[Oct. 1, 
Proceedings of Public Societies', 
of worms, too,- less delicate than those 
iiitherto recurred to, and which protluce 
a I'iiier species of silk and in greater 
cjuantities, lias been lately introduced. 
The keeping of bees, -^which were 
iiearly destroyed in 1781, begins again to 
te a favourite pursuit. 
8. Fishing and Hunting. —The de¬ 
struction of gams has been eminently 
Leneficial to agriculture in general, and 
particularly to the olive-tree, the young 
plants of which were formerly gnawed 
hy the hares and rabbit?. 
9. -The quantity of compost 
employed, is estimated at one third 
more than what was used in 1758, and 
jiotliing, which either the animal or ve¬ 
getable kingdom can furnish, is now 
omitted. In the territjories of Arles, 
and Saint-Maries, it has been lately the 
custom to turn up the soil as soon as 
the cattle had been penned, or even a 
sniall portion of it, instead of waiting, as 
formerly, until a large quantity of it had 
been littered. A new method of im¬ 
proving the earth has lately been recurred 
to also: this consists in sowing it with 
legumes, which are ploughed down,-while 
green. The present practice, which is 
daily extending, of covering with rushes, 
flags, and reetls, those lands which con¬ 
tain too many saline particles, is a nota¬ 
ble melioration. 
10. Co7'n-bearing Plants, Roots, Le- 
g'Kwcs, 4'e.—The increase of these, since 
1758, or in other words, the augmented 
^quantity of land in a state fit for agri¬ 
culture, since that period, may be esti¬ 
mated at from a fourteenth to a six¬ 
teenth. The seed, too, is now changed, 
^ circumstance which proves beneficial. 
The cultivation of the beet-root, and the 
carrot, as well as of the potatoe, on a 
great scale, have been introduced into 
some communes. 
11. Hatural and arlificial Meadozes, 
—^i'hose have been tripled within half a 
century. 
12. The Vine, azid olJie?' fruit-beazdtig 
Trees. —These have all been improved^ 
By means of extraordinary pains and 
expenses, the ravages committed on the 
olive-trees, during the disastious winter 
of 1788, are attempted to be retrieved. 
Tlie suckers proceeding from such of the 
old stocks as were spared by the frost, 
bave made a greater progress during the 
last eighteen years, than they formerly 
did in thirty: the more general use of 
grafting has contributed not a little to 
this. Such trees as produce nuts liave 
augmented considerably in point of num¬ 
ber, and improved in point of quality- 
Some exotic varieties have been natu¬ 
ralised. 
13. Wine, Cyder, Beer, Brandy, S-c .— 
Among those who distil brandy in this 
department, two only follow th.e process^ 
of Adams, but with different modifi¬ 
cations. 
14. Seed Plots, Nursery Grounds, Plan¬ 
tations, 4'C.—Some green oaks liave been 
reared; nurseries of mulberries, almond 
trees, and several trees appertaining to 
the orchard as well as to the pleasure 
ground, are now' common. The white-' 
wood trees, which love a moist soil, are 
multiplied in an astonishing degree; 
among others the occidental palm-tree, 
which has been introduced with such 
good effect, and rendered so appropriate 
to the climate, that copses of it are to be 
seen on the banks of the Durance, where 
it is planted and propagated by means of 
slips, A great variety of trees and 
fiow'cring shrubs are also cultivated. 
15. Plants, oleaginous, tinctorial, tex¬ 
tile, medical, and culinazy. —Madder has 
been introduced into this department 
during the space of thirty-five years, and 
it is still cultivated, although in smaller 
portions than hitherto. A considerable 
quantity of lucern seed is exported ; more 
flax and hemp are cultivated now than 
before. In the course of the j)resent 
year several experiments have been made 
on the cotton-bearing tree, and although 
they have not been completely successful 
on account of the inten)perance of the 
spring and autumn, sufficient benefit has 
been obtained to confirm the hope of the 
naturalization of this precious plant in 
France. The teazel is a production 
arising out of the agricultural industry 
of the town of St. Remy, where it in¬ 
creases yearly. Two medicinal plants 
are also cultivated in the same territory ; 
the Palma Christi B.nd the w hite poppy, 
the former for the last fifteen, and tlie 
latter for the last ten, years. The cul¬ 
tivation of the tomato, the aubergine, 
and several other culinary plants has also 
taken place, and been brought to per¬ 
fection during the last twenty-five years. 
16. Draining and Irrigation. —In 
1807 a beginning was made in the opera¬ 
tion of clearing the canals and repair¬ 
ing those works which had been con- 
structed towards the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, in the territory of 
Arles, for the purpose of draining of from 
five to six thousand hectares of marsh¬ 
land. These labours are continued, and 
will be facilitated by means of the canal 
