336 
Tlie French Peasant- Farmers Seed Fund. 
The district south of Paris having been cut off from the 
source of relief by the Communist insurrection, the Committee 
were of opinion that it was impossible to distribute usefully the 
whole of the seed-corn allotted to the Paris district over one- 
half the area originally contemplated. They therefore decided, 
with the aid of a further grant of 3000/. from the Lord Mayor's 
Fund, to establish a fourth centre of distribution at Rouen, for 
the relief of the departments of the Seine Inferieure, Eure, and 
Calvados. To this district they sent some of the corn that had 
been intended for the district south of Paris, and an additional 
quantity specially purchased. Captain W. Delf, of Great 
Bentley Hall, near Colchester, took charge of this depot, and 
distributed the following quantities of corn and seeds sent by 
this Committee: — 710 quarters of barley, 1567 quarters of oats, 
260 tons of potatoes, 100 quarters of vetches, 4000 packages of 
seeds as before, 2 sacks of cabbage-seed, and 11 sacks of grasses ; 
also a cargo sent by the Scotch Fund, consisting of 11 sacks of 
barley, 231 sacks of oats, and 871 sacks of potatoes. Captain 
Delf also received from Boulogne a small quantitv of wheat and 
some barley which had been intended for distribution from the 
Paris depot; but the wheat, about 64 quarters, arriving too late 
to be sown, was sold for grinding. 
The following are the total quantities of grain, potatoes, and 
small seeds sent to France last spring by the English Seed Fund 
Committee : — 
Wheat 3695 Qrs. 
Barley 3S36 „ 
Oats 5387 ,, 
Tares 250 „ 
Potatoes 700 Tons. 
Haricot Beans 4000 half-peck bap:s .. .. (500 liushels). 
Turnip Seed 4000 quarter-peck hass .. .. (250 bushels). 
Carrot Seed 4000 two-pound packages .. (ISOOO lbs.) 
Onion Seed 4000 quarter-pound packages .. (1000 lbs.) 
Sundry Seeds, about 500 sacks and bags. 
The system adopted by the representatives of the Fund, so as to 
guard as much as possible both against fraud, and ii^ainst mis- 
appropriation of the grain, was resolved upon after considerable 
deliberation. The first duty of the representatives was to form a 
Local Committee consisting of landowners and other persons of 
influence and agricultural knowledge. The next step was to obtain 
from the Maires of Communes, or other qualified persons, a state- 
ment in detail, on forms supplied for the purpose, of the wants of 
the peasant-farmers in their Commune or Canton, specifying the 
names of the applicants, the acreage occupied by tliem, and the 
quantity of each kind of grain asked for. This statement was 
certified by the maire, the cure, or the schoolmaster, and some 
agriculturist of influence, generally either the President of the 
