ROUSILLON. 



71 



180 to 216 francs per hectare — that is, from £3 4^. to 

 o£'4 16s. per English acre. 



After having walked into the garden, which was well 

 stocked with fruit trees, we proceeded to the other pro- 

 perty which Messrs. Durand proposed we should visit. 

 This was entirely an irrigated farm. It consists of 240 

 hectares, 562 acres, and every acre of it can be laid under 

 water when irrigation is required. This farm supports 

 between 1,000 and 1,100 sheep, 114 head of cattle, and 

 about a dozen horses, and there is always less than two- 

 fifths of the land in pasture or green crops. The lucerne 

 is cut five times in the season, and twice eaten down. The 

 soil is a fine friable mould. In a field, where five ploughs 

 were at work, it turned up in the finest possible condition. 

 They were ploughing i?i wheat. Part of the field was 

 manured, and part had been manured the preceding 

 season. Messrs. Durand have an excellent breed of 

 cattle. The working oxen as fine almost as any I have 

 ever seen, although I have seen larger. In all the 

 qualifications of depth and breadth of carcase, they were 

 nearly perfect, with the line of the back perfectly straight, 

 and the tail well set on. They were yoked with bows 

 and yokes, the bows made of wood, which seemed to 

 answer very well. The ploughs and carts were of the 

 same construction as those generally in use in the 

 country. The ploughman drove his pair of oxen with a 

 goad fixed to the end of a long pole ; on the other end 

 of which was the small spade for cleaning the plough. 

 They seemed to make excellent work, notwithstanding 

 the rudeness of the plough. 



The buildings on this farm were very extensive, and 

 though old, are now undergoing a thorough repair, which 

 will leave them in excellent condition when completed. 



