232 A Twelve Days' Tour 



M. Foulard informed me, was ripe on the 6th ; and the " abricot 

 peche," a large variety of the Moor Park, was just now in fine 

 perfection. The cherries, " royale tardive " and " cerise d'Oc- 

 tobre," were just ripening ; the former is our late duke, the 

 latter I had not seen before. Some fine melons were also ripe 

 in the open borders. I here heard of the famous poire epis- 

 copal, raised from seed by M. Bougere. It is reputed to be 

 juicy and high-flavoured, keeping sound till June and July. 

 The soldat laboureur is also a new pear of high reputation, as 

 is the colmar d'Aremberg ; these ripen in November and De- 

 cember. 



Lisieux (^Calvados), July 28. — At Le Mans we left the route 

 royale, and after a tedious journey, in a small and inconvenient 

 diligence, of fifteen hours, through a pretty undulated country, 

 the corn fields all planted with apple trees, we arrived at this 

 ancient-looking market town. It was a busy day for the towns- 

 people, as a grand mass was performed at the cathedral for the 

 death of the Duke of Orleans. The national guard attended 

 the mass, and grounded their firelocks on the stone pavement, 

 making a tremendous uproar, in but ill accordance with religious 

 worship. Objects of interest in horticulture diminished as we 

 left the banks of the Loire. We visited a nursery here, but saw 

 no specimens of new plants worthy of mention, and nothing, 

 as at Angers, to show the effects of a fine climate. M. Oudin 

 treated us with brandy made from cider, which he informed us 

 can scarcely be bought pure. It was a most powerful and 

 agreeable spirit. 



As we approached Normandy we were reminded of England, 

 except that in England (unless in Worcestershire and Hereford- 

 shire) but few fruit trees are to be found in the corn fields ; 

 whereas in Normandy, through many many miles of country, 

 the apple trees are planted, often irregularly and at a consider- 

 able distance apart, all over the face of the soil, and the land is 

 mostly arable, which attracts the notice of the English traveller, 

 as it has not the appearance of an orchard. I looked very 

 closely into the wheat and barley crops directly under the shade 

 of the trees, and could not perceive the least difference either in 

 the bulk of straw or quality of the grain. An Englishman at 

 first sight thinks the practice bad, as shade in his country is so 

 injurious to corn crops ; but the superior dryness of this climate, 

 and greater abundance of sunshine, will account for the non- 

 injurious effect of planting fruit trees in corn fields. I was sur- 

 prised to find the crop of apples a total failure : the trees looked 

 full of healthy foliage, but scarcely an apple could be j^erceived. 

 I believe this failure was chiefly in cider apples, as I afterwards 

 saw trees full of fruit in some gardens. The farmers of Nor- 



