France has very few either in the mountain ous districts of-the south, or in the great levels of the north and west. It contains, however, a number of maritime inlets, forming inland bays and communi cating with the sea only by a channel of greater or less width. These occur partly on the southwest coast in Gascony ; mnre in the south and south-east in Languedoc and Provence. Their want of depth. prevents them from serving as roadsteads for ship ping, and they are useful chiefly for fishing, or for the manufacture of bay-salt.
France has much less of artificial or ornamental' plantations than England, and much more of naturals forests. the total extent of ground covered by wood being computed at seventeen millions of acres, or one-eighth of the territorial surface of the kingdom. Forests are found in almost every department. Lower Normandy contained several of considerable extent. There is a large one at Fontainebleau, only 45 miles from Paris ; and a larger to the north of the Loire, in the vicinity of Orleans. Those situated in the neighbourhood of the sea, or of navigable rivers, or of great works such as glass-houses and iron-foun deries, have long been subjected to an improvident consumption, so that at present the principal forests are at a great distance inland, particularly in the east of the kingdom, in the department of Ardennes, and in the long mountainous tract that forms the boun dary of France on the side of Switzerland.
The want of ornamental plantations, and still more the almost total want of hedges, forms a great de duction from the beauty of scenery in France, and deprives the country of the cheerful aspect so strik ing in England. The nearest approach to the latter is seen in travelling through the fresh pastures and gentle eminences of Normandy ; of the other pro vinces, some, like Picardy, Champagne, Poitou, con sist of wide uninteresting levels ; while others, such as Auvergne, part of Upper Languedoc, and the vi cinity of the Alps and Pyrenees, contain a bold but bleak scenery. The most beautiful and picturesque views are to be found in the Limousin, or on the borders of,the great rivers. The banks of the Loire from Orleans westward are proverbially beautiful. The Rhone, bordered by mountains, has generally a bold and occasionally a wild aspect. The Seine, equally wide, but much more tranquil, flows through verdant but less striking landscapes.
In a country of so great extent and of such diver sified surface as France, it is difficult to condense a description of the climate into a few comprehensive heads. The most natural division is into the North,
South, and Central regions. The north, comprising Flanders, Picardy, Normandy, Brittany, and, in ge neral, all that part of France, that would be bounded on the south by a diagonal line from lat. 47 on the west to lat. 49 on the east frontier, bears a great resemblance, both in temperature and produce, to the south of England. There, as with us, the pre dominant culture is wheat, barley, oats, rye, and such fruits as apples, pears, cherries ; also hemp, flax, rapeseed. It is here, and here only in France, that the natural pastures are rich and extensive : here also the species of wood, oak, ash, elm, bear a close resemblance to ours. The central region may be said to comprise the country to the south of the Loire, or rather of the diagonal line we have mentioned, until reaching a similar line in lat. 45 on the west and 47 on the east frontier. Here, with the exception of the mountainous parts, the winter is sensibly shorter and milder. Wheat, barley, oats, and rye, are still cultivated, but maize begins to ap pear, and vines become general. The weather in this great inland tract is much more steady than in the north. In the summer months there is little rain, and storms, when they occur, are frequently accompanied with hail ; but, on the whole, the tem.. perature is perhaps the most pleasant in France, be ing exempt equally from the oppressive heat of the south and the frequent humidity of the north.
The third region, comprehending the whole breadth of the French territory from lat. 45 and 46 to lat. 43, and in some parts to 4230, approaches in cli mate to the heat of Spain and Italy ; it being neces sary, in the summer months, to suspend all active ex. ercise during the middle of the day, and to reserve it for the morning and evening. A shaded situation is here the desideratum for a dwelling and a supply of water for agriculture. Wheat is partially culti vated; barley, oats, and rye, only on the high grounds; maize is very general, and vines supply not only the main article of export, but the usual drink of the in habitants. The common fruits are olives and mul berries, and, in a few very warm situations, oranges and lemons. Pasturage is good only on mountain ous or irrigated tracts. To pulmonic invalids the climate may be advantageous, but, in this respect, also material distinctions occur from locality, the winter in the south-east of France being at intervals very cold from the vent de bile, a piercing wind that blows from the Alps and the mountains of Au vergne.