82 Kotcs on Marhet-gardeninfj and Vine-culture 
Amiens Peat District. 
Every one who has travelled from Boulogne to Paris on the 
Northern of France Railway must have noticed near Amiens a 
tract of peat-bog, consisting of alternate patches of land and water, 
the former nearly swamped but nevertheless bearing crops ot 
garden produce. A day spent in exploring this region would well 
repay, not only the professional market-gardener, but every one 
interested in political economy. The district is about 2000 acres 
in extent, parcelled out in patches of small size. These patches 
are divided by ditches varying in width from six feet^^to many 
Fig. 1. — View of MarJcet-gardens in the Peat-district near Amiens. 
yards, and all sufficiently deep to allow the easy passage of the 
canoe-like boats which are universally used by the gardeners to 
convey manure from the town to the gardens, and produce from 
the gardens to the river-side market. The canoes are pushed 
along in the narrower and shallower ditches by means of a boat- 
hook, but in the larger and deeper canals they are propelled by 
means of a paddle, with singular dexterity and swiftness, by a 
man or woman sitting aft. 
