20 
Tlie Prize Farms of France. 
vears, renewed at much increased rents ; yet this change has been 
very quietly effected, and the owner modestly reports, " You Avill 
not find anything very new or very remarkable on my farm in the 
"way either of buildings, stock, or crops." Indeed, the imple- 
ments still in use aie in the main such as were adopted and 
improved upon in 1826. This farming is evidently no flash in 
the pan ; there may be much light though little smoke about it. 
But we must pass on to the winner, M. de Behaque, and his 
farm of Dampierre. The Home-farm of 1042 acres is part of a 
considerable estate, the survey of which shows we have entered 
a new field of management. It contains of — 
Acres. 
Old woods, deciduous trees y8(i 
Young woods 810 
Fir plantations 11!)5 
Arable land 952 
Meadow lofi 
Other pastures 53 
Ponds and reservoirs (!) 330 
Wastes, roads, and gardens 190 
4672 
.Since 1826 M. de Behaque has applied himself with great energy 
to the improvement of his property. His career is remarkable, 
because in his practice are combined the lessons of two almost 
antagonistic schools of modern French agriculture, those of M. 
Dombasle of Roville, and of ^I. Royer. The former proclaimed, 
" Away with the bare fallow and scourging succession of corn 
crops ! Practise alternate husbandry, deep culture, and the 
growth of roots and forage, with the same yield of corn as 
Ijefore on half the area. In short, high farming and the maxi- 
mum of produce." 
The other had for his motto, " The net produce — the clear 
profit;" and he'taught, "No uniformity! Cut your coat to your 
cloth ; be regulated by soil, climate, markets, commasd of 
capital ; do not force some patches with high farming, and leave 
a wilderness around them ; do not rob Peter to pay Paul." 
Land has its natural stages of existence, its pcriodes,'^ ac- 
cording to the state of civilization and progress around. This 
estate is at the forest epoch ; another at that of shccp-walks and 
cattle-runs {pcriode pacagcre) ; a third at that of alternate hus- 
bandry and stall-feeding (periode fourraglrc) ; a fourth at the 
corn-growing point (^periode cereale), because, without danger of 
exhaustion, more than half the land may be devoted to cereal 
crops ; and finally the Commercial Epoch (periode conwierciale) is 
attained, when industrial crops (such as provide the material for 
factories) can be profitably grown to a considerable extent. 
