58 HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



different crops was in reality a distinct and separate pro- 

 perty, the small field having probably fallen to be parti- 

 tioned among six heirs, according to the modern French 

 law of inheritance, by which, after the pattern of the ancient 

 gavelkind of Kent, each of the children, male and female, 

 is entitled to an equal share of the father's property in 

 land. Several large fields of sown broom (Spartium scopa- 

 rium) presented themselves. This kind of crop was to us 

 in some measure a novelty. We learned that the broom was 

 sown in poor sandy soils, such as prevail here, chiefly with 

 the view of improving them ; but that the young flower- 

 buds, gathered in the spring, are often used as a pickle, 

 and as a substitute for capers. 



We afterwards passed several large copses, principally of 

 oak.- None were of ash (Fraxinus excelsior) although this 

 tree would here prove admirably suited for the purpose. 

 At one place we saw a copse-wood composed wholly of 

 Spanish chesnut (Castanea vesca). There were also seve- 

 ral extensive plantations of tall forest trees. Of the resi- 

 nous family, the Weymouth pine (Pinus strobus) is here 

 the favourite species ; it adorns the country very much, 

 towering above most of its neighbours, and completely dis- 

 playing its long and slender foliage. The Norway spruce 

 (Abies excelsa) is likewise pretty common. The Scots fir 

 (Pinus sylvestris) occurs here and there ; but it makes a 

 deplorable figure, being pruned up in the Flemish style^ 

 like an elm or an oak, — treatment from which its nature 

 is abhorrent. We did not see a plant of the Stone-pine 

 (Pinus pinea), nor of the Cluster-pine (P. pinaster), al- 

 though, as remarked by Mr Macdonald, the country is 

 excellently adapted for the growth of these species. Small 

 orchards generally form appendages to the whitened and 

 romfortablc-looking cottages oil the road-side. Cherry* 



