French Experimental Farm at Vaujours. 
315 
Plan for Future Cropping. 
The cliief object of the farm is to grow produce for sale at the 
market without reference to the production of manure, so that 
stock is kept only for exceptional cases — for crops that must be 
eaten green, straw that the machine has bruised, or hay that has 
lost its colour. 
It had been designed to appropriate a large part of the farm 
to the growth of hay, because the system of irrigation was well 
suited to this crop ; because, the produce being bulky, competi- 
tion from distant regions was not to be apprehended ; and 
because the labour required for its management was not exces- 
sive. But unforeseen difficulties arose. The damp of the climate 
and the prevalence of fogs were specially detrimental to second 
and third cuttings ; whilst the first crop grown by irrigation was 
coarse and ill-suited to the market, in spite of the richness of its 
chemical constituents. Moreover, the direct sale of hay at the 
Paris market, though far more profitable, was found to be attended 
with "peculiarities not to the taste of a conscientious man." In 
but few trades, writes M. Moll, is there so much trickery as in 
the sale of hay. " To shirt " hay — that is, to wrap up an inferior 
quality in prime hay — is such a common practice in the neigli- 
bourhood of Paris, that he who does not comply with the custom 
will meet with a bad sale, or none at all. On the other hand,, 
the real consumer, the horse, is not taken into council ; his 
attendant acts as interpreter, and, unhappily, often mistakes his 
own interest for his client's, and thinks all forage good which is 
accompanied by a gratuity, and none else. If a sale be made to 
a dealer, the terms are less favourable, and the payment less cer- 
tain. Moreover, the labour required must be very promptly 
provided, and that at the busiest season of the year. Hay, then, 
is to be made within but moderate bounds. If the rye-grass 
hay be not very succulent, it may be sold in Paris for packing. 
The position of the farm not being favourable for sheep- 
feeding, dairy-cows will be kept to consume such produce as 
can best be used when green upon the premises. 
Among the crops which will bear the application of rich 
manure, tobacco suggested itself ; but this crop, when grown 
with liquid manure, though fine in appearance, will not " smoke,'* 
and is only fit for snuff ; besides, the labour required is costly, 
and the exciseman vexatious. Its growth was abandoned. 
Another crop, suited to irrigation and not expensive as to 
labour, is hemp. Experiments have shown that with liquid 
manure it will grow admirably on a rye-stubble without plough- 
ing or costly tillage, and that it has attained a height of 7 feet 
9 inches ; but then an outlet for this produce must be secured. 
