The Prize Famns of France. 
35 
harTOwin°r, carriasre of straw and fodder. «S:c., the Aubrac cattle, 
a robust and bardv race, are retained. The calves are sold for 
real, at from 3tZ. to o^d. per lb., live-weig^ht. or from 3/. to 4/. 
per calf. 
Several attempts to improve the flock by new blood have 
failed, because purchasers could not see the chaiitje in the rigid lifjht. 
The woods have received attention, and the chestnut-trees have 
been restricted to the mountain sides, a reaction against certain 
ancient edicts which give exemptions and privileges to fields, if 
planted in chestnut I 
If we leave out of account 30 hectares lately reclaimed, the 
standard of high farmin?, a head of large stock to 2\ acres (a 
hectare^, has here been reached. 
As to profits, former reporters of authority have stated, first, 
in 1842, that these lands have been tripled in value ; and 
secondlv, that fields bought for 3/. are worth per acre ; 
still, since M. de Monseignat has undoubted wealth, an impres- 
sion exists in the neiffhbourhood that all these changes have 
been wrought bv a large expenditure. Regrets have therefore 
been expressed that the jurv did not fortify their award bv a 
financial statement. 
It is said that " without making an expose of a man's private 
fortune, which the public neither desires, nor indeed implicitly 
trusts, a jurv is always bound to obtain, and may easily furnish, 
sufiicient data, authentic and precise, to guard them against 
such flat rejoinders as have greeted this adjudication."' 
So much for the record of this contest, which exhibits quiet 
but rapid progress in a secluded quarter, and likewise brings out 
the ditficulties attendant on the award of a prize like that of the 
Prime d Honneur, — difficulties of sufficient magnitude to suggest 
mature deliberation in framin? the rules, but not the abandon- 
ment of the Prize svstem. The influence of such prizes can 
hardly be disputed when, from the simple operation of a local 
prize, not only was this secluded district found pre-eminentlv 
well prepared for the larger Imperial contest, but the whole 
Department is described as "on the full march, under its re- 
cognised leaders, to agricultural wealth ; so much so, that, with 
other rural prejudices, it has thrown aside the fear of open 
markets and open competition. ' 
Il we attempted to ptplong our surrey to the bleak slopes of 
the Alps or Pvrenees, or the sunny plains below, where the olive, 
rine, citron, orange, and fig-tree strive for the possession of the 
soil with com and maize, garance, and other industrial crops, 
besides violets and other flowers, cultivated on a lar^e scale for 
perfumes, we should find amidst much general supineness some 
candidates who richly deserve the cro\ra. Or, aeain, the sandy 
