analysis of the water. The 

 products of the soil, whether in the department of arboriculture or horti- 

 culture, much resemble those of the south of England, as do the general 

 features of the country those of some of its richest parts. The seasons also 

 are like those of England ; the winters probably severer, but drier ; the 

 springs undoubtedly earlier, though not so early as those of Touraine and 

 Poitou. Meadow grass was being cut between Bagnoles and Couterne on 

 the 28th of May, when we left the wells. 



The cottage and farm gardens in the neighbourhood of Bagnoles have 

 nothing to distinguish them from the general run of such gardens in France, 

 certainly not much to eulogise ; but then, the greater number of occu- 

 piers of land are proprietors also, and draw a great part of their vegetables, 



