474- State of Gardening in France : — 



zine, they are very much at your service. I have merely to 

 premise, that I did not proceed to France for the purpose of 

 comparing the state of horticulture in that country with its state 

 in our own ; but on my general business, which is materially 

 connected with the intercourse and interchange of our respective 

 productions in that department. 



Landing at Calais, late at night, I was not much prepossessed 

 in favour of the French customs by the immediate appearance, 

 on board the vessel, of an armed police, and the customary 

 examination of passports, &c, by the authorities, surrounded by 

 military. As no difficulty occurred, we were soon conducted to 

 a hotel (Quilliac's), where, to our great satisfaction, we found 

 every thing necessary to our comfort and convenience. Early 

 in the morning, I proceeded to take a view of the immediate 

 neighbourhood, but could not observe anything worthy of 

 notice. The town being fortified, it required some time to 

 escape from the embarrassment of drawbridges, moats, &c. ; 

 and, after all, little but a general level presented itself; the 

 country in the immediate neighbourhood of Calais being a con- 

 tinued series of marshy land for some miles round. As the 

 town itself is very limited in its population and extent, the pro- 

 duction of the vegetables, fruit, &c, immediately necessary to 

 the support of the inhabitants does not require the appropriation 

 of any great extent of surface ; consequently, but little land is 

 occupied in their cultivation ; and, as it is quite customary for 

 those cultivators who reside at some distance to bring their pro- 

 duce to the market, I had not an opportunity of observing in 

 what degree, and with what kinds of articles, it is supplied. 



Proceeding from Calais, in the evening, towards Amiens, I could 

 not make any farther remarks. My progress by the ordinary 

 diligence was not very expeditious; certainly not more than 

 five miles an hour. The country through which I passed, for 

 about ten miles after leaving Calais, is altogether open and 

 arable ; not a hedge or a single apparent division of the fields is 

 to be observed for miles, except some few trees on the roadside, 

 with small detached portions of woodland in the distance. The 

 whole appears to be divided into many small farms ; the com- 

 partments or divisions of the general surface being apparently 

 the only guide to the different occupiers, who are all more or 

 less engaged immediately in the active operations and manual 

 labours required for the cultivation of their respective properties. 

 The farm implements, such as ploughs, harrows, &c, are ex- 

 tremely simple ; and, to me, they appeared rude, when compared 

 with the better made articles of the same kind in use in the more 

 improved districts of England. Nearly the whole surface of the 

 land is under plough or spade culture ; and there is little waste 



