t 169 ] 
particularly among the Alps, and certainly is good 
husbandry in small dairy farms, and perhaps in any 
farms when harvest or seed time calls for addition¬ 
al teams, 
Grass grounds. 
Of these I have seen very little in France, the 
whole country in every direction that I have travel¬ 
led, is under grain, except a few watered meadows 
upon the rivers, and in the hilly country of the 
Alps and Lyonnais. Artificial grasses are much 
less common than I had reason to expect from 
what I have seen written on the husbandry of this 
country ; clover is by no means so common as it 
generally is in our state, since the use of gypsum ; 
lucerne is more common, and near Paris very good ; 
but the culture is not so extensive as I had expect¬ 
ed, nor do I recollect to have seen more than 4 
acres together any v/here in France. Sainfoin is 
cultivated upon the sandy or gravelly soils, and 
yields more than any other grass I am acquainted 
with, would do, upon the same soil ; these grasses 
are generally broke up once in eight or nine years, 
when they are found greatly to have enriched the 
ground. In v/hat I say of grass grounds, I should 
except the country upon the Loire, from Nantes 
nearly to Orleans, which is, without exception, the 
finest country I ever saw, and alike productive of 
grass and grain ; the low or interval land extends 
along the river for the length of near fifty miles. 
