We have already mentioned, in stating the aye sage produce of the departments, the chief objects of culture in France; it remains to exhibit a table apportionment of the French territory at large to different species of culture. (Chaptal, Vol. I. p. 206.1 This parallel, brief as it is, puts in a striking light the very different state of agriculture in the two countries. The surprising proportion of land In France under tillage is owing to the smallness of the occupancies. the cheapness of labour, and the general use of bread instead of animal food by the lower orders. The last is connected with another remarkable circumstance,—the very slender propor tion of land under pasture, of which the main cause is the dry climate of the south and central part of the kingdom. In the proportion of poor-and Imp), ductive land, the two eotmtries are nearly on a par, but tbe French incur a very heavy disadvantage by using wood instead of coal for fuel, and covering with forests many tracts which might be made avail able either to pasture or tillage.
We proceed to add a few remarks on French agriculture, with reference to articles less known or less generally raised in England. Buck wheat is cultivated extensively in Normandy and the north of France, partly as green food for cattle, partly for the diet of the peasantry ; it is generally sown in June and reaped in the end. of September. Rape seed is very general in French Flanders and Nor mandy ; it supplies oil for the market and food for cattle, either when green or in the cake. Colza (cole-seed) is raised for the same purposes. Tobacco would be generally cultivated in France, did not the restrictions of the excise confine it to certain li censed parts, which are chiefly in Alsace and Picardy. Flax is raised very generally not merely in French Flanders, Alsace, and Normandy, but in the provin. ces of the west and south, where the family of almost every peasant rears a little stock annually to be spun by his wife and daughters. Hemp also is raised in many parts of France, particularly in the north. Maize is a plant of great importance, whether for the food of man or of cattle; when intended to stand for harvest, it is planted in rows with very little seed, and yields more than twice the quantity of wheat that would be produced on the same space. During its growth, the leaves are stripped regularly for the food of cattle; and in some districts it is sown thick and mown merely for that purpose. Such valuable substitutes have as yet prevented tur nips from being generally introduced in France. Even
potatoes were long very little known, and it is only during the last half century that the dislike to this root has disappeared. Chesnuts are most common in the central part of France, where they supply no incon siderable portion of the food of the peasantry. In the south, the fruits are chiefly olives, almonds, mul berries, figs, prunes; oranges are partially cultivated in the south-east extremity of the kingdom, on the verge of Italy, but with great uncertainty, for a se vere winter is fatal to these trees, and in some mea sure to the olives.
Irrigation is little understood in the north of France, but in the south the want of frequent ram renders it a primary object of attention; it in feet determines the ratio of productiveness, since the warmth of the sun seldom fails to ripen whatever, whether grass or corn, bas received an adequate supply of water. It takes place in some parts by guiding the rills from the side of the hills and motua. tains ; in others, by digging wells or raising water by a wheel ; and in the vicinity of rivers by diverting a portion of their stream.
The culture of the vine extends more or less over fully the half of France, beginning so far north as Champagne, and spreading over the country to the south and west. This culture is, however, very li mited in Champagne and even in Burgundy ; in Provence and the lower part of Languedoc the cli mate is warmer, and the culture general ; though not managed with such skill as along the banks of the Garonne, where the spirit of improvement is excited by a demand for foreign markets. As vines succeed in light and unproductive soils, their caltare gives a value to much ground that would otherwise be use, less; and the petty subdivisions of land are here less injurious than in the case of corn. From the great variety of soil and climate, the quality of French wines is very various. The amount produced bas been considerably increased since 1790, as well from the division of many large estates as from the quantity of waste land that has been brought into culture. It is computed that nearly 5,000,000 acres of land are planted with vines, and that the value of the annual produce is from L.28,000,000 to L.80,000,000 Sterling, of which about a tenth or twelfth part only is exported. A farther quantity, equal to about a sixth of the above, is made into brandy, for brandy is distilled wherever vines are grown ; and of it also, the best qualities are in the vicinity of the Garonne.