FRUIT CULTURE IN FRANCE. 
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12 francs at the age of 16 years ; 15 francs at the age of 20 years, 
and onwards. 
Drying-Plums suitable for Market growing. 
The Agen country has become rich through the extensive 
cultivation of the d'Ente Plum, sometimes called Bobe-Sergent 
or d'Agen ; and also by transforming the fruit grown, into 
prunes. The owners of the plantations find it most profitable 
to dry the fruit, as well as grow it, themselves. Wholesale firms 
carry on a business amounting to hundreds of thousands of 
francs. The principal firm at Cassaneuil exports annually 
prunes to the value of 4,000,000 francs ; Bordeaux produces as 
much as 15,000,000 francs' worth, half of which amount is 
shipped to Germany, Belgium, Holland, Eussia, England, and 
America. In 1872 the Lot-et-Garonne department produced 
prunes to the value of 25,000,000 francs, and statistics show that 
this sum has doubled itself within the last twenty years. At the 
present time the Ente Plum trade causes capital to the extent of 
20,000,000 francs to change hands in the Agen branch of the 
Banque de France. 
The^^m Plum is cultivated on light, sandy, or clayey-chalky 
soil, such as is found in the Lot valley and on the slopes and hills 
of the Garonne, atVilleneuve-d'Agen, Castelmoron,Clairac, Mon- 
clar, le Temple, Sainte-Livrade, Aiguillon, Tonneins, Castellar, 
&c. The neighbourhood of Marmende, Agen, and Villeneuve- 
sur-Lot seems to be the most favourable for it, especially the last- 
mentioned, whereas that of Nerac is the least. The spring fogs 
are bad for the tree during its flowering period. The trees are 
planted in rows, filled up with vines, the space between the rows 
being used for Wheat ; a distance of from 6 to 8 metres between 
the trees is sufficient, and an offset of vine is for a time planted 
in between. The rows are from 8 to 10 metres apart. A Wheat - 
field of one hectare is worth 3,000 francs under ordinary circum- 
stances, but when it also includes such a plantation of Ente 
Plums it is worth 4,000 francs more. One hectare of Plum trees, 
planted at an interval of 3 metres, can easily yield from 2,500 
to 3,000 kilos, of Plums, which will yield 800 kilos, of prunes, 
worth 54 francs per 50 kilos, on an average — the net profit being 
720 francs. It is usually estimated that 100 orchard trees will 
produce 6 metric quintals of prunes. The 1885 crop in the Lot- 
