41*2 



FOREIGN OFFICE REPORTS. 



[March 1897. 



acres, 783,000 from 25 to 124 acres, the remaining 4,800,000 

 being under 25 acres in extent,* 



France is thus essentially a country of 'petite cvlture, agricul- 

 ture occupying a large number of persons with small capitals. 

 There are in this industry as many masters as employe's, the 

 former being reckoned at 3,460,000, whilst of the latter there 

 are 3,453,000, including day labourers and farm servants. Of 

 the masters, 2,150,000 own the land they cultivate ; 968.000 

 are tenants, 500,000 of these owning a portion of their farms ; 

 while the metayers are reckoned at 240,000, of whom 147,000 

 own plots of land. Further, of the 1,480,000 day labourers 

 receiving wages, 727,000 also own small plots, so that 3,525,000, 

 or more than half the whole number working the soil, are owners 

 of land. 



The Keport attributes to the Republic of 1848 the credit of 

 being the first to promote seriously the interests of agriculture 

 by organising agricultural credit and founding the Credit fon- 

 der, while the creation of a Ministry of Agriculture was due to 

 Gambetta. The sums voted for certain branches of agricul- 

 tural expenditure in the budgets at various dates have been as 

 follows : — 



Credits voted. 



1800. 



1829. 



1845. 



1869. 



1896. 



Agricultural education - 

 Encouragement to agriculture - 

 Veterinary schools and services 

 Horse-breeding establishments 

 (haras). 



£ 

 1,400 

 19,490 

 13,204 

 15,038 



£ 

 1,200 

 4,800 

 9,368 

 71,247 



£ 

 5,940 

 27,199 

 24,038 

 96,175 



£ 



55,752 

 80,198 

 26,244 

 81,564 



£ 



152,870 

 401,908t 



63,078 

 294,222 



Total 



49,132 



86,615 



153,352 



243,758 



912,078 



f Includes annual premiums (280,000/.) during six years for sericulture and 

 cultivation of flax and hemp. 



Reviewing the development of agricultural production in 

 France, the Report states that the average area under wheat 

 during the last ten years of the Empire was 17,012,619 acres, 

 while in 1892-95 it was 3 7,286,789 acres; the land under this 

 cereal had thus more than recovered the loss sustained by the 

 separation of Alsace-Lorraine. The average production during 

 the first period amounted to 270,432,000 bushels (16 bushels per 

 acre), whilst in 1892-96 the yield had increased to 308,899.000 

 bushels (about 17 \ bushels to the acre). 



The production of oats has likewise increased, and the pro- 

 duction of potatoes is greater by 132,000,000 bushels. The 

 development of the cultivation of forage crops has been equally 

 important. 



* These figures are those returned in the Decennial Agricultural Inquiry of 1882, 

 published in 1887. The results of the inquiry of 1892 are not yet published. 



