FRUIT CULTURE IN FRANCE. 
187 
At quite the beginning of the season Paris receives consign- 
ments of Grapes labelled " Chasselas," which is a variety grown 
in the open air at the foot of the Pyrenees. It is an early local 
white Grape. Another Grape under the same name is grown in 
the Centre of France, but it is not yet much known. At this 
time of year the growers round about Paris, from Montreuil to 
Argenteuil, begin to make money with their Morillon hdtif 
variety, and afterwards by their Chasselas. A buyer will always 
be found for a basket of Chasselas, no matter at what time of 
year, or at what price. Thus the growers at Thomery where 
the Chasselas plantations are a well-known tradition in every 
family, are able by their method of culture to offer fresh Grapes 
every day, partly on account of their glass houses heated with 
hot-water pipes, and partly also by preserving the fruit dry 
or in water. The Chasselas plantations at Thomery occupy 
125 hectares of land lying to the north-east, on sloping ground 
by the Seine, sheltered from the north and west winds by high 
hills. The soil is sandy, deep, fresh, and of a nature to become 
easily warmed, and also to retain the heat received during the 
summer far into the autumn, which are conditions very favour- 
able to the development and ripening of the fruit. All the 
gardens are surrounded by walls 3 metres high, and all the 
plantations, no matter how small, are divided by partition- 
walls. The report about the vineyards in the Seine-et-Marne 
department in 1887 states that there are 200 kilometres length 
of enclosure walls, and estimates that a kilo, of Grapes is grown 
on every metre of wall, so one can reckon the whole length of 
" trained " vines to be 1,000,000 metres. 
There is a little village on the outskirts of the forest of 
Fontainebleau where one hectare well planted is worth about 
80,000 francs. The largest proprietors do not own more than two 
hectares. One hectare, well tended, will yield on an average from 
9,000 to 10,000 kilos, of Grapes — that is to say, about 8,000 francs 
worth of Chasselas, which will leave a profit of from 2,500 to 
3,000 francs for the owner. The Grapes are packed in little 
baskets lined with ferns, or in boxes ornamented with pink and 
white paper. They are transported in waggons holding about 
2,000 baskets. Each season 270 carts, containing 500 kilos, 
apiece, are sent by road to the Paris market. The annual pro- 
duce of Thomery is valued at 2,000,000 kilos, of the Chasselas 
