UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES

TRAVELS

THROUGH

FRANCE AND SPAIN,

I N T H E

YEARS 1770 AND 1771.

IW WHICH IS PARTICULARLY MINUTID,

THE PRESENT STATE

O F

THOSE COUNTRIES,

RESPrCTING THX

AGRICULTURE, POPULATION,

MANUFACTURES, COMMERCE,
T«« ARTS, AHD USEFUL UNDERTAKINGS.

By JOSEPH MARSHALL, Efq.
VOL. IV-

LONDON:

MINTED rot G. CORRAL L,

(Succeflbr to the late Mr. GRIFFIN.)
No. 6, CATHIE INE-STRKET, STEAK
MDCCLXXVI.

t[

CX)NTE NTS

O 'F .'**

'AM/nO . '

TrMTi WT- *> xA

V O L. IV.

Travels through France.

H A. «. I •

Page.

Agriculture. Products. Improvement
of Wajles. Society of Agriculture at
Metz. Exertions. Sf&te ofLorain.
Manufactures. Decline. Prefent
State. .Qbjer'vat tofts . To Moyenare.
Country. Beggars. Hujbari&y.
Miferable Products. Prices of La-
bour. Eynvitt*. CiiItnreofL.ucern.
Lune'vitle. Academy* Great Gkca-p-
ttefs of Lhing. I

VOL. IV. it 3 C H A ?.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. II,

Page.

journey to Nancy. Verdun. Agricul-
ture. Manufactures. Clermont.
Farming. Enter Champagne Vaji
Heaths. Great Improvements wrought
by a French Farmer on the Waftes.
Excellent Management. Refections, jfi

CHAP. HI.

.

Chalons. Common Hujbandry. Full
Account of the famous Vineyards of
Verzenay, &fr. Expences, Produce,
and Profit. Obfervations. Comfa-
rifon with common Hujbandry. 7$

CHAP. IV.

-

^he Vineyards of Sillery and Mailly.
Low Profit by Vines. Rheims. Ma*
nufatfures. St. Thiery. Vamom,
Vineyards there. Corn Lands. Mea*
dows. Efpernay. Vineyards. Cul~

- ture of Lucern. Great Profit. Ex-
feriments on Lucern. Laguay. 104

CHAP.

CONTENTS.

CHAP, V.

Ajf§

Paris. Information concerning the pre-
fent State of France. Agriculture.
Land faxes. Revenue of France in
1 770. Manufactures. Commerce.
Ships and Seamen. Navy. Prefehi
State. Army. General State of
France. — — — 131

CHAP. VI.

From Paris to Chartres. Agriculture.
Orleans. Stock arid Conduct of a
French Farm. Eff efts of the French
Government on the Country. Agri-
culture of the Province of Nivernois.
Uncommon Improvement by Means of
Potatoes and Lucern. Drill Hvf-
bandry. Account ofBeaujeloisi Cu-
rious Anecdote on the French Taxes. 168

14 CHAP.

viii CONTENT S.

y

C H A P. VII.

Page.

Extraordinary Htflory and Account of
M. de la Place* His Improvements.
Great Exertions. Vifited by thejirjl
Perfons in France. Admirable Syftem.
of Life. Defcription. Remarks. 230

CHAP. VIII.

Journey .through Rouergne. Agricul-
ture* Numerous 'Experiments of M.
Prefaint. Defcription of the Wajies
of Bourdeaux. Canal of Languedoc.
Hujbandry around Mirepoix. Com*
farifon of the Agriculture of England
and France. Defcription of a Jingu-
lar Inftitutionfor encouraging the Cul-
ture of Wajie Land in the Pyrennees.
Great Improvements. — 285

Travels

CONTENTS* is

Travels through Spain.

CHAP. IX.

Page

Catalonia. Watered Meadows. Fer-
tility. Surprijing Cheapnefs of Living.
Barcehna. Higb Degree of Cultiva-
tion. Vineyards. Olives. Tortofa.
Beautiful Country. Quick Succejfivn
of Crops. State of C aft He. Valencia.
Management of Lands, Alicante*
General Obfervations. —

Travels

CHAP. I.

Agriculture Produces Improvement t bf

Wafles— Society of Agriculture at Metz
— Exertions — State of Lorain — Manufac-
tures— Decline — Prefent State — Obferva-
tions — To Moyenare— Country — Beggars —
Hujban dry — Miferable Pro/Juffs — Prices
of Labour — Eynville— Culture of Lucerne

Luneville— -Academy Great Cbeafnefs

of Living.

I ENTERED Lorain the lothofOcto-
ber 1770, at Sar Louis, in my way to
Metz, taking the road of Boulay. The
country is fine, but not well cultivated ; ths
feafon would not allow me to make the ob-
fervations I wifhed upon their corn culture,
yet did the ftubble feem to indicate pretty
good crops. Inclofures there are none, ex-
cept a Few about the villages, and fome of
them were filled with turneps > the crops of
which were fofmall, that I was alittlefurprifed
on what their cattle could fubfift in winter.
VOL. IV. B Stopping

2 TRAVELS THROUGH
Stopping at Dreynborn, I made fome en-
quiries after their modes of culture, and
found that their greateft attention was given
to corn, which they threw into the method
of preparing by a Summer's fallow for wheat;
and after wheat they fow Bled de Mars,
that is, barley, generally, but fometimes
peafe and oats : they were not intelligent
enough to give me a good idea of their pro-
duds per acre. As to cattle, they have
very few, and make no complaints for want
of more ; which is, I think, every where a
mark of bad management. There is much
forefb land on both fides the road, yet it is
not a tenth flocked with meep, oxen, cows,
or horfes. Their culture and carriage is ge-
nerally performed with oxen, the breed of
which feem but indifferent. I obferved
fome lands ploughing and fowing to wheat;
and on fome fandy tracts they were cultivat-
ing rye j the draft of the ploughs was every
where four oxen. Upon enquiry among
the peafants, I did not find any great com-
plaint of taxes -, the reafon of which I could
not conjecture, for I had been informed
the fubfidies in Lorain were very heavy;
unlefs it is owing to the jufticc or huma-
nity

FRANCE. 3

nity of the heads of this diflridt. Among
the various articles of intelligence, I received
two circumftances deferving note : one
was an inflance of great fertility given to a
field, by manuring it with a compoft of
white clay and black peat-earth mixed to-
gether, which was managed as follows :

1768. Manured on the fallow.

1769. Sown with wheat.

1770. Sown with barley.

And the products were, the wheat, 7 quar-
ters per acre ; and the barley fuppofed
8 quarters per acre *. The farmer defigns
next year to fow it with peafe ; but this he
could not do, if it were open : but being
enclofed, he may pradtifc what hufbandry
he pleafes. The other circumftance to be
mentioned is the particulars of the expence
of keeping two yoke of oxen, as given me
by thefe peafants : 1. s. d.

Summer food - - 2 13 6

Forage - - 3 18 9

Repairs of harnefs - 027
Accidents - » o 15 o

7 9 10

B 2 This

• Throughout this volume, as in the former three, th«
mcafurvs, and coins, are aM reduced K> Englifh.

4 TRAVELS THROUGH
This appeared to me inconceivable ; I could
not conceive how four oxen could be win-
tered for fo fmall a fum as 3!. i8s. 9d. but
I found they turn them into the foreft to
chufe during a part of the feafon, that they
may feed on the laft moots of the under-
wood.

From Boulau to Ury, the country is very
agreeable ; the river Nid branches through
a rich, but not well cultivated, tra<5t. Ury
is well fituated, on a fine plain, with a ridge
of mountains to the north, and at a fmall
diflance a foreft to the fouth. My defign
was to reach Metz by night ; but, upon en-
quiry after my favourite fubjecl, the land-
lord, of the Golden Lion, a very indifferent
inn at Ury, informed me, that he was him-
felf ignorant of agriculture, but could re-
commend a farmer that could give my Ho-
nour all the information I could defire :
this intelligence determined me to fleep at
his inn, bad as it was. The peafant was
fent for, and being arrived, he gave me the
following account of the hufbandry of the
neighbourhood of this town :

The foil upon the rivers is a moifr, good
loam ; at a diflance from them it is ilony,

yet

FRANCE. 5

yet not unfertile ;— the ftones rather aflift
than prevent vegetation, which I ftill think
very furprifing. Where-ever it is cultiva-
ted, the fields are open. I ^explained the
advantages, as well as I could, of the Eng-
lifh fyftem of inclofing ; but my friend the
Lorainer did not agree with me. " If,"
faid he, " our fields were all, as you fay,
" inclofed, they would many of them be fo '
" wet, that our tillage would be interrupted.
*' At prefent the fun and wind have a
" free courfe over all our lands, and con-
*' fequently dry them very foon. I have,"
added he, " three lands under the foreft ;
*' they are the worft upon my farm, becaufe
" the wetteft : this is owing totally to the
" neighbourhood of wood ; but if all my
" fields were interfeded, as you fay, with
" hedges, my whole farm would be as bad,
" and I mould be ruined.'* I then explained
counter advantages, and the ufe of drain-
ing; but made no imprefllon : he perfifted
that open fields were much more advanta-
geous to him than inclofures would be;
and infifted, that no arrangement of his
lands would yield him better than his old
one, of i. Fallow. 2. Wheat. 3. Barley.
B 3 Their

<6 TRAVELS THROUGH

Their products of wheat are, from,
one and an half to two and an half.
What manure they raife is all laid on
for this crop ; and the very beft manage-
ment will not carry this product to more
than three quarters. The farms are, in ge-
neral, rented by tenants, fome of whom pay
their landlords in kind ; a circumftance I
little expected to find an inftance of fo foon
in France : the more general method, how-
ever, is, thatof a pecuniary rent. As toleafes,
they have none, being all tenants at will.
The vineyards are chiefly in the hands of
the gentlemen, who moftly live at Metz,
and the people who cultivate them are in
the worft circumftances of any in the coun-
try; the wine is but a poor vin-dupays,
which anfwers nothing but their limited
home-confumption : the nett profit does
not exceed 3!. los. an acre. The nett pro-
duce of wheat is reckoned il. 8s. per acre,
or 148. per annum : that of barley, 95. of
oats, 75. 6d. and of peafe about as much
as barley. There are a few turneps, but
miferably cultivated ; and fome clover, but
it is not fown till the land is fo exhaufted,
that the farmer does not think it worth the

expencQ

FRANCE. 7

cxpence of a fallow ; confequently the foil
yields as much weeds as clover. From thefe
circumftances the reader will perceive, that
the agriculture here is in general very bad :
taxes are very irregular. Though Lorain
is exempted from the great curfe of the
French hufbandry, the arbitrary taille, yet
is the provincial fubfidy levied in a manner
not much fuperior to that tax. Every dif-
tric~l receives the requifition of the fum
which is to be paid by way of land-tax,
and, inflead of the intendant, their own
magiftrates affefs the proportions ; but for
want of fome fuch rule as is followed in
England, the farmers arc almofl as much
opprefled as if they were in the hands of
the intendants ; not to fpeak of the capita-
tion, which is levied here with all the fe-
verity of the French government. Thefe
circumftances, with the want of leafes,
would be fufficient to keep down the in-
duftryof the people; yet is there another that
opprefles them as much, which is the want
of a market. The quantity of wafte land is
very great, yet is the price of the fa/mer's
product very low ; fo that, for want of ex-
portation, which is prohibited, they could
B 4 not

8 TRAVELS THROUGH

not find a fale for larger quantities of corn

than they raife.

It was noon of the nth, before I reached
Metz, a place famous in hiftory for feveral
extraordinary circumftances; but as the ob-
ject of my travels is not cities and towns,
fieges and fortifications, &c. but the coun-
try, I fhall omit what is to be found in fo
many books of travels, and purfue my en-
quiries into thofe points which have hitherto
been fo much neglected. I had a letter of
recommendation to M. de Montigny Roche,
a member of the Societe des Sciences & des
Outs, eftablimed at this city by Letters Pa-
tent. He received me with politenefs, and
being informed of the object of my enqui-
ries, was very liberal of his aflurances of
procuring me the beft intelligence. He
prefently enlarged with many patriotic ex-
preffions in commendation of the above-
mentioned Society, of which he gave me
the following account : The Duke de Belle-
ifle was the founder, in 1760; the annual
revenue is aboin aool. fterling : they ex-
pend this income in giving a rriedal of gold
of the Duke, as premiums, the value about
fifteen guineas. The object of their encou-
ragement

FRANCE. 9

ragement is principally agriculture; alfo
commerce, and ufeful arts. They have
given feveral medals to the improvers of
wafte and barren tracts of land; alfo for
improvements in the making their wines ;
particularly for a prefs of a new invention,
— alfo for the culture of flax and African
millet. They likewife offered their medal
for improvements in fpinningand weaving,
and likewife for the greatefl crops raifed
of wheat on given quantities of land. One
of the moft remarkable inftances of their
fucccfs was in the cafe of one Piere dc
Laurete, a peafant at St. Agnel, in the fo-
reft, who farms his own lands. This man
improved a very poor fandy tra& of land,
which never had yielded any valuable pro-
duce; and his progrefs, in as few words as
I can give it, was as follows : with the
permiflion of the principal owners of the
adjacent parifhes, he inclofed it; (no great
favour in fo wafte and neglected a part of
the country) ; this he did, by planting a
hornbeam hedge around it, having firft
thrown up a fmall parapet of the fand.
This hedge profpered very much. His next
bulinefs was to manure a part of his inclo-

fure

io TRAVELS THROUGH
fure every year, till he had gone through
the whole. This he did, by digging on the
fpot for a ftiff loamy earth, approaching to
clay, which he fpread in large quantities on
the furface, and then ploughed and fowed
it with buck wheat, getting fine crops, of
from three quarters to four and a half,
which nearly paid all the expences of the
manuring. After the buck wheat, his me-
thod was to fow rye upon one ploughing ;
and of this he got two quarters an acre ;
then he ploughed thrice, and took a crop
of barley ; the product about equal to that
of the rye. After the barley, he fowed
turneps, which he ufed for feeding his
icows, oxen, fwine, and fheep. M. Roche
could not inform me of his culture of this
root ; but his fuccefs with it was reckoned
very great, as it enabled him much to in-
creafe his ftock of cattle. The turneps he
followed with another crop of barley $ and
this has been the general merhod he has
purfued throughout the improvement. The
parts of it which were firfl manured begin
to wear out, and the peafant expects they
will foon want a frefh fupply of manure,
as before j a circumftance probably owing

to

FRANCE. it

to his ploughing fo light a foil fo often for
arable crops. It would have been more pru-
dent to have fown clover, which is very
well known in this country, which, flay-
ing fome years on the land, would have
given it the due repofe; a point of morecon-
fequence to fo light a foil than moft others.
This induftrious peafant had the offer of a
pecuniary reward, inftead of the gold medal
of the Society ; but he preferred the latter,
hearing it was much valued by the gentry.
An inftance of the love of honour in the in-
ferior clafs of people, which deferves no-
tice.

I converfed with M. de Roche upon the
political oeconomy of Lorain fince the death
of King Staniflaus ; but not with that fatif-
faction I could have wimed ; there was fo
much of the Frenchman in his accounts,
that what he faid required good allowance.
J had formerly, on other occafions, found
the propenfity to exaggeration amazingly
greater in France than in any other coun-
try, which made me cautious on my enter-
ing the country a fecond time. He aflured
me, that Lorain, in general, was in the mod
flourishing fituation imaginable j that the

taxes

12 TRAVELS THROUGH
taxes were light, and adminiftered with the
moft perfect equity; a circumftance which
I knew from other information to be abfo-
lutely falfe ; and I had before received ac-
counts, that the people were difcontented-
The cafe 'is, they are, in this country, ex-
cept on the Mofelle, in great want of com-
merce : that river being navigable, to Toul
Nancy, and fome other considerable places,
and communicating with the Rhine, gives
fome trade to Metz, which animates the
induftry of that place, and its neighbour-
hood j but when you get out of reach of
the river, there is a vifible deadnefs, an
evident want of a quick market.

At Metz there are carried on fome brifk
manufactures of rattines, ferges, and drug-
gets : of thefe I made Several enquiries, and
found, that, fi nee the peace of 1^62, they
had been much revived, but had not yet
near recovered the profperity they loft by
the war. The account they gave me of
the deftruction the ill fuccefs of their
country in the quarrel with England, brought
on the manufactures of all this territory, I
can eafily believe, as I am clear the truth
much exceeded any thing they would own.

They

FRANCE. 13

They aflured me that the weight of taxes was
very great, and felt more than to the natu-
ral amount, by coming at a time when their
market was every day deflroying both abroad
and at home. Their ratlines they make
principally for the home-confumption,
many alfo of their ferges, but their drug-
gets were in general for exportation. The
national poverty which arofe from the war,
deftroyed much of their own confumption ;
for every man was foon forced to retrench
every part of his expence, which fell heavy
on all the manufactures of the kingdom ;
and within three years from the breaking
out of the war, their great exportation was
reduced to a very trifle, fent by the Rhine
to Rotterdam. In this fituation they were
unable to pay their workmen, who, finding
no employment, either ilarved with their
families, enlifted in the army, or fled into
Switzerland and the South of Germany,
from whence none ever returned. In this
manner great numbers were cut off; and
from the beft accounts I could gain, this
part of France loft more men in this man-
ner than (he did by the war ; and yet the
drafts ficm the militia in all the frontier

provinces

14 TRAVELS THROUGH

provinces were greater than from the dif-
tant ones, on account of their vicinity, and
cafe of tranfports on the rivers to their army
in Germany. The Frenchmen I converfed
•with on this point owned much more than
they otherwife would ; becaufe they had no
occafion to lay the fault on the King: his
miftrefs bore the whole blame; but La Pom-
padour was the object of execration j for-
getting, that nothing could be laid to the
fault of one without bearing ten times hea-
vier on the other. Upon the conclufion of
of the peace, a general joy fpread through
the manufacturers of this country, and ef-
pecially Metz, yet were not their miferies
healed -, fo many matter-manufacturers were
dead, removed, or gone into other ways of
maintaining themfelves, that no vigour was
to be feen in the new undertakings for a
long time. The few that had flood all the
fhocks of the war, and had kept together
a few workmen, were able to encreafe them
gradually; but for want of capital could da
this but flowly. This arofe not only from
their own want of money, but that of all
their cuftomers ; for, tho' the treaty of Paris
ended the war, it did not end the accumu-
lation

FRANCE. 15

lation of taxes occafioned by the war. The
Government found it neceflary to continue
thefe ; and the poverty of the people con-
tinued with them. Now, a people kept
fo poor with taxes, mufl be very bad cuf-
tomers to the manufacturers : nor did fo-
reign trade revive fo foon as they expected ;
for fome of it was abfolutely deftroyed, and
fome of it got into other channels. From
all which circumflances, I could eafily be-
lieve one piece of information they gave me,
that they have not at prefent half fo good
a trade as they had in the year 1756, nor
make half fo many goods ; and yet they have
been almoft regularly rifing ever.fmce : but
they are ftrongly imprefTed with the notion,
and I believe it is a juft one, that they ne-
ver will regain the ground they loft by the
laft war. A circumftance, which, as an.
Englishman, I have reafon to wifti may be
the cafe throughout all France, as 1 believe
it is.

The 1 3th, in the morning, I left Metz,
where I did not get all the information I
wimed. I had a letter to Moyenvie, and
was recommended to take the road by Mer-
chingen, from being much plcafanter: I

was

16 TRAVELS THROUGH

was alfo defirous of feeing the romantic
fituation of the village of Techempfal in the
Lake, and the little town of Dieuze. Lea-
ving Metz, I patted a part of the forefr,
•which is fandy and very wild. Near the
river Nid the country improves, and feme
cultivation appears, with a very fine range
of meadows on the banks of the ftream,
which had a countenance that proved the
fertility of the foil : in thefe meadows were
ibme very fine cattle, much finer than I had
ieen fince I entered France. The hanging
grounds on the fide of thefe meadows are
very well cultivated under corn and vine-
yards ; but the wine is bad, and the profit
of an acre of vineyard does not exceed
2!. 38. 6d. One circumftance relative to them
in this neighbourhood is obfervable; they
are the property of peafants, who pofTefs a
few acres, upon which they maintain their
families, though very poorly. It is a cul-
ture in which the wife, fons, daughters,
brothers, fiflers, nephews, and nieces, are
all employed, in weeding, cleaning, dig-
ging, pruning, gathering, picking, pail-
ing, &c. and all are able to live, though in
poverty. This gives the ground the ap-
pearance

FRANCE. T7

pearance of being admirably cultivated, as
indeed it is ; for no other fyflem can ever
come in competition with it. The people
employed are very numerous, in proportion
to the quantity of land ; and, as they can.
find no other employment, the leaft benefit
they can do to the crop, upon their little
freehold, is fo much gain. The confequence
of this fyftem is, great population, excel-
lent hufbandry, and much mifery among
the lower clafTes ; for the necefiary confe-
quence of this great divifion of employ-
ment on thefe little eftates, is juft giving
the people an exiftence, and nothing more ;
fo that a bad feafon, lofles of any kind, or
any failure, reduces many to mifery and
begging. The convents fupportthem in fuch
cafes ; but very many find no refource but
leaving the country, enlifling in the troops*
or begging in the towns and highways.
The misfortune is, that, upon a return of
better feafon s, or better fortune, the people
do not return to their induftry ; for once
they have been fupported in idlenefs, by
charity, they will not return to work ; and
thus the whole nation fuffers amazingly.
This is as clearly the confequence, as any
VOL, IV. C thing

i8 TRAVELS THROUGH

thing can be deduced, and as clearly flows
from population and good hufoandry. But,
fay many, how can two fuch excellent cir-
cumftances do mifchief ? It appears ftrange ;
but fo it is. And it proves, that populouf-
nefs may be deftrudtive, whenever it goes
beyond the amount of regular employment ;
and hufbandry, no longer beneficial than
when carried on upon a large fcale, in order
to carry the product of the earth in quanti-
ties to market, inftead of railing no more
than fufficient to feed and fupport the huf-
bandman and his family. It is furpriling
to fee thefe little proprietors, almoft ruined
by taxes, not extremely heavy, which is
owing to the fmallnefs of their property.
It is difficult to devife a remedy for this
evil, without edicts, that would be oppref-
five ; yet fome remedy, for the future,
.mould certainly be thought of : it might
be found, in preventing the future divifion
of eftates beyond a limited value.

I breakfafted at Berlife ; the lituation of
which place, on a hill, is agreeable. It
ftands in the midft of an open corn country,
without a hedge to be feen. In all thefe
fields, the univerfal practice is, to fallow

their

F fc A N C fi. 19

their lands three times for wheftt ; of which
they get about two quarters an acre : if
they manure, they have two and a half, or
three. After the wheat, they fow barley,
and get but indifferent crops; and then
their fallow again, as before. The peafants
pay about fix (hillings an acre for their
arable land : it is fo good in its nature, that
it would let, in England, if inclofed, I
fhould fuppofe readily, at twenty. Yet the
farmers here are very poor, and (hew it in
the appearance of every thing belonging
to them. I faw them fowing wheat in
fcveral trads t they have a practice of fteep-
ing the feed in a ley made of poultry dung j
they plough the land, and then harrow in
the feed with harrows $ the teeth of which
are made of wood, to fave iron $ and, pro-
jefting from the frame on both fides> they
can turn the harrow, and wear up both.

From Berlife, I took the road to Merchin*
gen, through an almoft continued corn field j
the foil rich> and the roads very deep and
bad : the peafants were fowing wheat $ and,
from the ftubbles of the laft year, I fhould
fuppofe the crop of wheat had been good ;
C a but

to TRAVELS THROUGH

but the barley ftubbles had a bad appear-
ance. The people were every where full of
complaints of the badnefs of their crops, and
they allured me the wheat was little better
than the barley; nor had they feen a good
crop for fome years. They faid, if the fea-
fons continued fo, they muft die ; for no-
body could have any thing to eat. I afked
them, if the price was not proportioned to
the badnefs of the crop ; they replied, not
by any means : and that the poor peafants
grew every year poorer and poorer; nor
could they afford to cultivate their lands to
any purpofe. Here are fome horfe-ploughs,
but the horfes were not of an appearance
that agreed with the richnefs of much of the
country. Some of the farms here amounted
to five hundred acres, yet were the occu-
piers in bad circumftances -, and the little
towns I patted through, poor, and fome of
them almoft uninhabited. I coafted the
little river Nid for fome time, and near
Brulauge there are fome fine rich meadows.
All this is a fine rich country, which, under
a favourable government, with circumftances
favourable to hulbandry, would be very

wealthy :

FRANCE. si

wealthy : yet the richnefs of the foil feems
to have reduced the people to become indo-
lent, rather than induftrious.

One farmer I met with on the road, whofe
farm is at Thiecour, gave me the following
defcription of it, which I think well worth
inferring, as thofe who are acquainted with
the ftate of hufbandryin England may com-
pare the circumftances: he has 432 acres;
of which 416 are open field arable land, 16
are grafs inclofure, and he has liberty of
turning what cattle he pleafes upon fome
confiderable commons near his farm; his
houfe is a very good one ; and for the whole
of this he pays a rent of 147!. The land
is, in general, good and loamy ; all the arable
is in the common management of his neigh-
bours ; that is, firft making a fummer fal-
low of three ploughings, upon which they
fow wheat. His product varies between
two quarters and three and an half, but the
latter only, in very favourable years : his
manure he lays all on for wheat. Upon
my afking what incrcafe of product that oc-
cafioned, he replied, but little; in foinc
years, none; but that he had ufe4 wood
to better advantage; which, fown
C 3 over

22 TRAVELS THROUGH
qver the green wheat in fpring, he though!
much better than dung in Autumn. The
latter is raifed by his teams of oxen in the
winter, while they are eating the ftraw of
the crop $ of thefe he has thirty^two, alfo
five cows, and about twenty young beads of
different forts, which, through the Summer,
are fed on the commons, and alfo part of
the Winter, and, in the fevereft weather,
are taken into the farm-yard. Befides this
flock, he has generally about twq hundred
iheep, of a very indifferent fmall kind. Thefe
go the whole year on the commons, and
are regularly folded on the wheat fallow i
which manuring he finds much fuperior to
the dunging. Refpefting the profit he
makes by his cattle, he informed me, that
a team of four oxen yielded a profit, by the
year, of about 3!. exclufive of their fpod ;
fo that he reckoned his ploughing to coft
him no more than the labour, the ufe of the
plough, and that pf the harnefs ; whereas,
if he ufed horfes, he mould lofe every year
much by the (fecay of their value, inflead
of gaining by their growth. The ox teams
he keeps two years, and then fells them to
the graziers on the rich meadows on the

FRANCE. *3

river Velonze, taking from his flock of
young cattle frefn ones to fupply rheir place.
He further told me, that a cow yielded a
produdt per annum, in milk, cheefe, but-
ter, and a calf, of about z\. ics ; but this
fmall amount muft he owing to being poorly
fed on the commons ; and as to Winter,
the farmer could fpare but very little hay
for them -, fince his fixteen acres of grafs
are pooc land, ami, when all mown, do not
produce more than twelve cart-load of hay,
He owned, that cows, upon the grafs«-farms
on the fides of the rivers, yielded fometimes
more than double that fum. The young
cattle paid him no other profit than fupply*-
ing his teams and his dairy ; and even for
this purpofe he bought, annually, fome
weaned calves. His barley yields about
two quarters and an half an acre, one year
with another. His annual fales amount to
nearly the following particulars :

Wheat yields him about £. 440

Barley, fold - - - 280

Cows, fold from the dairy 10

Swjne, fold - - r - 20
Sheep - - - 15

Carried forward - /,'. 765

C4

«4 TRAVELS THROUGH
Brought over, £. 765

And his general expences are,
Rent - £. 147

Taxes - „ 180

Labour - - 210
Sundry expences 160

697

Remains for his profit - » £. 68

This is befides the poor living which he
and his family gets out of the crops, &c. 5
and if, againft this, he fets the intereft he
pays for a part of his capital, the purchafe
ofcloathes, and pocket-expences, it is evi-
dent, that he muil always have but a fea-
ther between him and ruin. Nothing can
fupport a farmer in fuch a fituation, but un-?
common good crops : the man was chear-
ful, and did not feem to fear bad luck.
But it is evident from hence, that agricul-
ture can never raife its head in a country
where fuch a fyftem is purfued : for if this
matter is confidered in the light it ought to
be, which is, in a national view, here are
432 acres of good land, and a right of com-
monage,

FRANCE. 15

monage, yielding an annual produce of
only 765!. tythc included, will not make it
408. an acre. Now, I have been fince in-
formed, that fuch land, in the open fields
in England, and under a fimilar manage-
ment, refpefting the arrangement of crops,
would yield 3!. per acre : and, in the in-
clofed counties, 5!. an acre, by having a
part in grafles. What 'a prodigious lofs to
the kingdom, therefore, is 3!. an acre from,
ill circumftances. We may well fuppofe the
Prince might take, without oppreflion,
more than he does now ; but, in the confe-
quences of fuch an increafe of national
wealth, he would take much more •, for all
the taxes of the ftate would be amazingly
more productive. But this is a doctrine
which Princes will not underftand, or at
kaft every day act as if they did not.
Would they but confider, that their own
revenue depends abfolutely on the wealth of
their fubjects, and that, in proportion as
the latter increafes, the former muft increafe
likewife, one would think they would be
a little more tender of thofe riches, from
which their own arife. My friend, the
farmer, who gave me the above informa-
tion.

*6 TRAVELS THROUGH
tion, pays i8ol. in taxes, though his rent
amounts only to 147!. Now, this fum of
327!. might not be too great a rent for the
farm in England, as I fuppofe it would not ;
but the mifchievous circumftance is, the
manner in which it is raifed. It is not a re-
gular rent for which the farmer agrees, and
which is not exceeded, let him get ever fuch
crops, or mew whatever appearance of
wealth he may ; but, on the contrary, is
an annual repartition by the officers of the
diftridt, who, though they are territorial
magiftrates, yet do they lay their afTefTment
in an arbitrary manner, and judge more by
appearances of wealth than they ought to
do : belides which, the capitation, which
is a great proportion of the taxes, is laid, ir*
all the provinces of France, in the fame
manner, and bears very heavy on the farmer.
When I come into the provinces where the
tattle is raifed, I have little doubt of meet-
ing with yet greater reafons for making
fimilar reflections.

This farmer further informed me, that
the price of his labour runs after the follow-
ing rates: A man, in Summer, is. a day,
including harvcft, and alfo the vintage,

in

FRANCE. 17

in which the farmers pay more than com-
mon, though they have no vines j the reft
of the year, 90!. a day. A woman, in har-
veft or vintage, 4d. a day ; in Winter 3d.
And girls and boys in proportion. A man-
fervant in the houfe, for work in husbandry,
has wages, 4], a-yearj and a maid-fervant
al. I am unacquainted with thefc rates in
the cheap counties of England j but fuppofc
they are no where equally low.

From Thiecour to Merchingen, is a rich
vale of fine land ; but the latter place ftands
upon a hill. This rich vale continues as far
as Bechin, where a hiliy country begins.
Throughout the vale I had palled corn is
predominant ; and, in general, the peafants
feemed tolerably fatisfied. This ariics, partly
from the farms being large, confequently
the people are not in fuch extreme mifery,
as where they have no more land than fuffi-
cient to feed their families. Upon the {idea
of the hills around Steinbach, I obferved fe-
veral vineyards, but they did not appear to
be well conducted; nor was the vintage
every where over; yet the labourers had not
that feftivity in their appearance, which is
ufual among them at that feafon. The pro-
duce

&$ TRAVELS THROUGH
dace of an acre of thofe vines does not
ufually exceed 3!. or 4!. ; the wine is but
indifferent. One circumflance, concerning
the vine culture, deferves attention here r
the owners have corn lands befides. When
I mentioned manuring the latter, they re-
plied, they laid on none ; that their vines
took up the whole. This is a moft perni-
cious thing; for, if their husbandry was
fuch as required dung, in order to be bene-
ficial, all the effects would be deftroyed for
want of it. It can never be right, that a
fmall field or two, under vines, mould rob
a whole farm of its dung : for then thofe
crops, that abfolutely demand it, could not
be cultivated. Such, in many countries, are
turneps, carrots, cabbages, potatoes, &c.
But, in the fyftem which is here purfued^
of fallowing for wheat, and then fowing
barley ; they manage tools without it. If
better arrangements were to be adopted, the
vines muft go without dung, or the farmer
lofe much more than they are worth.

I purpofed getting, by night, to Dieuze ;
but the badnefs of the roads detained us fo
much, that I found it abfolutely neceffary
to flop at the little village of Vergaville,

where

FRANCE. 29

where I took up my quarters in the houfc
of a farmer, who, not being communica-
tive, I did not learn much from him ; but
obferved one thing in his practice, which, I
fuppofe, mud be excellent management.
He had a great heap of clay, mixed with
dung, lying near his houfe ; and on this he
was very ftrict in making every one in his
family do their neceflities j which, in a
country where temples to Cloacina do not
abound, is an excellent cuftom ; frefh -earth
was added every now and then, as alfo the
fweepings of the yards ; and the old peafant
feemed pleafed at the thought of making
the heap as large and as rich as poffible.
This is an example which mould every
where be followed ; for it is remarkable,
that, where-ever I have made enquiries
concerning comports, all hufbandmen have
united in praife of them ; and feem to think
a mixture, from the mere circumftanoe of
being a mixture, much better than fimple
dung.

1 got to Dieuze the i4th, atbreakfaft;
where I had two objects in particular to
examine, the Lake in the neighbourhood,
and the Salt Works : the latter rank, I ap-
prehend

30 TRAVELS THROUGH

prehend, among the moft confiderable in the
Ttfhole kingdom of France. They yield a
revenue of near 200,000!. a year : there are
very many hands employed in them ; fo that
they form an excellent market to all the
hufbandry of the neighbouring country. As
to the methods purfued in making the fait,
they are too well known to need defcrib-
ing : nor are they different from what is
in practice in other countries. The (itua-
tion of Dieuze is very agreeable : in a beau-
tiful vale, between ridges of hills, that are
partly cultivated, and opening to the Lake,
which is a beautiful piece of water. At
Dieuze I took a boat, rowed by two men,
for the village of Techempfal, which is fi-
tuated on a fmall iiland, very beautifully ;
but the views are not fo fine as I was given
to expect, for want of the hills hanging im-
mediately to the Lakes ; whereas here is a
breadth of flat land before the lands begin
to rife. To perfons ufed only to the views
in flat countries, there are feveral points
around this Lake that will pleafe them;
but having feen the ilupendous wonders of
Sweden, this made little impreffion on me.
I fpent that day in the boat, dining in

FRANCE. 31

it, upon very fine trout, frefh from the
Lake.

The 1 5th, I fet out from Dieuze, for
Moyenvie, paffing through Marfal. All
this country is a level, fertile, plain, in ge-
neral covered with corn fields ; and here and
there I obfervcd fome inclofures. At the
former of thefe places I fent a letter from
the inn to Monf. de Renne, who, in return,
waited on me, and invited me very gen-
teely to his houfe. I accepted it for a din-
ner. I found he enjoyed a little office under
the Government ; the letter I had fent, in-
formed him, that the bearer was an Englifh
gentleman, travelling for his amufement,
who would be much obliged to him for in-
formation, relative to the practice of agri-
culture in the rich plains between Moyenvie
and Lunneville. I found it was the bufinefs
of his office to ride pretty much about the
country; and, from his converfation, I
prefently found, that he had made many
obfcrvations on the culture of the neigh-
bouring territories. He was obliging enough
to afTure me, that he would anlwer all my
enquiries, as far as he was able ; and, from

his

32 TfcAVELS THROUGH

Ms anfwers, I collected the following par-*'

ticulars :

The extenfive vale, from Dieuze to
Mouen and Nancy, hy Eynville and Lun*
neville, is, in general, a corn country,
with a good many inclofures, near towns
and villages; but otherwife confifting of
open fields, wherein the farmers are tied
down in their culture to the common ma*
nagement of their neighbours about Moyen~
vie ; this is, fallowing for wheat, then fow*
Ing barley, and then fallow again ; in which
method wheat yields ufually two quarters
and a half an acre, and barley about two :
rents are, from 75. to us. an acre, but
rarely more than 95. or los. The farms,
are fmalf, and the farmers in very mean
circumftances. In the diftri&s of Ley and
Moncour, their mode is different, and
reckoned much more fuccefsful : it is, fal-
lowing for wheat, then taking barley, then
beans, and, laftly, oats ; after which they
fallow again : the land is the fame, but the
crops are better, and the farmers richer.
This muft be owing to having four crops to
2 fallow inflead of but two; the products

of

FRANCE, 33

of wheat, two quarters and a half; barley,
two; beans, three; and oats, four. They
give no culture to their beans. The tythe
is every where taken in kind ; which, with
taxes, and the corvie, are very oppreffive
to the farmers. M. Renne thinks, that, in
thefe diftri&s, they do not make more than
6 or 8 per cent, intereft for their money ;
that is, for all the films they employ on
their farms $ but good farmers will make
10, and a few, fomething more : yet they
fcldom get rich. They are principally te-
nants at will, and therefore have no induce-
ment to work any great improvements, had
they the money. As to cattle, they keep
none, but what is connected with their
teams, which are all oxen ; a draught they
much prefer to that of horfes. The largeft
farms are found about La Garde and Blan-
ken, where each farmer has a tract of wafte
land, on which he keeps fheep and young
cattle. Their flocks, fome of them rife to
five, or fix hundred ; the whole benefit of
which is, the fold and the wool. The
wool of one (heep is valued at about 8d. to
is. The fort is coarfe. Manuring by the
fold they prefer to any other fort. At
VOL. IV. D Arracour,

34 TRAVELS THROUGH
Arracour, there are fome men who have
made a confiderable profit by fowing buck
wheat on fandy loams, and not taking the
crop, but ploughing it in as a manure for
wheat. This is in inclofures, where the
right of commonage does not commence till
the laft day of Auguft, of the fallow years 5
before which they turn in the buck wheat,
where it rots and ferments, a-nd thereby
prepares well for the wheat feed. In this
method they get three, and fometimes
three and an half, quarters an acre, which
exceeds the common crops.

This was the principal intelligence I
gained from M. Renne. I took my leave
of him in the afternoon, and reached Eyn-
ville that night. An agreeable little town,
fituatcd in the midfl of this fertile plain :
and quitting it next morning, the i6th,
for Lunneville, I remarked feveral inclo-
fures as I paHed, for a few miles, which
feemed to have the remains of a grafs-crop
I did not readily know; but, on enquiring,
found they were lucern fields. The far-
mers here keep the few inclofed fields they
have, as conflantly under lucern as they
can. Their method of conducting it feems

very

FRANCE. 35

very fenfible. Firft, they fallow the ground
with great care, giving five or fix plough-
ings $ whereas for wheat, they do not give
more than three. At each ploughing, per-
fons follow the plough, women and chil-
dren generally, who pick up all the roots
of weeds they fee. They alfo harrow the
land three times, picking, in the fame
manner, after the harrows. Thefe opera-
tions are finished in October ; after which
they dig cuts in the wet or fiat parts of
the land, to prevent the water ftand-
ing ; and thus it is left for the winter. Jn
the following Spring, they plough it twice
more, which is generally fufricient to get it
to a great degree of firmnefs : then they fow
barley and luccrn feed together, taking
care, that, from the fmallnefs of the quan-
tity of the barley feed, the plants mall not
ftand too thick to injure the young lucern.
This crop of barley is managed in the com-
mon manner, and yields feven or eight
quarters an acre. Upon my obferving, that
jfuch a produce much exceeded the common
barley crops, they replied, their barley,
after wheat, did not amount to more than
two and a half, or three quarters; but the
D 2 prepara-

36 TRAVELS THROUGH

preparation for lucern caufed a crop fo much
greater. I remarked, that it would anfwer
to them always to give a fimilar prepara-
tion for barley. To this they would not
aflent ; but I believe it owing to their not
having fubftance enough to extend fo good
a plan of cultivation, from a few inclofures
to their whole farm ; for they did not give
me any fatisfactory reafons, though they
feemed fenfible enough. This is a frefti in-
ftance of the evils that accrue to the nation,
from keeping the peafants poor. But, to
return to the lucern.

When the barley is carried from the field,
they manure it over as well as they are
able. Their ftable dung they fpread long
and frefh ; alfo flraw half rotten ; the afhes
they make in their houfes ; and the com-
poft they are careful to raife, of earth, and
other matters, for fome time before. This
they reckon the beft time for manuring lu-
cern ; becaufe, after it is older, the ground
is fb bound together, by its growth, that
the manure cannot aft fo well. It is not
in perfection till the third year ; after which,
for ten or twelve more, and fometimes
longer, it yields very fine crops. They make

it

FRANCE. 57

k a rule never to turn any cattle Into it, ex-
cept in Autumn, for the laft growth, which
does not rife high enough to anfwer mow-
ing; all the reft is mown, and carried to
the ftables, the houfes for cows and other
cattle, and the ftyes for fwine. They find
all thefe cattle thrive better upon it than
upon any other food. It yields four crops
every Summer; and an acre of it fufficesfor
keeping four or five working oxen, from
April to September, both inclufive. One
farmer here has feven acres of it, upon
which he ufually feeds fixteen working oxen,
one hundred fheep, two horfes, fix cows,
five young beafts, and fix and twenty head
of fwine : and his way of giving the lucern,
to fave trouble, is, to confine all this cattle
promifcuoufly to a large pen, that is paled
in, and the lucern is given twice a day, in
racks; the great cattle dropping enough for
the meep and fwine. This pen he litters
with ftraw, and now and then fpreads fand
about it to imbibe the urine ; a plan that
feems very rational. But I objeded, that
fuch a mixture of cattle muft be injurious to
the (heep, and fometimes to the reft. He
replied, very rarely : that the accidents
D 3 which

38 TR-AVELS THROUGH
which now and then might happen, were
far more than recompenfed by the great fa-
ving of trouble in refpect of feeding. And
another circumftance, which was of parti-
cular confequence ; the goodnefs of the
manure thus made, which fo much exceeded
what is commonly raifed, that the farmer
attributed the fuperiority to the mixture of
'dungs, which may probably be the cafe.
This man affured me, that an acre of lucern,
managed in the abovementioned manner,
yields a greater nett profit than three acres
of the heft land. When weeds begin to
arife among it, they eradicate them with
an inflrument, having a fpade-handle, and
fomething like three prongs ; which opera-
tion is repeated as often as any root-weeds
are feen. Refpedting the effect of the lucern
on the cattle, it much exceeds, he thought,
that of other grafs j the oxen performed their
work well en it, the cows give plenty of
good milk, the calves thrive, the fheep do
very well, and the Avine perfectly fatten on
it, without any other food. All thefe are
very important circumftances; and when i-t
is confidered, that the plan is almoft un-
known in England, 1 Ihould fuppofe it

miift

FRANCE. 3:9.

mud be an qbjedl extremely deferving the
attention of the curious in agriculture an.d
natural hiftory.

Finding they made fo good a profit by
lucern, I alked this farmer why they did
not fpread the culture of it, and fow it by
agreement in fbme part of the common,
fields. He replied, he fhould be glad to do
it j but; never propofed it, as he was certain
the fcheme would be rejected among fo
many as rnufl agree to it. Upon my afking
him, if he mould not be glad to have more
inclofure,hefaid, "Aye,fure, Sir." "What
" would you then do," returned I. " I
" would fow more lucern," replied he,
" and fow clover, as they do in Flanders."
He had ferved there in the years 1745 and
1746, and, when he returned, would, he
faid, have introduced feveral methods he
faw there, but none of his neighbours would
allow it. Upon my queftioning him con-
cerning the profit of farming in this coun-
try, he faid, that a man, who had, in
flock, money, &c. ioool. would be able
to feed and fupport a family, and lay up
about i ol. a year. On my obferving, that
this fcemtd to be very little, he replied,
D 4 that

40 TRAVELS THROUGH
that many could not do that. But, from
his expreffions, I judged, that he included
others, who had not fo much as locol.
And I found that they calculated loool. to
be fufficient to flock fix hundred acres of
land j which muft be much more than the
farmers in England would think of taking
with fuch a fum.

Leaving thefe intelligent people, I fet
forward for Lunneville, where I expected
to be well entertained in many refpe&s, ha-
ving been aflured it was the moft agreeable
refidence, for a ftranger, in all Lorain :
but I was greatly difappointed. The death
of King Staniflaus, who ufed to refide here
a part of the year, and the reft at Nancy,
and kept a court, which much enlivened the
place, has rendered it, fo far from being agree-
able, that it is quite melancholy. The people,
who remember better days, complain highly..
While Lorain had a fovercign of its own,
the academy alone would have rendered a
fmall place flouriming, being greatly re-
forted to by foreigners ; but it has, fince
that, fallen much, and is quite in decay,
compared to what it was. But, in thefe re-
marks, I meao, that Lunneville is not the

place.

FRANCE. 41

place Lt «was for travellers to be much enter-
tained. It is now a moft eligible place for
thofe to live at who want a cheap and pri-
vate retirement. I was there two days j
and, in examining the place, I could have
hired a very good houfe, of five large rooms
on a floor, a garden of half an acre, an or-
chard well planted, and a fmali vineyard,
for 15!. a year; and of that rent, the fale
of fruit, beyond what a family could con-
fume, would generally pay 4!. or 5!. of it,
and the tenant to be at no other expence
than mere rent. Nor is houfe-rent the
only thing cheap here : fervants are to be
had for furprifing low wages, and provi-
fions are cheap ; bread about the price it is
in England, or fomething cheaper : beef,
which is excellent, 2d. halfpenny and 2d.
per pound ; mutton, which is not fo good,
2d. 3 veal, ad. j game, very cheap ; and
river fi(h, middling. With all thefe cir-
cumftances, it is evident a family might
live here upon 200!. a year, as well as in
England on 6ool. With this, the place is
clean, and the people very fociable and
civil to Grangers, and the country round it
fine. The cheapnefs of living in fome parts

of

42 TRAVELS THROUGH
of France cannot well be thought of, with-
out fome reflexions arifmg on the compari-
ibn with England, which is fo much dearer ;
yet it is a certain fadl, that more foreigners
refort to England than to France. Is not
this furprifing ? It cannot be the liberty of
England that attracts low people : they are
DO judges of it. Great numbers of French-
men, in the lowed circumftances, go to
England; moft certainly not on account of
the government : they do not philofophize
enough for that. I can attribute it to no-
thing but national wealth. Men will fly
to countries where money is plentiful, al-
moft as naturally as the needle to the north :
it matters not telling them that every thing
Is fo dear in rich countries, that 6d. a day at
their homes, is as much as i s. abroad. It
is not that they cannot, but they will not,
comprehend this : they think, that, where-
there is fo much money ftirring, fome of it
muft come to their mare; whereas, by
fraying at home, they are fure of getting
nothing but their old pay, And this, I think,
is a firong reafon againft thpfe who urge the
danger of England Icfing her manufacturers
from the high prices of the neceffaries of

life.

FRANCE. 41

life. If they emigrate, it muft be from is.
to 8d. a day, which is fuch an obvious
change, that no other confideration will
make it up to them. But there is another
circumftance attending cheapnefs, which
dclVrves to be confidered; where it arifes, as
it generally does, from the lownefs of na-
tional wealth, the employment of the poor
mud be more uncertain and hazardous,
and they mull experience a total want of it
oftener than where money is plentiful.
This is certainly the cafe in France, where,
in no manufactures, nor in agriculture) are
they employed with regularity ; whereas, in
England, they do not experience this varia-
tion near fo much. And it is to this I at-
tribute the amazing number of beggars to
be met with in every part of France. 1 have
heard gentlemen in Englandcomplain of their
beggars: were they only to land at Calais or
Bologne for one half hour, they would change
their ideas. Nor can you go into the moil
unfrequented parts of the kingdom, with-
out finding it the fame. It is melancholy
to fee fo many beggars in the midft of the
fertile plains of Lunneville and Nancy ; and
yet more melancholy, to refled on the great

trafts

44 TRAVELS THROUGH

tra<fls of wafte foreft-land in Lorain, efpe-
cially in the fouthern parts, which, culti-
vated, would maintain fo many more people.
The want of improvement is as much ow-
ing to the want of wealth, as to the govern-
ment. But it muft be allowed, that their
poverty is partly owing to the ill adminiftra-
tion of government. In all abfolute mo-
narchies, there muil be great inequality
among mankind : the nobility will be im-
menfely rich, and the lower clafles in po-
verty: and, as the great fpend their wealth
in the court and the capital, and fcarce ever
fee their eftates, the money that js in the
nation gets into a wrong channel : manu-
factures of luxury receive great encourage-
ment, and the inferior ones, of utility and
agriculture, are neglected. Thus, in the
midft of wealth, thefe may be poor, which
in England cannot be the cafe, from the
great diffufion of wealth.

A gentleman of Lunneville, to whom I
was recommended, finding I made many
enquiries concerning the country, propofed
to carry me into a company that would en-
tertain me greatly ; and I confenting, I was
much taken in. I got into a circle of

triflers,

FRANCE. 4$

triflers, who chattered of nothing but drefs
and cards ; nor could they converfe, I be-
lieve, on any better topics. This was a
great difappointment to me, who loft a day
in the moft difagreeable manner.

CHAP.

46 TRAVELS THROUGH!

CHAP. II.

journey to Nancy — Verdun — Agriculture—*
Manufactures — Chrmont — Farming — En-
ter Champagne — Vajl Heaths — Great Im-
provements wrought by a French Farmer
on the Wajles — Excellent Management—
'Refections.

LEAVING Lunneville the 2oth, I
went to Nancy, heretofore the capi-
tal of Loraine, and, for above fix hundred
years, the refidence of her Dukes. It is a
poor deferred town, which would be defo-
late, in comparifon of what it once was, if it
was not for a woollen manufactory which has
been eftablifhed here on the ruins of fome
others in this Duchy. It flands in a plain,
which is remarkably rich and fertile. Near
the town I remarked many inclofures, and
thofe that were not occupied as gardens,
were generally lucern fields ; which, from
the accounts the peafants gave me, they find
to be the moil profitable branch of their

agriculture.

FRANCE. 47

agriculture. I was allb flruck with many
pieces of turneps, which had as fine crops
as ever I faw -, and, upon enquiry, found
they were deftined for the winter food of
cattle. This is not common through the
country, and has not long been introduced.
But, if I may judge from the opinions of
the peafants I converfed with, the culture
\vill fpread very quickly. They affured me,
that an acre of good turneps in winter,
feeding cattle, faved them the hay of more
than four acres, which is very great, and
proves how well this root muil anfwer
here. Their method of culture is, to give
the land three ploughings, and to fow about
a pint of feed to an acre at Midfummer.
They do not think they require any dung,
or other manure, and the crops I faw had
none, wherein fome turneps, I fliould fup-
pofed, weighed at lead twenty pounds.
They give no hoeings, only weed them
twice by hand. Upon my telling them, in
England they hand-hoed them, they feemed
much to approve the method ; and one of
them aflurcd me he would try it, from rny
defcription.

From

48 TRAVELS THROUGH

From Nancy I went to Toul the 2 rfly a
city like Verdun, better known in hiftory
from the flagrant conduct of Louis XIV.
than from any thing curious contained in it.
The country about it is, on one fide, a plain,
and on the other, hilly. Oppofite the town,
the Mofelle forms an ifland, which, as well
as the neighbouring trads on the river, are
very rich meadow lands, in which I faw many
good cattle. Finding nothing much defer-
ving attention, here, I pumed forward for St.
Michael on the Meufe. But, before I quit
Toul, let me warn travellers from frequenting
the Fleur-de-Lis, which is truly an impudent
and moft extravagant inn, where I paid i6s.
for a miferable dim of {linking carp, and
lean beef fteakes, with a poor vin-du-pais,
pafled off for the beft Burgundy.

It was with fome difficulty I reached St.
Michael by night, from the badnefs of the
roads, The country is, in general, covered
with corn fields ; the whole open field land
intermixed with fome commons. About
St. Julian, I remarked many orchards of
apples, which I had not feen before in this
part of France; and I found they made

large

FRANCE. 49

large quantities of cyder : yet is this pecu-
liar to that place, for the like is not to be
found in any place in the neighbourhood.
I tafted the cyder, and found it but indif-
ferent; yet they aflured me an acre of
orchard paid them as well as one of vines,
which appeared rather extraordinary. The
22d, fending my horfes to Verdun, I took
my own pafTage, in a market boat, thither,
and was very much entertained by the va-
riety of profpects the adjacent country af-
fords. In fome places the river is bounded
by a line of rich meadows ; in others, the
corn fields come to the very banks of it,
and woods in others, on the fides of hills,
hang very beautifully to it. At Ambley
the boat flopped, and I had an opportunity
of making fome enquiries concerning the
hufbandry of this country. I found the ge-
neral practice was, to fallow for wheat, and
then fow barley. Of the former the crops
amounted to about two quarters and a half
per acre ; the latter the fame : and no more
cattle kept in the country, but a few cows,
except the ox teams wherewith they till
their lands. They reckon, that a farm of
three hundred acres requires fixteen oxen.
Vol. IV. E The

50 TRAVELS THROUGH

The perfonal fervice which the peafants per-
form here in the roads, and other works,
lies very heavy upon them ; and the taxes
they pay, exceed, in the amount, the rent
of the land. The people complained much,
and, from what I was able to remark, not
without reafon -, for, though cultivation
feemed much extended, yet could I not fee
any iigns of farmers that were in good cir-
cumftances.

At Verdun there is a manufactory of
{lockings, which was flourishing before the
lad war; but, fmce that period, it has
much declined. The people make very
trifling earnings in it, yet fufficient to keep
thern^ better than begging. This lownefs
of the price of labour, one would think,
would prove highly beneficial to the manu-
facture j yet is not this fufficient for fup-
porting the fabric. I met accidentally with
an Irifhman, a matter manufacturer : he
complained, that the working hands were,
in fad:, dearer at a few fous a day, than a
fteady attentive perfon would be at one
ihilling ; for the manner they do their
work in, difcredits the commodity. He fur-
ther affured me, that an Englifh flocking-

weaver

FRANCE. 51

weaver would, in one day, do more Work
than three of the beft hands in Verdun. A
circumftance I thought remarkable.

The 23d, I reached Clermont. The di-
ftance about twenty miles, through a coun-
try tolerably rich, and in general cultivated,
but all lying under the difadvantage of one
third of the whole being fallow every year.
In a few inclofures near the village of Nifler-
villc, I remarked fome turneps, and alfo
clover, that had been fown in the Spring,
among the barley. I had not remarked
this, lince I had been in Lorain ; and no-
thing can be more finking than the fupe-
rior merit of their management, in the few
inclofures they have, over that of the com-
mon fields, which very ftrongly proves the
excellent effects that would flow from their
multiplication ; and all the peafants I had
converfed with were much in favour of
them.

The next day, the 24th, I fet forward in
my way to Chalons, by the way of S.
Menchoud, in Champagne, through a coun-
try inferior to what I had gone through be-
fore. I pafled feveral vineyards, but none
that produced the famous wine of the pro-
E 2 vincc.

52 TRAVELS THROUGH

vince. Thefe do not yield more than to
the amount of about 3!. or 4!. an acre. The
corn, in this tradl, they told me, was fel-
dom good, and I could believe them, from
the general appearance of the culture, which
was bad. I remarked many fields fown
with wheat, which was come up, and
green, but part of the lands into which the
foil was ploughed, where it is fliff, were
under water, for want of drains to carry it
off. I remarked this to fome farmers I faw,
and they told me, that, to carry that water
off, a deep drain muft be cut to a low place
at fome diflance, to which they pointed ;
and, though they allowed that fuch a drain
would at once take off this water from the
furrows of above one hundred and forty acres
under wheat, yet the expence they thought
too great, and fuch as they could not afford,
even if the feveral farmers would join in.
it, whofe lands would be benefited. A
point not very clear.

From Menchoud, the neareft road to
Chalons, lies a great barren heath, the dif-
tance more than thirty miles. I could have
paffed by a more agreeable way ; but rather
chofe to fee the nature of a country, which

was

FRANCE. 53

\vas quite neglected. 1 expected to reach
Chalons by night, but found I mould be
caught in the dark. About half-way, there-
fore, I turned afide from the road, to a
little village within fight, which, when I
arrived at it, I found to be called Bellay.
It confifted of not more than half a fcore
houfes. Upon enquiring of a tolerable well
drefled farmer-looking man for an inn, he
told me there was none in the village ; and,
upon my exprefling my concern at this, he
readily offered his farm-houfe to accommo-
date me, as well as in his power. I ac-
cepted his offer, and he immediately con*
ducted me to it ; introducing me to his
wife, an elderly woman, to three young
women, his daughters, and told me he had
three fons, who would foon come in from
their work. I was delighted with the ap-
pearance of the whole family. Upon the
farmer's explaining the reafon of my
coming, I was received with the mod ani-
mated expreffions of friendmip, hofpitality,
and regard. They were affcmblcd in a large
room, which h;id fomewhat the appearance
of a hall: at one end of it, a table was
ready for the work-people to fup; at the
E 3 other

54 TRAVELS THROUGH

other end, a large fire, and a row of benches
bet\yeen. Upon my converting with the
farmer concerning his hufbandry, he told
me he would be glad of the opportunity of
mewing me his farm 3 for, if I was a gentle-
man that took any pleafure in country bufir
nefs, he coujd mew me fome improvements
not commonly praftifed, which, he belie-
ved, would pleafe me. I exprefled my
thanks to him, and agreed to vifit his farm
in the morning -, and, as I had accepted his
hofpitable invitation, I defired to conform
to the cuftoms of the family, to fup with
his people, and go to bed at the fame hour.
To which my friend, the farmer, made no
objection.

In converting with him, I learnt the fol-r
lowing circumftances : That his name was
Debrode, the fon of a confiderable farmer
in Burgundy, who rented above a thoufan4
acres j that his father, upon his being de-
firous of quitting his houfe, and entering
into bulinefs himfelf, fixed him upon a
little farm in Champagne, near Toroyes,
belonging to his own landlord. There he
fucceeded very well -, and, on the death of
his father, receiving his ihare of his effeds^

he

FRANCE. 55

he looked out for more confiderable bufi-
nefs. It was then that he accidentally
heard of a purchafe that was to be made,
being the whole of the parifti of Bellay,
except the lands belonging to a convent of
Francifcan friars : this he bought. His
new eftate, he found, confided of not one
acre that was cultivated ; there were only
two tenants upon it, neither of whom had
a (ingle acre of arable land. Their rent
was paid by the fale of the wool of a mifer-
able flock of flieep. The whole rental
was only 54!. a year, for which the two
tenants had above fourteen acres of land ;
and, fo far was this from being a great bar-
gain, that each of them was as poor as Job.
The purchafe was 1400!. and he was reck-
oned to pay dear for it. Some hundred
acres of it had the appearance of never ha-
ving been cultivated, from the richnefs of
the fpontaneous growth of gofs, ling, furze,
&c. and the (heep-walks were over-run in
the fame manner. Upon concluding the
purchafe, he entered on the lands himfelf,
and the tenants were as ready to quita as
he was to come in. He began his opera-
tions, by making fome fmall improvements
£4 tq

•56 TRAVELS THROUGH
to one of the farm-houfes, in order to make
it hold a larger family. As his views were
to convert part of the land diredly into til-
lage, and having long experienced the be-
nefit of inclofures on his father's farm, he
was much rejoiced to find, that his new
purchafe was entirely unconnected with the
walks of any other farmers j fo that nobody
could complain of him, if he inclofed the
whole. But, to be fure in this important
point, he obtained the permiflion of the
Prior of the Convent, which is fituated five
or fix miles from him, and alfo of M. le
Marquis d'Ecquevilly, chief and governor
of the Ele&ion, under the Duke de Bour-
bon, governor of Champagne. Thus fe-
cured, he fet about his works. He inclofed
one piece, of fifty acres. The foil of the
largeft part of the eflate is a poor, hungry,
white, chalky ftratutJm; in fome places on
gravel, in others on loam, and in a few on
clay j but the white earth is generally very
deep, and very often ends in a white rock.
At a diftance from the village, a large trad:
of near two hundred acres, is a low fwampy
partj the foil a thin flratuum of peat-earth
on. the white foil, and in fome places wet,

from

FRANCE. 57

from fprings. . Adjoining this there is a
wood of about an hundred acres, but no-
thing can be poorer than the growth, which
Jiad always been browfed by fheep and
cattle, as the only winter-food on the
whole eftate. The fifty acres firft inclofed
were all the white land, and the inclofure
confifted only of a good ditch and a bank,
though he has fince fown the feed of the
furze on the bank, which has made a good
hedge. At the fame time that this was
done, he turned a flock of four hundred
fheep, fuch as are common on the heaths
of this province. As to the farm, he pur-
chafed ten working oxen, a horfe, three or
four cows, and a few young cattle, befides
half a dozen hogs. Having grubbed up the
wild produce, and flacked it in his yard for
winter firing, he ploughed the field, and
fowed oats upon it ; the crop very poor, he
thinks about two quarters an acre; yet it
was of great fervice to him in the following
winter, by partly fupporting his cattle with
flraw. The next year he made another
inclofure of twenty acres, fowed it alfo
with oats, and the former one with buck
wheat ; the oats were much fuch a crop as

laft

/>8 TRAVELS THROUGH

laft year, but the buck wheat yielded three
quarters and a half an acre, befides a toler-
able produce of ftraw. Thefe feventy acres
fupported his cattle fo well, that they im-
proved much : but, as his views were prin-
cipally carried towards cattle, from the ex-
tent of his farm, being able to keep great
numbers in fummer, he wanted hay, and
green winter food, which induced him to
low the new inclofure he made the third
year, of thirty acres, with turneps, on one
ploughing ; the twenty acred piece he
fowed with buck wheat, being encouraged
by his former good fuccefs -y and the fifty
acres with a fecond crop of buck wheat,
and clover feeds mixed with it, in the me-
thod ufed in Burgundy. The turneps did
not fail, but were a poor crop ; however,
they were of great fervice to his fheep, his
fvvine, and his cows, all of whom were
turned into the field for two hours in the
jnkkile of the day, by way of baiting them,
and fed the crop on the ground. The
twenty acres of buck wheat yielded as good
a crop as before ; but the fifty, not much
more than half as much per acre. This
year he bought ten more cows, and from.

FRANCE. 59

this time made it a rule to bring up all his
calves ; he kept increafmg his flock of fheep
annually, by faving the beft lambs, and his
fwine multiplied in proportion to his crops.
The young cattle he came in with were now
worked, and he made it a rule to work all
as faft as they came to a fize and ftrength
iufficient. The only products he could
jcarry to market yst, were the greatefl part
of the corn he raifed, fome fat hogs, his
wool, and a little cheefe, but no great mat-
ter. However, as his products increafed
with his expences, he was animated to con-
tinue his endeavours. The fourth year he
inclofed a piece of forty acres, which hs
{owed with oats ; the thirty acres he fowed
to oats alfo ; the twenty acres he cropped
with rye ; and the fifty, which was his
firft undertaking, was under clover. This
latter crop did not take well; the feed came
up, but the produce was poor; yet he
mowed it, and the whole piece did not yield
him more than fifteen loads of hay; the af-
ter-grafs was of good fervice to his working
oxen. His feventy acres of oats yielded at
the riite of two quarters an acre : the rye he
reckoned a good crop, vi/:. two quarts

acre.

6o TRAVELS THROUGH

acre. Having fo much flraw for his cattle,
he, this year, executed a very good work,
which was to cut about twenty acres of
his large wood, which he carted home for
firing, and then fowed all the vacant parts
cf it with the moil of fuch forts as feemed
beft to agree with the foil : after which he
fenced in the piece thus done, to prevent
his cattle any more from getting into it;
and his fuccefs was fo great, that ever fince
he has done a fmall piece in the fame man-
ner every year.

His next year's undertaking was to form
a new inclofure of 3^ acres, which he
fowed as before with oats; the forty acres
were tolerably dunged and folded, and fown
with turneps ; the thirty acres were fown
with barley ; the twenty with buck wheat
and fainfoine -, the fifty were continued un-
der clover, having been lightly manured in
the winter, with a reddim loam. This was
a great work for our farmer : but he exe-
cuted it with fpirit, being very defirous of
getting fome tolerable grafs land. All his
oats were a good crop -, his barley did not
yield more than a quarter and a half j his
buck wheat three quarters an acre : the

forty

FRANCE. Si

forty acres of turneps fucceeded very well,
and proved of amazing ufe to all his cattle ;
he mowed the fifty acres of clover, and the
produce was twenty loads of hay, and the
after-grafs better than before. The next
year he took in fifty acres, which were of
a fomething better foil than the preceding
improvements, at leaft not fo white; he
fovved it with buck wheat, as a trial, to fee
how that crop would do for the firft, as hi-
therto it had paid him better than any
other. The thirty-five acres he (owed alfb
with buck wheat. The forty, upon which
turneps grew, and which were eat upon the
land, he lowed with oats and fainfoine,
being encouraged by the good appearance of
what he fowed laft year. The thirty acred
piece he cropped with turneps, fpreading
all the manure on it he could raife.

His fuccefs this year was very great.
The fifty acres of buck wheat on the new-
land yielded four quarters an acre; a larger
produce than he had before received: the
thirty-five acres were not fo great a crop.
The forty acres of oats, after turneps, pro-
duced four quarters an acre; and the young
fidnfoine, which had been fown among

them,

6* TRAVELS THROUGH

them, made a very good appearance. The
thirty acres of turneps were indifferent, but-
better than fome crops he had had of that
root. The twenty acres of fainfoine fuc-
ceeded as well as he could wim ; it yielded
fifteen loads of hay, and a plentiful after-
grafs. The fifty acres firft broke up under
clover was fo poor a pafture, that he de-
termined to keep it no longer under the
grafs.

The next year he enlarged his under-
taking. His new inclofure amounted to fixty
acres, which he fowed with buck wheat, in
confequence of his good fuccefs laft year :
the laft broken up fifty acres lie fowed with
rye ; the thirty-five with turneps, well
dunged ; the forty were under fainfoine of
lafl year ; alfo the twenty of that of the year
before : the thirty he fowed with rye ; and
the fifty firft broken up were cropped with
buck wheat.

The buck wheat, in the new inclofure>
failed ; but for what reafon he could not
tell : the other was a good crop ; his rye
like wife yielded wrellj the turneps were the
beft crop he had yet had. But what gave
him much the greateft fatisfa&ion, was the

fuccefs

FRANCE. 63

fuccefs of his fainfolne ; that two years old
yielded him two loads of hay an acre ; and
that one year old produced half as much.
This plenty of forage brought all his cattle
into great heart, though he every year in-
creafed-them much. His .wood was this year
all cut and inclofed, and tiie young (hoots
of it prom i fed to yield a- good crop; his
great cattle were all confined, a great part
of the year, to his inclofures, and the reifc
of the eflate left to the (heep.

The next year, which was the prefent
one, he broke up feventy acres, which lie
fowed with buck wheat, notwithftanding
the ill fuccefs of laft year. The fixty acres
were fown with oats and fainfoine ; the
fifty with turneps ; the thirty-five with oats
and fainfojne ; and the original fifty with
oats. Befides thefe, he had twenty, thirty,
and forty acres under fainfcioe. His fuc-
cefs was very good ; his buck wheat yielded
three quarters and an half an acre j his oats
two and an half; his turneps were a good
crop, the belt he had had, which he attri-
butes to having hand- weeded them twice.
All his fainfoine is excellent, and yields at
the rate of two loads of hay an acre, except

in

64. TRAVELS THROUGH

in its firft year, when it gives about three
quarters of a load. Thus his farm now
coniifts of,

Acres.

Buck wheat » » « 70
Oats - 145

Turneps - /- - - 50
Sainfoine - - - •» 90
Wood - - * - 100

Sheep walk, and wafte, about

Total - 1420

Working oxen - 28

Cows - - 28

Young cattle - 35

Horfes •• 3

Sheep - * 350

Swine - « 40

He is ftill pinched for food for thefe
cattle ; but, as his improved land increafes,
this evil will every day grow lefs and lefs.
He fpoke in raptures of fainfoine ; called it
the prince of grafles, and indeed with rea-
fon ; for, to enable an acre of his poor land

to

FRANCE. 65

to yield two loads of hay, and then an af-
ter-grafs, in fuch quantity, that, if it was
faved for mowing, would, he thinks, yield
a load and a half more, is doing very great
things. One of his working oxen eats him
a load and a half of hay in the winter, be-
ildes his mare of turneps and ftraw; all
which are given by baits : his cows, each
of them eat as much j and he gives a large
quantity to his young cattle j and finds no-
thing pays better than to feed them very
well, efpecially while they are calves, as
their growth gives the value. His flock every
year has improved fomewhat in fize, except
his meep, to whom he is not yet able to al-
lot a fufficiency of winter food; but hopes
foon to be able to do it> by increafing the
quantity of his turneps. Upon my confi-
dering the lift of his cattle, as I took it down
from his mouth, I objected, that he feemed
to have rather overftocked himfelf j he re-
plied, he thought not, becaufe they im-
proved well in their growth, and grew of
a larger fize almoft every year : but he faid
that he found the importance of raifing
great plenty of manure, fo confiderable,
that it was an inducement to him to keep
VOL. IV. F as

66 TRAVELS THROUGH

as many as poffible. His quantity of tur-
neps he found depended entirely on the
dung he fpread for that crop ; for, where-
ever that was laid thickeft, there he obfer-
ved the turneps were largeft, which made
him very anxious to manure his turnep-
field thoroughly. For this purpofe he car-
ries into execution a method which he had
feen pradifed with fuccefs in Franche
Compte. It was, to colled:, through the
winter, all the dung made by the cattle, of
whatever kind, regularly, every week, and
to form it into a large compoft hill, mixing
earth, marie, peat, lime, fand, or what-
ever bodies could be procured for the pur-
pofe together, with all forts of rotten vege-
tables : the proportion is about half dung or
half earth, or marie. For this purpofe he
applied a ftifF loam, which he digs out of
a pit, and peat, which he gets at the dif-
tance of about a mile. This heap he makes
as large as poffible, and from the quantity
of it he calculates the fuccefs of the follow-
ing year's turneps. He fpreads about twenty
large loads of it on an acre, which manu-
ring, he thinks, lafts in good perfection for
four or five years. When I afked him if he

did

FRANCE. 67

did not fave the urine of his cattle, while
they were houfed, for rendering this com-
poft the more fertile, he replied, no ; but
feemed pleafed with the thought ; and, I
dare fay, will execute it this winter. Upon
my converting on the point of taxes, and
the oppreflion I had feen many of the far-
mers labour under, as I travelled, he told
me, that his lands were exempt from all
land-taxes, from being waftes newly brought
into culture, which were freed from all
burthens of that fort by the fpecial edict of
the King. I had been informed that fuch
an edict had been ifTuedj but never before
had an opportunity of knowing whether it
Was really executed. He told me, that it
depended a good deal on the perfonal cha-
racter of the Intendant j that, in fome di-
ftricts in Burgundy, it had been difregarded,
or at lead evaded by pretences which had
no foundation ; but that, in all parts of
Champagne, he believed it had been very
juftly executed. He obferved, that, with-
out fuch indulgence, it would have been
impoflible for him to have executed one
tenth of what he has actually done ; for
every addition of culture he made, and
F 2 every

68 TRAVELS THROUGH

every increafe of cattle, would otherwife
have been immediately taxed, and perhaps
as heavily, as to have crufhed all future
exertions. I obferved, that taxes, which
multiplied themfelves upon induftry, would,
I fhould fuppofe, utterly extinguim all com-
mon hufbandry. It might as well extin-
guim it, replied he ; for I fee no portability
of a man's really thriving under them : but
people, who are bred up in a profeffion,
without any knowledge of others, muft
continue in the farms of their forefathers,
till they die, or are ftarved. Had they bet-
ter intelligence, they would move, as I
have done; for, on the wafte lands of this
kingdom, where they are exempted from
land-taxes, they might, in a few years, get
into good circumftances. In anfwer to
this, I obferved, that all could not thus
better themfelves; for, if the knowledge
and refolution neceffary for it was general,
the waftes would all be cultivated, and
then, after the term of years allowed, they
would find themfelves in the fame fituation
as before. I have often thought of that,
returned he, and I think, if the demand
for waftes was very greatly increafed, and

old

FRANCE. 69

old farms lying in the hands of the landlords
for want of tenants, I am of opinion that
then the nobility, and great men of the
kingdom, would think more of their own
interefls than they do at prefent, and would
ferioufly endeavour to perfuade the King
and his Minifters, that they might have a
much greater revenue, without burthening
the poor farmer fo much as at prefent. I
Jiked the farmer's notions of thefe matters
very much ; for I have little doubt but this
noble kingdom might yield greater revenue
to the Sovereign than at prefent, at the
fame time that the people fhould be greatly '
eafed.

I afked him if he thought all the wade
lands that he had feen capable of improve-
ment, fufficient to pay the expences, with
due profit ? He replied, Doubtlefs : that
he had been over the greateft part of Cham-
pagne, Burgundy, Franche Compte, Alface,
and Lorain, and that, through all thefe
provinces, he never faw any waftes, not
not even mountains, but what were capable
of fome fort of cultivation ; nor mould he
fear being able, if fixed upon the word, to
make the work anfwer well. There is,
F 3 faici

70 TRAVELS THROUGH

faid he, prodigiouily extenfive heaths in this
province, the land of which is much fuch
as my farm, though fome trads arc far
better. All thefe heaths are dry and chalky,
and would yield as fine fainfoine as mine :
by means of that grafs they might all be
improved. Why muft you get graffes, faid
J, for the improvement of waftes, will not
corn anfwer the purpofe ? His anfwer to
this queftion I thought very fenfible. It
was to the following purport :

Getting corn is by no means the firft
object : thefe heaths, it is true, will yield,
as I have experienced, middling crops of
oats, rye, and buck wheat, for a few years.
I have known farmers continue thofe corn
crops on this land, and the infallible con-
fequence has always been ploughing and
fowing till the land yields nothing, and
then it is left as utterly barren, and the
farmers half ruined. Thefe weak lands muft
be kept in heart, and treated in a favour-
able manner, which can only be done upon
two principles ; firft, railing large quanti-
ties of manure to refrefli the exhausted foil ;
and, fecondly, fowing corn upon the land
but feldom, without the intervention of a

crop

FRANCE. 71

crop that does not equally exhauft, fuch as
graffes. By their culture you are able to
keep what cattle you pleafe. Thefe cattle
yield plenty of dung, which, fpread upon
the land, enable it to go through that fy-
ftem of management, which you find beft
adapted for profit. It has been upon this
principle that I have gained good crops,
and faave found the laft as good as the firft :
providing plenty of food for cattle enables
you to keep plenty of cattle : thefe give you
plenty of dung ; that dung great frefh crops
for cattle. Thus, the more cattle you keep,
mofl certainly the more you may keep.
But this is not the greateft point : all this
land, thus dunged, by and for cattle, is
immediately followed by corn, the crops of
which are alfo proportioned to the artificial
fertility : hence you infure yourfelf good
corn crops, which are of great confequencc.
The expences on corn run as high on poor
crops as on good ones ; therefore, by making
one acre produce as much as two, you
greatly more than double the advantage;
all which can only be done by plenty of
cattle, which, in well cultivated countries,
muft be kept in numbers, or elfc fuch
F 4 countries

72 TRAVELS THROUGH
countries could not be well cultivated. J
have experienced, that a crop of oats, after
turneps, well manured, and fed upon the
land, is twice as productive as another crop
following oats or other corn ; and doubtlefs
it is the fame with all other crops in all
countries. This increafe of product is
wholly owing to the dung. Thus cattle
are efTentially necefTary, in order to get
great crops of corn.

Upon my afking him if he had any land
upon his eftate that would do for vines, he
replied, none that would yield high-priced
wines 5 and as to thofe which did not, he
did not think them near fo advantageous as
corn and good grafs : but, faid he, there is
another reafon againft my thinking of them;
J mould be able to do nothing in that way
without appropriating much of my manure
to the vineyard ; the confequence of which
would be, the deftrudtion of the reft of the
farm.

Expreffing myfelf highly in his praife for
his good fenfe and fpirit, he faid, he won-
dered fuch inftances were not common in
every part of the kingdom; for the profit
was beyond comparifon greater than from

any

FRANCE. 73

any common hufbandry, and will continue
as long as tlje exemption from taxc^ lafts.
This is twenty years. But what, faid I)
would you do at the end of twenty years ?
Would you then fubmit to the taille ? By
no means, faid he : I defign, when my
twenty years are elapfed in this farm, to
raife fome fmall buildings at convenient
places, and to divide the eftate into three
or four farms, and let them to fuch farmers
as will hire them : after which, if I have
an opportunity, I fliall fell the whole, and
fix myfelf on a frefh wafte, to begin again,
under the fame advantage, for twenty years,
as before j and this I take to be, of all others,
the moft profitable hufbandry that can be
carried on in any part of France.

This was the fubftance of our evening's
eonverfation, with which I was highly
pleafed, and the honed farmer no Icfs fb
at my liftening to him with fo much atten-
tion. I retired to fleep, in a neat room,
decently furnimed, promifing him that I
would take a ride through his improvements
in the morning. We were up by break of
day, and the farmer exprefled great chear-

fulnefs

74 TRAVELS THROUGH

fulnefs at the thoughts of fhewing me the
fields about which we had converted fo
much the evening before. The feafon
would not allow me to judge of his merit
as a cultivator, had I been ever fo able.
The only crop to be feen was the turneps,
which, though much crowded together,
were very free from weeds > they did not
feem very large in general. His fences,
through all the new inclofures, confifted
of a deep ditch, with a high bank, upon,
which ran a hedge of furze, which, being
cut down every five or fix years, yielded a
great quantity of faggots for firing, and
fprung up again the thicker and ftrongjer.
In riding over his heath, he pointed out an
immenfe tract of fimilar wafles, which ex^
tended above thirty miles towards Rheims
and Retel, which yielded fcarce any food,
even for fheep, not being a tenth flocked
even with them ; all of which, faid he, are
capable of high improvement; fome far
better land than this farm, on which indu-
Jftrious people might make almoft as much
money as they pleafed. Upon returning
from the ride, I took a hafty breakfaft, and

bid

FRANCE, 75

bid farewell to this very ingenious and
worthy huibandman, who figures among
the few inftances of excellence in hufbandry,
that I have met with in my very extenfive
travels.

CHAP.

76 TRAVELS THROUGH

CHAP. III.

Chalons — Common Hujbandry — Full Acco un t
of the famous Vineyards ofVerzenay, &c. —
Expences, Produce, and Profit — Obfer Ca-
tions— Comparifon ivith common H-uJban-
dry.

IT was the evening of the 25th before I
reached Chalons, which is a very pretty
town, upon the Marne. I went to the
Silver Lion, where I received the beft en-
tertainment, and the civileft treatment, of
any inn fince I entered France. Indeed,
they charge pretty high ; but this is to be
forgiven, in a country where you are gene-
rally both fleeced and ftarved. Here it was
recefTary to determine my future route
through Champagne, as I wanted much to
view the vineyards which produce the fa-
mous wine of that province, and was en-
tirely ignorant what road to take for that
purpofe. My landlord informed me, that

I pafs

FRANCE. 77

I pafs directly to Rheims, moft part of
which country is fcattered with very 6ne
vineyards; that I fhould take Vcrzenay,
Mailly, Puyfieux, and Sillery, in my way,
which were all particularly famous for their
wines -, but that the mofb famous of all was
St. Thiery, on the other fiile Rheims :
that, having feen thefe, I fhould return t3
Chalons, and from thence take the high
road for Meaux, along the river "Marnc,
and through the fined tract of land in all
France. In which journey, the moft fa-
mous wines were made at Ay, Efpernay,
Vanteul, and Montigny. He launched out
greatly in favour of his country, the excel-
lency of its wines, holding all others as con-
temptible, in comparifon with them. To
the fouth-weft of Chalons there are many
vineyards that yield good wine ; and almoil
every body in this country, towns and all,
have vineyards, or {hares in them. My
landlord is joint-owner of feveral. The
information he gave me concerning them
was not very fatisfadlory ; yet I could find,
from it, that an acre of vines, tolerably
well managed, without having any thing
particularly excellent in the produce, yielded

all

}8 TRAVELS THROUGH
all expences whatever, paid a clear profit
of about 3!. or 4!. an acre. This very much
furprifed me ; for good corn will any where
do as much, and certainly with much lefs
hazard, trouble^ and expence. My land-
lord told me, that he had an intimate ac-
quaintance, a Vigneron, at Verzenay, who
was reckoned one of the moft attentive and
careful managers in all the country, and,
if I pleafed, he would give me a letter to
him, requefting him to give me all the in-
formation I defired. This I readily ac-
cepted, and accordingly, when I arofe in,
the morning, he had it ready for me.

I took the road to Rheims, which is
thirty miles from Chalons, on the 26th,
paffing through a dry, but fine and agree-
able country, the foil a light loam, on ei-
ther a gravel or kind 6f chalk ; it is, in ge-
neral, cultivated j for I faw fcarce any wafte
land. About Ambonnay the fields of c6rn
are very extenfive, as I faw by the ftubbles,
and here and there I obferved pieces of tur-
neps. Upon my enquiring concerning their
hufbandry, I found the pra&ice was to
fallow their lands, and fow rye; of which
they get about two quarters and a half art

acre;

FRANCE. 79

acre; then they took barley, and gained
about as much j and after that oats, of
which the produce feldom exceeds the quan-
tity of rye and barley. The land being
light, they plough it with two little horfes,
not exceeding in ftrength one good cart-horfe
in England. I remarked fmall vineyards
all the way I went, containing generally
from four to ten acres each ; and, what very
much ama2ed me, was, feeing them, like
the corn fields, open, without any inclo-
fures. I afked the reafon of this ; they re-
plied, they wanted no inclofuresj for cattle
were never fuffered to wander about alone,
but always with keepers, whatever the fort
might be ; but that ufually they are kept in
parks, that is, folds, and had their food
regularly given. They confider thefe fmall
vineyards, I could plainly fee, much more
than all their corn ; yet the proportion of
of one to the other, in fpace, is nothing.
This I cannot conceive to be right, unlefs
the profit of the vine is greater than I ap-
prehend it to be. But this being one of the
moft important points in the domefticceco-
nomy of a country, I ihall let flip no op-
portunity of fatisfying myfelf. The great

points

8o TRAVELS THROUGH

points are, the grofs produce and nett profit
of an acre of vines. But the people I
converfed with here thought them of fd
much confequence, as to keep dairies of
cows, and flocks of fheep, whole great pro-
fit, they thought, was yielding dung for their
vineyard, thofe forts of dungs being pre-
ferred for vines to any other, and they mix
and turn the compofts over with great at-
tention, adding a certain proportion of fine
light turfy loam, fuch as is found on com-
mons. They reckoned the Vigneron's nett
profit here 4!. an acre, in fine vineyards,
but there are many that do not yield three.
They prefer, for a vineyard, ,a high, dry
fituation, hanging to the fouth, the foil
loofe and loamy, not having any tenacity,
but being, to an high degree, friable and
crumbling ; it is very light, as light as fome
fands ; yet is it not at all fandy. I proceeded
to Verzenay, where I enquired for the
Vigneron the landlord at Chalons had wrote
to. I was prefently fbewn his vineyard,
with his houfe by the fide of it. He read
the letter, and received me with a certain
air of hofpitable pleafure, which the lower
people in the country have in France, in

a higher

FRANCE. 8t

a higher degree, I think, than in any coun-
try in the world. Had I carried a letter to
a little farmer in England (fuppofing him
able to read it), he would look at my fhoes
half an hour before he afked me to go into
his hovel, and have a furly referve about
him through the whole vifit. But a French-
man reads the occafion in a minute, thinks
himfelf honoured, has a flow of fpirits in a
moment, which you catch, in fpite of your-
felf, and are as much delighted with him
as he feems to be with you. This circum-
flance, I am confident, would make tra-
velling very agreeable in France, if people
would keep from inns, and frequent the
farm-houfes inftead of them ; a practice I
am determined to purfue as often as I can,
as the only way.

We walked directly into his vineyard,
which was dunging, in trenches dug for
that purpofe. This introduced a converfa-
tion on that point, in which he explained
the modes and principles of dunging vine-
yards. The feafon for dunging moft ap-
proved here is, directly after the vintage,
and to be finished before the winter fets in.
It is all carried in on the heads of women

VOL. IV. G and

82 TRAVELS THROUGH

and children, in bafkets, which appears to

be a ftrange wafte of labour, the rows of

the vines being four or five feet afunder :

wheel-barrows, or barrow-carts, might

certainly be ufed very advantageouily. It

is of confequence to have a dry feafon for

the work of dunging, otherwife it is very

badly performed. The women empty their

bafkets in trenches dug for that purpofe,

which is doing at the fame time, and others

fpread it in the trench, and cover it with

mould immediately. Thefe trenches vary;

fometimes they are made along the centre

of the intervals, at others they are dug

between the plants : I could not learn what

were the principles of the difference. The

fort of dung they prefer moft, is cow-dung,,

that is, the cleanings of the cow-houfes,

which are v/ell littered with flraw or flubblc

for that purpofe 5 horfe-dung is alfo ufed,

but only on ftifFer foils ; the cleanings of

iheep-pens, littered, is much valued, and

they think the litter of as much confequence

as the dung. The peafants, viue-drefTers,

inhabitants of villages, and, in fhort, every

body that keeps a fingle cow, takes care of

the manure, forming it regularly into a heap

for

FRANCE. 83

for fale, and it is bought by the proprietors
of the vineyards at fo much a bafket.
They reckon that from five to eight hun-
dred bafkets are necefTary for an acre of
vines : I favv the bafkets, and reckon them
to hold about half a bufhel ; fo that eight
hundred bafkets are four hundred bumels,
which I take to be about twelve or thirteen
common farmers cart-loads ; and this ma-
nuring is repeated every four or five years.
The price per bafket varies according to
the fort of dung and litter, but it generally
comes to five or fix {hillings an hundred,
delivered in the vineyard 5 if very good, to
feven or eight, and fometimes more . has
been given.

Making dung is fo much attended to
throughout all the wine country, that every
means are taken to increafe the quantity.
All cattle are kept in houfes as much as
poffible, and littered ftraw is ufed for this $
alfo ftubble, which is pulled up by hand;
fubbifh wood from foreft land, leaves of
trees fwept up, and fern from wafte traces;
every thing is applied to litter with themoft
unremitted attention : much cattle are kept,
eipecially cows, Thefe are fed by every
G 2 means

84 TRAVELS THROUGH
means that can be taken; every weed that
is picked up in the vineyards, every blade
of grafs that arifes, is faved with as much
care as the grapes, and given to the cows.
All which fyftem of management, with the
prodigious quantity of labour neceflary in
dreffing and gathering, explains the reafon
why wine countries mud necefTarily be po-
pulous. There is fuck a demand for all
forts of labourers, men, women and chil-
dren, that it would be furprifmg if they did
increafe.

Dung is, however, fometimes laid on in
March, but it is not reckoned fo proper for
that work as Autumn ; the quantity is the
fame at either feafon. Some vignerons lay
it on in Summer, which is not fuppofed to
be a bad practice. Over dunging they
reckon prejudicial to vines, caufmg them to
run too much to wood, giving the wine a
heavinefs, and making it apt to grow mo-
.thery. Bpt this depends on the foil j for
fome lands are fo deficient in natural fertility,
that, unlefs they are dunged more than
commonly, they will not yield a crop : they
lay a thoufand bafkets on fuch, and fome-
times even fo far as twelve hundred. He

allured

FRANCE. 85

aflured me, that the wine from the true
foil was much fuperior, if no dung at all
was ufed, as was often experienced by gentle-
men who fave fome that is excellent for
prefents, and their own ufej but, in general,
the practice will not anfwer at all, as the
wine-merchant, though he prefers the
wine, will never give a price proportioned
to the lofs fuftained by the planter. I ob-
jeded, that this general fpirit of dunging
vineyards muft rob all the common huf-
bandry in the country -9 that, replied he, is
of no confequence, for corn will not pay
for dung, where there are vineyards to de-
mand it. Upon my doubting this, he
feemed to lay it down as a maxim that
could not be controverted. Certain it is,
there is no corn land in this country that
is ever dunged, unlefs it lies at too great a
diftance from vineyards to pay for carriage.
But they are very bad farmers ; and, I fup-
pofe, owing to the great attention given to
vineyards. But the great fupport of all here
is the fainfoine. My friend the vigneron
faid that was an excellent thing; for it
would fupport many cows, in order to raife
dung for vines. A great part of the lands
G 3 at

86 TRAVELS THROUGH

at Verzenay are interchangeably under vines,
and this grafs : here vineyards, there fain-
foine, and it is found to thrive very much
and yield very large crops of hay; but the
ufe of it, to which they are moll addicted,
is mowing it, and giving it green tc the
cattle, in penns or houks, by which me-
thod they manage to raife very great quan-
tities of .dung.

. My friend made me remark the foil of
his vineyard, which he accounted excellent:
it was a light brown loam, with manyx
jftones in it. I have feen jutt fuch land in
England in many places. He faid his
mafler, at a fmail diftance, had a vineyard
ftill better. I aiked him, if he managed one
vineyard for himfelf, and another for his
matter? he replied, yes. This was his own,
of five acres; but that he undertook for an-
other was of twenty-fix a.cres. He re-
marked to me^ that all dry flony lands
would Jo for vines, but that there was a
great difference in them, from their ferti-
lity ; that, if the land was perfectly dry, it
could riot be too rich; that all fdrf earths,
retentive pf water, and clays, are utterly
improper. Chalky and marly lands are

good,

FRANCE. S7

good, in proportion to their drynefs; if they
are ftofly they are ufually good j fandy ones,
mixed with a dry good loam, are tolerable;
but all are inferior to the dry light friable
loamy gravel, which is the true Champagne
foil; on which fainfoine thrives to admiration.
Next to foil, the moft important circum-
flance in a vineyard is expofure. Delabee
(for that is the name of the vigneron) in-
formed <me, that a good expofure would
partly make amends for an indifferent foil.
The great object is the fun, and the bed
afpeft, full fouth ; the variation of eaft is
not amifs ; weft is inferior ; but as to the
north, there is not a vineyard in all Cham-
pagne that will bear it ; nor is the bearing
of the land alone to be confidered. The
declivity of the land is a point of much con-
fequence. The moft capital vineyards are
upon the fides of ftony hills, rarely upon
flats ; the more they hang to the fouth the
better; for it is to be confidered, that the
roots do not, like other plants, demand any
retention of water; if not a drop was to fall,
fo much the better, in refpecl: of moifture.
Herein again we find the furprifing fimili-
tude between the vine and fainfoine. With
G 4 that

88 TRAVELS THROUGH
that grafs it is the fame : it will thrive upon.
the fides of the fharpeft hills, where nothing
but rock and ftone are to be feen.

In the vineyards of Champagne they
make two diftindtions in the forts of vines,
the tall and the low vines -, the foils not
abfolutely proper are fuch as they ufually
plant for tall vines -, the growth is about five
or fix feet high, but the low vines do not
exceed a yard. The tall vines yield the-
greateft quantity ; but the low ones, wine
of the beft quality.

In planting a vineyard, they chufe the
months of November or March for the
work. The method of doing it, is by a
hoe or fhovel, with which he opens a drill,
at the diilance the planter defigns his rows.
Another way is, to make holes at the dif-
tances the plants are to be fet, in the mode
of hillocking a hop-ground. My friend
gave me a long account of the manner of
drefling vines after the firft planting ; but
the variations are fuch as would not be in-
telligible out of a wine country. Befides a
continued feries of pruning, &c. they give
what they call three dreffings a year to the
foil, which is three diggings, fomething

like.

FRANCE. 89

like, what we experience in our hop-gar-
dens ; and, as foon as the vintage is over,
in the years when the dunging is not per-
formed, fome ikilful people like to give a
horfe- hoeing to the rows, with a plough
that has two earth-boards, which turns a
double furrow, and opens a great trench in
the middle of the four or five-feet inter-
vals : this they call vzceHar la vigne. But
it can only be done in thofe which are
planted upon a very moderate declivity, or
a flat ; as many are upon fuch fteeps, and
others fo rocky, that this operation either
cannot be performed, or would not be pro-
per. It is the fifth year before a new vine-
yard yields enough to pay expences : after
that, it lafts according to the foil and fkill
of the matter. Old vines yield the beft wine ;
but the quantity is not equal to that of new
vineyards, confequently the owners, •.? foon
as they fall off much, in product, grub them
up, fow the land with fainfoine, which
they leave from twelve to twenty years, and
then plant it with vines again. The crops
of fainfoine are very great, and the land is
all the time improving; fo that when it
comes to be planted again, the yield of wine

is

9o TRAVELS THROUGH

is expeded to be as great, or greater, than
ever. Some, however, do not attend to
this ; but, after grubbing the vines, plough
the foil, and fow vetches very thick, or
buck-wheat. This they plough in when a
full crop. Upon this they harrow in corn,
and take one or two crops, after which
they plant vines again ; but this is not
reckoned equally good with the other me-
thod,

Jn fbme vineyards, efpecially towards
Paris, my friend informed me, that they
plant cabbages, turneps, beans, and other
legumes, between the rows of the vines ;
but this is prejudicial to them, and only
fubmitted to for the fake of a little imme-
di..:e profit. It is, generally fpeaking, a
very bad practice.

The vintage, generally, is the laft week
in September, and the two firft in October.
But, in vineyards uninclofed, which arc
common in this province, no man is to be-
gin before he is allowed by the publication
of the ban des vendanges, which is a licence
to begin ; after which any perfon may begin
as they like. Three parts in four of the
difference between wines, are owing to the

methods

FRANCE. 91

methods of gathering the grapes -, by ga- .
thering the crop, according to the goodnefs
and ripenefs, and preffing fuch gatherings
ftparate, there is a furprifing difference in.
the wines. For, a vineyard, of from
twenty- five to thirty acres, an hundred ga-
therers at leaft muft be provided, as it is of
confequence to have a number fufficient to
gather enough for one making in two hours
Jime ; by which means fuch a time of fa-
vourable weather for the bufineisis not loft.
They begin always to gather at fun-rifing,
but leave off in the heat of the day, unlefs
It proves foggy. They ought to be carried
immediately to the prefs : but in many
places th'j vineyards are fo inconfiderable,
that the grapes muft be carried four or five,
and even eight or ten miles to a prefs, which
is a great difadvantage. In this province
they have the fineft prefles in France : the
proprietor of the vineyard which is over-
looked by my friend, the vigneron, has one
which coft 300!. and fome are built at the
expence even of 500!. ; and the frnalleft
that are in ufe coft 40!. There arc confi-
derable manufactures of cafks and fiafks in
divers parts of the province for the wine ;

the

92 TRAVELS THROUGH
the numerous forefts in every part of it are
the great affiftants of thefe. Nor are all
thefe circumftances of care and expence fuf-
ficient. A proprietor of a considerable vine-
yard, who would make a good profit, muft
have excellent cellars ; for a very great ad-
vantage in this culture is, to be able to
keep, from a cheap, to a dear year. 'Ac-
cordingly the men of fortune in this coun-
try have as fine cellaring as any in the,
world.

I was particularly attentive to enquire of
him what was the ufual produce of a good
acre of vines, and the account he gave was
this : the vineyard of twenty-fix acres, of
which he had the care, yielded, five years
ago, a produce, per acre, of four pieces,
each piece twenty-eight gallons, which fold
as follows ;

1. s. d.

Two pieces, at eleven guineas * 23 20
One piece, at 81. 800

One piece, at 4!. los. 4100

The

* This is 8s. a gallon.

FRANCE. 93

The next year's produce was,

1. s. d.

Two pieces, at 12!. 24 o o
Two pieces, at 9!. 1800

One piece 5 o o

47 o °

Another year's produce of his own vine-
yard was as follows :

L 8. d.

Three pieces, at 9!. 2700

One piece 5 o o

32 o o

In general, the produce varies between
30!. and 50!. In fome favourable fpots,
highly managed, and in a good feafon, a
produce of from 6ol. to 70!. an acre has
been known.

As to the expences they arc not fo eafily
calculated ; for I could not get him to be
explicit, nor did I clearly underftand all
his terms. But the leaft attention is fuffi-
cient to (hew that they mud run amazingly
high; for the labour in pruning, drefling,

gathering,

94 TRAVELS THROUGf*

gathering, hoeing, trenching, dunging^
digging, &c. is complex : then there is the
purchafe of dung, cafks, and flafks, the
prefs, and its repairs, with duties, and land
taxes, very high and multiplied. And add
to this, that all thefe expences are certain ;
whereas the produce is very hazardous.* in-
fomuch that fome years my friend has
known the produce only one piece, and
that fold only at 7!. which is enough to
ruin all but the great proprietors. Upon
the whole, he thought if the proprietor
paid all expences, and put fix guineas an
acre into his pocket as a nett profit, he
did well, even if his vineyard was on the
beft foil they had at Verzenay. Some make
5!. others 4!. and there are many fmall
vineyards, not well fituated for a prefs,
where not more than 3!. an acre are made.
But this is, in every cafe, reckoned on an
average of feverul years.

The taxes run very heavy; for, befides
Import upon import, the King takes an
eighth part of the whole produce ; fo that
an acre of vines pays him far more than it
pays the landlord. This, however, is not
peculiar to vines ; .for it is doubtful whether

it

FRANCE. 95

it is not the fame with corn, grafs, and
other crops. It is thefe heavy taxes which
are fuch a burthen to the people. In Eng-
land there is a notion, that the taille is the
only grievance of the French land-taxes ;
but this is a great miflake : for, in the
Pays d'Etat there is as much cpprefilon of
the poor peafants, as in the other pro-
vinces 3 and I have been told, by fome per-
fons very able to judge, that in fome places
even more.

The vineyards about Verzenay are in
very different modes of management : fome
gentlemen and proprietors keep them en-
tirely in their own hands, and cultivate
them, either from their own directions, or by
means of what we fhould call a bailiff, to
whom fomething more is given than the
common wages of the country. . This bai-
liff does little or no work himfelf, but is
conftantly moving about the vines, to fee
what is wanting, and to attend to the rnan-
ne: in which the peafants perform their
contract. There is fcarcely a work done in
the whole year that is not put out at fo
much a dreffing, fo much a pruning, at fo
much for trenching, and even at fo much

for

$6 TRAVELS THROUGH

for gathering $ though by fome the vintage
is excepted, and, from the nicety of the
work, is executed by the day. Thus the
whole of the matter's and bailiff's care is,
to fee that the regular arid ftated operations
are all well performed, and in due feafon ;
In which they are much guided by cuflom,
which, having acquired the force of a com-
mon law, have been reduced to a kind of
code of written laws. There are provincial
vineyard-courts, in which all difputes be-
tween mafters and workmen are heard and
determined, without appeal; and in thefe
courts every operation is laid down and af-
certained ; the very buds to be rubbed off
are explained, the whole theory of the cul-
ture is known ; and, if a mailer profecutes
the vigneron for not having executed his
work, they at once enquire, Is it done fq
and fo, and by fuch a time ? which is the
ftandard: if it is not, the vigneron is fined.
When the people work by the day, the
hours of going out and coming home, and
the allowance of time for breakfaft and
dinner, are all determined ; from which
great exadnefs. every thing is known, and
difputes are rare, at leaf! with maflers who

know

FRANCE. 97

know their bufinefs ; for thofe who do not,
tempt the people to impofitions, which end
in their punifliment, and the matter's lofs.

Almoft every man, who, in England,
would be a little farmer of 20!. a year, here
is a lir.le vineyard proprietor. Many of
them have their vineyards in property, which,
by dividing equally among the fons, become
at laft furprifingly fmall. Thefe the owners
dreis and cultivate, with a care, attention!,
and anxiety, which I never faw equalled
any where elfe : it is too fmall to maintain
the man and his family j fo he works for
his neighbour, who has more vines than
himfelf. Yet is not he neglectful of his
own little concern, which he manages with
fo much afliduity, as to make it partly the
fupport of his family. My friend the vig-
neron, however, told me, that this minute
divifion of the land was productive of cne
great evil ; it reduced the portions to be fo
inconfiderable, that the owners were fome-
times unable to pay the land-taxes, which
then brought on much mifery and oppref-
fion. If there was not a vineyard of Icfs
than an acre, this would be felt but feldom ;
but fometimes you will fee foar of five in

VOL. IV. H that

£# f RAVELS THROUGH

that fpace of ground. I think, added hey
an acre is much too fmall ; three or four
acres will maintain a cow or two on the offal,
a part of the year, by which means the
vines will get fome dung : I think, for this
feafon, there fhould be no vineyard fo fmall,
that at leaft one cow cannot be kept from
It 5 this marks a fize beyond the fmallnefs
which brings on poverty, and the cow will
be of ufe in fupporting the family, tlpon
my expreffing my furprife, that fathers who
had a few acres to give their children, did
not fee the juftice of this* he faid it would
Aever be done; for every body in the country
were fo pleafed with being matter of a vine-
yard, that they did not care how fmall it
was. Btrt, at the fame time, faid I, that
thefe inconveniences flow from it, there ap-
pears to rne a capital advantage. What is
that ? replied he : why, your whole fyftern
of cultivation demands a prodigious number
of people, and this minute divifion of land
breeds them in abundance. That is very
true,- returned h$$ but I allure, you we are
too populous for many feafons; fo that we
have numbers fometimes out of all employ-
ment, who, if they did not leave the coun-
try,

FRANCE. 99

try, muft ftarve. The foreft, continued
he, which comes within a few leagues of
us, has many tracts that would do for vines.
If every man that chofe was allowed to go
and take poilefTion each of an acre, there is
not an acre in the whole that would be
without its houfe, its vineyard, and family.
Well ! and would not that be a fine thing
for the King ? No, returned he, God blefs
the King, he has more fubjects . already
than can feed themfelves ; why therefore
give him more ! I was ftruck at this idea,
which, in artlefs fimplicity, contained a
truth of politics, which deferves the attention,
of princes and minifters. Since, under a
well-regulated government, how people can
be a burthen who are willing and eager to
maintain themfelves, is more than I can
conceive. But, added he, there is another
objection to having fo many vineyards ; fome
will be planted on improper foils, and others
will be badly managed ; for not one in
forty can have a wine-prefs. This would
bring bad wine to market, and fink the re-
putation of the province ; befides, the mere
quantity that would be made, would lower
the general price fo much, that all would
Ha be

ioo TRAVELS THROUGH
be ruined. The truth of this remark 1
acknowledged. My friend's idea of plant-
ing the foreft fhews the principles of the
vineyard culture, in increafing the people.
It is all hand-work ; the vine-drefler wants
no ftock in trade, but a few cafks, his pru-
ning-hook, and fpade. Thus, without ha-
ving money, he is able to go into trade,
which no little farmer can do ; for he mufl
have money enough to buy all the imple-
ments of his culture, and the cattle of every
fort that is found on a farm; alfo to pay the
rent, and variety of eXpences, which a fo
much larger quantity of land than a vine-
yard amounts to, demands. This facility
of becoming a vine-planter, enables every
man to fet up, who can get the fmalleft
portion of land, and alfo, with the afTift-
ance of his own labour, at certain feafons of
the year, to fuppo-rt his family fomething
better than one who has merely his pay
to depend on. The point of a houfe is no
objection; whoever can get the bit of land,
builds himfelf a cottage prefently, which,
however miferable an habitation it is at
firft, he gradually improves. The great
quantity of labour demanded in all the large

vineyards

FRANCE. 101

vineyards around him, finds employment for
his wife and family ; fo that this fyftem is, of
all others, formed for increafing population.
On the contrary, corn and grafs, which re-
quire a far greater fum to begin with, and
confequently not one in an hundred can ever
hope to get into fuch abulinefs; and, where
men cannot arrive at the means to fupport
themfelves and families, we may be fure
they will neither of them have existence.
Nor does an acre of corn require one
tenth part of the labour which an acre of
vines does; and as the number of people
muft always be in proportion to their em-
ployment, there thence arjfes an abfolute
impoffibility of a country producing com
being fo populous as one that produces wine.
It is in thi.^refpecT: the fame with manufac-
tures. What is the reafon that the increa-
fing fabrics in a manufacturing town have
always the effecT: of greatly increafing the
number of inhabitants ? Is it not the in-
creafe of employment which caufes this ef-
feft ? Juft fo among vineyards, which ope-
rate in the fame manner.

But then arifes the material queftion, Is

it beneficial to the ftate to have a part of

H 3 the,

102 TRAVELS THROUGH
the foil occupied with vines ? or is the fy?
ftem which has appeared at various times in
the conduct of the French government
right, that of not allowing new vineyards,
left they mould increafe too much ? It ap-
pears plainly to me, that it is highly advan-
tageous to have vineyards, as well as oorn ;
and for many reafons ; firft, the land that
yields vines would not, in general, yield
corn, if they were rooted out ; or at leaft
not fuch crops pf corn as anfwer either to
the farmer or the ftate. This is an unan-
fwerable reafon, even upon the very prin-
ciples of thofe who object to vineyards. In
the next place, an acre of vines yields a
grofs produce, far beyond that of any corn,
and confequently enriched the ftate in pro-
portion : for a greater number of people gain
an income from the foil, and fome of them
a greater income than from corn. Among
thefe the prince ranks iirft, who receives in
taxes far more from' an acre of vines than
from many acres of corn. Upon what prin-
ciples, therefore, the government of France
can have declared fo much againft vines,
unlefs with the direct view of decreafing
the population of the kingdom, I cannot

devife.

FRANCE. 103

devife. The pretence, I know, has been
the fear of a want of corn ; but, if the na-
ture of the foil upon which vines are ufually
planted, and efpecially jn the fouth of
France, a country by no means well adapte4
for producing corn, be well confidered,
I have no doubt but the reafon will be found
entirely fallacious*

H 4 CHAP.

104 TRAVELS THROUGH

G H A P. IV.

*Tbe Vineyards of Sillery and Mailly — Low
Profit by Vines — Rbeims — Manufactures
— - Sf. Thiery — Vamom Vineyards there—?
Cor n Lands— Meadows— Ejpernay — Vine-
yards— Culture of Lucern — Great Profit
— Experiments on Lucern— -Laguy.

1HAD fcarce any where met with a
more intelligent fenfible perfon than
my vigneron -, it was not, therefore, with-
out regret, that I took my leave of him.
I efteemed myfelf very fortunate in meeting,
fo early after my entering the wine country,
one who could give me fo fatisfa&ory an ac-
count : as from thence I (hould be abJe, in
future, to be more pointed in my enquiries,
Early on the 27th, I took the road by
Mailly and Sillery, both famous for their
wines : I remarked, in many of the vine-?
yards, that they were carrying dung into
the vineyards, all in the fame manner, in,
bafkets on the people's heads. I cannot
but think, notwithftanding the populouf-

nefs

F R A N C p. 105

nefs of the country, that this muA be a very
tad way ; I think hand-barrows, even car-
ried between two men on poles, like a fe-
dan chair, would be a great faving, fuppo-
fing wheels muft not go into the intervals.
Such a barrow would carry two bufhels of
dung with cafe, whereas the bafkets thefe
people carry their dung in do not hold half
a bufhel $ fp this would be at once a faving
of half. I enquired at Mailly into the profit
made by an acre of vines, aqd was allured,
that there was one large vineyard of thirty
acres, which, in good years, never paid
Jefs clear profit than 7!. an acre : but this,
I found, was an extraordinary cafe. In gene-
ral, they reckon four pounds an acre a very
good profit. In order to gain this, the grofs
produce muft be full 30!. and fome unfa-
vourable years it muft be 40!. and more,
in order for the proprietor to put 5!. in his
own pocket. One man I converfed with
upon this point, happened accidentally to
be in company with a corn-farmer ; and,
upon his triumphing much in the great pro-
fit of a vineyard, the other feemed to doubt
ft. Upon which I repeated my queftions
fo them both, and the corn-farmer faid,

True,

>o6 TRAVELS THROUGH
True, neighbour, you, with your vine-
yards, do make more from an acre than we
can > but who makes mod by 500!. you,
by expending it upon vines, or we from
wheat and barley ? This was a queflion at
•which I was much pleafed : the other faid,
beyond all doubt from wines. But the
corn hufbandman would not admit it ; and
I thought, from the arguments on both
fides, which, however, were not very clear,
that the corn man had much the beft of it.
One circumftance, which, he faid, appeared
deciiive : A gentleman, faid he, who would
have thirty acres of vines in culture will
receive from them not more than 150!. a
year nett profit, yet his expences will
amount to above loool. every year, and his
original capital mull not be lefs than 1500!.
Now, that fum, with an annual advance of
loocl. would enable any man to farm feven
hundred, perhaps eight hundred acres of
corn ; it muft be very clear, that the profit
from fuch a quantity qf corn land muft much
exceed 150!. I think, therefore, that I may
fafely fay the common hufbandry is the mofh
profitable. This argument was, I thought,
a very good one; but, at the fame time, no

general

FRANCE. 107

general maxim can be deduced from it :
for certainly it is a national advantage, as I
before obferved, for fome people to prefer
the vineyard-culture, that fuch foils as are
particularly adapted to vines may be culti-
vated under them.

At Sillery, I faw a very extenfive vine-
yard, which the people allured me contained
eighty- feven acres; and they told me of
fome between Sillery and Rheims, of above
an hundred acres, the property of iingle
noblemen. All this country is exceedingly
populous; the villages ftand very thick, be-
Jides many fcattered cottages. The vine-
yards do not join; they are fcattered about
the country in fpots that fuit them, inter-
mixed with corn, fainfoine, and fallows.
Wheat here yields a poor produce of not
more than a quarter and a half an acre ; rye,
which is more generally fown, produces
two quarters and a half $ barley rather more
than two. Sainfoine they value as the bed
crop they have after vines : it yields great
products of hay for twenty years ; fome
fields even fo great as three loads an acre ;
but two, and two and a half, are not un-
common. They apply it to the ufe of every

fort

io8 TRAVELS THROUGH
fort of cattle, and reckon that it exceeds
all other kinds of hay in its nourishing qua-
lities. Some farmers mow it twice in a year,
and at the fecond cutting get almoft as
great a produce as at the firft. Others apply
it green for cows and oxen, given in racks
and penns, in which way they reckon, that
an acre will fupport two or three cows
through the Summer. Here are no inclo-
fures in this country : I did not even fee a
iingle inclofed vineyard, however fmall the
ipace of ground.

At SaifTy, upon enquiring into the pro-
duds and management of their vineyards and
corn fields, I found a fyftem of manage-
ment bettet than I had met with before in
any open fields, which was, that of fallow-
ing the land, then fowing rye; after the
rye, barley, and with the barley fainfoine
for twelve years ; then they pare and burn
the fainfoine, and fow turneps, getting
great crops. After the turneps they fow
rye or barley, of which they take three fuc-
ceflive crops, all good, and then fallow and
lay down to fainfoine again. This hufban-
dry is the common practice of one open
field; the vineyards, however, in the pof-

feflion

FRANCE. 109

feflion of thefe farmers feemed to me to
have brought them all to an agreement in
this, from feeling the want of food for
cattle, while their old mode laded, which
was that of fallow, rye, barley, or oats,
which did not yield near fo much as the
prefent. The proprietors are gentlemen,
who keep their farms in their own hands*
and flock them for the farmers : the latter
find labour and fkill : the other land and
frock, and they divide the produce between,
them. This is called the fmall culture,
for what reafon I know not j in oppofi-
tion to the great culture, which is, where
the lands are let on leafe, and the farmers
find every thing but the land, as in Eng-
land.

An hundred books of common geography
have given an account of Rherms, I maii,
therefore, detain the reader no longer
than to tell him it is an ugly town, but
very populous, from its numerous manu-
factories of wool : thefe have long ftourifhed
in almoft all the towns of Champagne. I
made a few enquiries concerning their pre-
fent ftate, and, if I can judge rightly by
the great numbers of people out of employ-
ment,

lid TRAVELS THROUGH
ment, and the accounts given me, I believe
they are by no means in a good ftate. With
all the reft of the manufactures of France,
thefe fuffered very feverely by the war ;
very many of the principal manufacturers
of Rheims broke, others retired from a
trade which would not fupport them, and
thefe were then fucceeded by young perfqns
of very fmall property, in whofe hands the
fabrics declined very much, to the irrepa-
rable injury of the market. Upon the
peace, things took a better turn j but their
goods have not now the demand they had
before the war, nor do they make near the
quantity. This is, I think, very confident
with what we know to be the cafe with the
French commerce, upon which their ma-
nufactures depend in two ways; firft, for
the export of their goods ; and fecondly,
from the people at home being able, from
the wealth of commerce, to confume the
more of thefe goods. Now, we very well
know, that the French trade was, in the
utmoft fenfe of the word, abfolutely de-
ftroyed, and the few failors left in her ports
all in the privateers. This muft, in fpite of
all the endeavours of the Dutch, have been

a mortal

F R A N C £. ut

a mortal blow ; it cut off an amazing pro-
portion of the foreign export of thefe fa-*
brics, and ruined fo many clafles of the
people depending on trade, as to damp the
home-confumption greatly. Any one mar
conceive how much this muil affect the
m after- manufacturers -, their warehoufes
full of goods, without any demand ; taxes
every day multiplying, in proportion as the
inability of the people to bear them became
greater. While all the ranks of the ftatc
were every day growing poorer, how could
a demand for manufactures continue; many
of which were objects not of abfolute necef-
fades ? Thus the manufacturers, who had
not good capitals, failed ; their bankrupt-
cies alarmed, and yet more diflreffed the
reft. Men who had fome property left in
manufactures, were eager to withdraw it*
fearing that they foon fhould follow elic.
This brings frefli difficulties upon all the
reftj for every man that goes out of a bufi-
nefs in fuch a time, muft bring his goods
to market, let them fetch what they will -
thus, at the very time when nobody can
buy, is the market glutted with goods : no
man then can keep his hands employed ; he

muft

ii2 TRAVELS THROUGH
muft difcharge them, and they prefentiy
ftarve in a country where agriculture was
declining, with every thing elfe. Every
ftep of this diftrefs prepares the way for a
new one, when the bufinefs in the manu-
facturing towns was got into this way.
Hardy enterprifing young fellows, without
capitals, by deceiving people, get into hiili-
nefs ; they make bad goods, but fell cheap.
This may fupport them for a while, but it
is death to the trade. All reputation is
prefently gone. How, in this flate, it is
poflible, in ten or twelve years, to regain
all the ground that is loft, I cannot con-
ceive : the home-confumption may certainly
be, in a manner, at command, by prohi-
biting foreign fabrics -, but the export trade
muft fuffer greatly j much muft get into*
frem channels, from whence it will hardly
return, and others will be totally loft. In
fact, I have been allured in France, that
they never knew an inftance of a manufac-
ture flourishing highly, and deftroyed, that
ever revived of itfelf, without the peculiar
care and affiftance of the Crown. There
is not one of the manufactures eftablimed
by Colbert, which became flourishing in

Louis

F R A N C E. 113

Louis XlVth's reign, and fell in the fucceed-
ing war, that has ever been revived lince,
fo as to emulate its former greatnefs.

Leaving Rheims, I took the road to St.*
Thiery, at the diftance of about feven miles.
This place is the moft famous of all others
for the fine Champagne wines. The whole
country here is very fine and pleafant, and
exceedingly populous : the vineyards are
abundant, and where-ever the land is not
Occupied with them, it is cultivated for
corn, turneps, fainfoine, and clover. All
with whom I converfcd at St. Thiery agreed,
that the reafon of their wines being much
fuperior to others, was the peculiarity of the
foil : 'L afked them over and over again upon
the circumftances in it which gave this fu-
periority; fome faid it was the fort offlint
that abounded in it, others attributed ^Ko
the fandy particles, and others again to the
loam ; but, upon my walking into the fe-
veral vineyards, and examining the foil, I
could fee no particulars in it that appeared'
fuperior to many others I had been in; and
I own I am much inclined to believe, that
this idea of foil is an error, and that the
whole fuperiority of their wines is no other

VOL. II. I than

1*4 TRAVELS THROUGH

than what any proprietor might have, the
whole way from Chalons to Thiery j that
of gathering the grapes at feveral times, and
making feveral forts, fo that they have a
fmall quantity every vintage that is fuperla-
tively fine. This I am the more confirmed
in, by their fpeaking of wines felling at
fifteen, fixteen, and feventeen pounds z piece.
They aflert, that the produdt amounts in
fome vineyards in good years to 70!. an
acre, and the nett profit to 7!. or 81. but,
upon an average, not to more than 5!. or
61. The more I reflecT: upon fuch great
expences as 6ol. or 70!. for a profit of 61.
or }1. the more I am convinced, that the
husbandry of vines, however excellent and
advantageous to a kingdom, is much other-
wife to the cultivator of them. Surely the
expenceof 6ol. in good common hufbandry,
would yield a much greater amount, which
I am amazed the gentlemen of this country
are not more convinced of. - Take only the
inftance of fainfoine in this country : fup-
pofe it yields only a load and a half an
acre, and that the expence amounts to los.
an acre ; a load and a half of hay here is
Worth from 275. to 355.5 there then re-
mains.

FRANCE. 115

mains, we will fuppofe^ 2os. and, if rent
of 6s. be deducted, there remains, of clear
profit, 145. from an expenditure of i6s.
which is 90 per cent, inftead of 7 per cent,
which they make by their vineyards. I
admit, that a whole country could not well
be fainfoine ,• but thefe vignerons them-
felves allowed, that a whole farm might,
fince, mown and given green, no food ex-
cels it for cows and oxen ; and in hay it
forms the beft winter fupport for all forts of
cattle. Nor is it at all necefTary to fuppofe
the profit 90 per cent. If it is only 20 or 30*
the difference is very great between that and
7 from vines. But, when men have, for;
ages, been famous for a product, and all
the inhabitants of a country interefted in
it, and accuftomed to it in every gradation,
they naturally abide by what was the fup-
port of their fathers ; and will not, by any
arguments, be convinced, that it would be
much for their profit totally to abandon the
object, which has fo long been neareft their
hearts. This reafoning is certainly true,
only in relation to the prefent fyftem of
the government ; for, if wines, in all their
ftages, from the land on which they grow,

I 2 tO

n6 TRAVELS THROUGH

to the moment of exportation, were not fb
highly taxed, certainly the profit by the
vine-culture would be very coniiderable.

But we are not to fuppofe that all this
country, or one half of it, is covered with
vineyards. From St. Thiery, quite to
Fifmes, and another way, to ChafHllon,
ranks among the finefl for wines, yef is it
a corn country ; the whole is open, and
generally thrown into the method of fallow-
ing for rye and wheat, and then taking
barley or oats, after which they fallow
again. The product of wheat is about two
quarters an acre, of rye two and an half, of
barley two and an half, and of oats three.
Theyp lough all with oxen, four in a plough,
which find their fupport a part of the year
on the fallows, and the reft of it on fain-
foine and ftraw : four are ufed in a plough,
and they reckon an acre a great day's work.
I obferved them at St. Thiery giving the
laft ploughing for wheat, and fowing that
grain, and I thought they executed their
work in a very neat manner, yet the plough
did not feem a good or handy one.

I left St. Thiery early in the morning of
the 29th ; and> that I might not repafs a

road

FRANCE. 117

road I had before travelled, I took the road
to Fifmes, by the river Vefle, a fmall
ftream, which runs through a remarkably
rich tract of country, occupied either with
meadows that Teemed to be of great value,
or with vineyards ; the corn-lands are at a
greater diftance from the road : fainfoine
alfo is cultivated pretty generally through
all this tract. Taking a dinner there at a
farm-houfe, among fome uncommunicative
people, I turned afide for Ay, which I
reached by night, flopping feveral times by
the way to make enquiries into their cul-
ture : the whole way I pafTed through a
very fertile and well-cultivated country,
abounding greatly with vineyards and corn-j
fields, and many large tracts of fainfoine ;
the produce of a vineyard, o.n a good foil,
properly managed, they made to be from
20!. to 30!. an acre, and the nett produce
about 4!. 155. This does not at all agree
with the accounts I had before received,
which gave no greater profits from a much
larger grofs product ; but the French pea-
fants, though they give very fenfible gene-
ral accounts, yet are apt .to be inaccurate
when you come to calculation of profit and
I 3 lofs.

ii8 TRAVELS THROUGH

lofs. There are many low lands in the
rivers that are under the plough : they af-
fured me that thefe yielded, of wheat, four
quarters and an half per acre ; after the
wheat, they are fovvn with barley, and pro-
duce five quarters, and then with oats, of
which they yield from four to five quarters,
and fometimes fix, yet are not thefe lields
ever dunged. The foil is a remarkable one,
It is a loam, and to appearance wet, yet
dries fo quickly, that water never proves of
any prejudice to the crop. In a few inclo-
fures, which, however, are not numerous,
they pofitively aflerted, that fome farmers
had fown wheat five years running, and
gained the following crops : the firft year,
five quarters -, the fecond, four ; the third,
four ; the fourth, three ; and the fifth,
three: then barley three years,1 each crop
three quarters and an half an acre ; then
three years of oats, each year's produce four
quarters 3 and all this without one fallow.
I exprefled my aftonifhment at this, and
demanded by what management fueh a con-
flant fucceffion of great crops were gained j
they allured me, that the great means of
procuring them, was the ufe of a double

plough.

FRANCE. 119

plough. At this I was much furprifed, riot
comprehending how a plough, performing
double work, could have fuch an effecT: :
upon which they faid, it was not the per-
formance of double quantity, but double
depth, that did it : for, firft, one of the {hears
turned a furrow of about four inches, which
was immediately followed by another that
buried the former ten inches deep, upon
which they directly harrowed in the feed,
of whatever kind. By means of all this
deep tillage, all weeds were thoroughly bu-
ried, fo that they could not fprout again -f
and by this means every year it was able to
produce corn, without its being fuller of
weeds than other lands. The foil, how-
ever, is favourable to any management; for
it is a prodigious fine, rich, deep, friable, dry
loam, that feems formed for producing any
thing. At Pourcy, in this journey, I pafled
fome woods, which are totally applied
to fupplying the vineyards with poles for
props : there is, in that and a neighbouring
parifh, fome hundred acres of wood, but,
to my furprize, not inclofed ; which, how-
ever, is not of bad confequence, from the
univerfal cuftom of cattle never going wids
I 4 without

120 TRAVELS THROUGH

without keepers. Thefe woods are reckoned
to pay the proprietors who manage them
with judgment 2os. an acre clear profit;
they are in regular cuttings, and the profit-
able management is, to let the wood be of
a good age before it is cut. Befides the
poles they yield every time the underwood
Is cut, a growth of timber for cafks, which
is taken upon the principle of thinning the
trees ; from twenty to twenty-five years
growth is the proper age for props \ fo that,
in a wood of twenty- five acres, there is one
acre cut every year:

Finding no accommodations that pleafed
jne at Ay, I advanced to Efpernay. There
I took up my quarters at the houfe of a con-
liderable overfeer of vineyards, who had
one of five acres belonging to liimfelf.
He feemed well inclined to be hofpitable,
and readily accommodated me, my fervant,
and four horfes, and the whole family
feemed very well fatisfied upon my hinting
that I mould make them a fatisfadion for
the trouble I mould give them. I found
that all this country, upon the Marne, from
Ay quite to Meaux, produced what they
called vin de la riviere ; whereas the wines

FRANCE. i2i

of St. Thiery, Verzcnay, &c. they call via
de la montagne ; the latter are the fined,
and bring the higheft prices in all foreign
markets, but the produce of the others is
the greateft. The foil in all the tradl upon
this river is exceedingly rich, though dry —
but not fo dry as the country to the north
about Rheims. All the territory of the
Marne is extremely populous, more fo than
any part of France 1 had yet travelled : the
villages are large, full of people, and the
country fpread with detached cottages ; the
yineyards are numerous, and fome of them
large ; but the number of little ones, the
property of the labourers, who arc vine-
dreflers by profeflion, are very great ; trads
of corn-land are intermixed with the vine-
yards, which gives the whole country a
rich and pleating appearance. Good vine-
yards yield a produce, in middling yer.rs,
of four pieces, or four and a half, per acre.
My landlord, the vigneron, has received
from his own the following produce :

2 pieces, fold at 81. £.1600

2 ditto, at 4!. i os. 900

I ditto - - - * 3 ° °

£• 28 o o

upon

122 TRAVELS THROUGH
upon which the nett profit was about 61.
But a gentleman in his neighbourhood has,
he allured me, made ill. an acre nett pro-
£t, which, being much more than I had
before heard of, I enquired the reafon of fo
great a produce; but they could give me no
account of particulars, and did not feem to
think the thing very extrrordinary. TKey
have got into the way, within a few years,
to make red Champagne in this neighbour-
hood, for which their principal vent is ia
Flanders and Germany; but it is not reck-
oned to be Ip beneficial in the culture as the
white.

The corn hufbandry here is the open
field management of fallow, wheat, and
barley : wheat yields two quarters and an
half an acre; barky, three; and when rye
, n, the produce amounts to fomething
better than wheat. In fome villages, of
particularly fine land, they get four quarters
an acre of every fort of corn.

Leaving Efpernay the 3oth, I took the
road to Chafteau Thiery, through a moft
rich and beautiful country, finely chequered
with vineyards, corn, fields, fainfoine, and
many other crops, with fome inclofures,

the

FRANCE. 123

the produds of all forts great. Clover here
is very much fown in the common fields by
confent of all the proprietors, and in a fy-
flem of management which appears to be
very good : it is that of fallow, wheat,
barley, clover, and oats :• the clover be-
jng left two years on the land, and mown
four times in thofe years, the produce,
In the four mowings, amounts to ten loads,
which is very great. Wheat, after it, fuc-
ceeds as well as after a fallow, and the far-?
jners all unite in approving this hufbandry,
as a great improvement on their old prac-
tice : it has not been introduced above
twenty years. Fart of thefc villages are in
the great culture, that is let on leafe; and
part of them are in the fmall, but the befl
hufbandry is in the former. Sainfoine here
alfo fucceeds greatly on the dry lands, and
lafts good fifteen years.

November the ift, I took the road for
Meaux, the country continuing much the
fame as from Efpernay. At Conde J met
with fome people who gave me an account
of the hufbandry of their neighbourhood,
and among other crops fpoke much of lu-
cerne, which they are very fond of. They

fow

124 TRAVELS THROUGH
fow it among barley, fallowing the ground
as a preparation which they otherwife do
not practice, except for wheat: the firft,
the lucerne produces a very fmall crop, but
the fecond, and afterwards, for fifteen,
twenty, and fbmetimes for thirty years, it
continues to yield a moft beneficial product.
It will bear cutting four times in a year,
and each cutting fo full a crop, that the four
in hay, amount to fix or feven loads : but
they do not often make the whole into hay.
They take one or two cuttings for that
purpofe, but the reft is mown for giving
green to cattle in {tables or penns $ whole
dairies of cows are fed on it in this man-
ner, oxen for work, fatting heifers, fheep,
fwine, and horfes : horfes in particular pre*»
fer it to all other food : one acre will keep
four or five horfes through the Summer, or
as many cows or oxen ; and, by means of
confining them to penns, and littering them
with whatever they are able to procure,
ftraw, ilubble, fern, leaves, rubbifli of any
fort, they are able to make very great quan-
tities of dung for the vineyards, which
here, as every where elfe, they reckon a
great object. In a word, lucerne they find

of

FRANCE. 12$

of fo much importance, that every man is
defirous of having fome, and the quantity
fown is very great. The importance of
thefe artificial grafTes is very great in a
country where there is not one good upland
pafture to be found. The only natural
grafs to be feen in all France are low mea-
dows upon the rivers, or (heep-walks burnt
up with the fun ; fo that grafles like lucerne
and fainfoine, and clover, which will better
bear the heat of the climate, are of much
more confequence than in England, where
there is fuch plenty of good meadows and
pafture.

Their management of lucerne is, to fork
up all weeds as fafl as they arife, which, in
this warm climate, are not many, and once
in four years they manure it with a compoft
of earth, mixed with long dung. It is ne-
ver grazed, and they think the fcythe hurts
it lefs. The account of one field at Condc
was given me by a peafant, upon whom I
thought I could depend.

PRODUCE

126 TRAVELS THROUGH

PRODUCE of TEN ACRES.

L s. i

Keeping 6 horfes 26 weeks at I5d. 9 15 o

Keeping 12 oxen ditto at 1 2d. 15 12 o

Keeping 25 cows 24 weeks at I jd. 37 10 o

Keeping 5 heifers 20 weeks at 6d. 2 10 o

Keeping 40 fwine 20 weeks at id. 3 "6 8

68~7J~i

EXPENCES.

1. s. d.

Rent, and flanding char-
ges, 235. 6d. an acre u 15 o
Cutting, at 55. 2 10 o
Feeding the cattle 1 1 o o

25 5 o

Remains profit 43 8 8

But, if one or two cuttings had been made
into hay, which, fo near Paris, fells very
well, the profit would have been much
greater. Upon my afking him why they
did not fpread the culture more of fo advan-
tageous a crop, he replied, that then they
muft increafe their cattle beyond what was

necef-

FRANCE. 127

neceflary for carrying on their farms and
vineyards, which they could not afford to
do, as the taille would be levied on the in-
creafe, and the colle&ors come for money
when they had none to give them. Such
is the efFecl: of ill-judged taxes ; not do I fee
how an exchequer is to flourifli, that is filled
by the deftrudion of good hufbandry. Sup-
pofe the 3!. 8s. 8d. be deducted, for manu-
ring and othsr general expences, there then
remains a clear profit of 4!. an acre, which
is ten or twelve times more than they make
by common hufbandry ; and near as much
as a vineyard produces. The peafant who
gave me this information was ftrongly fen-
fible of the importance of lucerne, if it was
not for the taille. Upon my afking him
what he thought would be the advanta-
geous fyftem, if that tax did not exift, he
replied, that the lucern of a farm fhould be
fo increafed, as to maintain a fufficiency- of
cattle for dunging the vines itfelf, and all
the wheat and turneps; that if this was done
for the vines and lucern every fourth year,
it would do ; fo that a fourth of the vines, a
fourth of the lucern, all the wheat, and all
the turneps, if they are fown, fliould be

dunged

128 TRAVELS THROUGH
dunged every year; and, added he, it would
not require any very great quantity of lu-
cern for this, if care was taken to litter the
cattle well, and to mix earth with the
dung.

Dining at Meaux, I reached Laguy by
night, paffing through a fine country, with
fine inequalities, upon the Hopes of wliich
the vineyards hang in a manner that renders
the views very rich ; and in Summer they
muft be exceedingly fo. At Montigny their
vineyards do not yield above 3!. an acre clear
profit, and the wine in all this country is
much inferior to thofe of Champagne.
Near Laguy, I faw much lucern, and upon
the hills, fainfoine : fome peafants, of whom
I made enquiries at Checy, informed me,
that the foil they preferred for lucern is a
deep rich loam, the ftiffnefs of it, or its ap-
proaching a clay, is not of confequence,
provided it be dry, and free from weeping
fprings, and no water fuffered to remain on
the furface. The land that does for it will
not do for vineyards ; whereas the fainfoine
grows and fiourifhes bed on high, dry,
chalky, or rocky hills, which will not fuit
lucern. Lucern lafts, on the proper foil,

from

FRANCE. 129

from fifteen to twenty-five years. Some
experiments have been made by a gentle-
man in the neighbourhood, M. de Pont-
cafre, on drilling it, inftead of fowing it in
the random method. He fallowed the
land in a very complete manner, and fowed
buck-wheat in the common method ; then
having harrowed the land to a great degree
of finenefs, he drilled the lucern over it in
equally diftant rows, one foot afunder.
After the buck-wheat was off the ground, he
cultivated the fpaces between the rows with
a horfe-hoe, which, from the peafants de*
fcription, I take to be a ploughing harrow.
In this method, the lucern yielded larger
crops than in the common method, and he
cut it once oftener than the farmers did
theirs, though the peafant did not think
this would anfwer, from the extraordinary
expenceSj which may probably be the cafe,
not in the light an Englimman would view
it, but in the peculiar circumftances of the
French peafant having his taxes raifed, not
only on what vifibly is a profit to him, but
from the fuppofition, that, if he is able to be
expenfive in his culture, he is able to pay
more than the amount commonly taken
VOL. IV. K from

i3o TRAVELS THROUGH

from fuch a quantity of land ; a circum-
ftance, perhaps, the moft cruel that ever was
heard of in any tax out of Morocco.

From Laguy I took the high road to Pa-
ris, through a country much inferior to
Champagne in fertility, infomuch, that
quite to the gates of Paris corn fields are met
with, and thefe not wheat, but rye^ for
the foil is fo barren^ that it will not do for
gardens and pafture, which are what ufu-
ally furrounds other cities of this magni-
tude.

CHAP.

FRANCE,

CHAP. V.

Paris — Information concerning the prefent

State of France Agriculture Land

Taxes — Revenue of France in 1770 — Ma-
nufatfures— Commerce — Ships and Seamen
— Navy — Prefent State — Army — General
State of France.

AS I had before defigned to make Pa-
ris my refidence for the principal
part of the winter, I had written to a friend
to hire me lodgings, as I did not care to be
fo long at a hotel. I rode immediately to
them in the Rue de la Come'die Frangoife.
I had what we call a dining-room and a bed-
chamber, large and well-furnifhed rooms,
with an apartment for my fervant, at the
rate of five guineas a month. At London
the fame rooms would have coft me, in a
good fituation, at leaft eight guineas. I
was alfo furnished with linen, china, and
whatever other utenfils I (hould want.
K z There

13* TRAVELS THROUGH

There is not a perfon that reads in Eng-
land, but what may acquire as good an idea
of the buildings of Paris, from the variety
of accounts that have been publimed of
them, as of thofe of London, by feeing
them. However, he can acquire at lean: as
good an one as I could give him, and it is
the fame with ftatues and pictures : it would,
therefore, be idle to fill a book with defcrip-
tions of what is fo well known. As I de-
ligned to continue my journey through
France early in the following Spring, I
fhould at once pafs over that city, had I
not been fortunately introduced to feveral
well-known perfons there, who gave me
intelligence concerning the hufbandry, ma-
nufactures, finances, and commerce of
France fince the Peace of 1762; fuch as, I
think, can hardly fail of being interefting
to the reader. The books that have been
publifhed go farther back, to periods in
which every circumftance is changed : nay,
whoever, with the beft information, gave
accounts of thefe matters as they were be-
tween the Peace of 1748, and the war of
1 755, would convey a very poor idea of the
Ihte of that kingdom fmce 1762. Thus,

in

FRANCE. 133

in order for any writer to convey ufeful in-
telligence to the public on thefe matters,
mud either give fuch as is frem, or he can-
not give that which is of confequence. A
circumflance which certainly is not fuffi-
ciently confidered, as plainly appears, by .
abundance of publications I have feen at
London, which defcribe France very faithfully
as fhe was about an hundred years ago, but
mighty little to the purpofe atprefent. This
is an error I have all along endeavoured to
avoid, and have every where rather omitted
to give information at all, than to deal in fuch
as is no longer new, or valuable.

My defire of making myfelf acquainted
with agriculture brought me into the com-
pany, foon after I arrived at Paris, of three
men, who were very able to give me good
intelligence. Thefe were, the Marquis de
Micftlioau, known over all France, and in
many other parts, from being the author of
L' Ami des HMMMW; M. du Pont, the
well-known author of the Epbemerides du
Citoyen -, and M. de Palern, fecretary to
the Society-Royal of Agriculture at Paris.
With thefe, and fome other gentlemen
highly interefted in agriculture, 1 had many
K 3 convcrfa-

TRAVELS THROUGH
converfations of the moft agreeable nature
to a perfon who was defirous of the infor-
mation which I fought for. They made
many enquiries of me concerning the agri-
culture and rural fyftem of England, in
which, I am forry to fay, I could not fatisfy
them fo well as I wifhed to have dorfe. In
feveral of our converfations, they gave me
the following particulars of the French
hufbandry, which, I think, well tfeferves
the attention of the reader:

The two great divifions of the hufbandry
of France are into the great and the fmall
culture j the former is characterised by the
ufe of horfes in tillage, and the latter by
that of oxen. They are farther diftinguifhed
by the land on the former being let on leafe
to farmers in the Englifh manner; and in
the latter, managed by peafants, who find
nothing but labour, and the landlord of the
farm finds the cattle, flock, and all other
expences. Here, however, is an obfcurity
Which they did not, nor would they fuffi-
ciently explain ; for I could not divine what
connection there was between thefe modes
of management, and the circumftance of
cultivating with oxen and horfes ; for, fince

the

FRANCE. 135

the cattle which draws the plough have
little to do with the letting the farms.
However, I found that horfes are ufed in
fome places where the fmall culture pre-
vails, and oxen where the great is com-
mon ; which is a circumftance that deftroys
one of their diftindions.

In the great culture, the fand is much
better cultivated than in the fmall ; for the
farmers having leafes, and all the profit
to themfelves, they have confequently much
more fpirit in exerting themfelves, than if
they only receive a portion of the products
in return only for their labour ; for the taille
^adls equally upon both. But there is, even
in the great, but a very incomplete agri-
culture carried on, fince it extends no far-
ther than the rontine of the parifli where it
is practifed. Hence, therefore, France
does not want the enlargement of the great
culture, fo much as the inclofure of com-
mon fields; that management, though bet-
ter than the other mode, yet remedies none
of the inconveniencies of open lands. The
farmers are tied down through three fourths,
nay, probably four- fifths of France to fow
only fuch crops as their neighbours agree
K 4 in ;

itf TRAVELS THROUGH
in ,• and this, in general, is the fyftem of
fallow — wheat---fpring-corn : a manage-
ment which effectually excludes turneps,
potatoes, carrots, clover, lucern, and fain-
foine, all crops which are found in one part
or other of the kingdom to be moft highly
profitable. Thus, when an Englishman
reads, in the books of French huibandry,
of the importance of the great culture, in
oppofition to the fmall, he (hpuld Jiave an
idea that thefe writers are only calling for
that degree of good management which is
found in the open fields of Britain ;---for as
to inclofures, they have fcarcely the idea.

When I propofed a reform in this parti*
cular, as of more confequence than a change
from the fmall to the great culture, fhey
obferved, that the fyftem of taxation would
not admit it; for, if the Englilh methods
of cropping their lands was followed, it
muft turn much on the introduction of arti-
ficial grants and roots for the winter-food
pf cattle; whereas, from the effects of the
taille being levied on cattle, and multiplied
on them, the farmer cannot think of in-
creafing his flock, as he is immediately
faxed in proportion. This circumfta^e

prevents

FRANCE. 137

prevents the introduction of a different ar-
rangement of crops, till the land-tax is
new-modelled. And to this it is to be at-
tributed, that fuch amazing tracts in France
are quite uncultivated. Anjou, Maime,
Bretagne, Touraine, Poitou, Limofin,
Marche, Bureye, Nivernois, Bourbonnois,
and Auvergne, are more than half unculti-
vated, being heaths which yield nothing
but a little {heep-feed, and few half-flocked
with them. That land, occupied in the
fmalleft culture, yielded a produce furpri-
fingly fmall, which mutt be owing to the
poverty of the tenants, who, haying no-
thing but the value of their own labour,
and a little money to hire the reft, could
work no improvements. The flock of all
kinds being the landlords, the metayer, or
manager, is bound to keep it up to its full
value, which, in cafe of bad accidents, be-
ing totally unable to do, he is at once ruined,
and the lofs falls upon the landlord; and
the divifion of the produce being halves,
effectually deftroys all improvements. In
the miferable management common among
them, it may be found tolerably juflj but
in cafe of the matayer working any im-
provements

j38 TRAVELS THROUGH

provements, it would be impoffible for him
to allow half to the owner. It muft be re-
membered, that an improvement upon a
former cultivation is generally an increafe
more of labour or dunging, than in any
other article. Thus would all the addition
beat the expence of the metayer, whtf, in
return, would reap but half 'the additional
produce : no man breathing, in fuch cir-
cumftances, would think of any improve-
ment, however obvious. His cafe, indeed,
is peculiarly hard : improvements from the
crops, by increafe of labour and manure,
we fee are totally out of the queftion ; and,
if the poor fellow attempts it in cattle, he
muft leave as much on the farm as he
found, and if he carries the quantity beyond
that, the taille multiplies fo heavy on him,
that the profit turns out none of his. This
fmall culture, with all this multiplicity of
evils, is fpread over more than three-fourths
of the kingdom ; and the general fuppoii-
tion is, that it produces, of wheat, only
three times the feed, and of fpring-corn,
but five times. Where-ever it is in prac-
tice, you fee none but peafants, whofe po-
verty is Shocking j metayers, with only a

hair's-

FRANCE. 139

hair's -breadth perpetually between them
and ruin — with landlords in the mod di-
flrefled of fituations; their farms often upon
their hands, and unable to find people with
whom to trufl their flock ; all their lofTes
deducted, and the mtereft of the value of
the flock, they do not, on the finefl lands
in trie kingdom, receive a nett profit of
more than 53. an acre. Lands, which, in
England, you would have from fifteen to
twenty for.

Here, therefore, we take, firft, the land-
lord's lofs, which is receiving not more
than a third or fourth of what he ought to
do: then there is the metayer, or -farmer,
or bailiff, or whatever you will call him,
who, inflead of a tenant under leafe, with
wealth in his pocket, and making a profit
almofl equal to the landlord's rent, is a poor
beggar, who receives not enough to keep
his family from flarving, and himfelf from
ruin. Then come the labourers or pea-
fants, who muft every where follow the
fortunes of their employers, and fiourifh or
fall with them, when the owner and far-
mer can neither of them get any thing : it
is impoffible that thefe people fhould be

well

J40 TRAVELS THRQUGH
well off— -as few as poffible are employed,

and they poorly paid. Here population
muft fuffer infinitely, as the number of the
poor muft always depend on the quantity
of the employment. In the next place we
will take the King's revenue ; though the
taille, capitation, and other taxes, are very
heavy, and vigorouily levied, yet their pro-
duce is abfolutely contemptible, in com-
panion of what would be raifed, if all thefe
clafles made a due profit by their bufmefs ;
for, if people have not money, it is very
clear they cannot pay it; — but there is,
farther, an effect which operates over the
whole kingdom, and to all the clafTes in it,
which is, the deficiency of circulation j the
more money is raifed from the earth, circu-
lates into every channel throughout the na-
tion, from which all are enriched -t and the
agregate of the people able to live, is in every
refpecl: better, and to pay confequently
greater taxes.

Here I muft make an obfervation upon
this account, which is interefting to a Bri-
tifh reader. When we fpread a map of
France before us, coniider the admirable
£tuation of that kingdom, upon both feas,

with

FRANCE. H*

with a mod extenfive coaft, the compadt-
nefs of its form, the ftrength of its natural
boundaries, except in one part, and there
its artificial works, fo as to be called the
very horns of the bull. When we look
upon the numerous, large, deep, and navi-
gable rivers which interfeft it in every part :
— in fine, when we calculate the extent of
its territory, and find it to amount to above
an hundred millions of acres, when England
is not thirty, and England, Scotland, and
Ireland, not above fixty; that, in all the
the vaft territory of France, the foil is far
better upon an average than that of the
Britifh iflands---that the climate is infinitely
fuperior, and its productions much richer.
— When all thefe things are confidered, is
it not amazing, that, in any national wars
or difputes, in which each kingdom tries
the depth of its refources, that the fcale of
France (hould fo far preponderate, as to
make Britain, and all her neighbours,
tremble ?

In faft, this was once the cafe, while
the territory of this great kingdom was well
cultivated, and agriculture tolerably encou-
raged, which was, from the time of Henry

the

i42 TRAVELS THROUGH
the Great's acceffion, to the days wheii
Colbert was placed at the head of the Mi-
niflry, while every branch of induflry was
left to take-its own courfo, and no one fa-
crificed to the other -, the body of the
people drew great riches from the earthj
and it was upon the foundation of this that
Lewis XIV. was able afterwards to make
fuch prodigious exertions -, and his over-
Araining his power, at the fame time that
he funk (by the edict prohibiting all tranf-
port of corn) the price of the farmers pro-
duels, were what ruined the power of
France. But, to return to the comparifon
— It would feem, from the above parallel
of the two kingdoms, that Britons could
never attempt to meafure the fword with
her neighbour ; but, upon a nearer view,
there are circumfiances which certainly
give a different turn to the conclufions na-
tural at firft. By the inclofures of Eng-
land, her farmers are enabled to practice
whatever hufbandry they pleafe — by the
fyftem of letting their lands, the tenants
are wealthy, and confequently able to work
great improvements. M. deMirabeau, who
has been in England, and gained much in-
formation

FRANCE.

formation refpe&ing our agriculture, infifts
on it, that an inclofed acre there yields four
times the produce of an acre of the fame
goodnefs in the fmall culture in France;
and, from all the accounts I have had, I
am inclined to believe the calculation a juft
one. Here, therefore, is a comparifon
which multiplies the territory of the fmaller
kingdom. A fmall county in England
yields as much produce as a great province
in France, and confequently is as powerful,
fince the country will certainly be able to
pay as much in taxes as the province. There
is much truth in this in large ; fince the
taxes in England yield ten millions nett in-
come, from thirty millions of acres ; and,
if we call Scotland five millions of acres,
proportioned to its (hare of taxes, the total
foil is thirty-five millions ; whereas France
does not yield more than twelve millions
from above an hundred millions of acres ;
whereas, to be as rich as England, it ought
to yield juft thirty millions fterling per ann.
This proves the importance of encouraging
agriculture and induftry, and mews, that
it is not the extent of territory that weighs

in

H4 TRAVELS THROUGH

In the fcale of wealth, but the amount of

the products.

In the courfe of their obfervations, which
acknowledged all this as true, I remarked,
that there was another object which they
feemed to forget, and that was, population.
Notwithflanding France is badly cultivated,
yet is me very populous, and perhaps as
much fo as England. In anfvver to this
they replied, that France was certainly not
fo populous as England j for, taking the
population of the latter kingdom, at fix
millions, it makes about five acres a head $
but, if France had only five acres a headj
J(he would have above twenty millions of
inhabitants ; whereas the number certainly
does not exceed tborty millions. But they
farther infixed (efpecially M. du Pont)
that the mere number of people was not the
great object, as they had long fc-und, in
France, where it is very well known that
they felt no want of men with only thirteen
millions of people, when they coiild raifs
money to pay them ; that, in all times of
diftrefs in France, the number of people
flarving filled their armies fader even than

they

FRANCE. 145

they were wanted -, fo that in every opera-
tion relative to national power, the point
of population was not to be confidered like
that of permanent national wealth, the ef-
feft of produds and induftry. Hence, there-
fore, is to be deduced the explanation of the
s&nigma which appears in the comparifon
between the power of France and England,
and nothing can be a greater leffon con-
cerning the importanceof agriculture, which
is thus able to give power to the weakeft
nations, compared with their neighbours*
and a fuperiority to thofe who have from
nature the ftrongeft reafons to expeft a pre-
vailing influence.

Further/- upon the agriculture of France*
they informed me, that the lands not occu*
pied in the common rontine of corn and
fallow, were thofe which yielded the mod
confiderable profit to proprietors and the
flate ; fuch are vines, hemp, flax, luccrn,
turneps, olives, mulberries, chefnuts, mea-
dows, &c. &c. Many of thefe produce very
well, and are in a ftate of fuch improve-
ment, that, as far as mere hufbandry goes,
they cannot well be carried farther, though
wonders might be done even in thefe, by a

VOL. IV. L new

i+6 TRAVELS THROUGH

new fyftem in taxation, as every fort of pro-
duct were almoft equally expofed to the ra-
pacity of the prefent tax-gatherers ; yet, if
it was not for the amount yielded by thefe
other crops, the wealth of France would
degenerate in a furprifmg manner.

Their idea of the improvements princi-
pally wanted in the hufbandry of France, is
principally that of introducing the great
culture praclifed by horfes, in the room of
the fmall culture, where-ever the latter is
praftifed ; and, fecondly, to reduce all the
land-taxes, and taxes on induftry, to one
uniform one, of a portion of the nett pro-
duce. Were thefe two circumftances exe-
cuted, they were clear, that the agricul-
ture of France would very foon emulate
that of England, and, in the richnefs of
produces, much exceed it*

REVENUE.

this head, thefe Gentlemen,
and fome others with whom I converfed
upon the fubject, gave me the following
particulars, which, from their own difcuf-

fion,

FRANCE. 147

fion, I take to be near the truth ; it varies
from the public accounts given of the flate
of France in 1763 :•

REVENUE OF FRANCE, 1770.

1. s. d-

Tajlle 2,700,000 o 6

Capitation 2,400,000 o o

Land-tax on employments 600,006 o o

The domaine 270,000 o o

The coinage 160,600 o o

Decimes 550,000 o o

Tax on the Pays d'etat 600,000 o o

General farms 5,140,000 o a

Cher farms 2,000,000 o o

Sundry other fmaller taxes 200,000 o o

14,560,000 p o

Of which about eleven, fome thought twelve,
millions, came into the King's treafury. Of
thefe taxes, the moft pernicious to the fub-
jedt are the taille and capitation, which
they all agreed raifed far lefs than a land-
tax ought to do ; and then it would do, if
adminiftered upon the principle of taking a
L 2 (hare

148 TRAVELS THROUGH

{hare of the a&ual product valued inftead of
it. They offered mucrrreafoning upon this
fubject, but I could not well diftinguifh the
principles upon which they reafoned : I ra-
ther thought they wanted to have fomething
upon the plan of Vaubau's royal tythe -y but,
upon an explanation, found their idea to be
a tax on the clear profit of hufbandry, in-
ftead of the grofs produce. The national
debt of France, I found, they calculated to
carry an intereft, at the conclufion of the
war of fix millions feven hundred thoufand
pounds j and they allured me, if the feveral
provincial debts were added to this, being to
all intents and purpofes national ones, the
total amount would be eight millions three
hundred thoufand pounds a year. This ac-
count aftonifhed me : I repeated my enqui-
ries upon this head, expreffing my idea that
they muft be miftaken, or the kingdom muft
have funk under fuch an accumulation of
expence : they replied, Did it not Jink?
There wanted nothing but two or three
years more of the war, and me would never
have arifen again. The peace then, faid T,
was as neceffary to you, as it was to us ?
To you ! anfwered they quickly " necefTary

to

FRANCE. 149

to you ! 'Had not a love of peace and hu-
manity animated the bread of your Sove-
reign, which induced him to conclude the
treaty of Paris, we had been an undone na-
tion : not that the efforts of our enemies
were fo fatal as thofe of oarfelves : it was
the multiplication of our taxes, that were
every day aiming mortal blows at our vitals.
An Englifhman, who gives credit to this,
and at the fame time recollects how foon.
after the Duke de Choifeul was ready to
begin a frefli war, by his operations in the
Eaft Indies, will think, that, upon fuch oc-
cafions as the Jafl war, the moft humane
and peaceable conduit is, to take the op-
portunity of ftrengthening one's felf, to be
ready in cafe of future unwimed-for diftur-
bances, to repel the reftlefs endeavours of
ambitious neighbours. How far the peace
of Paris anfwercd that important . purpofe,
the world mud judge ; die prcfent period is
no more a proper time to judge, than the
four laft years of Queen Anne was fit to de-
cide upon the treaty of Utrecht. Fifty years
hence we lhall have impartial decifions ;
and itate-papers by that time may, perhnps,
be before the public, which will let us mor«
L 3 into

I5P TRAVELS THROUGH

into the fecret, and real motives of thofe
who were mqft active in the peace of Paris.
But the circumftance, after the peace,
which has moft favoured the French go-
vernment, groaning under the enormous
burthen of debt, were the amount of life-
annuities, which, as they fall in, become
extinguished. This has fo far favoured their
finances, with other anticipations only for
terms of years, that the fum total of intered
paid by government (exclufive of the pro-
vincial debts) in the year 1770, was about
five millions nine hundred thoufand pounds
a year. An amazing fum, and far exceed-
ing the intereft paid on the national debt of
England. This prodigious burthen will
long be fo heavy on France> that her neigh-
bours will not have much to fear from any
future fchemes of ambition that may arife
in the French cabinet, whether peace or
war be her choice : if the latter mould once
more break out, fuch frefh debts muft ine-
vitably be contracted, and fuch new bur-
thens laid on the people, without any ca-
pability of bearing them, that the efforts,
in confequence of them, cannot fail of
being weak and unfupported.

Thefe

FRANCE. 151

Thefe gentlemen aflured me, that, if the
true political condudt was followed by the
Miniflry, in reducing the land-taxes of
France to a proportion of the nett produce,
that, in fuch cafe, the revenue of the king-
dom might, with great eafe, and without
one fortieth part of the prefent opprefiion,
be carried to five and twenty millions fter-
ling a year. This would render France
once more formidable, at the fame time
that the agriculture of the kingdom wou!4
t>e every day reviving.

MANUFACTURES.

MY informants, upon this head, feemetf
in their exprefllons to have adopted rather a
prejudice againft manufactures, which, in
fuch enlightened men, appeared to me very
furprifmg. They did not feem to allow
that manufactures were a fource of national
wealth, further than as fubfervient to agri-
culture j and this idea ran fo much through
their opinions, that I could not much agree
with them : however, the fadls they gave
me were no lefs valuable, and deferving at-
L 4 tention.

152 TRAVELS THROUGH

tention. They informed me, that the ma-
nufactures of the kingdom had received fo
great encouragement, that agriculture feemed
to have been forgotten : in a word, that the
fyftem of M. Colbert, of the laft century,
had ever fince been adhered to, of confi-
dering commerce and manufactures as the
principal objects, whenever thofe and agri-
culture come in competition. Yet, what
is extremely ftriking, with all this favour,
the fabrics of the kingdom have been in a
conftant declenfion : every war, from 1672
to 1756, has been mifchievous to them;
every one has left them in a worfe fituation
than it found them ; until the laft reduced
them fo near to ruin, that it will be long
before they are well revived. The manu-
factures of Lyons fupported the evil day
better than any, working principally for the
home-confumption of luxurious articles, or
in branches of export, which did not fuffer
equally with the reft -, yet, with this ad-
vantage, it was found, upon a nice exami-
nation in 1764, that the declenfion of looms
in that city, from 1755* was no lefs than
three in eight. In the manufactures of
Champagne and Burgundy, which are nu-
merous

FRANCE. 153

merous in wool, the fall was five in eight :
in thofe of the Orleannois, which are ex-
tremely extenfive, and have their export at
Nantes, the declenfion was two in three;
and in the other fabrics of the kingdom, it
was afierted, that the decline has been no
lefs. Thofe manufactures which work
pretty much for the American, Indian, and
African export, were nearly ruined. Re-
fpecting the revival of thefe numerous bo-
dies on the peace, fome of them recovered
pretty fpeedily, but not near to their former
height ; fome advanced very flowly ; fome
are to this day in a very bad fituation ; and
fome will never recover at all. Yet the
Miniftry has been extremely attentive to
animate them as much as poflible, by every
means in their power.

They affured me, that the whole export
of French manufactures, fince the peace of
Paris, has been inconfiderable, America and
Spain excepted. The fugar iQands form a
confumption, which no misfortunes can de-
prive them of, while they poJTefs fuch va-
luable colonies. With Spain there is fo
clofe a connection, that the import of French
fabrics has been much favoured lately. Thefe

are

154 TRAVELS THROUGH
are circumftances of confequence, yet do
they not more than make amends for the
lofles which they have fuftained in their ex-?
ports to the Levant and the Baltic. /

COMMERCE.

IMMEDIATELY upon the conclufion
of the peace, France faw abundance of
publications upon the liberty of commerce,
In corn, which had gradually fuch an
effect, that the Miniftry were fuppofed to be
convinced, and allowed a free commerce of
corn, by edict in 1764. But I had, from
other hands, an anecdote, which (hews
what fmall matters influence the greateft
sffairs. This edict was fuppofed to be gained
by means of the conviction which fo many
publications had brought upon the Mini-
iter: nothing, however, was farther from
the truth; he was, throughout the whole
affair, entirely contrary in his opinion.
But the miflrefs, who was then in oppofi-
tion to him, being informed of the whole
matter, in mere pleafantry faid, that France
fhould have a free commerce of corn. Thefe

Words

FRANCE. 155

words being reported, feveral books were
prefently publifhed on the fubjedt, with
elaborate dedications to her. Being thus
reminded of a point in which (he might
fhew her power, (he fpoke to the King,
and the confequence was, the edict of 1764.
Thus, a meafure which was generally attri-
buted to a long and accurate investigation
of the real interefts of the kingdom in fo
important a matter, was, in reality, a back-
ftairs bufmefs ; the work of a perfon who
would juft as readily have prohibited it for
ever, or laid a tax upon every plough in
France.

Under the influence of this edict, France
for feveral years had a flourifhing corn trade;
and it is calculated, that, from the ifluing
the one which allowed the trade, to the
other which deftroyed it, this export brought
into the kingdom near two millions fterling.
But bad crops happening unfortunately for
two or three years fucceffively, the price
arofe at home, until, towards the end of
1767, the government again prohibited ex-
portation ; whereas, had they continued
their ports open, it was believed the price
would, upon an average of three or four

years

156 TRAVELS THROUGH
years longer, have kept moderate. Their
export was,

Jn 1765 Septiers 803,498

1766 77°»«°5

J767

2,433,460

Upon the (lopping exportation, corn, for
a mort time, fell in its price, which gave
fatisfaftion to the enemies of the mea-
fure, but alarmed many of the people ; for
the farmers mewed a backwardnefs in ex-
tending their culture, which they had been
very far from, while the markets were brifk,
from the purchafe of the exported corn.
From that time, till the prefent, the crops
in France have been, like all the reft of Eu-
rope, very bad, and the price at home too
high to venture, as they think, on a fecond
experiment ; and it is much doubted whe-r
ther a fecond will ever be made.

Relative to other branches of the French
commerce, that which firft demands atten-
tion, is the fugar-trade of France, which is
fuppofed to be fo well recovered of the loffes
fuilair.ed in the laft war, as to be now as
conliderable as it was in 1756, though fome

gentlemen

FRANCE. 157

gentlemen in France are rather doubtful of
this, and affert, that the planters and mer-
chants yet lie under fuch a want of money
and credit, that the one cannot improve
their eftates, nor the other fpeculate fuffici-
ently in (hipping ; and I believe there is
fome truth in both thefe circumftances.
The trade and fimery of Newfoundland,
contrary to the expectations of all Europe,
have not near arrived at their former height,
•which is attributed to the French not find-
ing the little ifle given them in exchange
for Cape Breton to anfvver the purpofe they
expected. Certain it is, they have not, to
this day, near recovered this trade; and the
general opinion, even in France, is, that
(he never will. The Levant commerce of
France, not fo much from being rivalled, as
from the continued diforders in Turkey and
Egypt, has not like wife been recovered.
Their trade to the Baltic is much lefs than it
was before the war. But the beft fitisfac-
tion I can give the reader on this head, is
to infert a paper given me at Paris, which
I have the greateft reafon to believe very ac-
curate. There is an annual return made to
the Miniftry of the {hips and feamen in nil

the

i5S TRAVELS THROUGH

the branches of the French commerce : the

following is a copy of the return for 1769 :

Ships. Men.

The commerce of the Me-
diterranean employs 603 8100
Spain 293 3000
Portugal 36 500
Barbary 42 400
Holland 54 450
Britain and Ireland 46 206
Flanders 15 95
Denmark 10 105
Sweden 13 150
Ruffia 3 35
Poland i* 9
American iflands 260 7000
Newfoundland ntliery 197 8400
Herring nihery 208 3940
Whale fimery 11 540
Coaft of Guinea, &c. 4 59
Eaft Indies 2 197

1798 33186

Thofe who were at all acquainted with
the French commerce, in, refpedt to fhips

and

FRANCE. 159

and men before the war, may be able, from
this table, to afcertain the difference.

Of all the objects which at prefent, and
for fome years, have engaged the attention
of the Miniftry, the revival of commerce
feems to have been moft at heart. Conti-
nued plans have been drawn up, and received
for this purpofe. M. de Boynes, the Se-
cretary of State, who has this department
particularly under him, had, for fome time,
meetings with merchants and manufac!u-
rers, from all parts of France : the refult of
thefe has been little more than a few edicts,
for the encouragement of {hip-building,
which were not powerful enough to have
any effect. The weaknefs of thefe efforts
has been owing to the diflradion of their
finances ever fince the war, which has been
fo great, that every branch of the govern-
ment has felt it feverely. And, notwith-
ftanding the prefent aim and wilhes of ths
Miniftry are highly bent to this object, yet
little is now done for it, though the revenue
of the kingdom is every year regularly upon
the increafe, by the dropping in of annui-
tants on lives, and the payment of debt>
c;-j:fra-5led only for a term of ye.irs This

circum-

160 TRAVELS THROUGH

circumftance has no effect, or at lead; none
that is perceived.

MILITARY.

THE marine of France experienced a
more total overthrow in the laft war than ever
it had met with before; much more fatal than
what was the confequence of the fucceeding
war; for, in the very laft years of that, the
French flag had fome refpedt and fuccefs in
America and the Indies. Upon the con-
clufion of the peace, it is averted, that there
were not, in all the ports of France, twenty
"men of war fit for fervice. The Miniflry,
however, fet about the revival of it ; and,
notwithstanding the great want of money,
which was felt through all the departments
of the flate, yet an annual fum was fet apart
and moft religiouily applied to this ufe.
This fum, for three years, amounted to
three hundred thoufand pounds annually :
fince that, it is faid, they have increafed to
between four and five hundred thoufand :
and yet a longer increafe is now talked of.
However, notwithstanding- thefe exertions,
the works of building and repairs have not

gone

FRANCE. 161

gorte on with near fuch fpirit as might be
expected, owing to what caufe is by no
means known; for, in the year 1769, the
fleet amounted only to

3 Firft rates

8 'Second rates

7 Third rates

5 Fourth rates,

including thofe only which are actually in
or fit for fervice ; for the common annual
lift is much more numerous. Upon the
flocks there are, , at Breft, Toulon, and
Rochefort, above thirty fail of the line ;
but the building then goes on very ilowly,
and there are, in thefe ports, many mips
under repairs, and others, which are entirely
out of repair, but nothing done yet to them.
There are alfo fome {hips building at Dun-
kirk, and other ports, which are fmall 5 and
fome more in Corfica, where the plenty of
timber is very great. There is, farther, a
contract executing in Sweden, which will
not be concluded yet thefe five years. It is,
upon the whole, generally concluded, that,
in fix years time, if the government expends
fomething more than the prefent arrange-
ment, they v. ill be able to equip feventy
VOL. IV. M fail

1 62 TRAVELS THROUGH

fail of very fine line of battle mips. This,
I am inclined to believe is true, but think,
that the Miniftry will find it difficult to
fpare the fums fufficient, fuppofing the
peace to laft fix years longer. There is one
circumftance which is favourable to them,
which is the reduction of their army : this
has leffened their land expences, and it
fhewSj that they mean, in future, to exert
themfelves more at fea, otherwife we may
he certain that this was the laft flep a French
minifter would have taken.

As to the ftate of the army in France, it
is excellent. There is never, in time of
peace?> any fault to be found with the order
and difcipline of their troops : I before ob-
ferved, the number was much reduced on
the peace. After the peace of Aix-la-Cha-
pelle, they kept up near two hundred thou-
fand men, but their prefent eftablifhment
does not exceed one hundred and ten thou-
fand. This has been a prodigious eafe to
the finances : indeed they were in luch dif-
order, that, had not this meafure been
taken, the expences of the Court, the marine,
and every other branch of their expendi-
ture> muft have been greatly retrenched :

a circum-

FRANCE. 1*3

a circumftance no French minifter attempts,
tvithout hazard to his power.

The following is a Specification of the
prefent annual expence, which is as near
the truth as any account can be of a matter
which every year varies pretty confiderably :
The fupport of the Royal

houfehold £. 385,006

frivy purfe 240,000

Stables 180,000

Appointments 1,900,000

Academies 24,000

Library 63,000

Bridges, pavements, &c. 200,000

The royal buildings 217,000

Pay of the army 2,100,000

Pay and fupport of the navy 1,000,000
Fortifications 230,000

Artillery 170,000

Police 140,000

Intereft of debts .

The nominal revenue
The annual expence

Savings

M

£, 6,849»o°°
5,900,000

£. 12,749,000

£. 14,560,000
12,549,000

2,01 1,000

What

164 TRAVELS THROUGH
What is here called favings mull not im-
mediately be fet down as fuch j becaufe, in
the fir ft place, it is certain, lhat every ar-
ticle, reckoned in the revenue, does not
come nett into the exchequer : fecondly,
here are no extraordinaries, which, upon
moft cf the articles, run very high, and
efpecially thofe which have any concern
with the Court : thirdly, here is nothing
allowed for foreign fubfidies, which, though
an irregular, are a certain expence. Upon
the whole, we may determine, that the or-
dinary revenue is nearly, if not quite, ex-
hauiled, and that coniequently the refources
of France, for future wars, muft depend on
the declenlion of debts — on extraordinary
taxes — and on the fums which may be
borrowed when the occafion comes.

Upon the general flate of France they re-
marked, and, I think, with judgment^
that the kingdom was pofleifed of much lefs
real wealth and power than foreigners ima-
gined-, but much greater refources than any
foreigner could fuppofe : but thefe refources
could only be brought in queftion by a new
fyftem of management in ' the article of
taxation, by throwing a greater ftrefs upon
her marine, by taking every meafure to pay

oft

FRANCE. 165

off her debts, by engaging in no wars, and-
by contracting no new debts. If a fyftem
of this nature was followed, they affured
me they could prove, by undeniable calcu-
lations, that France, in twenty years, could
pay off every (hilling of her debts, have five
millions fterling in bank, a fleet of an hun-
dred fail of the line, and an army of two
hundred thoufand men. The great point
upon which all this was to turn, was the
new mode of taxation. Inftead of a multi-
plicity of impofls, chiefly indirect, in which
the fubjeds pay <;s. for every one that comes
into the royal treafury, they propofe an
equal repartition of a land-tax upon the
nett produce of the earth, fo as almoft to
abforb moft of the other taxes of the ftate.
By this means the fubject would be able to
pay a much larger fum than at prefent,
without any burthen ; and the King would
receive thofe enormous expences, which are,
at prefent, wafted before the money arrives*
in his treafury. At the fame time, how-
ever, they allow that this, or any other fy-
ftem would be vain, if the old practice of
borrowing went on, and mortgaging the
revenues to pay the intereft, as nothing but
M 3 ruin

i66 TRAVELS THROUGH

ruin and fpoliation would ever bp the effedfc
of fuch a condud. That, by means of
avoiding future debts and future wars, all
thefe good effeds would be fecured. I afked
what probability there was, that fo good a
fyftcm would be followed ? It was to be
wiihed, replied they, but not much to be
hoped.

Thefe gentlemen, with feveral others,
whom I think it an honour to me to name,
when I mentioned my defign of travelling
towards Spain, introduced me to feveral
noblemen, who gave me letters of recom-
mendation to a variety of perfons in my
route, and promifed to write to their agents
and moil intelligent tenants, ordering them
to give me all the information I defired.
Among thefe I beg leave to name, M. le
Marquis de Fulvy, M. le Marquis de Iq,
Valette, M. le Comte de Maillebois, M. le
Due de Gontaut, M. le Comte de Mailly,
M. le Marquis de St. Arnaud, M. le Comte
de Funnel, .and M. le Vifcomte deBeaunej
all thefe I have taken the liberty to mention
firft, as they command in their refpedive
.provinces ; and it is with the utmoft refped
that I beg them to accept the fincereft ac-
knowledgments

FRANCE. 1*7

knowledgments I can make. I am alfo
obliged to M. de Boifemont, M. 1'Abbe
Nolin, M. 1'Abbede Conti-Hargicomr, and
M. de Garfant. By means of fuch valuable
recommendations I had the greateft hope
of being able to acquire the information I
wifhed concerning the agriculture of all the
countries I mould pafs through. This gave
me the molt fenfible pleafure, as it was
what, of all other things, any perfon who
travelled upon the plan that I did, \vouJ4
be moil deiirous of.

M 4 CHAP.

168 TRAVELS THROUGH

C H A P." VI.

"From Paris to Chartres — Agriculture — Or^
leans — Stock and Conduct of a French
Farm — Effects of the French Government
on the Country — Agriculture of the Pro-
vince of Nivernois — Uncommon Improve-
ment by Means of Potatoes and Lucern —
Drill Hujbandry — Account of:Beaujelols —
Curious Anecdote on the French Taxes.

I LEFT Paris the f3th of March, taking
leave of my friends there, with ge-
nuine expreffions of the regret I felt at
parting with men from whom I had received
every intercourfe of friendmip and polite-
nefs. I took the road to Chartres, the di-
ftance of which is about forty miles Englifh.
The firfl part of the journey, through the
lile of France, is a country poor, and much
of it uncultivated : but Beauce is better,
the foil moiil and fertile, and very little of

FRANCE. 169

ic wafte. From Efpernon to Chartres the
country is exceeding rich, and has all the
appearance of being as well cultivated as any
part of Picardie. It is all an open country,
and almoft every part of it cultivated in
corn. It is principally in the great culture,
that is, the lands let on leafe, and the ma-
nagement is in the farmers hands, who do
their work with horfes. Wheat here is
fown ori fallow, and then they take barky
or oats. The wheat upon many lands I
viewed towards Chartres, yields from two
and a half to near three quarters an acr; ;
barley three ; and oats three and an halr;
but thefe lands are very good. The farns
here are not large, few employing mere
than three ploughs. Lucern is common
in fome fpots all the way I proceeded, aid
the farmers reckoned that the profit o" it
was very great.

The 1 4th, I left Chartres, and took :he
road to O: leans, the diftance about fory-
five miles. The country I palled, very ri:h,
and we'll cultivated. Near Voues I flopped
to dine at a peafant's, where I was very br-
tunate in gaining intelligence. He pive
me an account, which he had from his

landord

i ;o. TRAVELS THROUGH
landlord in writing, of entering a farm,
which I fhall infert, as it will give the
reader a good idea of the hufhandry of this
province, which is reckoned better cultiva-
ted than mod in France. The memoir is
not only confined to what was actually in
ene farm, but the expences neceflary for a
peafant to undertake fuch an one. The cul-
ture, in general, of the neighbourhood, he
informed me, though of the large fort, was
not the beft in the province ; yet they ufe
but two horfes in a plough, and reckon,
that one plough will till from fixty to fe-
v<nty acres, but the horfes are generally
fnall. They reckon it more beneficial to
enploy a plough with four horfes, than two
of two hcrfes each. The farmer enters a
fann ufually in November, and has the ufe
of all the ftraw and other forage fufficient
to carry his beafts through the winter till
Mirch, being himfelf to leave it in the fame
mainer at the end of his own leafe. I be-
3ie\e there is fomethingof this fort praclifed
in England. The expence of flocking his
farn will be as follows :

Houfe-

FRANCE. 171

1. s. d.

Houfehold furniture of all forts 100 o o
Two carts 1812 o

Three ploughs 4 15 o

Five pair of harrows, at 25, 6d. o 12 6
Four rollers, at 93. jd. I 18 4

Meafures, fanns, fkreens, &c. 420
Five horfes 60 o o

Harnefs 476

Twelve cows, at 2!. I2S. 6$. 31 10 o
Two hundred fheep, at 53. 50 o o

Pigeons and poultry 13 2 6

Maintenance of the two ploughs
for 18 months, the wheel-
wright 359
The fadler 318 9
The farrier 6 10 o
Decline of value in the horfes 476
Two fervants, at 2!. 12s. 6d. for

j8 months 7 17 6

Two carters, at 5!. 53. ditto 15 15 o
A {hepherd and a threflier, at

5!- 5s- 15 X5 o

f± cowkeeper, at il. 6s. jd. 119 o

Carried forward 348 7 7

Nourish-

i/2 TRAVELS THROUGH

1. s. d.
Brought over 348 7 7

Nourifhment of nine perfons,

to each perfon they allow ten

bufhels, which is ^jbumels

for eighteen months, at 2s. yd.

the buihel, as the finefl corn

is deducted 17 14 o

They allow a quarter of a pound

of meat to each perfon a day,

upon an average of meagre

days, and others for nine, for

eighteen months, it is 1232!^

at 4 fols per Ib. or 10 15 o

Salt for eighteen months 6 1 1 o

Wine ditto 318 9

Fuel ditto 916 o

Seed, wheat, and oats 24 10 o

Reaping the wheat, and mowing

the oats 815 o

43° 7 4

When

FRANCE. 173

When the farmer is poor, he takes fer-
vants inferior to thefe, which would make
the wages lefs -, befides, his wife, fupply-
ing the place of a fervant, and himfelf a
carter; thus they fupply each their part.
But is the culture well done? In agricul-
ture, facing produces poverty. When the
number of domeftics are lefs conliderable,
the expences of maintaining them will con-
fequently be lefs. No mention is made of
the food of the cattle, becaufe the farmer,
upon entering his farm, is fupplied with
firaw, forage, &c. ; oats are not mentioned,
for the horfes, as they are deducted from
the crop. The firft expences of two ploughs
being once eftablifhed, the addition of a
third will not make an increafe of more than
105!. i os. ; that of two, 2wcl.; and that
of three, 315!- : and five ploughs are the
largeft farm in La Bcauce. Hence, there-
fore, the firft expence of a farm of three
ploughs are 53 5!. iys; one of four, 6fol. 7$;
and one of five, 755!. 2s. Therefore,
the larger the undertaking, the Itfs the firft
expence, and more confequcntly the nett
produce.

The

i74 TRAVELS

The annual expence is as follows :

1. s. &

Servants wages 27 li a

Maintenance 32 10 o
Maintenance of the horfes, and

decline in their value 76 10 o

Support of the implements 12 2 o

Seed 24 10 o

Harveft 8 15 d

Total 181 18 o

Every article in the entering a farm is tod
often done for the leaft fum poffible. If a
farmer's fon marries, and has a fortune of
43!. 155. he receives, we will fay, as much
with his wife. This gift is rarely in money ;
it is, generally fpeaking, in the effects of
labour, of which there may be abundance
in the houfes of their fathers. He is placed
in a farm of two ploughs $ they are confined
to the houfehold goods that are indifpen-
fible, and may let them have, for the firft
eighteen years, two horfes. The new-mar-
ried man has rio fervants, his wife is thet
only one. In the times of work, the two
fathers lend him their ploughs, and it is

fome

FRANCE. 175

fome time before the three other horfes are
bought, among whom there is not one
young one. They go halves alfo in a flock
of fheep : one furnifhes him with two
hundred for three or four years, during
which they divide the profit, whether
arifmg from the fale of wool, old fheep, or
wethers, for the females they are all kept.
At the end of the term, they divide what
are left ; half is taken by the owner of the
flock, and the reft is left with the young
farmer : he is affifted with cows in the fame
manner. The farmer fells his corn for pay-
ing his rent, the continuation of his ex-
pences, and his taxes ; and, after all thefe
are paid, what he can lay bye may be called
his profit. But there is commonly great
diflrefs before thefe payments are all made,
without encroaching on the fum for his ne-
cefTaryexpences; after twenty years of labour,
many die without having them, and more
flill leave fcarce enough to pay their debts.
The cGconomy of the farmer, an oeconomy
fo neceffary to his poverty, renders it im-
poflible for him to draw from his land as
much as it will give ; for, every day, from
a deficiency of wealth, he muft refufe his

farm

176 TRAVELS THROUGH
farm things the moft necefTary, and thereby
cut off a confiderable part of the nett pro-
duce, which he might receive.

Such a farm, as here ftated, of two
ploughs, will commonly contain about one
hundred acres ; one third of which is fal-
low, one third wheat, and another third
oats.

PRODUCE.

1. s. d.

33 acres of wheat, two quarters

and a half per acre 123 15 o
33 ditto oats, two quarters and

a half per acre 60 o o

200 meep 40 o o

10 cows 15 o o

Pigeons, poultry, pigs, &c. 8 10 o

247 5 o
His expences were 18118 o

Remains 65 7 o

Of this the landlord takes 25 o o

Taille and capitation 27 10 o

His own profit 1217 o

65 7 °
This

FRANCE. 177

This memoir lets us very much into the
flate of hufbartdry in Beauce, where the
great culture prevails, and where the lands
are very good, compared to what they are
in many other provinces. It appears, in
the firft place, that they are tied down to
fallowing one third of their lands every
year, which is a pra&ice that is found, in
many parts of France, to be totally unne-
cefTary ; but, while the fields continue operi,
it is unavoidable in a large parifh, as all the
farmers and proprietors will never come into
fchemes of new management. The whole
farm is arable, yet is there, befides the
teams, ten cows kept; thefe, and the horfes,
therefore, in Summer can have nothing to
eat but what thep can pick up upon the fal-
lows, or in the roads, which makes it ne-
cefTary for the farmers to leave their fallows
weedy : hence, therefore, muft refult a lofs
in the crop. In the flocking his farm, the
French peafant fets out fadly ; three ploughs
bought for 4!. 155. and harrows at half a
crown a piece : thefe muft be very weak
and infufficient tools for the work they have
to perform, or elfe the work muft be done
in a very incomplete manner. Confidering
VOL. IV. N the

i78 TRAVELS THROUGH
the fyfle m of management, the products
are tolerable, and fuch, I mould doubt, as
would not be regular; yet of thefe the
farmer receives only 12!. 175. for his own,
profit. How is it poffible that fuch a fum
fhould even enable him to go on with his farm?
yet it does this, but the confequence muft
inevitably be a moil weak and injudicious
culture. Such a man can ftand no misfor-
tunes ; the leafl accident goes near to crufli
him. While this is the flate of the French
hufbandry ; while the landlord has a paltry
income ; while the peafant is a beggar, and
the land never improved ; while the King
takes fuch an enormous (hare, not much of
which reaches his exchequer, and confe-
quently he is always in want of more ; while
this is the cafe, Britain has no reafon to
dread the hundred millions of acres of ter-
ritory, and the fifteen millions of people in
her rival's hands.

The 1 4th, at night, I arrived at Orleans,
which is not fo fine a place as I expected to
find it. The ijth I reached Bourges. In
my way thither, I (lopped twice, to make
enquiries into their hufbandry. I found
many vineyards, which feemed very well

culti-

FRANCE. 179

cultivated \ and upon feveral rivers I crofTed,
large trafts of good meadow, which they
are able to water at pleafure. One vigneron
gave me the particulars of the produce of
his vineyard in middling years, which was,
per acre,

1. s. d.
8 queus, at 54 gallons, at

2l. IOS. 2O O O

3 ditto, at il. i os 4 10 o

24 10 o

The nett profit was 318 o

Another vineyard yields :

1. s. d.

7 queus, at 3!, 2100

4 at 4!. 1600

37 o o

The nett profit 460

Some vineyards will yield a produce of from

30!. to 50!. an acre -, yet even in this the

N 2 owner's

j8o TRAVELS THROUGH
owner's clear profit does not exceed 5!. or
61. All the enquiries I make in this point
convince me, that, however beneficial this
culture is to the kingdom, the owner's pro-
fit bears no proportion to his expences.
About Nancy, their arable lands are all in
the fmall culture; yet fome of them, I re-
marked, "had the appearance of being as
well ploughed and managed as any I faw in
Beauce ; but, all through this country, the
fmall culture is prevalent. The management,
like that of the great, is, fallowing for
wheat, which yields about two quarters an •
acre, and then taking oats or barley, which
feldom exceed two and a half, or three ; the
owners make a much better profit from
their meadows, their artificial grafTes, and
other plants, than they do from corn ; yet
cannot they extend thofe articles of culture,
on account of the lands being all open. In-
clofures are very fcarce. The tillage is all
done with "oxen, which in fome parts of
the country are large good beafts.

At Boifbelle I gained information con-
cerning another farm. From my fir ft en-
tering France, till I reached Paris, I had
not made the neccfTary enquiries in this

point;

FRANCE. 181

point; but M. du Pont recommended to
me to procure them, as the bed means of
gaining a proper idea of the hufbandry of
any country. The farmer was one I met
with in the road, and he very readily an-
fvvered my enquiries. His farm confilts of
one hundred and feventy-five acres, one
hundred of which are in culture, forty-five
pafture of the ploughing oxen ; and thirty
of meadow, befides which he has a right
of turning his cows on the heaths. Of the
hundred acres in culture, half are fown
every year, twenty acres in wheat, ten in
rye, ten in barley, and ten in oats. The
meadow produces hay to the value of a gui-
nea an acre, which hay is confumed by the
working oxen. The tillage is done with
two ploughs.

FIRST EXPENCE.

1., s. d.

12 oxen, at 4!. 155. 57 o o

8 cows, at 2!. 35. Qd. 17 to o
2 mares, at 4!. 1 6s 9120

loofheep, at 35. 6d. 17 10 o

20 hogs 6 10 o

Carried forward 108 2 Q

N3

[i8a TRAVELS THROUGH

1. s. d.

Brought over 108 2 o

2 carts 626

2 ploughs 115 °

8 yoaks, &c. i 8 o

Chains, &c. &c. 256

119-13 o

The annual expence is 30 12 &

Taille 5 5 o

Capitatiofli 3 lo 6

8 15 o

PRODUCT.

They fow better than two bufhels an acre
of wheat and rye, and about three of barley
and oats, which produce, tythe and feed
deducted, about one quarter and two
bufhels an acre of wheat, a quarter and a
half of rye and barley, and two quarters of
oats ;

20 acres

FRANCE. 183

1. s. d.

20 acre* of wheat, 22 quarters

and a half, at 2 is. 23 12 6

10 acres of rye, 15 quarters, at

145. 10 ro o

10 acres of barley, 15 quarters,

at los. 6d. 7 17 6

10 acres of oats, 20 quarters, at

75. 700

49 o o

Add the tythe 520

54 a o

From which produce mull be deducted,

1. s. d.

Taille and capitation 8 15 o

Intereft of 82!. the firft expence 400
Annual advances 30 12 6

43 7 6

Produce 54. 2 o

Expence 43 7 6

Remains for the proprietor 10 14 6
N 4 The

184 TRAVELS THROUGH
The 30!. i2s. 6d. including the mainte-
nance of. the metayer, this remainder is the
rent the landlord receives from one hun-
dred and feventy-five acres. Nothing can
be clearer than the mifchievous effects of
fuch an agriculture, which can entail no-
thing but poverty and mifery upon land-
lord, tenant, and the public. Any foil
that is worth cultivating at all, muft be ca-
pable of yielding a produce infinitely beyond
this. But one is furprifed at a French
metayer (or undertaker of the farm) agreeing
to cultivate one hundred and feventy-five
acres with fo fmall a flock as four fcore
pounds ; and one is equally furprifed to find
the landlord, who ought to be more enligh-
tened, fuppofing fuch a fum fufficient for
the purpofe. While fo very little is beftowed
on the land, how is it poffible it mould
yield otherwife than it does ? Goodnefs of
the foil, with fuch management, has little
to do in the cafe.

The 1 6th, I took the road to Nevers,
which is thirty miles from Bourges. I had
a letter to M. 1'Abbe Morault of that place,
from the Marquis de St. Arnaud, who had
afTured me he would be very able to anfvver

all

FRANCE. 185

all the queflions I could afk him, as he was
particularly attentive to the whole courfe of
country bufinefs. The country between
Bourses and Nevers is not at all cultivated :
there is much furefl and heath land : nor
lias that which the peafants labour a good
countenance, which, however, is no doubt
much owing to the badnefs of their huf-
bandry ; all is open lands, and in the fmall
culture, and oxen only ufed. I remarked
fome vineyards, but could get no account of
their produce. Meadows here, which yielded
as much hay as is worth 253. an acre, are
reckoned very fine ones, and thofe who farm
them much envied by their neighbours. I
fuppofe an acre of good meadow in England
yields at the rate 4!. or 5!. The people in
this country, and, indeed, all the way from
Orleans, are, in general, very poor, and make
in every refped a miferable appearance : their
houfes are indifferent ; as bad as they ufually
are in England, where the cottages are poorer
than in moft countries -, a circumstance very
furprifing in fo wealthy a kingdom. The
cloaths of tlicfe people are extremely mean and
ragged; their looks denote hunger, and
the major part of the whole mafs of the

inhabi*

i86 TRAVELS THROUGH

inhabitants are beggars. Thefe circurn-
ftances make travelling through thefe pro~
vinces very irkfome : it is attended with a
miferable reflection, to fee To fine a country,
formed by nature to render all its people
happy, curfed with a government which
marks every face with diftrefs. Yet thefe
very people acknowledged thefe to be good
times, compard with the laft year of the
war. Englimmen, who do not pay a due
regard to that matchlefs confUtution which
fecures all the bleffings that nature or indu-
ftry can give, mould take the trouble to tra-
vel through fome of the provinces of France^
They will then want no explanations — no
afTurances of what a value liberty carries
with it : and, on the contrary, if the poor
of England, when murmuring and com-
plaining, for they know not what, had but
an opportunity of feeing what the poor are
in other countries, they would prefently
find out the propriety of humbling them-
felves a little more to their betters, who never
will be infligated to enflave them, with-
out thinking of that egregious infolence they
are lo apt to exert.

Upon

FRANCE. 187

Upon my arrival at Nevers, I waited on
M. Morault, and, delivering the Marquis's
letter, he read it with the appearance of the
high eft refpect, repeated often how happy
he fhould be to give me all the information
in his power, and infifted on my going from
the inn to fpend the evening at his houfe.
This I complied with, and found he had an
excellent houfe, a pretty garden, and all the
appearances of a good fortune. In the courfe
of converfation, I made enquiries concern-
ing the neigbourhood of Nevers ; he told
me he had attended very much to the agri-
culture of the whole province of Niverncis,
and gave me the following particulars :

The lands are occupied firft in the corn
hufbandry; — fecondly, in vineyards; —
thirdly, in meadows ; — fourth, in artificial
grafles ; — fifth, in hemp and flax ; — fixth,
in woods; and, feventh, in waftes. — The
corn lands are principally in the fmall cul-
ture, and thrown into the management of
fallowing, then fowing wheat or rye; and
after that barley and oats : there are 1 >nas
inclofures, but not many, iii whic'i the p o-
prietors fow what they pleafc, without a.iy
attention to the conduct of their neighbours.

In

i88 TRAVELS THROUGH
In thefe inclofures, the fyftems of manage-
ment are extremely various, according to
the inclination of the perfon ; but they are
ufually fown pretty much with lucern, fain-
foine, clover, trefoil, or fome artificial
grafs, the value of which, through all this
province, is reckoned very great. The fmall
culture prevails greatly, though not to the
exclufion of the great ; the latter is fcat-
tered about according to the wealth of the
farmers. Where-ever a peafant has a few
hundred pounds, he does not commence
metayer, but farmer, under leafe j whereas,
for being a metayer, he wants no flock,
or at lead but a very trifling one, of money,
to pay labour. Under the fmall culture, h«
thinks, that, upon an average through the
province, the land yields one third lefs than
it does under the great. In the latter, the
land is let, as in England, at fo much an
acre; rents of this fort vary, from 2s. 6d.
an acre to I2S. 6d. but few,, however, reach
the latter. Meadows and inclofures let
much higher, and a field, well planted with
lucern, has been known to let at 255, an
acre. Farmers in the great culture are uni-
verfally more flourishing, and in better cir-

cwinftances.

FRANCE. 189

cumftances, than the metayers in the fmali
culture; yet, among the former, M. Mo-
rault never heard an inftance of a man
being worth 2000!.; and 500!. is reck-
oned a large fum for the property of any
farmer. Though the great culture here is
fo much more .beneficial than the fmali, yet
there are fome proprietors, who flock their
eftates with fuch numerous herds of good
cattle, and with fuch excellent implements
of hufbandry, and are fo attentive to the
management of the metayers, that the
hufbandry of their farms exceeds that which
is commonly found upon the lands in the
great culture.

The products of wheat vary confiderably
through this province. In the inclofures,
and other lands which proprietors farm
themfelves, a common crop is three quarters
per acre ; but, in the open fields, when let
to farmers in the great culture, two quarters
are a tolerable produce. When the land in
the fame open fields is in the management
of the fmali culture, two quarters are a very
good crop ; and many lands are cultivated
in this province, from which more than a
quarter is feldom had : ic appears aftonifh-

i9o TRAVELS THROUGH

ing, that fuch ihould be thought deferving
of any culture. Rye ufually yields a third
or a fourih more than wheat j barley the
fame as rye ; and oats a fourth more than
barley. Thefe produds are thofe which are
ufually had upon the good foils, the loams
and clays j not the fineft, nor yet the worft
in the province. The beft lands in it for
corn, are, the dry loarns, inclinable to a
friable clay j there are wet clays, which are
bad, and much ftony loam ; fome chalky
foils, and a good deal of low marmy
lands.

The vineyards are pretty numerous, but
the wine they yield is not much efteemed
abroad ; and it is the foreign demand that
raifes and keeps up the price at home : they
chufe the dry, hilly, ftony iituations for
them, which hang well to the fouth ; ma-
nage them with vignerons, to whom they
give falaries. The grofs produce of an
acre, on good land, and attentively ma-
naged, is from 20!. to 35!. but very many
vineyards do not yield icl. an acre 3 none
exceed 4!. clear profit ; and many do not
yield ios. nett advantage. M. Morault
has remarked often, that the culture of vines

FRANCE. 191

upon the fame farm as corn, is apt very
much to impoverifh the corn lands; for the
vineyards get all the dung. They have the
effect of increafing population; but my
friend juftly thought this no advantage, un-
lefs the Government would take the trouble
of finding employment for them as faft as
they are bred. One good effect is, their
raiting a demand for the produce of woods,
in caiks and poles, which is a point of good
confequence, and not enough attended to,
fince it is a benefit of real confequence.

The meadows in this province are chiefly
the tracts upon the rivers, fome of which,
but not near fo many as ought to be, are
watered ; the quantity of them is but fmall,
nor are they inclofed, except in certain
diftricts ; but the refpedtive owners mow
their divifions, after which the whole are
paftured in common. Thofe that are wa-
tered are mown twice, and others fed in
common. They are much valued, yielding
a greater profit than any of the corn lands
in the country. Yet, from the low price
of all the produces of the earth in France,
thefe meadows, like every thing elfe, yk>l j
a value very fmall, compared with En**.

land.

192 TRAVELS THROUGH
land. When let on leafe, thofe that are
not watered are not rented at more than
from 8s. to 12$. an acre; but many that are
watered are fo much fought after, that they
let very high, even to 305. an acre, though
that is not common. Great improvements
might be made in watering other meadowy
yet, from the general poverty of the coun-
try, little of this fort is done.

The culture of artificial grafTes is not near
fo much purfued as it ought to be. M. Mo-
ralt aflured me, that lucern is one of the
mod beneficial articles of the husbandry of
this province. The heat of the climate
prevents their having any meadows of con-
fequence beyond thofe which are watered ;
others yield a very infignincant produce :
but lucern agrees well with the climate,
and, when properly managed, yields four
or five full crops in a year, each crop as
much in quantity as a good ordinary mea-
dow that is watered. It lafts twenty years,
and they reckon it to yield a produce of
from 405. to 3!. an acre, of which fo little
is the expence of management, that the nett
profit amounts to from 2os. to 303. which
exceeds any of the bed corn lands. They

both

FRANCE. 193

both make hay of it, and mow it, for giving
green to their oxen, horfes, and cows ; in
which way the advantage of it is very great.
Sheep and fwine alfo are fed to profit on it.
The beft foil for it is a dry good loam, or
clay, but it muft not be wet. Sainfoine
fucceeds beft on dry ftony hills, where it
yields very great crops, and is more valued
than common paftures. Many dairies of
cows are fed the year round on this
grafs, and to good profit. Clover has of
late years been pretty much cultivated upon
the lands that are not fubjecled to the ron-
tine of wheat upon fallow, and then barley
or oats ; they both mow it for the ufes to
which lucern is applied, and alfo feed it
with various forts of cattle. M. Morault
gave me one inftance of good management
in a farmer who hires his land by leafe;
which was fowing clover over his wheat
in the Spring, mowing it twice for hay in
the barley year of the common field, and
leaving it on the ground in the following
year of fallow : it is fo fed by all the cattle
of the field, as to be quite dunged, and then
he ploughed it up, and fowed with wheat,
at the time the reft of the fields ploughed
VOL. IV. O and

I94 TRAVELS THROUGH

and fowed their wheat. In this method he
has three advantages : firft, the produce of
the two mowings is better than the crop of
barley or oats : fecondly, he gets his wheat
on one, inftead cf three ploughings : and,
thirdly,, his crop is near double to what it
is in the common way. But this mull: be
practifed ooly once in fix years. The fame
farmer, finding the advantages of multiply-
ing his cattle, notwithstanding the taille,
fowed lucern upon a part of his field-land,
giving up every third year's produce of it to
his neighbours to mare with him, for the
fake of the great produce and profit of the
other two- Both thefe inftances mew much
penetration, and a great removal from that
bigotted . attention to cuftom, which is fo
common among the lower clafles in the
country.

Hemp and flax are fown only in the
richeft and deepeft lands ; the, quantity is not
confiderable : it is not reckoned a profitable
culture; a good acre of hemp feldom
amounts to above 4!, and the expences are
confiderable.

The woods are extenfive, and, in general,
pretty well managed, being kept in regular

cuttings.

FRANCE. 195

cuttings. This is a produce which fells pro-
portionably better through moft parts of
France than any other It is reckoned that
the woods, well planted, and properly ma-
naged, near Nevers, yields a produce of
from 15$. to 405. per acre; but the laft is
very great. In general, through the pro-
vince, woods yield about 8s. an acre nett
to the owner.

As to wade lands, M. Morault in-
formed me, that he would give me a re-
Commendation to a perfon who could fa-
tisfy me much better on that head than he
could, having wrought great improve-
ments.

Agriculture is reckoned^ upon the whole,
flourishing in this province, in comparifon
with fome others in this part of France ;
yet are the improvements wanting very nu-
merous, and fuch as might eafily be effected.
My friend had, in his own mind, formed
many plans, which he partly explained to
me, and aflured me their hufbandry wanted
nothing but the execution of them to arrive
foon at a high degree of perfection ; but, as
thefe plans included fome very important
changes in the admin iftration of the finan-
O 2 ces,

196 TRAVELS THROUGH

ccs, &c. they were to be efteemed but as

curious fpeculations.

The i8th, I took my leave of this gentle-
man, who had received me with the utmoffc
kindnefs, and on every occafion exprefled
the moft fincere defire of obliging me in
every particular. I took the road for Mon-
lins, which is atthediftance of about twenty-
feven miles. In my way I had to enquire
for a gentleman of the name of Rocquelou,
who, the Abbe Morault allured me, would
afford much ufeful information concerning
the culture of wafte lands in Nivernois. I
turned afide, from the road, to him, and
found his habitation in the midft of a heath,
part of which he had improved. Upon
reading the letter I brought from Nevers,
he made me promife him to fpend that
evening at his houfe, which I readily agreed
to. I found a great appearance of poverty
in every thing throughout his houfe, and
prefently discovered that there was fome-
thing very fingular in the manners and car-
riage of M. Rocquelou. He was married,
andfurroundedby a numerous family, which
feemed to take from him almoft all that
hillarity, which is the diftinguilhing charac-

teriilic

FRANCE. J97

teriftic of his countrymen. Upon my
making many enquiries concerning the
heaths and unimproved lands of Nivernois,
he began to clear up, and gave me an ac-
count tolerably perfpicuous.

He allured me, the quantity uncultivated
in this province was very inconfiderable ;
and that the exemption which the King had
granted from taxes, for twenty years, to all
breakers up and improvers of land not be-
fore in cultivation, had had very good ef-
feds inleflening even that quantity. What
waftes there are, are in general of a toler*
able foil; fome tradts very good. Upon my
fettling, fiud he, in this province (for I was
originally from Languedoc), the fmallnefs
of the eftate that had been left me, made
me eager to enlarge it, and I turned my at-
tention to the heath, which almoft fur-
rounded it. I purchafed feveral parts of it,
all which I (hould have improved, had not
my purchates taken fa much of my money
as to leave me in too great neccility to un-
dertake great things. I afkcd him, whe-
ther he had not found the improvement a
work of confiderable profit; and coniequent-
ly, if one improvement did not make way
O 3 for

198 TRAVELS THROUGH
for another ? He replied, yes j but, let
any improvements turn out ever fo profit-
able, ftill, if money did not abound in the
improver's hands, the work would not go
on with fpirit. The following are the heads
of his account of the uncultivated trades in
this and the neighbouring provinces :

They are generally either dry {tony
heaths, or wet bogs and marfhes ; the for-
mer are not all paftured, even with fheep,
though every part of them would maintain
flocks for fome months of the year very
well 5 the latter are peat grounds, applied
to no kind of ufe, except yielding firing in
the parts neareft to the villages ; but this in
but fmall quantities, compared with the
general extent. Of the former land he has
tried very many experiments. In fome
pieces, he has ploughed and improved, but
has found, that, in the corn culture, it is
of very little value ; a few oats, and a little
rye, the crops very fmall, is all it will yield;
but in fainfoine he finds it uniformly ad-
vantageous. For feveral years he has not
once failed in the culture of that grafs upon
it. His crops have amounted to two loads
of hny an acre for feveral years running,

when

FRANCE. 199

when mown for hay ; and, in feeding cows
and oxen on it, he has rarely made lefs than
he mould have done by good crops of wheat
in the bed of lands. The wet lands he has
drained, and converted to meadow and fields
for potatoes and cabbages, in which three
products, no foil exceeds the wet peat-earth,
when laid dry. As there feemed to be foine-
thing curious in this part of his informa-
tion, I defired he would be particular in
giving me a particular account of the im-
provement, which was as follows :

The tracts he is poflefled of are quite flat,
and, from the wetnefs, have no fponta-
neous produce. They are perfectly level
vahs, between rifmg grounds ; the whole
furface being peat, a mofTy wet fpungy fu fa-
fiance, to the depth of about four feet, and
then a ftiff whitifh loam : his method of
draining has been only digging open
trenches about four feet wide, and three
feet deep, at fuch diftances as to lay the
peat dry and found : thus he left it, for fix
or eight months, to fink, and become tole-
rably folid, which it did, after having
cleanfed the ditches out once, and funk
them to the white earth. He then ploughed
O 4 it,

too TRAVELS THROUGH
it, and harrowed in oats; but the crop was
fo poor, that he was quite difcouraged.
Being informed that potatoes would thrive
on fuch land, he planted the whole field
with them the year following. Thefe, with-
out the leaft culture, while they were grow-
ing, became a prodigious crop ; he thinks
not lefs than a thoufand bufhels to every
acre. Of thefe he fold, at three or four
markets, as many as paid him all the ex-
pences of his beginning, and left himavaft
quantity, which, not knowing what to do
with, he gave to his cows, hogs, young
beads, and working oxen. It was fome
time before any thing but the hogs would
eat them ; but, by degrees, liking them
better, they proved of fuch an amazing ufe
to all his cattle, that he then determined
never to be without them, for the purpofes
of feeding all his cattle, befides felling what
he could. Upon this ground he took a fe-
cond crop of them, which was even better
than the firft ; and alfo planted them for the
firft crop on another piece of the bog; but
here they quite failed, which again alarmed
him much; but attributed it to the right
caufe, the land not being in order for any

crop

FRANCE. 201

crop before the fun and winds had fvveetened
it confiderably. He tried oats and rye, after
two crops of potatoes; yet was not the pro-
duce worth reaping. This convinced him
that the foil was improper for corn, and ac-
cordingly ftuck only to potatoes during four
fucceffive years, which he multiplied in
fuch a manner, that he could not get cattle
to eat them ; yet he kept a vaft number of
breeding fows, and preferved their pigs, in
order to raife a great number of young hogs.
He found, that he could not fatten thefe
upon potatoes; but they brought them into,
and kept them in very fine order, fo as to
be ready to fell at market to fuch as wanted
them for fatting ; a fyftem which, upon
the whole, he finds more profitable than
any thing he can do with other forts of
cattle. Thus he feeds his fows upon them,
and their pigs ; and, when he weans their
pigs, gives nothing elfe to both pigs and
fow ; and thus he goes on, as long as his
flore lafts. Upon my afking-him, how he
fupported them the part of the year when
he could not have potatoes, he replied,
that had diftrefled him inconceivably at firft,
fo that, the firil Summer he had many, he

loft

202 TRAVELS THROUGH
loft as much by them as he had gained in
the winter. But going on in the culture of
potatoes, made it neceflary to prevent fuch
an evil. This he did, by fowing an inclo-
fure of fifteen acres near his houfe with lu-
cern, having feveral years before obferved,
that the hogs near Paris eat that plant with
great eagernefs. That he might have a
crop a year the fooner, he fowed it on a
fallow by itfelf, not mixing corn with it in
the cuftomary manner. This crop fucceed-
Ing well ; it afforded fuch plenty of food for
his hogs during the Summer, that he is
now under no more anxiety at that feafon
than in Winter. As to his manner of giving
the lucern, I fuppofed he mowed it, and
gave it to the hogs in ftyes, as the method
is in all the parts where I had made enqui-
ries, upon feeing lucern fields ; but he told
me he fed them in the field, without mow-
ing at all. He once tried the other way,
cut found that the hogs did not thrive near
fa well. He never confines them at all to
it, not even fows juft pigged ; but lets them
lun conftantly in the field, without any
thought or attendance.

After

FRANCE. 203

After fome years trial of potatoes, and
often exprefTing a defire of introducing fome
other crop befides them on the peat land,
he was told, that it was common in Peri-
gord to plant cabbages in fuch land. He
took the hint at once, and tried an acre.
Thefe fucceeded fo well, that he had feveral
acres the next year ; and the fuccefs conti-
nuing, he has regularly had a field of them.
I afked if they were better for cattle than
potatoes ? he replied, Not fo good ; but he
had found, that potatoes declined in their
produce, and the roots grew of a hard na-
ture, from growing feveral years on the
fame ground •, whereas nothing of that fort
is obfervable, if a crop of cabbages is planted
between, fo as not to let the potatoes come
more than two years together in fucceffion.
But finding, in this fy Item, that, as he went
on, draining and improving, his quantity of
cabbages and potatoes was fo great, that
he could not multiply his cattle quick
enough for them, nor afford the neceilary
expcnces, he determined to convert thai
which had been longeft improved into mea-
dow, and, with that view, lowed feveral
forts of feeds recommended by the farmers

in

204 TRAVELS THROUGH
in the neighbourhood. Thefe took fo well,
as to make a very good meadow, which has
continued fo ever fince.

I was defirous to know what was the
profit he made by thefe crops; he informed
me, that an acre of potatoes would fupport
twenty hogg of all fizes, including fows
with pigs (but not the pigs) through the
Winter; and that an acre of lucern would
feed, through the Summer, from fifty to
fixty of all forts ; and he has accordingly
found, that a due proportion between the
potatoes and the lucern, is, to have three
acres of the former to one of the latter, in
which management the flock of fwine will
be carried quite through the year. As to
profit, fixty fwine, which may take one
good acre of lucern, and three of potatoes,
will pay, exclulive of all expence?, a profit
of about 73. a head at the market, when
Ibid, or 2il. from four acres. This is
above 5!. an acre -> which, upon the whole,
appears to be very great, and fuch as is
made in no part of France from any thing
bat vineyards, not many of which came to
fo high a profit.

During

FRANCE. 205

During this part of our converfation,
Madame Rocquelou, who had before fat in a
fort of fulky filence, ihaked her head, and
faid, " Aye, Sir!— if he would flick to his
hogs, he would make money enough, and
we mould be able to bring up our family
decently ;-— but he muft be hunting after
experiments, — and loiing more in one part
of the farm than he gains in another !" Her
huiband, a little angrily, explained what
{he meant, by telling me he was carrying
on fome experiments in the drill culture of
vegetables, on the principles of M. de
Chateauvieux. Upon this I enquired con-
cerning them, and found my friend a great
advocate for the new huibandry. He allured
me it was much more profitable than the
old method ; that he had fields, of a very
indifferent foil, that yielded him good crops
of wheat every year fucceffively, without
fallow or dung ; that the method he fol-
lowed was a little different from De Cha-
teauvieux ; for he made his beds only four
feet wide, and on them drilled two rows of
wheat ; that he horfe-hoed regularly, ac-
cording to that writer's direction, and found
the wheat to fucceed as well as could be

wifhed,

206 TRAVELS THROUGH
wimed, and produce a grain much larger*
and more beautiful, than any in the com-
mon mode, as was acknowledged by every
body at market. But, faid I, what is the
nett profit ? In anfwer to this, he faid>
that the common method, on fuch land in
his neighbourhood, yielded about a quarter
and a half, exclufive of feed ; whereas his
yielded more than a quarter, exclufive of
feed. Where then is the advantage, replied
I ? In this, faid he : in the drill way, the
land is cropped every year with wheat, fo
that, in three years, the land yields, we
will fuppofe, more than three quarters, we
may fafely call it 34

but, in the common mode, it
produces only il

and the year following, it is
under oats, the produce three
quarters ; this is to be called
half the quantity, as oats are
only half the value 11

* —
In three years only 3

Gain by drilling

Which is a gain of a fixth ; fo that 600 acres,

in

FRANCE. ao7

in this culture, would yield as much as 700
in the old. This he thought very confider-
able ; but lohferved to him, that it feeined
to me to be a very inconfiderable fuperio-
rity, and one which muft be much more
than balanced by the greater trouble and
expences : thefe, he faid, were lefs, as there
was no fallow. " But there are drill-
ploughs and horfe-hoes," cried his wife,
" which have coft you more than all your
crops have been good for." This remark
made the hufband fo peevifli, that the wife
quitted the room ; at which I was forry ; for
between them I fliould probably have gained
the real truth. When me was gone, AT.
Rocquelou continued his account. — It is
true, faid he, the inftruments with which
the new huibandry is carried on, are not
yet brought to fuch a degree of perfection,
as to fufTsr one to cfcape pretty confiderable
expences at fetting out : the inftrumcnts, I
do admit, have coil me large fums of money,
and, with other difficulties, have kept me
poorer than I (hould otherwife be; but,
when I have had more experience, this ob-
jection will vanifli. But, faid I, it is plain, •
that, allow that the money you make by

hogs,

2o8 TRAVELS THROUGH

hogs, potatoes, and lucern, muft fupport
your drilling, as it will not fupport itfelf.
But that, faid he, is not the fault of the
hufbandry; it is merely the expence of the
inftruments with which it is performed.
That I muft confider, anfwered I, as the
fault of the hufbandry, in ths fame manner
as the expences of the common ploughs are
totally to be charged as faults of the com-
mon hufbandry. We had farther converfa-
tion upon this point j but 1 found him en-

thufiaftically devoted to drilling, and

talked of trying the fame management of
horfe-hoeing for his potatoes and lucern, as
for corn, which he had already done in the
cafe of cabbages, he faid, with fuccefs.

I muft here remark, upon M. Roc-
quelcu's practice of drilling, what before
had ftruck me upon reading M. du Hon-
nel's Volumes : the great deficiency is,
the undertakers of that mode of hufbandry
fixing on an improper object to exceed,
they fee a moft miferable huibandry around
them, and finding, from their firft compa-
nions, that drilling excels it, they think
the controverfy at an end; whereas, in my
Opinion, it is not begun. The hiflance of

the

FRANCE. 209

this gentleman is remarkable. He practices
two diftinct modes of culture ; the common
hufbandry of the country, and another,
which is either his own, or a great im-
provement, that of potatoes in peat land for
hogs in union with lucern. The latter of
thefe methods he finds incomparably more
profitable than the former. Now, in the
introduction of the new huibandry, which
object mould he fix on for a comparifon ?
that which is very unprofitable and bad, or
that which is highly profitable and excel-
lent ? Surely, the latter 3 for his exceeding
the former, is doing nothing ; he has ex-
ceeded it already, and why introduce a mode
becaufe of its beino: more beneficial than

o

another by a few degrees, at the very time
that a third method is difcovered far beyond
either of them. If M. Rocquelou thought
the lands upon which he drills worth cul-
tivating, furely he fliould have tried how
far he might have extended his other pro-
fitable hufbandry to them, of potatoes, cab-
bages, and Jucern; and, if they did not
fucceed equally well as on the peat land,
furely he might try what they would yield
in fainfoine, which he h in iccn culti\
VOL. IV. P on

210 TRAVELS THROUGH
on the fame foil, to great profit. But the
misfortune was, he fell upon drilling; and,
having ranked himfelf among the friends
of that culture, he has ftuck to his text, in
defiance almoft of conviction. Another cir-
cumftance, which has principally occafioned
this gentleman's drilling being fo very dif-
advantageous, is, the complexity, weak-
nefs, and expence of his inftruments. He
tried M. de Chateauvieux's drill plough,
which drilled one crop very well ; but,
while (landing in its place, a cow happen-
ing to get in, unluckily trampled on it in
fo rough a manner, as to bend a pipe, and
break other parts ; and, having fent it to
his fmith to repair, the fellow handled it
in fo clumfy a manner, that ever after it
was totally unferviceable. Since that he
has had three others ; all of which were
highly recommended to him : they were
none of them without merit, but not an-
fwering the purpofe for which they were
defigned, without perpetual repairs, he has,
as many before him have done, for fome
time pafl fet about inventing one of his
own. This mull: necefTarily be an expen-
five bulinefs. He has made feven, not one

of

FRANCE. 211

of which has pleafed him ; how much far-
ther the expence will be carried, I cannot
guefs. Yet it is nearly the fame with
horfe-hoes, fcveral of which he purchafed
and tried, and fince that has made feveral
of his own. I wifti he may fucceed, very
heartily ; becaufe, if he does not, he cannot
fupport the expence, and then the profit he
• makes by his fwine, which, as he manages^
appear to me a very important article iri
hufbandry, will not be fufficient to fupport
his drilling fchemes, and confequently he
mu ft be ruined. This, I fear, will be the
cafe.

But I muft farther obferve, upon M.
Rocquelou's pra<ftice, that it is not only
with fuch mod profitable management, as
his potatoes and lucern, that his drilling
might have been compared. Thofe who may
yet be inclined to copy his opinion, may,
perhaps, have an opportunity of feeing the
effect of other fyftems, fuch as the intro-
duction of turneps and clover, as in Flan-
ders, where their hufbandry I have already
defcribed to be excellent ; alfo fainfoine,
for fifteen or twenty years, and then corn
crops for fome time, which, in every part
P 2 Of

212 TRAVELS THROUGH

of France where it has been tried, has
proved mod highly profitable. This is an
object extremely deferving the attention of
gentlemen who have been induced, from
M. du Honnel's volumes, to practice the
drill hu&andry. I cannot venture, without
having pradifed either, 19 decide in any
fuch point as this; and perfons, like my
friend M. Rocquelou, who have much ex-
perience to enable them to judge right,
muft, I am fenfible, hold the reafoning of
an unpractifed one cheap. But, in the re-
marks 1 have given on his hufbandry, I
confine myfelf ftricHy to his own account ;
from which it is evident, that, if he had
pradtifcd no other hufbandry than the new,
that he rnuft have been ruined long ago ;
nor do I at prcient remember, in all the
converfations I have had on hufbandry, one
inftar.ce of great fuccefs in the drill cul-
ture.

I viewed M. Rocquelou's farm on the
morning of the I9th, and found his mea-
dows, gained from the bog, had a very
good appearance, and formed a mod admi-
rable coot raft to the adjoining 'parts not yet
improved : his drilled wheat made even a

better

FRANCE. 213

better appearance tha n I expected, from my
converfation with him the evening before.
But it is evident, from all accounts of this
hufoandry, that appearances are very de-
ceitful. He was preparing his land for
planting his potatoe crop, in which bufinefs
he feemed to be very fkilful. I took my
leave of him after this ride, and bent my
courfe towards Lyons, and, parting through
Moulains that evening, I laid at a farmer's
houfe at Boifly. The country, as I pafled,
has a very fine appearance, though not all
cultivated. Though rather a flat country,
yet the waves of gentle hills, which were
partly under corn, and part vineyards, with
the general motion in the arable fields, for
the barley and oat crops, rendered the face
of this trad very pleafant. Upon enquiring
of the farmer at BoifTy concerning the
hufbandry of the neighbourhood, he in-
formed me, that the management was fal-
lowing for wheat, then fowing barley, then
buck-wheat, and then oats ; a very unufual
mode for a French open field. It is exten-
five, and the farmers numerous; yet they
agreed to change the old method of fallow
wheat oats, for the prefent fyftem, which
P 3 gives

ti4 TRAVELS THROUGH

gives them a greater plenty of corn. The
land is, in general, a lighdfti ftony loam :
it is in the great culture, and the farmers
pay from 45. 6d. to 55 an acre for it.
Wheat yields them two quarters an acre ;
rye they fometimes fow inftead of it, which
produces fomething more than wheat j bar-
ley about as much as rye ; oats three quar-
ters an acre, and buck-wheat three and an
half. The people throughout this country
live chiefly upon buck-wheat cakes, which
are better than I fuppofed them. There
are many inclofures in different parts here,
in which they fallow but rarely, fubftitu-
ting certain crops inftead of it, by way of a
change, and improvement of the foil, fome-
thing in the flile of Flanders management.
Thefe crops are ufually cole-feed, turneps,
clover, lucern, fainfoine, &c. and this way
they find much more beneficial than the
common one*

The 20th, I breakfafted at Thizy, at the
houfe of a gentleman I was recommended
to by M. Rocquelou, who had affured
me he was well Ikilled in agriculture. His
name was Defaint, whofe principal fupport
ivas a fmall eftate there, upon which he

lives

FRANCE. 215

lives tolerably, with the afiiftanceofa little
poft in the revenue. I enquired of him
concerning the diftrift of Beaujolois, but,
finding him not fo intelligent as I could
have wi(hed, I left him fooner than I in-
tended, and fet forward for Villa Franche,
where I arrived by dinner, and where M.
le Marquis de St. Levain refides, to whom
I had a recommendation from the Count de
Finnel, lieutenant-general of the diftrict.
I found the Marquis was a man of a conli-
derable eftate, part of which he kept in his
own hands. He received me with extraor-
dinary politenefs, and many aflurances of
giving me all the information I could wi(h
concerning the country in which he refides,
and the following is the defcription of the
province of Beaujolois, which he favoured
me with in the feveral converfations I had
with him :

It is a barony belonging to the Duke of
Orleans, that is, the royalties, manors,
quit-rents, &c. and fome eftates, fcarce
any of the great nobility in the kingdom
having exteniive eflates, as in England, of the
whole property. Their income arifes more
generally from quit-rents, and various other
P 4 payments

216 TRAVELS THROUGH
payments from the fmaller proprietors, with
the poiTeffion of royalties, &c. The ex-
tent of the province is fuppofed to amount
to about eighty leagues fquare. Through-
out the whole territory the foil is bad ;
being ftony, rocky, and flerile, or elfe
fandy or marmy : nor is the climate fo re-
gular and good as in the provinces more to
the north or the fouth, which is partly
owing to its mountains. The hufbandry is,
in general, that of the fmall culture, and
with oxen, though there are exceptions in
fome places, where farms are let on leafe.
But in both the methods there are no great
exertions -, and among the renters there is
not one whofe farm lets for more than 20!.
or 30!. a year -, ib that fuch a thing as a rich
farmer is no where to be found here. There
are fome peculiarities in their methods of
conducting bufinefs, which deferve to be
noticed : their harveft labourers and
threfhers are not paid by the day, or with
money ; but have a portion of the crop,
which the Marquis thinks a very bad way.
Another circumflance in which they differ
from other provinces, is, the confinement
of their fheep to clofe ftables, inftead of

foldino-

FRANCE. 217

folding them; which hufbandry is as well
known in moft parts of France as in Eng-
land. In all parts of the province which
they think proper for them, mulberry trees
are planted for the leaves, and vineyards
are common in moft "parts of it; but, as
they manage, thefe two objects are not kept
diftindt enough, but do mifchief to each
other. The cultivation of potatoes has
been increafed furprifingly within thefe ten
years : very many of the people live upon
them, and they give them to their cattle
with great fuccefs. The fandy foils, or
lightifh loams, are what the people prefer
for this root. This province, lying in one
route from Paris to Lyons, alfo from
Orleans, &c. to Lyons, and with great
communications with Lyons, many of the
farmers addift themfelves extremely to
carting on the roads for hire, to which the
Marquis attributed, in a great meafure, the
bad ftate of agriculture feen in moft of the
parifhes near the great roads. Upon this
point he obferved, that the peafants, who
got into this mode of fubfifting them lei ves,
neglect their farms, and do not give them
the neceilary ploughings in due feafon, if

any

218 TRAVELS THROUGH

any work happens to offer on the road,
which, from habit, they like much better :
and they, farther, from frequenting hedge
alehoufes and cabarats, contract an ill cuftom
of drunkennefs, vice, &c. learn to be
thieves, and extravagant, neglecting their
families as well as their farms -, in which
ffote of poverty they can do nothing well
upon their grounds. This evil, he afTured
me, was very great here, and is felt, more
or lefs, in moft parts of France.

In the culture of grain, that of rye is
much more general than wheat, for which
the foil is not near fo proper. Their com-
mon wheat lands will not generally yield,
though fallowed, more than from a quarter
and half to two quarters an acre ; yet their
rye yields them two quarters and an half,
which makes them attend fo much more to
it. Barley is not fo much fown as buck-
wheat and oats, both which produce much
better crops on their foil. They are fown
after wheat, and in fome lands in a fyftem
of three crops j whereas, in general, it is
only two. For many years the Marquis
thought that the low price of corn was fo
great a difcouragement to the farmers in

this

FRANCE. 219

this province, that the culture of it could
not thrive ; but that, fince the edicl: of
1764, allowing a free exportation, the
price began to quicken for fome years, and,
fince that, has been rifen much ; and this
has had fuch an efFecT", that the quantity of
land fown has increafed every year. But
this activity, in cafe of very low prices
coming again, he thinks will all die away.
Hemp and flax are fown in fome rich in-
clofures, but in no great quantity -f nor do
they think that thefe crops are profitable.
Next to corn, the vineyard culture is the
mod confiderable : the whole country,
that is at all cultivated, is fpread with them.
They fend out large quantities to other pro-
vinces, to Lyons and to Paris; but the
Marquis'complained heavily of the mon-
flrous duties laid upon the tranfport of wines,
and their entrance at Lyons and Paris, which
have increafed every day. Thefe leflcn the
demand for their wines, which, from their
excellence, would otherwife be in much
greater re.queft, and the culture fpread^
without taking any lands from corn. An
acre of good vines, well managed, will yield
here a grofs produce of from i61. to 40!.

but

220 TRAVELS THROUGH

but the proprietor's rsett profit does not
commonly exceed 4!. or 5!. Upon my ob-
ferving to the Marquis, what I had before
remarked often in Champagne, that I did
not think fuch a profit at all adequate to
the expenditure, he replied, that it muft be
confidered as all profit; becaufe the land,
perhaps, would yield no other crop half fo
well ; and the money we fpend on our
vines is not to be thrown into other chan-
nels, as the country, being principally
open fields, we have not inclofures, where
we can do as we pleafe. If a man, inftead
of laying out his money upon his vineyard,
laid it out on his corn farms, he would pro-
bably receive nothing in return : it would
then depend on his beggarly metayers, who
feldom have judgment or ability to make
life of the advantages you put into their
hands : therefore, we have no choice; we
cannot fpend our money, under our own
eyes, in any thing fo well as vines ; and this
it is that makes us defirous of occupying
all our land with them that is proper for
their culture.

Manufactures, fubfervient to thofe of
Lyons, flourim very much over molt, of the

province

FRANCE. 221

province of Beaujolois ; the Marquis thinks
that half the inhabitants are fo employed.
Upon my afking him concerning the pro-
grefs of the Lyons manufacture of late years,
he replied, their whole province feels the
fluctuations of the commerce of that city ;
for, when their tradegoes badly, many of the
poor of Beaujolois are out of employment,
and ftarving. This they experienced in a
very fatal manner during the latter part of
the war, when the demand for the goods
cf Lyons was fo low, that many of the
mafter-manufacturers broke with their warc-
houfes full, and no market for them. Vaft
numbers of people were out of employment,
and in the greateft diftrefs, without a capa-
bility any where of relieving them. Thefe
diftrefTes increafed fo rapidly, that, had the
war lafled but a few years longer, the ma-
nufacturers of Lyons would have been re-
duced to three or four confiderable houfes
that had the fupply of Paris in their hands.
Upon my exprefling my furprife, that a ma-
nufacture, which worked fo largely for the
houfe-confumption, mould be fo diftrefTed
for want of exportation, he replied, their
dillrcfs did not arife only from that, but

much

222 TRAVELS THROUGH

much more from the falling-off in the
home confumption. Confider, Sir, that
every man in France grew poorer every day
that the war lafted; how then was he to buy
filks as formerly ? You forget that we have
no people, however low, but wear a great
deal of filk. The general poverty that
came cut fhort all their confumption, and
filk amongft the reft. In fuch a flate, the
effect of the war at home was much worfe
to us than it was abroad, in depriving us of
our export. Beiides, there was another
evil : when the manufactures in the pro-
vinces are in fuch fituations, thofc in the
capital, from their vicinity to the market,
get too much of the demand -, for where
men can have the beft chance for employ-
ment, there they are apt to flock ; for, if
one thing there does not yield it, they have
a chance of turning their hand to fomething^
elfe. This would be no lofs, if it carried
off from the provinces only the hands out
of work ; but it carries off the bell: and mod
fkilful, which is another fource of the di-
ftrefs which falls on the fabrics of the pro-
vinces.

The

FRANCE. 223

The manufactures of Lyons were, before
the war, fuppofed to be at as great a height
as at the end of the laft century. At
my expreffing my furprife at this, he faid,
there could be no doubt of it •, but that the
war reduced them three parts out of five.
Upon the conclufion of the peace, they took a
fudden flight, which lafted about two years;
but that they have continued rather dead
ever fince, and have not yet near recovered
their former importance. If the peace lads,
which, faid he, all good Frenchmen pray
for, they will recover, though flowly, and
would, with proper management, arife be-
yond any thing they ever yet faw j for,
where-ever the Lyons fabrics can come,
they deftroy the fale of all other filks.
Neither you in England, the Dutch, Ger-
mans, Spaniards, or Italians, can make any
thing comparable to them in cheapnefs and
beauty. But manufactures can thrive only
in peace ; and, if the King and his Mini-
fters will have war, they mud be contented
without money, for they cannot have both.
The Marquis, after this very fenfible and
interefting account of his province, con-
verfed with me about the hufbandry he car-
ried

224 TRAVELS THROUGH
ried on upon thofe lands round his chateau,
which he kept entirely in his own hands.
The NoblefTe in France are exempted from
the taille, as far as the culture of two
ploughs extends, and with fervants that
live in their families. The Marquis, for
this reafon, keeps no more, expreffing him-
felf with great warmth again ft that odious
tax. But he takes advantage of the King's
ediclj whereby an exemption from all taxes
is granted to 'the improvers of lands not in
culture before, during twenty years. He
pofTefies, within three miles of his refidence,
a very large heath, with feme tracts of rock,
and low marfh, of which he has the entire
property. Here he has wrought fome great
improvements : lie built a houfe for his
fervants and overfeers, flables for his oxen
and cows, inclofures for his iheep and
fwine, and, in a word, all the buildings
complete for a large farm. His heath-land
he has converted, after a courfe of tillage,
into fainfoine, of which he has a vafl quan-
tity always before hand. Indeed, I had no
where, iince I entered France, feen fuch
large ftacks of hay -as at this farm of the
Marquis's. His method of managing this

grafs

FRANCE. 225

grafs was to fow it with buck-wheat, on
a fine wrought fallow, and to mow moft of
it once a year. He keeps above an hun-
dred cows, who have little other food than
fainfoine. They graze it in Summer, and
in Winter fubfift upon the hay, except the
flraw they eat before they calve. Thefe
cows the Marquis lets out to his peafants ;
fome hires a fcore, others ten, others five,
and fome only one. They bargain to wean
and bring up the calf to the age of turning
out to paflure, for the Marquis, and pay
him, befides, 2os. per cow per annum.
Thus he gets rid of all the management of
the dairy, and, at the fame time, has a vaft
flock of young cattle bred every year, out
of which he picks the befl to keep for his
own flock. In this method he calculates
that he makes 155. 9d. an acre clear profit
by all his fainfoine, and from land, which,
before it was broken up, did not yield him a
farthing. But, fays he, all this has, and
will, depend on the exemption from the
taille ; for, in the prefent (late of my im-
provements, were I to pay that impofl, the
158. I make an acre, would be at once re-
duced to 45. 4id.; a receipt which would not
VOL. IV. Q be

226 TRAVELS THROUGH
be fufficient for the hazard of keeping fo
much cattle. This is owing to the taille
bearing fo hard upon cattle and their in-
creafe ; and you fee, that this improve-
ment, without the increafe of live ftock,
would die away of itfelf. If this circum-
ftance was well under/rood in France, it is
impoffible that fo pernicious a fyftem mould
be adhered to. I agreed entirely with him;
and he, to illuftrate the idea, farther ob-
ferved, that his tax, at prefent, would
amount to 218!. 155. Now, faid he, if, at
the end/of twenty years, when I am to pay
taille, the King would compound in future
for that fum, without any change, I mould
readily pay it, and continue to cultivate the
land ; for then, being at liberty in my fy-
flern, I mould not be with-held from any
work, by the idea of the multiplying tax j
but, on the contrary, whenever I come to
pay, I mall let all the lands that I have im-
proved, and begin a frem improvement,
with a new fet of buildings, in order for a
frem exemption from taille : the confe-
quence of which will be, that, inftead of
raifing above 200!. in tax from my old im-
provement, the utmoil the tenants will pay,

from

FRANCE. 227

from their fyflem and their poverty, will
be 8;1. 19$.; fo that the revenue will lofe
above lool. a year. Nor is this all; the
ftate lofes the difference between the pro-
duel: of the foil in my hands, and in my te-
nants, which is very great. I am confident,
continued the Marquis, that, if the taille
was modified, fo as to be made a general
repartition of a fixed fum on every farm in
the kingdom, to remain, without altera-
tion, in the manner of the agreement I fup-
pofed between myfelf and the tax-gatherers,
I am confident the amount of the tax might
be prodigioufly augmented, and yet the
people greatly eafed.

In anfwer to this, I mentioned fome of
the converfation I had had with fome noted
writers at Paris upon that fubjedr, and
named them. To which he anfwered, that
thofe gentlemen, with the beft meaning in
the world, had done far more mifchief than
good : their writings were, at one period,
fo much in efteem at Court, as aftually to
be in confideration as a matter of flate. But
when it was found, that, inftcad of confin-
ing themfelves to the abolition or alteration
of the taille and capitation, and to the free
z trade

228 TRAVELS THROUGH

trade of corn, they had pleaded, as an ef-
fential of their plans, that all taxes what-
ever were to be abolifhed; all cuftoms,
excifes, imports, entries, land-taxes, &c. were
all to be changed for a (ingle duty of their
fcheming. Their ideas frightened the whole
Miiuftry; abfolute impracticabilities arofe
every moment they refleded on the plan 5
and, after all, an event, at beft but dubious,
was the profpe<ft. The whole was then re-
jected with a contempt that was a fore-
warning to us of the plans of theorifts
never more being hearkened to 5 and thus
an opportunity was loft, which, had it been
improved as it might have been, would, in
all probability, have fo far changed the
nature of the taille, as to have obviated the
mofl material objections to it. An anecdote
much deferving the attention, not only of
France, but of all Europe, and a {landing
lefTbn to writers on thefe fubje&s, to know
in future the bounds of moderation.

I fpent two days with this very fenfible
and agreeable nobleman, who feemed, in
every idea, to have formed the jufteft no-
tions of the true fyftem of agriculture, and
intereft of a Hate; and, in all his con duel,

to

FRANCE. 229

to prove how much Beaujolois has reafon to
congratulate herfelf upon pofTeffing fo excel-
lent an example. If the other nobility of
the province would follow it, they would
do their country a moft eflential fervice, and
prefently (how how much more wealthy,
happy, and induflrious all the inhabitants
might eafily become.

CHAP.

TRAVELS THROUGH

CHAP. VII.

Extraordinary Hiflory and Account of M. de
la Place — His Improvements — Great Ex-
ertions Vifited by the Jlrjl Perfons in

France — Admirable Syftem of Life — De-
fcription — Remarks.

I LEFT Villa Franche the 22d, in the
forenoon, and, having no inclination
to vifit Lyons again, where I had formerly
been on my way into Italy, I turned afide
for Feurs, where I dined. This country is,
in general, rich and fertile, with many
vineyards. There are fome meadows,
that have a fine appearance, and abundance
of plantations of mulberry - trees. Silk
through all this country is an object almoft
equal to wine. I wanted very much to be
informed how much an acre, planted with
thofe trees, would yield in grofs produce,
and alfo in nett profit ; but the account I

received

FRANCE. 231

received were fuch as I could not well com-
prehend. The fame evening I arrived at
Moire, in Auvergne, pafling through a va-
rious tradt of country, part corn, part wine,
and part meadow. The principal part of it
is in the fmall culture : they fallow and
fow wheat, then they take oats, and then
buck-wheat. Wheat does not yield more
than two quarters an acre, oats about three,
and buck-wheat three and an half. Their
wines are not in the higheft eftimation -, yet
in many vineyards they make a nett profit
of 3!. or 4!. an acre. I faw many planta-
tions of mulberry- trees. The meadows are
inclofed with desp ditches, and are very
completely prepared, with fluices, flops,
banks, and channels for watering. Thofe
where the water is entirely at command,
are mown three times a year, and at each
mowing they get a load of hay an acre :
thofe which are let on leafe bring the pro-
proprietors a rent of 305. an acre. The
greateft improvement of a part of this
country I now pafied through, is fpreading
the practice of watering their meadows :
they have many trads yet not watered; but,
from their eagernefs in the hufbandry, I

fhould

232 TRAVELS THROUGH
ihould fuppofe they would not long be
without having gone over moft of them.

M. le Vicomte de Beaune being at this
time at IfToire, and, having a letter of re-
commendation to him, I waited on him
the next morning. He was unfortunately
fo much engaged in provincial bufinefs,
that he could give but little attention to
the letter. He was, however, very civil ;
told me, the only thing in Auvergne that
was particularly worthy my attention, was
the improvements of M. de la Place at
Murat, in the mountains. His hiftory was
very extraordinary, and his attention to
hufbandry fo great, that I could not fail of
being pleafed with feeing him. Upon faying
which, he called for paper, and wrote a
letter to him, which he gave me ; and I,
finding him much engaged, took my leave,
having my curioiity much raifed at the ac-
count he gave me of M. de la Place. I
therefore determined to make the befl of
my way to Murat. With this intention I
took the road thither early in the morning
of the 23d, and got there by night, not
without fome difficulty ; for the latter part
of the journey was very rough and moun-
tainous,

FRANCE. 233

tainous, and difficult to pafs; and, after I
was near the place, I had very near loft my
way among the mountains, fo that it was
late, in the dark, before I arrived at the
houfe of M. de la Place. It was fo late,
that I was much afhamed at coming to vifit
him ; but, upon my exprefling myfelf to
that purpofe, and prefenting the letter from
the Vicomte dc Beaune, he received me
with great eafe and politenefs, prefented me
to his wife, and his daughter, a young lady
of about fixteen. There was fomething
uncommonly plain in the drefs of all the
three, and alfo of a young boy that was
playing about the room, not many degrees
above that of a peafant ; the women were
clean, but M. dc la Place feemed as dirty
as if he had been at work with the labourers.
He was, to appearance, about forty; a
thin, but aclive figure; his . countenance
remarkably expreflive, with a fpirit and
animation in his manner, which could
hardly fail of being caught by every perfon
in his company. There was, under the
uifguife of his homely drcfs, all the air and
freedom of courage of a man of fafhion,
which broke out upon every occafion, in

fpite

TRAVELS THROUGH

fpite even of a certain affectation of con-?
eeaiing it. He had no more to do than to
open his mouth, upon the moft infignifi-
cant occafion, in order to convince every
eae that heard him of the excellence of his
imderilanding. His wit was clear and liberal,
and Accompanied fometimes with a line vein
tumour. Madame la Place feemed to be
about thirty- five ; me was not handfome,
but had the remains of fomething pretty -,
Iki eyes were remarkably piercing; (he had
& very agreeable eafe of carriage, and an
noderftanding beyond her fex, which en-
abled her to partake of every converfation,
and to add not a little to its agreeablenefs,
fry the juftneis of her remarks, and the
^uieknefs of her objections. I have given
this little account of my hofb and hoftefs,
notwithstanding my knowing fo little of
them at firft : but, as far as 1 have here de-
feribed, I thought I had difcovered their
character before the firft evening was over.
It palled, from my arriving at their houfe,
till I retired to my apartment, in general
converfation on the agriculture of the neigh-
bourhood. The next morning we took a
side liirough part of his improvements,

which

FRANCE. 235

which was repeated in the afternoon ; but,
before I give an account of them, I (hall
relate, as concifely as I can, the courfe of
life which fixed M. de la Place in this re-
mote retirement, fo far from the placx- of
his birth and connections, which was Nor-
mandy. He gave me thefe particulars with
great cafe and good humour, in feveral con-
verfations I had with him. I lhall give the
relation in the firft perfon, and in his own
words :

" Till you know me better, Sir, you will
not eafily conceive the pleafure with which
I reflecT: on my prefent fituation in lifej
though the fimplicity of my way of living
may feem, at firfl fight, to banim almoft
every thing which the world calls enjoy-
ment, yet to me, who, from much expe-
rience, know the frail materials of which
that enjoyment is formed, my fatisfaction
increafes with reflection ; and I am every
hour convinced more (Irongly, ih it men in
the career of the world, in courts, cities,
camps, ccc. are far enough from having
*./hat they are plcafed to call fuch clear and
indifputable ideas of propriety, impropriety,
and happinefs. My father was a man of

ccnfiderable

236 TRAVELS THROUGH
confiderafcle fortune at Caen in Normandy ;
he fpent much time at Paris every year,
and fpent it as men of fortune ufually do ;
yet he had fo far a juftnefs in his ideas of
life, that he could not bring himfelf to live
totally in the capital. He did not neglect
his eftate ; but reiided fome months at his
hotife not far from Caen ; and it was in
thefc- refidences that I firft caught the idea
of receiving pleafure in the country.

" My father defigned me for the army,
yet gave me a pretty good education, indeed
as good a one as could be commanded, in a
fyftem that was to end by the time I was
fixteen. In the year 1746, he procured
me a pair of colours in the regiment of
Pkardie, and that year I made my firft
campaign in Flanders. In 1747? I made a
fbcond, and was advanced. In 1748, Count
Lkmendalh himfelf gave me a company in a
».ew regiment, and I made the career of
trhofe three hot campaigns with that eclat
which every young man of fpirit, who is
arnm-ated in the fervice, is fure to gain in
France. About this time my father died;
the nobility and the eflate defcended to my
elder brother, and I was left with the for-
tune

FRANCE. 237

tune of my commifiion, and about 2oooL
which, by all who knew the eftate, was
confidered as .a very considerable legacy :
indeed it was fo confiderable, that my bro-
ther would not forgive me the temporary
diftrefs he was in to pay me, thinking, at
the fame time, that I had no pretentious to
any thing but my rank and pay in the
army.

" Upon the eonclufion of the peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, my regiment was disbanded f<
and I had then only the fmall half-pay of
a captain of foot to fupport me, except my
patrimony of 2000! . 5 yet, with this bare
fubfiftence, I entered into all the pleafures
of Paris with a vivacity that might have
told me the confequence. Yet a natural
chearfulnefs, which I ever poiTefled, conti-
nued to me the company of men of the
higheft rank and fortune, that I had been
acquainted with in Flanders. There is no-
thing fo flattering to a young man, jufi on
the entrance of life, as being carrefied and
well received by good company. Jt has a
^harrn too feducing for any thing but the
higheft prudence to withftand; and I had
nothing in my competition that had the

Ic.ift

fc?8 TRAVELS THROUGH

lead refemblance of fiich confummate pru-
dence. I lived, for feme time, upon a very
intimate footing with men. of the greatefl
confequence, and was much better known
to Dukes, Marshals of France, Archbi-
fhops, Governors of Provinces, and even
Miniftcfs of State, than to young men in
the army cf my own rank. In this career
I fpent my time fo agreeably, converfed
with fo much eafe, had connections with
fo many men of talents, and, in a word,
lived with fo much dignity, and fo little in
the way of vicious pleafure, that I little at-
tended to the ruin which was filently
coming on me. Though I was not extra-
vagant, yet the mere common expences of
drefs, neceflary for the company I kept, was
much too great for my finances ; and I pre-
fently found the end of my 2ocol. Upon
feeing this profpedl: nt no great diftance, I,
for the firft time, fat down feriouily to my
accounts j I fent for all my bills, paid
them, and found myfelf with a remainder
too fmall to yield either hope or comfort.

" There was always fortieth ing executive
in my difpofition. 1 never in my life con-
fidered long what to do, but always took

my

FRANCE. 239

my resolutions very quick, and executed
them with equal celerity j and it is to this
natural difpofition that I owe my efcape
from utter ruin. Had I not been quick in
my refolve, I might have protracted my
elegant fyftem of living by means of credit,
and found myfelf, at the end of it, not only
without a fortune, but with a load of debts.
This was not the cafe ; for, as foon as I
found that my courfe of life muft certainly
change, I determined to afk the Duke de

for a poft, to fupport me in a better

degree than my private fortune. This
nobleman had always been my beft friend,
and from office he was beft able to ferve
me. I (hall never forget the coldnefs with
which he received the news of my necefii-
ties : he gave me a muffling anAver j and
from that moment I was never admitted at
his houfe. Stung to the quick at this un-
expected treatment, 1 abhorred the idea of
a fecond requeft. I could not think of
going from one to the other with the fame
tale— living as a dependent, inftead of a
uiend, and lingering with hope that was to
be difappointed at lad, I renounced all my
great acquaintance in a moment; and

fpending

24o TRAVELS THROUGH

fpending an evening by myfelf in my apart*
ment, deliberated on my future life. To
flay at Paris was utter ruin : the army was
not open to me j and, as I could not wait
promotion, my half-pay would no where
fupport me. My brother was a confirmed
enemy ; his envy had done this, from feeing
me freely received in company, in which
he could not get admittance. I determined,
after about an hour's reflection, to fee what
Fortune would do for me in the Weft
Indies ; a refblution to which I was partly
induced, from having often obliged a mer-
chant at St. Maloes, who traded thither, by
fpeaking to people in office for fmall favours
for him,— and partly from having heard
accounts of that part of the world which
feemed to promife fomething to adventurers
fuch as I was.-— In two days I left Paris,
not owing a fingle livre there, and took the
Diligence for St. Malces.

" Upon my arrival, I called on the M.
Deferes, the merchant I had obliged, with
fuch fentiments of the gratitude of mankind,
that I fully expe&ed he too would affume
the coldnefs of his fuperiors : but I was
miftaken ; the man was grateful, and even

generous.

FRANCE. 241

generous. 1 informed him, that, by feveral
unforefeen accidents, my fortune was re-
duced, and that I was determined to feck
another in the Indies, hinting that I mould
be glad of a paflage on board one of his
(hips. He not only promifed it me readily,
but infifted on his houfe being my home
till the ihip failed. There I fpent three
weeks ; during all which time he was kind
enough to give me full directions for my
conduct in that part of the world---ex-
plained their method of living and doing
bufinefs, and the line of employment which
I mould aim at getting into, which, from
my ignorance in trade, could be nothing
but a clerk to a plantation, which was the
firft ftep he took himielf in Martinique, and
which laid the foundation of his fortune.
He gave me letters of recommendation to
feveral of his correfpondents, and would
willingly have had me accepted ahandfome
fum to fet me out -, but that I peremptorily
refufed, affuring him that I had laved a
fufficiency for that purpofe. When the
lime of the {hip's failing arrived, I took my
leave of the worthy man and his family
VOL. IV. R with

242 TRAVELS THROUGH

with regret — and entering myfelf on board*
fet fail for the new world.

" The voyage was a feafon for reflection.
The new life now open before me, fo dif-
ferent from that in which I was educated,
and in which I had patted my time fo gaily
at Paris, carried with it a contraft fufficient
to make the moft refolute tremble : I felt
myfelf to be utterly unfit for the office I was
going to folicit \ — from my birth I had
been ufed to an authoritative command,
compared to what I was now going to expe-
rience, even if I was ever fo fuccefsful,
fince at beft I mud confider myfelf as no
better than the menial of a trader ;— -every
reflection was a fevere wound to my pride. —
But I had taken my determination ; and the
hope of being able, in a few years, to return
to France with money enough to purchafe
refpectably into the army again, animated
me to undergo the trial ; and, as I did en-
gage in it, I refolved to act the part with as
muchfpirit as waspoffible, and to be the very
picture of induftry and attention to my bufi-
nefs. With thefe ideas I arrived at Mar-
tinique; and, waiting directly on M. du

Pri,

FRANCE. 243

Pre, the principal planter, to whom my
friend at St. Malccs had recommended me :
he read the letter, wanted a clerk himfelf;
and allured me he (hould be happy in
obliging his friend, by taking me himfelf.

" I prefently entered on my new office^
which at firft confifted of nothing but tranf-
cribing j but the diligence and activity with
which I entered every thing, both in and out
of theline of my employment, made my matter
entruft me much more than ufual. By de-
grees I wrote feveral letters for him to fign,
and pleafed him fo well, that he threw his
whole correfpondence on me, and finding
the readinefs with which I accepted all the
bufmefs he wanted me to perform, he every
day increafed it, and raifed my falary far
more than I had any reafon to expect; fo
that, by the time I had been three years
with him, I had fuch an allowance as
enabled me to lay bye 50!. a year, and I
had nearly the whole direction of his plan-
tation on me. His other clerks and ma-
nagers were fo backward and dilatory, that
it is no wonder I got the ftart of them ; for,
giving the moil indefatigable attention to
the whole bufincfs, I prefently made my-
R 2 fclf

24* TRAVELS THROUGH
fclf mafter of it, and faw the points wherein
diligence and penetrations were more parti-
cularly wanted. In them I exerted every
nerve, and carried order, regularity, and
execution farther than Du Pre ever dreamt of:
in a word, he found himfelf fo much at his
cafe from my attention, that he had in-
formed me of his defign of taking me into
partnership with him.

" There was a remarkable fimilarity in
our hiftories : Du Pre was of a noble fa-
mily in Bretagne, and actually at the head
of it, when poverty made him formally lay
down his nobility for a while, in order to
increafe his fortune by trade. He embarked
for the Weft Indies, bought a fmall plan-
tation, fucceeded, enlarged his bufinefs ;
but contracted fo good a liking to increafing
wealth, that he had almofh given over the
thoughts of returning to France.

" I was in this flattering fituation, when
I received an unlooked-for ftroke in the
fudden death of M. du Pre, which feemed
to come like a ftroke of Fate to level me
with the duft. He left an only daughter
and myfelf joint executors of his will, his
wife having been dead foine years, and to

m

'

FRANCE. 245

me a legacy of 5000 livres. Upon his 111-
nefs growing fpeedily worfe, which carried
him off, he had recom mended the mterefts
of this his only child to me in the flrongeft
terms ; adding, that he wifhed for nothing fo
much as our making a union of interefls by
a marriage, in cafe his daughter, my equal
in birth, was not difagreeable to me ; that
he had mentioned the fame thing to her,
and equally recommending it to her, having
the higheft opinion of my capacity and dif-
cretion, as he was pleafed to fay. This lady
was then in the bloom of youth, her perfon
perfectly agreeable, and her underftanding
beyond her age. 1 had often obferved her
with pleafure, and, without being in love,
felt myfelf in a fituation perfectly adapted
to receive the paffion. After the grief for
her parent's death had fubfided, and other
topics than melancholy ones formed a part
of our converfation, I took an opportunity
to mention that lall recommendation of her
father to me, begging (he would inge-
nuoufly inform me, if I could render myfelf
agreeable to her. With a generous open-
nefs, turned to captivate and command, fhe
anfwered, that I had long been agreeable
to her. This was a prelude to my happi-
R 3 nefs

246 TRAVELS THROUGH

nefs, and, in a decent time after her fa-
ther's death, {he became mine for ever.
With a wife I gained a plantation, which,
in value and Hayes, &c. amounted to at
leaft 20,000!. With the entire approbation
of my wife I fold the whole, receiving
bills of exchange on St. Maloes for io,oool.
of the money, fecurity for 5,000!. and 5,000!.
In fpecie. This being tranfacted, we em-
barked for France; but as my ill flars, I
fuppofe, directed, the war having broken out,
\ve were attacked almoft within fight of port,
by an Englifh privateer, and carried into
Portfmouth. This ftroke coll me 5,000!.
beiides other effects. Gaining our liberty,
we crclTed the Channel, from Dover to
Calais, and look the road for Paris, in order
to negociate at a banker's the bills on St.
Maloes. Upon our arrival there, being de-
iirous that my wife, who I had every day
encreafmg reafon to love and admire, fhould
pafs her time pleafantly, I lived fufficiently
at my eafe to catch the attention of many
of my old friends, who renewed their ac-
quaintance : and though I thought I knew
the world too well to view them with any
other eyes than thofe of a judicious indif-
ference,

FRANCE. 247

fercncc, yet their prefence in our parties en-
livened the fcene, and gave us a frefh tafte
of pleafure ; in the midft of which, I re-
ceived the news that the merchant at St.
Maloes, who had received cafli for bills in
order for remittance, was broke, by cap-
tures which the Englim had made. Thus
was 1 hurled, alrnoft headlong again, into
ruin, and a thoufand times curfed the mo-
ment I fold my plantation. I was now re-
duced to the iingle 5,000!. for which I had
fecurity in Martinique. We immediately
left Paris, and going to St. Maloes, the
only place where I could negociate that fe-
curity, we lived there very retired and
unknown, at a very fmall expence, until,
with much trouble, the bufinefs was con-
cluded, and we received cam for our de-
mand. It was here my wife learned that a
relation of her father's had died, and left
him a fmall eftate in Auvergne ; upon which
fhe put in her claim to it, and, with much
lefs trouble than we expected, procured it.
Not yet knowing in what manner we mould
fettle, living upon the principal of our for-
tune, and viewing every fecurity with the
jealous eye, we determined to fet out for
R 4 Auvergne,

248 TRAVELS THROUGH

Auvergne, to view our new acquifition,
which we did immediately, taking with us
the whole of our fortune.

'* Upon this journey we confidered feri-
oufly what was toLe our future courfe, when
my wife made a propofal, which was the
mod exprefiive proof of her excellent un-
derftanding, and the clearnefs of her pene-
tration : " My dear La Place, faid {he, you
have had all the experience you can wifh of
what the gay and the polite world are $ if
your fortune would allow you a life of plea-
fure, the f;iend(hips, the acquaintance you
contract, would, like thofe you once knew,
turn their back on you for every rever.fe of
fortune ;---the thing itfelf is not fo much
the objection as the idea which muft be
confcantly in our mind, that thofe who ap-
pear io kind are at bottom fo deceitful, — it
would poifon my enjoyment. We have alfo
had experience of trade; we know, that,
when the mod inexorable induftry has
amalTed a fortune, that yet you are open to
the knavery and the folly of many you deal
with, and may in a moment be ruined with-
out a fpai'li .. indefcretion. Let me, there-
fore, propofe a third fyiiem. You are going

to

FRANCE. 249

to view a fmaU eftate, that is certainly your
own property ; determine, before you fee
it, to take pofiefiion of the old chateau, if
there is one, in order to make it your reft-
dence ; confine yourfelf to the country, and
let the culture of a good farm fupply you
here with employment, and even amufe-
ment, which a plantation in Martinique af-
forded ; I {hall have no objection to a re-
clufe life; and you will at lead gain that in-
dependence and freedom from anxiety, the
want of which have hitherto deftroyed your
peace." This was an idea fo home to my
fituation, and flruck fo forceably on every
prudential motive, that I embraced it in-
ftantaneoufly. I replied, " If my dear
Cecilia can condefcend to live in the utmoft
retirement, furely I can." Upon her aflu-
ring me the plan would, of all others, be
the mod agreeable to her, we determined
upon it, and that we would not change our
minds, though the place to which we were
going (houkl prove ever fo remote from fo-
ciety, and the houfe as difagreeable as it
might. Fortified with a refolution that
really had the appearance of annihilating
that miferablc anxiety, which, had it con-
tinued,

250 TRAVELS THROUGH
tinned, muft have worn our very lives away,
we arrived at Murat. The black waftes
that furrounded it, the awful craggy rocks
that threw a folemnity over a part of the
fcene, the raging torrents that poured down
their fides, and the general drearinefs of the
territory, would have fhocked a bold mind ;
but we were prepared for the worft. At
kit we arrived at the houfe, whofe fituation
is far from unpleafmg ; on the rifing banks
©f the river, over-hung by a thick wood,
which hangs very nobly to the vale, and
the fight, at a fmall diflance, of a village,
cheered our hearts ; we were delighted, and
thanked Heaven that our lot was caft no
worfe. We arrived in the afternoon : the
next morning we took the old tenant, that
bad long lived upon the eftate, to mew us
the extent of our domain. In this excurfion
we liked it better. We found the^fpot
wonderfully romantic, though very wild,
and in the centre of a great uncultivated
trac~t of country ; our eftate extended eight
miles, along the banks of the river, and it
was four miles acrofs; fo that we had really
a very large country all our own. Of this
\ve had the exclufive royalty, and every

appendage

FRANCE. 251

appendage that could make our refidcnce
agreeable. But this quantity of land,
though entire property, no other perfons
having any rights of commonage upon it,
brought in a revenue furprifingly fmall.
Firft, there was an old chateau, roomy
and convenient, but out of repair ; fecondly,
there was a vineyard of four acres, which
yielded good wine, and a very excellent
kitchen-garden ; thirdly, there were eigh-
teen tenants, one paid for a right to feed
fheep on a part of theeflate, two others for
keeping cows on it, four others for fmall
plots of land, little larger than gardens,
and two who were called farmers : the reft
were cottagers. In fhort, the whole rental
of the eftate amounted to no more than.
63!. 6s. ayear. We made ourfelves acquainted
with all thefe particulars, vilited every one
of our tenants, even the fmalleft cottager,
enquired of them their names, profeiTions,
way of life, and wants ; and, in a word,
preiently became thoroughly acquainted
with our circumflances and neighbourhood
in every particular.

" Here, therefore, we fct out, with art
eftate of 63!. a year, and near 5,000!. in

our

252 TRAVELS THROUGH
our pockets. This was a plentiful in-
come in fo remote a place, where every
tiling was cheap, and where no expences
could well be indulged, but thofe of necef-
faries. But I had fuch reafon for fufpecl-
ing mankind of villainy or folly, that I had
long determined to truft no fecurity with
iny money ^ it, therefore, yielded no income.
This was a fufHcient inducement to under-
take the great woik of improvement. I
liad, in conducting, for feveral years, a
plantation in the Wed Indies, gained fuch
ageneral knowledge of agriculture, as enabled
me to enter rationally into the practice of it
in France ; for I have obfervedrthe great prin-
ciples of it are the fame in all climates. This
ne.c.effity of employing my 5, cod. in fome-
thing that yields a revenue, was an infliga-
tion fo powerful, that there was no doubt
c>f our trying the experiment. We farmed
far three ar four years in the common ftile
ef the country, under the inductions of the
jpeafants ; but, notwithstanding both our
attentions to render the bufmefs profitable,
we found we loft money every day. This
much chagrined us. Upon obfervation, we
found, that our expences in labour fo much

exceeded

FRANCE. 253

exceeded what the peafants themfelves fub-
mit to, that it eat out all our profit. To
remedy this, I took to the fpade and the
plough with as much eagernefs as ever I
handled a fpontoon or a fword. I determined
to make myfelf matter of all work, that I
might judge better in dealing with the la-
bourers, not to have very bad day's works
done when they ought to be very good ones.
By degrees I acquired, by habit, a liking to
labour, till that which at firft I followed
from motives of prudence, became an agree-
able occupation : nor muft I forget, that
the incomparable woman, the companion
of my fortune, was alfo the companion of
my labours ; for (he was as affiduous in her
dairy, as I could be among the labourers. .

" Still we were in a wrong path : we had
{tuck to the few cultivated fields, and
imagined there was no profit beyond them ;
whereas we met with nothing but lofs ; —
not fo much indeed as before, but more
than pleafed me. It was this expericncs
that made me examine the extenfive waftes
I was poflefled of, and which yielded me
no income. I determined to try what could
be done with them ; and with this view

inckicd

254 TRAVELS THROUGH

inclofed a trad: of near 50 acres near my
own houfe. It was a low wet piece of
land : I drained it at a coniidefable expence,
ploughed it well, fowed it with oats and
hay feeds, mixing much Flanders clover
with them. Nothing could exceed my
fuccefs : I had a vaft crop of oats, and, in
the preceding year, my new meadow made
a very handfome appearance. The profpe-
rous event of this experiment animated me
to yet greater works j I inclofed a frefh piece
of the fame land, larger than the former,
and with equal fuccefs -, I alfo inclofed a
piece of fixty acres, of higher and dryer
wafte, the foil a thin loam, of a light puffy
black foil on a bed of reddim loam, fo poor
that no fpontaneous plants grew in it, This
I ploughed very well ; and having, in Mar-
tinique, feen the vaft advantage made by
potatoes and yams, I ventured, at a great
expence, to plant this whole piece with po-
tatoes. My fuccefs aflonimed me ; the crop
was very great in every part of the field,
and I had fuch amazing quantities, thaty
after perfectly fatting my whole flock of
cattle of every fort, and feeding the whole
village gratis, I had many hundred bufhels,

which

F R -A N C E. 255

which I could apply to no other ufe than
treading into dung ; for the few markets in
this place I prefently fupplied at fo low a
price as 6d. a bushel. After the potatoes,
I had as fine a crop of buck-wheat as ever
I beheld. This great fuccefs made me en-
large my undertakings : I built two new
barns, a large building of a particular form
to lay up potatoes in, a granary, and {land-
ings for feventy head of cattle, befides three
new inclofures for fheep and fwine : I alfo
expended a confiderable fum in purchafing
a great herd of young heifers, and a new
flock of ewe-ftieep. In order to increafe my
growth of potatoes, which I knew would
fo well fupport them, I took in frefh pieces
of land of every fort, making it a rule to
inclofe as I advanced, and finifh near my
houfe, before I undertook any of my diftant
lands. I tried wheat, rye, barley, buck-
wheat, fpelt, maize, millet, flax, hemp,
vines, mulberry-trees, and, in a word, al-
moft every production which is known on
the befl lands in the fouthern parts of the
kingdom ; and, what is not a little furpri-
fing, there is not one article in which I
failed of fuccefs, though I have abandoned

feveral,

256 TRAVELS THROUGH
feveral, from the fuperior profit of others.
It would be tedious to give you every par-
ticular of my improvents : you will judge
better from a flate of my undertakings in
the fifth year after I had begun on the
waftes, hinting to you, that I had then re-
tained not an acre that was formerly culti-
vated, none of it being near my houfe.

Acres.

Of Meadow 90

OfPafture 80

OfLucern 22

Of Sainfoine 40

Of Flanders Trefoil 10

Of Wheat 10

Of Rye 45

Of Barley 10

Of Oats 100

Of Buck-wheat 80

Of Maize 25

Of Flax 20

Of Vines 5

Of Potatoes 100

Of Turneps 1 5

Of Fallow 40

Of New Plantations 60

752

Thus

FRANCE. 257

Thus you fee, that, in five years, I had be-
tween feven and eight hundred acres im-
proved, and yielding very profitable crops ;
and I had the happinefs to find, that, in
general, the products were very confiderable,
and anfvvered all my expectations. Hence,
therefore, I did not regret feeing an end of
my 5,oool.forby this time all was expended;
but then my improvements yielded a confi-
derable annual produdt, that enabled me to
go on with as much vigour as ever. This
was owing to our oeconomy j for, during
the whole of this period, and for fome time
after, we lived, in refpeft of family-ex-
pences, on the rental of the cultivated part
of the eftate, that is, the old rental of 6?1.
a year, upon which we fubfifled with fuffi-
cient plenty, with the help of the farm to
make our time pafs comfortably. That you
may judge further of my farm at that time,
I (hould tell you that I had on it,

Farming fervants 10

Farming boys 4

Farming maids 5

Labourers 29

Women and children 15

VOL, IV. S Working

258 TRAVELS THROUGH

Working oxen 46

Young (leers 122

Cows 75

Heifers 3 2

Sheep 300

Mules 5

Mares 2

Swine 150

and, at bufy times, many more hands of all
forts employed. All this might be called
a creation of fo much employment, popula-
tion, and valuables for the (late, as well as
myfelf. The village, from the regular em-
ployment I gave to new comers, increafed
in houfes prodigioufly. I affifted every one
with labour and cartage, who was defirous
of building a cottage, and to. every cottage
I inclofed a piece of land, befides giving the
inhabitant a liberty of turning a cow or two
on my unimproved land : and I am clear,,
from the experience I have already had,
that I (hall have my people increafe to the
full as fad as I can provide employment for
them. The flax and vines I planted in order
to increafe that labour which is beneficial
to large families of children, fo that they
might be able to earn fomething at every fea-

fon.

FRANCE. 259

fon. I have, at this time, above fourteen hun-
dred acres improved, and under profitable
arable crops, or elfe in meadow, good paf-
ture, or new plantations : I have every year
added fomething to my buildings, and re-
gularly increafed the cottages in the village ;
fo that I have at prefent a very fine farm in
hand, which, if I was to flop new works,
would yield me a regular clear income of7ool.
a year, which would, in this retirement, and
with the affiftance of necefTaries from the
farm, enable me to live in much greater
elegance than ever I enjoyed in my diflipa-
tion at Paris, when I was running through a
fortune, inftead of faving one. But fo
eager are we both in the work of improve-
ment, and changing the face of the country,
that we agree to fpend the whole of that re-
ceipt in frefh works. All our deductions
have only been a fmall expence in orna-
menting a rural fpot on the banks of the
river, where we fometimes dine in fultry
weather, and which my Cecilia mail mow
you. In all your travels, I believe, you
never yet met with a couple of people that
poflefled more happinefs than we have done
S 2 fince

•266 TRAVELS THROUGH
fince we fettled at Murat,— -or rather fmce
we began the work of improvement. All
that miferable anxiety about money, which,
in the world, poifons three-fourths of the
moments of three-fourths of its people, we
annihilated, by confining our expences to our
certain income. Half the imprudence, which
I remember to have feen among mofl of my
acquaintance, was the failure in this cir-
cumftance. People, with a fmall certain
income, and a probable larger one, would,
in their expences, clafs themfelves with an
idea of the latter ratber than the former :
the confequence of which is, that any dif-
appointments have the fame efTecl: as running
in debt. When we found that our nett
income was 63!. a year, and that what we
might make of our 5,000!. was quite an
uncertainty, we confined all our wants to
the former, which fet us perfectly at eafe in
laying out the latter. This rule we adhered
fleadily to, till our wants were pared down
to our allowance, and the ceconomy was
no longer difagreeable. Even when the
certainty of my fuccefs in improving ap-
peared very clear, yet we adhered to our

maxim.

FRANCE. 261

maxim, from a pleafure in contemplating
the increafe of fuccefs, and making affii-
rance doubly fure.

'« I have yet great works to perform,
which will call for all my profits. The
lands, of which I have the entire property,
amount, as near as I can conjecture, to bet-
ter than eleven thoufand acres, of which
fourteen hundred are but a fmall part ; and
yet I think, with pleafure, of cultivating
the whole. In a diftant part of it 1 have a
bog of about two hundred acres, which, I
think, might be drained, and would then,
I conceive, turn out the beft meadow on
my eftate, as I could throw water over
every part of it ; I have alfo other trafts,
which, upon examination, I find to be good
loamy foil, but fa over-run with fponta-
neous rubbiih, that the mere grubbing will
be a confiderable expence. I want much to
reach both thefe objects, as I think both
would be more profitable than the land I
am upon at-prefcnt."

Upon my afking him if he did not fome-

times feel a wearmefs, owing to the fcl'tude

cf his life, fo contrary to what he once had

lived in at Paris, and in the army, he replied,

S 3 Not

262 TRAVELS THROUGH

Not in the leaft j that the eagerncfs of his
agricultural purfuits did not leave time for
fuch & reflection. Was I to lead an indo-
lent life, and only lounge about my fields
to fee my men, reflections, and poflibly dif-
agreeable ones, would arife j but both my
mind and body are employed, and no night
comes that meets me unfatigued : fo far is
fuch a fituation from feeling a difguft at
folitarinefs, I have no fuch emotion, — no
idea of folitarinefs; my people,— giving
directions to my bailiffs, — feeing to the
execution, — fetting right all the little frays
that happen in the village over which I am
a perfect fovereign, — being much with all
my labourers, — attending my cattle of all
forts, and feeing that they are fed at ftated
hours,— -all this by degrees contracts you to
the people, and even to the animals, fo that,
I aflure you, I have what I might almoft call
contracted friendships with oxen, calves,
horfes, &c. as fportfmen find a pleafure in
the company of their dogs. All this is a
great fund, and a much greater is the com-
pany of my Cecilia, who, though my wife,
I mail fay, has fuch a fund of converfation
in the quicknefs and originality of her ideas,

that

FRANCE. 263

that it would be impofiible ever to want com-
pany in her prefence ; fuch a mind, not
biafled or turned afide by any quarrels,
bickerings, or difputes,— and living in per-
fect harmony, is to me a treafure I mall
not attempt to value. Thus, Sir, with a
wife, a family, and a farm, in all of whom
equally happy, how am I to be dull for
want of company ? Yet we are not abfo-
lutely without company ; we have occa-
iional virus from people, who, though un-
known to me, are defirous of feeing our im-
provements, and to all fuch we efteem hof-
pitality no lefs a duty of our fituation, than
pleafing to ourfelves. This is, becaufe I
never put myfelf the leaft out of my courfe
of life on account of any vifitant, whatever
may be his rank -, vifits of this fort would
be odious to me, if I was amamed to be
feen in a homely dirty drefs, and the fpade
or axe in my hand ; and if my wife had an
idea of blufhing if found in her dairy among
the maids, feeing to the butter and cheefe,
and drefled little better than the meaneft of
them. If this fyftem of reftraint was to be
the confequence, we mould mut our doors
eternally againft all comers. The Marquis
84 de

2<54 TRAVELS THROUGH
de Lignerac, and the Vicomte de Beaune,
governors of the province, make me almoft
an annual vifit, in order to ride over my
improvements, and they ufually bring a
fmall party with them. The Duke de Fitz-
James, the Duke de Richelieu, the Marmal
D'Armentiers, the Count de Maillebois,
the Duke de Noailles, have all been here,
and fome of them twice or thrice j and as
it feems they think there is fomething un-
common in my method of improving wade
land, they mention it, I fuppofe, at Paris,
in company, and that fends others, who
have bufmefs beyond Auvergne, in the
fouthern parts of the kingdom. Thefe
vifits increafe every year, fo that I have rea-
fon to rejoice that I never made any cere-
mony of them, otherwife my time and at-
tention would be too much taken up to be
agreeable to me, or my works. Several of
thefe noblemen have fpent two or three days
at a time with me, and I am clear they are
treated no where with fo little ceremony.
My wife, in her plain country drefs, and I
in my coarfe farmer's coat, lit down at
table, not a bit better drefled than a clean
peafaat. Oar fare is not much changed on

account

FRANCE. 265

account of our guefts, and never, on any
occafion (which is a (landing rule), any ad-
dition that comes not from the farm ; we
may fend a man out with a gun for fome
game, or catch fome fi(h extraordinary, but
nothing more ; and as to wine, I make fome
that is equal to any in the South of France,
the produce of our own vineyard ; our hours
are never changed on account of any body,
and we both follow our refpeclive employ-
ments the fame as if nobody was here. If
the gentleman has an inclination to fee the
farm, and my methods of culture, he goes
with me where my bufmefs may happen to
call me, and, at leifure hours or days of
reft only do I take rides, with a mere view
of conducting them about. The Duke de
Richlieu once flood by me an hour, while
J was in a drain explaining and mewing
the men in what manner I would have it
dug, and he even jumped into it himfelf,
and handled the fpade. People fometimes
exprefs their furprize at my working hard
myfelf, faying there can be no neceffity that
a perfon, whofe bufmefs anfwers fo well as
to afford the necefiary bailiffs and workmen
in fuch numbers as I employ, mould work

himfelf;

266 TRAVELS THROUGH
himfelf ; and, literally fpeaking, it is very
true : but I have flrong reafons for the con-
duct; I every day fee the advantage of
knowing practical iy all forts of work that is
done on the farm, and, without being able
to do it ones felf, it is impoffible to know
either when the bailiff is not impofed upon,
or when, on the contrary, he is unreafon-
able to the workmen. There is a nicety in
thefe things that the generality of people
never dream of : I never had a bailiff to my
mind, mod of them take as much looking
after as a whole tribe of workmen, and
could I at all times have every bufinefs go-
ing on in one fpot, fo as I could have the
workmen under my own eye, I believe I
fhould keep no bailiff; but, if I had an ex-
ceeding good one, yet there would always
be complaints of his againft fome of the
people, and of the people againft him,
which, do what I could, muft be decided by
rnyfelf j and my decilions, if they did not
fhew, on the face of them, and in the rea-
fons I gave, that I perfectly underftood the
matter/ I mould fet the whole bufinefs in
confufion, as no perfon would know on
what to depend, when there was no real

ftandard

FRANCE. 267

flandard of knowledge in the cafe : for,
where the people are all my tenants, living
near me, and no others to be had but at a
diftance, every motive continues to keep
the whole train of bufinefs fo plain and fair, as
to banifli difputes, fince the poor people muft
be opprefTed, if they have not juftice done
them. It is not, as in any other fituations,
where they can go to other matters : thofe
who cannot agree neither with my bailiff or
myfelf, quit the village, and feek a refidence
elfewherej but this happens very rarely
among them.

" There is another circumftance, befides
the profit, that has animated me much to
continue my works with all poflible vigour;
many noblemen, who have feen my im-
provements, have taken the hint, and exe-
cuted fimilar ones upon their own eftates,
and they have afterwards been with me
again, and informed meof their fuccefs. This
is being of fo much utility to the kingdom
at large, that it gives me the moll: lively
pleafure. For, though a great man cannot
do thefe things with the fame advantage as
a little one, yet his expending his money in

improving

268 TRAVELS THROUGH

improving the foil, is, lingly, an excellent
effea."

Upon my afking, if, in the profecution
of his improvements, he had made any par-
ticular obfervations on the heft methods of
conducting fuch works, or of particular
crops fuitable to fuch foils more than others,
he replied that he had made fo many errors,
and afterwards retrieved them, by a differ-
ent conduct, that certainly thofe points
could by no means be indifferent ; and then
he explained fome parts of his fyflem in the
following manner :

*c That wafte foil, which I find the bed
far arable crops, is the black peat or puffy
land, which feems a collection of roots of
different vegetables, quite dry in its natural
{late, of the depth of about a foot, and
under it a loam ; it is an extraordinary foil,
for the fpontaneous growth is fo contempt-
ible, that one would think it flerillity it-
felf. This foil improved, and laid down
to grafs, does not anfwer ; the paflure is
very poor, but in arable it is excellent for
feveral produfts : firft, it does beyond any
oth-.r 1 have ever feen for potatoes; the

crops

FRANCE, 269

crops of that root, which it yields, are very
great, even without any manure; fo that,
from an attentive experience, I generally
reckoned, that an acre of it, fo planted,
would fupport fix cows through the winter
with only fmall amftance from ftraw,
which is, I think, a proof that the land
muft agree well with the root. After the
potatoes on this foil, I take barley ; the pro-
duce very good, ufually from two quarters
and an half, in indifferent years, to four and
an half in good ones. I tried rye, wheat,
and oats ; but none of them would ever
come to any thing on it. After the barley
I make it a rule to fow buck- wheat, which
rarely fails yielding great produce, from
three quarters to five and an half an acre :
with the buck-wheat, Flanders trefoil is
fown, which yields a good crop for two
years, fometimes only for one, and upon
this I again plant potatoes. Here, therefore,
is my arrangement en this foil; i. Pota-
toes, 2. Barley, 3. Buck-wheat, 4. Flan-
der's trefoil. And this I find fo uniformly
profitable, that I have adhered to it : after
two or three rounds of this management,
the foil will want manure, and the time for

270 TRAVELS THROUGH

fpreading it is on the buck-wheat ftubble,
in order for the trefoil, which I never mow,
but paflure in the field with all forts of
cattle.

«' On the other hand, I improved large
tracts of wafte, which does, in general, very
badly for arable, but admirably for meadow.
Thefe are low flat fpots, that are boggy,
and the black earth wet, and of a greater
depth than that which I defcribed laft : thefe
will, when drained, yield fine crops of po-
tatoes, and alfo of oats 5 but, what is re-
markable, are quite unfuitable to all the
other products I have tried them with; but
when laid down for a meadow, with almoft
any kind of feed, prefently forms that which
is excellent, which yields very great crops
of good hay, and, if it lies fo as to be wa-
tered beneficially, will admit of mowing
twice, and even thrice a year ; and at three
mowings I have gained five loads of hay
from one acre, which is a prodigious pro-
duel: from land that was fo lately quite
worthlefs. Of this land there are great
tradls in different parts of the kingdom; but
nobody thinks of improving them, though
the profit of doing is fo clear as not to admit

of

FRANCE. 271

of doubt. The ufual indolence, in matters
of real utility, of people of fafhion, is, I
fuppofe, the real reafon of it.

" Another foil, which I poflefs in large
quantities, is a light thin ftratum of mould,
on a bed of rock, or very ftony ftratum.
This I tried in arable, with all forts of crops,
and found nothing that would anfwer well
on it ; rye and buck-wheat did the belt,
but even of them the crops were too fmall
to pay expences. Being informed by the
Marfhal D'Armentiers, that this was the
right fort for fainfoine, and that near Paris
it throve well on it, and that he had feen
it do the fame on the Rhine, I tried it. —
My fuccefs I reckon one of the moft valuable
parts of agriculture ; that graft has thriven
fo well, that I mould fuppofe this poor hilly
barren land is, of all others, the beft for it.
It has lafted in good heart eleven years,
yielding generally about two loads an acre
of hay, which I have found of amazing
confequence in my fyftem of keeping as
much cattle as poflible ; nor does it yet fliew
any figns of wearing out. After that fine
product of hay, it afforded a very rich pa-
flure for all forts of cattle. This is the

mofl

272 TRAVELS THROUGH
moft common of the wafte foils in France:
for I have feen immenfe heaths of it, and
been informed by others, that they have
pafl~ed over yet more extenfive tracts of it.
This aflonifhes me ; for, fhould I have con-
ceived every one pofTeffing unprofitable land,
which is fo eafily converted to fainfoine,
would be defirous and eager to do it."

Upon my afking him concerning the eafe
of doing this, he replied, that no procefs in
agriculture was more eafy. His method
was, to grub the wild growth, if there was
any, and then plough the land about Mi-
chaelmas ; thus letting it lie through the
Winter, in March to plough it a fccond
time acrofs the laft ploughing, to give
it a third in June acrofs, from a frefh
angle, fiorn corner to corner for inftance,
in Auguft a fourth, and in November a
fifth, which ends the fallow year. In the
following March to plough, and harrow in
buck-wheat, and with it the fainfoine feed,
four bumels to the acre. In this method,
the buck-wheat will be fo good a crop, that
it will pay the expence of all thefe plough-
ings of its own and the fainfoine feed j and,
in a word, all expences; fo that, in fact, the

work

FRANCE. 273

work pays its own expence ; and the farmer
enters at once upon a fainfoine field without
any other expence, and no other trouble.
This I call a very eafy acquifition, and you
will agree with me that it is a very profit-
able one, when I tell you, that I have no
fainfoine that is not worth from 8s. to 1 2S.
an acre rent, if let to a tenant : I make
more of it by keeping it in my own hands.

" Another fort which I have met with,
and improved fome of it, is the ftifF clay,
very wet, and very difficult to till. This, I
think, is much the worft of all forts of
wafte lands that I have yet met with. The
expences of managing it are very high, and,
when you have got it into order, it is fit
for nothing but wheat. I have been told,
that, with much dung, it is good for hemp,
but I never tried it; I have ufually laid it
down to meadow, and even in that ftate it
is not, by many degrees, equal to the bog.
I have been told that in England you value
it much, which appears very amazing to
me.

" One grand principle which I find cf-
fential to the culture of moft of thefe foils,
is the necefllty of ample manurings. The

VOL. IV. T import-

274 TRAVELS THROUGH

importance of this branch of hufbandry is
fo great, that it can never be fufficiently in-
culcated. The great numbers of cattle I
keep, make me an immenfe quantity of
dung, and the fpreading this dung on the
fields, enables me to keep yet greater num-
bers of cattle, at the fame time that my
corn crops yield proportioned to the ma-
nure. Upon my finding that the operation
of manuring was the fame in France as I
had before experienced in the Weft Indies,
I gave the utmoft attention to railing it in
quantities. My fyflem for this purpofe was
purfuing the method which the fugar-
planters ufe, that of mixing marl, loam,
and other earths, with the dung, as faft as
it is made, in penns or hills : I have ftand-
ings for all my horned cattle, and penns for
the hogs and meep; near the door of the
former, the dunghill, formed by cleaning
the houfes, is made, and along-fide the
dung-hill, I have a long riclge of marl or
turf, which a man works fine in the refer-
voirs of ui'inc, and, when fine and well im-
pregnated, mixes it with the dung as it
, comes out of the flables -, by this means the
quantity is greatly increafed, and the qua-

lity

FRANCE. 275

h'ty much improved. The effeft of this me-
thod in the culture of fugar-cane in Mar-
tinique is very great, infomuch that many
planters keep great flocks of cattle at a con-
fiderable expence, merely with a view of
making dung, which I do not hear is ever
the cafe in France. The fame method
with the earth is ufed for the fwine and
fheep-penns, only it is fpread about the
penn, and not moved till the end of the
feafon; by which means there is found a
very rich compoft. Thefe heaps of manure,
after the Winter, are turned up and mixed
well together, and are ready for ufe by the
Michaelmas following ; and I have found,
fhat, on whatever foil they are laid, and for
whatever crop, that the benefit occafioned
is prodigiouily great, infomuch that I be-
lieve it would anfwer to keep cattle for no
other purpofe but to make dung, if it could
be gained on no other terms. But plenty
of dung may any where be made, if the
land is planted with fuch crops as will en-
able the farmer to keep great herds of fwine,
which, both in the Weft Indies and at
Auvergne, are, of all others, the animal
bell iuitcd to making dung with profit. It
T 2 ought

276 TRAVELS THROUGH

ought to be the bufmefs of the good huf-
bandman to attend particularly to this ob-
ject j becaufe, by the judicious fpreading of
the manure, he infures good crops on the
worft lands, and it is the having bad crops that
ruin fo many farmers ; they had much better
have none, and let the land lie fallow -, for
then they would fave the expences •> and I
have obferved, throughout every branch of
agriculture, that a partial faving in expences,
oftentimes, and indeed generally, renders
all that is fpent ufelefs: it is therefore of the
highefl confequence to be able to go through
\vith a work without abating in expence.
If you have ploughed, drained, prepared
fine feed, and feen to every circumftance on
land that requires manuring, if that alfo is
not added, the reft will probably be thrown
away. In manuring, I have never found
any fort that was near fo beneficial as the
mixture of my marly earth with dung, in
the manner I before mentioned : I have
fpread the marl alone in large quantities,
but with very little effect j I have burnt a
large quantity of peat to afhes, and fpread
them for various crops, but with no effect: ;
1 have alfo remarked the places where the

wood

FRANCE. 277

wood aflies from the houfe have been fpread,
but could not perceive any benefit from
them. This has made me defirous of
raifing the greater quantity of that manure,
which I found to anfwer well, and made
me redouble my endeavours for that pur-
pofe."

Having remarked that M. de la Place
ufed nothing but oxen in his farm, I en-
quired of him if he adopted that practice
from being convinced that they exceed
horfes, he anfwered, " I have no doubt of
the fuperiority, and indeed have experienced
it very clearly ; horfes, to do work effec-
tually, muft be well fupported with oats, and,
what is of almoft as much confequence to
them, muft be carefully drefled ; neither
of thefe circumftances are necefTary for
oxen. My teams are ftrong, and able to go
through their work to my entire fatisfadtion
upon ftravv ; and, on the days when they
work, an addition of about two pecks of
potatoes each a day, the hint of which food
J took from their giving their mules yams
to eat in Martinique. In Summer they have
any fort of pafture that J happen to be
ufing. Now with horfes the cafe is very dif-
T 3 ferentj

2/8 TRAVELS THROUGH
ferentj they muft be kept up with oats, at
five times the expence of the potatoes that
are given to the oxen, with another vaft
diftinclion, that, in fie ad of ft raw, they muft
have hay ; then the oxen take no dreffing,
fo that one man is able to attend very
many of them 5 but horfes require a large
expence in labour for this. Another cir-
cumftance is, the difference of ihoeing and
harnefs ; the oxen have no (hoes, and their
harnefs is much cheaper than that of a
horfe. Laftly, the greateft fuperiority of
'all, perhaps, remains to be mentioned; that
I can breed my oxen, and make an advan-
tage by the breeding fyftem, beiides getting
the labour of the beafts. I have now above
an hundred and thirty cows, which yield
me, one year with ano:her, one hundred
calves ; fifteen of the cow calves are every
year fet apart for fupplying the dairy, and
all the reft, both male and female, are
caftrated ; I work both, from three years
old to five, and then turn them into my
richeft meadows and paftures to fatten,
driving them from thence to the refpedive
markets, where they are fold. In this fy-
Item I reckon I get all my work for the ex-
pence.

FRANCE. 279

pence of one year's keeping ; they are fold
fat, at fix years old -, whereas, if they were
not worked, they would be fold at five
years old, which makes the difference of one
year in keeping on account of working
them* This is fo fmall an expence of teams,
compared with the purchafe of horfes, and
their wearing cut, and coming at laft to no
account, that I think there can be no doubt
of the matter. Indeed, in this country the
mule is much more profitable and lading
to keep than the horfe, afod I believe
the afs better than either. As to the com-
parative ftrength, the horfes, throughout
moft parts of the fouth of France, are fo
fmall and weak, that the ox has rather the
preference ; and I calculate, that three
oxen or heifers are equal to two good mules.
Upon the whole, I have the greateft reafon
to think, from all my experience in this
point, that oxen and heifers are greatly more
profitable teams than either horfes, mules,
or afles ; and I have been often much fur-
prifed to fee fo many farmers of the con-
trary opinion, and preferring horfes; nor
have I been able at all to account for this
preference."

T 4 Before

28o TRAVELS THROUGH

Before I quit this article, I muft obferve»
that Madame de la Place did me the favour
of (hewing me the improvements (he had
made in her poultry yard -, (he had chofen
a very wild and romantic place on the river,
where, under the natural (hade of a pro-
jecting rock, covered with wood, (he had
built a fmall cottage, in the moft exquifite
tafte I eyer beheld any thing : the walls
were compofed of the trunks of trees, and
their crooked arms entwined in one another ;
the windows were partitions in various
forms, that happened to be furrounded by
branches, the effect much beyonc} any thing
in the Gothic ftile : it was thatched with
reeds and broad leaves j the chimney was
hid by being carried into a cleft of the rock,
fo that the fmoak came out above half a
mile off. In this cottage a woman lived,
\vho had the care of the poultry ; (he had
herfelf aTroom at the end of it, from which
fhe entered a kind of recefs open to the
river ; from tjie feats in this, you look at
once upon a moft tremenduoqs rock on the
other fide the river, part of its crags bare,
and part thickly covered with brufh wood ;
pa each fide a hanging wood, on fo perpeiir

^icular

FRANCE. 281

dicular a fteep, that it is furprifing how fuch
a thick underwood fhould grow on it ; thefe
woods are of fo large an extent, as quite to
£11 the eye in front. A little obliquely, to
the right, it turns, and furrounds a fmall
hollow vale, round which the river bends.
From the centre of the meep-wood a caf-
cade rufhes in the boldeft manner imagin-»
able, and falls, in two fheets, above two
hundred feet perpendicularly : the water is
of the mod lucid tranfparency, and fo em-
bofomed in the wood, that in fome places
the branches of the trees fpread before it,
and partly hide it from the eye, rendering
the fcene truly pi&urefque. At bottom,
being hid by a tuft of trees, it prefently joins
the river, which flows by you. On the banks
of it is a fmall lawn (not what a lawn is in
moift climates, but very pretty for France)
on which the poultry and water-fowl of
every kind feed. On the left hand it edges
in a (hrubbery, planted by Madame La Place,
full of the moft beautiful flowering trees.
Here are walks, and the roofting places of
the poultry : one of the paths leads you
again to the river, where it divides and
forms an ifland, than which nothing can be

more

2S2 TRAVELS THROUGH-
more beautiful; It is, in one word, a lump
of rock, trees, fhrubs, grafs, and flowers;
not of any extent, but a bold more ; behind
the wood are houfes for the water fowl, and
here they make their nefts. There is every
fort of them, and an equal variety in the
poultry. In England I have feen many ar-
tificial fpots made with the fame view as
this, but I never beheld any thing executed
in fo mafterly a ftile j all ornament of the
lighter gayer fort is kept down, nothing
appears that is not in unifon with the great
outline of the fcene; every thing is here
that you wifh for or think of, and nothing
that you could wifh away : in a word, it is
a mod perfedt work, that mews the tafte of
the excellent lady, who defigned it, in the
cleared manner imaginable.

Having fpent four days in the moft agree-
able manner, with this uncommon family,
J took my leave; but I cannot quit them,
here, without adding a word or two more
in praife of what I can never fufficiently
commend. M. de la Place, of all the many
Frenchmen I have known, has the moft
happy art of uniting characters extremely
different. He is the plain, honeft, open,

FRANCE.

Englifh farmer ; a character often found in
ouriflar.dj a finiplicity fo mixed with un-.
derfianding, as to ftrike you. Ke has far-
ther all the natural and acquired eafc, good
breeding; and polifhed poluenefs of a fine
gentleman, who has fpeht all his life in a
court. He is farther a man of deep know-
ledge and refinement, and often converfcs
on abftrufe fubjeds, fo fteadily, and to his
point,' that you would fuppofe he had fpent
half his life in a college. In addition to
this he has a heart evidently full of the
warmeft and mo ft amiable affections. Ma-
dame la Place ought to have much of the
merit I have thus given to her hufband ; for
to her I am clear is due a part of his per-
fections ; her great characteristic is quick-
nels. Jn my life I never knew fuch a cele-
rity of conceptions : her ideas have a rapi-
dity that aftonifhes and confounds one, and
would, if it was joined with the leaft fpark
of fatire, deftroy you ; yet her mouth never
opens but it proves every mild and agree-
able virtue to be an inhabitant of her bofom.
Her wit has all the fparkling vivacity that
flows from original and lively ideas, and
her common obfervations on men, manners,

opinions,

284 TRAVELS THROUGH

opinions, and things, have all the folidity and
juftnefs of the moft experienced as wellasdeep
reflexion. In a word, a more uncommon
pair does not exift; and, when the Duke
and Duchefs of Noailles attended them to
the plough and the dairy, they muft cer-
tainly be aftonimed ; nor have I any doubt
but the farmer and his wife have been con-
fidered as extraordinary a fpeftacle as the
farm* I forgot to mention, that M. la
Place is exempted, during his life, from all
taille, capitation, and other taxes, during
their life. The Duke de Richelieu fpoke
to the King, who immediately gave the or*
der for it.

CHAP.

FRANCE. 2*5

CHAP. VIII.

journey through Rovergne — Agriculture —
Numerous Experiments of M. Prefaint —
Defcription of the Waftes of Bourdeaux — •
Canal of Languedoc — Htijlandry around
Mirepoix — Comparifon of the Agriculture
of England and France — Defcription of a
Jingular Injlitution for encouraging the
Culture of Wafle Land in the Pyrennees —
Great Improvemenfs.

IT was not without the greateft regret I
left Murat the 28th, in the morning,
and took a bye road, over the mountains,
full fouth, towards Rodez, in Rovergne, at
the diftance of about fifty miles j but this I
was not able to matter > I flopped at night
at a peafant's cottage. All this journey was,
in general, over wild lands, that fcem never
to have been cultivated : all I faw were of
forts that M, de la Place had cultivated with

fuccefs -,

286 TRAVELS THROUGH
fuccefs -, but, except in fpots on the rivers,
here is neither people nor cultivation. Thou-
fands of acres that might be reduced to
profit with as littfe trouble and expence as
that gentleman's improvements were made.
I enquired of the peafants what ufe were
made of thefe waftes, and I found, that,
near the villages, which are exceeding
thinly featured, they turn meep and a few
cows on them, but that nine parts out of
ten yield no fort of advantage. Near
Eutragues, upon the rivers, the country is
all cultivated, and part of it very richly.
The watered meadows are extenfive, and
yield great crops ; many of them are mown
three times a year, all of them twice : they
are well inclofed with ditches ; and it is ob-
fervable, that moft of the corn fields, vine-
yards, and mulberry grounds, are alfo in-
clofed here with very thick ftrong hedges of
privet and thorns. The lands are fome of
them in the fmall culture, and others in
the large j but the peafants I converfed with
thought that the former is the moft advan-
tageous to the proprietor, and that moft of
the gentlemen in this neighbourhood take
very great care to have metayers only that

are

FRANCE, 287

arc of good fubflance j for whom they flock
their farms much better than any pcafants
who hire lands in the great culture flock
theirs. There is not fo much wheat fovvn
here as in fome other parts ; but it yields
from two and a half to three quarters aa
acre on the lands well fuited to it ; they
fow it on clover that has been watered about
a fortnight before ploughing, which is a
mode they find by experience to be very
good. Rye they fow upon the hilly lands,
and get about two quarters an acre ; barley
yields from two to three; there is not an
oat in the country; buck-wheat, millet,
and lentils, are all reckoned profitable
crops. A common method here is to fow
buck-wheat and clover with it, mow the
clover twice or thrice, water it, and fow
wheat, or fpelt, which yields as much as
wheat, then to fow millet, after that buck-
wheat, and then lentils ; and fo they go on
in a perpetual fucceflion of crops, without
the intervention of a fallow. There arc
other lands in the more common fyftem of
i. Fallow, 2. Wheat or rye, 3. Barley,
which are the open fields. Vineyards
abound pretty much ; they are often in the

fame

2SS TRAVELS THROUGH
fame grounds as the mulberry plantations.
An acre of good vines, well managed, yields
a nett profit to the proprietor of about
3!. i os. Lucern is very much cultivated
here -, they fow it on a clean fallow with
buck-wheat, or barley, and it lafts twenty
years in good heart $ fome fields of it are
thirty years old, and fome of the farmers
efteem it quite a perpetual crop : they mow
it five or fix times in a year, at each of
which mowings the crop is very large : they
reckon an acre will maintain five mules
through the Summer, and all Winter long
there is fome pafturage in it for fheep.
They efteem it more than any other crop,
and think that their hufbandry, in general,
would be greatly diflrefled if it was not for
it. There is a little fainfoine on the hills ;
but it is not near fo much efteemed as lu-
cern. They have vaft droves of fwine in
parts of this country, which are fed very
much on chefnuts : indeed, there are many
of the poor people who have had little othef
food, fince corn has been fo much dearer
than it formerly was ; and, notwithftand-
ing the richnefs of the vales, and the fine-
nefs of the climate in this part of France,

the

FRANCE. 289

(he people carry all the marks of extreme
poverty and hunger; they are much op-
prefled, fo that many of them have hardly
any notion of property.

I dined at Rodez the 3bth, arid enquiring
of the landlord of the inn, who was a civil
fellow for a French innkeeper, .concerning
the hufbandry of that country; he informed
me, that he had meadows which yielded
him four loads of hay a year in three cut-
tings, but that fuch products are wholly
owing to watering in a proper manner*
Upon my alking him what was efteemed the
proper manner, he replied, he knew not ;
for there were peafants who travelled the
country in parties, for the purpofe of wa-
tering, for about twenty-pence an acre :
they undertake the whole work by the year,
and are at all the labour, except the repara-
tion of the channels ; that they have a par-
ticular art in watering, in throwing on the
water at the right feafons, letting it be on
only a certain time, and in a certain quan-
tity ; that, from experience, thefe peafants
were able to conduct the buiinefs much
better than any farmer could do on his own
meadow, as was very apparent, from the

VOL. IV. U fuperiority

«$o TRAVELS THROUGH

fuperiority of the crops of hay gained in
lands they watered. Much they reckoned
to depend on the quality of the water that
comes out of the land ; that of a white colour
is not fo good as what is dark, and thick
muddy water much better than that which is
clear; what defcends from cultivated better
than from uncultivated lands ; and the befl
of all from towns, villages, and farms, all
which is reafonable enough. An acre of
thefe meadows will let for 2os. which is a
vaft rent for this part of the world.

I reached Milliaud that night, the di-
ftance about twenty-feven miles, through a
country pretty well cultivated. The corn
lands are generally open, and in the fmall
culture ; the works of hu&andry are per-
formed with fmall oxen, or mules and afles :
wheat is fown upon fallow, and yields
about two quarters an acre ; then they fow
millet, which produces a quarter, or a quar-
ter and a half, and then barley, or buck-
wheat; the former yields three quarters,
the latter four. The metayers are gene-
rally poor and miferable, making fcarce any
thing more than fufficient to pay their own
labour; but the farms are fo fmall, that

they

FRANCE. apt

they cannot poflibly be in tolerable circum-
ftances. The country is, upon the whole,
very populous and poor; for the number
of half-naked and half-ftarved beggars is
incredible, which furprifed me, being out
of the common route of travellers. Thi<
want of employment in fo many people,
while fuch great traces on every hand are
wafte, is a ftrong reflection on the govern-
ment of the kingdom, which, by very flight
exertions, might certainly fet many of them
to work. The price of labour through all
this country is furprifmgly low ; a ftout
man, in hufbandry work, can be liad, at
this time of the year; and all Winter
through, for 4d. a day, and in Summer for
6d. This is a very favourable clrcumftance
to their agriculture, and would be highly fo
to improving the uncultivated wafte tracts.
Women, who are able to do as much as men,
have 3d. and at other feafons 4ld. ; girls
and boys have fome of them down to id. a
day : there are no fuch prices in England.
At thefe rates furely the people might, with
no great difficulty, be fet to fome other
work than begging.

U z i

292 TRAVELS THROUGH

The 31 ft. I got to Alby, which was a
long day's journey of more than fifty miles;
the road runs along the river, are in a very
beautiful, and, in fome places, a romantic
manner. Near this town lives a M. de
Prefaint, to whom I had a letter from the
Duke de Goutant, as a man extremely cu-
lious in experiments in hufoandry. The
i ft of April I waited on him ; he lives ahout
four miles from the town: he received me
very politely, and affured me he mould be
perfectly happy if the fight of his experi-
ments, and any account of them he could
give, would add at all to rny pleafure. He
walked with me foon after into a field of
about ten acres behind his houfe, which was
(except a meadow and a pafhire) all his
farm ; but this field was truly midtiim in
farvo-i he had a great variety of fmall expe-
riments upon many grafles ; alfo upon roots,
but none upon corn ; feveral were then fo vy-
ing with carrots, potatoes, parfnips, fccr-
zoneras, turneps, &c. and there were
abundance of grafles in their growth. View-
ing any thing of this fort, though very
pleafing, acquires no information ; thefe
were exceeding neatly and accurately kept,
< • fo

FRANCE.

fb as to make a very pretty regular appear-
ance. M. Prefaint, however, read me the
minutes of moft of them, and begged I
would tranfcribe whatever J thought pro-
per. This would have been too long a
work ; however, he gave me, among*many
others, the following particulars, with an
account of his motives and deligns of form-
ing thefe experiments :

He faid, that as the husbandry of corn
was very well underflood, and generally
practifed in France, he had bent his atten-
tion towards objects which were neither the
one nor the other; but, on the contrary,
very much neglected, which was the agri-
culture of thofe plants, which were parti-
cularly adapted to feeding cattle ; of thefe
he tried experiments on roots for their
Wintei's fupport, and on grafles for that of
Summer ; that of the former, he had par-
ticularly attended to carrots, parfnips, a'nd
potatoes, all of which were very valuable
for cattle ; but the culture of them not well
known in France : upon carrots fcvcral ex-»
periments were comparative.

U a He

294 TRAVELS THROUGH

He tried them in feveral divifions, in the
following methods :

j. Sown at random

2. Drilled at one foot afunder

3. two feet

4. three feet

5. one foot fquare.
This trial was repeated feveral years fuo

ceffively, and the refult was, that the drill-
ing at one foot afunder yielded the largeft
crop, and at the leaft expence.

For manuring he tried them on loams :

1. Manured with fand

2. with clay

3. with horfe dung

4. with cow dung

5. with meep's dung

6. fwines dung

7. Without any manure -, all of thern

drilled at one foot afunder.
The refult was, the fand- clay, and no
rnanure, were equal ; the fwines dungbeft;
the meep's dung next ; the horfe and cow
equal, but much fuperior to fand or clay.
Refpeding the preparations, he tried the
following :

I. Dug

FRANCE. 295

1. Dug quite fine, to depth of 6 inches

2. I foot

3. 1* foot

4. 2 feet.
The refult, one and one and an half feet

were equal ; fix inches the next, and two
feet inferior to the others.

Correfponding experiments were tried on
parihj.ps, and the refult the fame as carrots.

On potatoes he tried in refpeft of feed,

1. Whole and large potatoes planted

2. Ditto fmall

3. Ditto very fmall

4. Large flices, with feveral eyes

5. Ditto, with tingle ones.

The refult was, that the beft produce
was from the large flices with feveral eyes ;
the very fmall ones yielded fcarce any
Crop.

In manuring with fand, clay, horfe, cow,
fheep, and fwine dung, the fwine and horfe
were equal and beft ; land and clay bad.

Of the importance in general of manuring
the foil for them, it appeared, on trial,
that a piece, manured at the rate of thirty
tons of the fwine dung to the acre, yielded
after the proportion of fix hundred bufhels
U 4 per

296 TRAVELS THROUGH

per acre ; manured with twenty tons, if
produced only three hundred and fifty ; and
with.no manure at all no more than one
hundred and feventy; which is a clear proof
of the confequence of being liberal in ma-
nuring for this root.

He alfo found, upon experiment, that 3,
bufhel of potatoes was a very good day's
food for a large working ox, or a milclj
. cow, with the affiftance of a fmall quantity
of draw, or, if the weather was not fevere,
with running on a common or indifferent
pafture ; an acre, therefore, producing, as
above, fix hundred bufhels, will fupport an
ox or cow fix hundred days ; but, as the
Winter is not more than one hundred and
fixty days, an acre nearly maintains four of
them. This piece of intelligence M. Pre-
faint feemed to think very important, as it
opened to the hufbandman a field for the
Winter fupport of cattle, which was, of all
other things, what was molt wanting in
in oft parts of France.

He has alfo found, by experiment, that
three large lean hogs will eat two pecks in
a day, or fix of them a bumel a day ; fp
that acre will carry twenty-four of them

through

FRANCE. 297

through the Winter, which is an object yet
fpore important than the other.

He has tried many different forts of por
tatoes, and prefers the long red fort, which
is called the Alface potatoe ; he has tried
cattle with this, and others, at the fame
time, and found they always preferred ij;
it has alfo this advantage, that the crops of
pf it are ufually very plentiful.

In his culture of turneps, he has aimed
principally at getting them to as great a fize
as pofiible by means of manuring, and has
fucceedcd fo far, as to produce fome of ^jlb.
weight.

The grafTes he has principally confined
himfelf to are lucern, fainfoine, clover, and
cfparcet, which is a fort of fainfoine, but
inferior. He is fonder of clover than of
any ; he finds, that by giving the plants
j-oom, and keeping them clean, it is a laft>
ing plant : he has compared it in tranfplan-
tation and fetting at various diftances, and
finds, that at one foot fquare from plant
to plant, the produce is at the rate of eight
loads of hay an acre, which exceeds his
lucern,— but he admits, that cattle prefer
$he lucern, either green or in hay; fain-
foine

298 TRAVELS THROUGH
foine and efparcet are inferior to both. In
manuring clover, lie tried the following ex-
periments :

1. Manured with 10 tons horfe-dung per acre

2. 15 tons ditto

3. 20 tons ditto

4. jo tons fwines dung

5. No manure.

All of them were fet, the plants at one foot
fquare. The refill t,

1. Produced 5 loads of hay per acre

2. 6 loads ditto

3. 7 loads ditto

4. 5 loads ditto

5. 4 loads ditto

"which fhews, as he obfcrved, that, in exact
proportion as you manure for this grafs, in
fuch proportion will your produce be.

He has found, by experiment, that, when
clover is mown green, and given to cattle,
that it feeds at the rate of five oxen or cows
per acre through the Summer; lucern will
not, in the fame manner, feed above four
and a half, and fiinfoine not four : and he
obferved, that by having alarge field of clover
cultivated upon his principles, the number
of cattle to be kept is very confiderable.

Tea

FRANCE. 299

Ten acres will carry fifty oxen or cows .
twenty acres an hundred, which are a vaft
flock of cattle for fo fmall a fpacc of ground.

If clover is thus mown, and given to
fvvine in ftyes, he has found that an acre
will keep, through the Summer, thirty large
hogs; if they did not make much wafte, it
would fupport near fifty, but they make
much into dung. It before appeared, that
an acre of potatoes will carry twenty-four
fuch fwine through the Winter ; we may
fay, an acre and one fifth of an acre will
carry thirty : and then two acres and
one-fifth fupports thirty of thefe large
hogs through the whole year, which would
be a prodigious acquifition to the farmers,
who, in their prefent methods, cannot keep
Julf fo many upon a middling farm.

I objeifted to thefe fmall trials, that they
were managed fo carefully, that probably
they would not anfwer equally in large;
but he would not admit that : he faid, if
the fame expence in dung, tillage, and
cleaning was beftowed in large, the plants
muft certainly be the fame; but this ap-
peared to me too great a difficulty, almofl
unpradicable. There is, however, much

ingenuity

30P TRAVELS THROUGH
ingenuity in thefe trials of M. Prefaint; and
a man who amufes with trying fuch, will
fcarcely fail of making fome ufeful difcove-
jries, even though his experiments be in ge-
neral too fmall to be followed.

But whatever objections might be made
to this gentlem in's experiments, there could
be none to his converfation, which abounded
with fo much information on the fub-
jecl: of agriculture, that it was impoffible
to be in his company without profiting
confiderably. Happening accidentally to
mention an inclination I had to fee the heaths
of Bourdeaux, he told me that he had twice
travelled over them, in puffing from Bayone
to Bourdeaux, and from Ayre thither;
that as I intended to pafs into Spain, I
muft by all means do it by Roupillon, an4
through Catalonia, or I mould efcape feeing
the fineft part of Spain. Upon this I enr
quired of him concerning that vaft trad of
uncultivated land, and the account he gave
ine was as follows :

" They extend, in one vaft meet of wafte,
Cxty miles in length, by forty in breadth,
and contain above fifteen hundred thou-
fand acres. In all the journey I twice took

acrofs

FRANCE. 30*

acrofs them, I did not once fee a fpot that
could not be cultivated, except bare rock,
which, however, is not common ; in moft
parts the foil is either a find or a bog, but
infinitely diverfified ; the lighteft and worft
fands of them would yield fine crops of car-
rots, potatoes, buck- wheat, rye, lentib,
and other roots and grains, if thrown into a
proper fyftem of management. There arc
vaft traces of fandy loam that would be fer-
tile in every production I have cultivated iti
my experiment field, and would yield fine
wheat. In a word, it is impoflible to be
owing to the badnefs of the foil that thefe
lands are not cultivated."

To what is it owing then ? faid I.

" Much the greateft part of them belong
to the King, and he and his Minifters have
too much employment to attend to them.
The Ministers, however, moft certainly at-
tend to matters of as little importance ; nor
would there be any thing very difficult in
the undertaking to bring them into culture.
They once encouraged M. Sulignac to at-
tempt it, by way of private work ; but, for .
want of capital fuffich-nt, the bufincfs
failed, and fevsral people got ruir.ed,"

\Vhat

30* TRAVELS THROUGH

What do you conceive would be the pro-
per conduct in attempting it ?

" There wants," returned he, <c nothing
but to build houfes and make inclofures."

But houfes and inclofures are not farmers.

" But they will bring farmers. I do not
mean fine expenfive houfes, fuch as you fee
now and then on fome farms in France,
built through vanity ; but -mere cottages,
\vith a few necefTary landings for cattle.
Such as I would have built might be erected*
complete, ftone abounding in moft parts,
for j\. i os. a piece. If a number of thefe
were every year built, and about fifty acres
inclofed and laid to each, in five divifions^
which might coft about icl. more, they
would be ready for culture -, then I would
give two oxen to plough, two cows, a
plough, a cart, necefTary harnefs, a bed, a
table, and two chairs, all which would coft
about 13!, 135 being of a nature and make
proper for the undertaking. I would far-
ther give as much rye and buck-wheat as
would fow the ground to be wrought by
one plough, with potatoes, turneps, and
carrot feed befides : this expence would be
about 3!. ; and ail other expences I fhould

expert

FRANCE. 303

expeft to be found by thernfelves. They
then mould have the land, free of every
tax, without any rent or charge, for tea
years ; at the end of which period every
farmer mould be examined, and every farmer
who had improved his lands well, and
had got them all in culture, with an in-
creafe of cattle, fhould have fifty acres
more thrown to his farm, inclofed for him,
for ten years alfo, without rent, but paying
io4d. an acre for the former fifty, and fo
on, raifmg his rent every ten years of the
land he had enjoyed ten years without rent,
till it was riferf to the common value of
other fuch lands in France ; and I would
exempt every farmer for ever from tailic
and capitation, laying, inftead thereof, a
fixed tax per acre on the land, after a cer-
tain period.

1. «. <L

The building would coft 7100
The inclofing 10 o o

Stock 13 13 o

Seed 3

34 3 °
So

364 TRAVELS THROUGH

So the expence would be, 34!. 35. pe£
farm."

Here I interrupted him, with faying that
I had no conception of thefe things being
done for fuch a fum of money.

" Not in England," replied he, " but
they might be done here for le&; the pea-
fants themfetves, if they could be intruded
•with the money, would do them all for
two-thirds of it. But let me, to pleafe
you, call the expence 35!. ; 3,000,000 of
livres, or 131,250!. would then eftablim
three thoufand feven hundred and fifty of
thefe farms, making one hundred and eighty
feven thoufand five hundred acres in all,
confequently in about eight years the whole
would be done ; but if it was twenty years
executing, it would be a work fufficient to
immortalize the undertaker."

But, fuppofing the fums you have al-
lotted fufficient for the works you name
them for, yet what are the farmers to do
for food for themfelves, their families, and
cattle, and other wants which you do not
name ?

" I fuppofe, that, as faft as the houfes
and inclofures are finiflied, proclamation

fhould

FRANCE.. 305

ftould be made, defcribing what was ready
to be given away to whoever would accept
it, under condition that they brought with
them a fufficiency, either of money or
moveables, for carrying them through with
the defigned work ; and alfo certificates that
they were acquainted and 'pradtifed in agri-
culture. Can you fuppofe, in fuch a cafe,
Sir, that numbers would not croud in to
accept fo excellent a gift, which was at
once to make them farmers without either
rent or taxes ?"

This I admit is an anfwer to my objec-
tion.

ft Betides* there would be unions of fa-
milies ; two or three peafants, who fingly
could not compafs what was neceiTary,
would join and take farms between them :
and when they found that neither landlord^
clergy (for I would have them alfo exempted
from tythe), nor tax-gatherer, had any de-
mand upon the produce of their induftry,
they would all work like lions ; they would
exhibit an induftry, fuch as we ar^ unac-
quainted with in France, and prefently
make their refpective lots pidures of culti-
vation. I cannot be perfuadcd that fome

VOL. IV, X fuch

TRAVELS THROUGH
fuch plan will bye and bye be executed,
that is practicable, whenever the expence
will be fubmitted to, nobody can doubt ;
and I will venture to anfwer for the foil,
that it will never difappoint the expecta-
tions of thofe who try the experiment."

Leaving M. Prefaint the 2d of April, I
took the road to Papoul, in my way to
Mirepoix, where that gentleman recom-
mended me, by letter, to another, who
•would receive me with pleafure. I ex-
pected to reach Papoul by night, but the
road was fo bad, that I could get no farther
than Caftres, which is only half-way.
This country is tolerably cultivated under
corn, vines, fome olives, many mulberries,
watered meadows on the rivers, and inclo-
fures that were under lucern : they were
mowing it for the firft time, a full crop,
which fliews the earlinefs of this climate ;
yet they had known it in fome years ready
to mow fooner. They gave it to all forts
of cattle in ftables, never feeding it in
the field, reckonin-g, that in mowing it
went much farther than in grazing, befides
the cattle dung better upon it. The lands
here are, in general, in the frnall culture, and

horfes,

FRANCE.' 30?

horfes, mules, and oxen, ufed in drawing
the ploughs. I faw a fallow working for
the firft time, which was ploughed by a
girl, for (he was not full grown, with a
pair of afles, and fhe held the plough and
drove them by means of reins : I flopped
rny horfe to obferve what fort of tillage {he
made j and it was with furprife that I found
fhe did the work very well, deep, regular,
and ftraight in her furrows ; but the foil was
light, and the afles very docile. I have
often thought, when I have feen them fo
much ufed abroad, that this animal might
be rendered much more ufeful than it is in
England, where it is fo much defpifed : it
fupports hard labour in the fouth of France
better than either a horfe or an ox, though
not equal to a mule, and it is eafier fed than
either of the three. After working for four
hours, they are turned into the roads, or
into bare commons, for fupport ; and in
the afternoon they go to work again, and
in the evening meet with little better fare ;
yet they fupport their work very well, and
are in all refpe&s very profitable to the pea-
fants. The management of the open fields,
in the hands of metayers, is generally fallow,
X 2 rye,

308 TRAVELS THROUGH

rye, buck-wheat, and millet, which payg
them much better than fallow, wheat, or oats,
which is in fo many parts of France the
common fyftem ; yet the people are all
poor, and have in no refpedt the hearty
warm looks of the peafantry in England 3
and, what is the mifchief of the fmall cul-
ture, the farmers (metayers) are as poor
almoft, and as miferable as their labourers.

To Papoul the country continues much
the fame 5 that town is on the canal of Lan-
guedoc. It would be ufelefs to defcribe
what is fo well known in books, and the
more, as we have in England feveral navi-
gations, which, in magnitude and contri-
vance, much exceed it. If Lewis XlVth's
defign in making it was to join the ocean to
the Mediterranean, in fuch a manner as to
convey his men of war from one to the
other, as is the common account, the exe-
cution was very bad j for it never had any
appearance of being made capable of it.

The 4th, I arrived at Mirepoix, and,
waiting on M. Reaumur, I was, as a man
always is in France, well received. Upon
my making enquiries into the hufbandry of
the neighbourhood, I was informed that

there

FRANCE. 309

there was nothing near Mirepoix that was
particularly deferving of notice ; but that
there were, near the Pyrennees, fome im-
provements carrying on by fome peafants
which I ought to fee; and M. Reaumur
added, that he had a relation, a Cure, who
Hved at Acqs, very near the place, who
he fhould viiit very fhortly, and if I would
accompany him he would take care I mould
have all the information I defired. This
was a fcheme that fuited me perfectly well ;
and, upon learning that he would fet off in
two days, I readily agreed to it. There was
another benefit alfo ; my man, though re-
markably fkilful in the patois of every part
of France, was at a lofs here fometimes to
underfland the peafants, which made me
not able to minute half the intelligence I
(hould otherwife; but M. Reaumur removed
this : he firfr, however, gave me an account
of the management of the farmers around
Mirepoix.

Their lands are very varioufly managed ;

fome are in the great culture, others in the

fmall ; but the better conduct is always

found in the former ; yet are the Jeafes very

X 3 fhort,

3io TRAVELS THROUGH

fhort, feldom or never exceeding
years. The open fields are thrown intq
extremely different modes, fuch as, i. Fal-
low, 2. Wheat, 3. Millet. i. Maiz,
2. Barley, 3. Clover, 4. Wheat, 5. Millet ;
alfo, i. Fallow, 2. Rye, 3. Barley, and
pthers. Wheat yields from two quarters to
three ; barley two and an half $ rye the
fame ; millet not fo much as of wheat ;
and in the barley year, harvefl being very
early, they have a full crop of clover in the
fame year, after the barley is reaped j ancj,
fome farmers fow clover, with this view,
among all forts of grain, and feldom fail of
a crop of hay as well as of corn the fame
year on the land, — never, if they have the
command of water. Many other farmers,
who adhere to a nominal courfe of, i. Fal-
low, 2. Wheat, throw in a crop of maiz
in the year of fallow; but it is reckoned
very bad management, as exhauiling the
ground too much. At other times, which
they think a very good way, they fow it
thick, and mow it green for hay, of which
it makes excellent ; and, from an acre well
dunged, they will yield five loads of hay,

FRANCE. 311

pay the farmer thereby better than if
under wheat, if the price is low. The com-
mon culture of maiz is as follows :

They plough the land at Michaelmas,
and again in March, chufmg a dry foil,
and, if fandy, the better; but on wet and
clayey grounds it will not thrive. In April
they fpread dung upon the grounds, and
pretty plentifully, fometimes to the amount
of thirty flones per acre. This work I faw
many peafants about as I pafled through
the country j the end of the month the dung
is covered by another ploughing j in this
ploughing they are careful to leave, at regu-
lar diftances, a furrow open for planting
the maiz, which is done by dibbling at the
bottom of thofe furrows, by a man, and a
child follows with a baiket of feed, dropping
two or three in each hole. The furrows
are ufually two feet from each other, and
the holes in them the fame diftance; fo that
the plants come up in the quincunx form.
The reafon of fowing more than one feed
in a hole, is for fear of mifcarriages, which
are often met with, even where three feeds
are dropt ; but when the plants come up,
they draw out all above one that have
X 4 grown.

312 TRAVELS THROUGH
grown : the middle of June they hand-hoe
the whole ground very carefully. By the
defcription they give- of this operation, in
killing all weeds, ami loofening every part
of the land, drawing down fome earth to
every plant, it would in England be a very
expenfive work, -perhaps a dozen or fifteen
{hillings an acre 3 but here they perform it
for about as. and fometimes even for is. ^d.
About the end of July another hand-hoeing
is given, which draws down more earth,
fo as to fill the furrow up, earing the plants
at the fame time. About the middle of
Auguft they have a ftrange cuftom of drip-
ping the leaves off every plant, and the
blighted :ears at the fame time : both are
given to -cattle of all forts, who thrive re-
markably on them. The practice is cer-
tainly-injudicious, and the value of them
for cattle at the dry feafon of the year, when
grafs'is very fcarce, is the reafon they do it;
at leafl this muft probably have been the
original reafon, and the want of the leaves
for food has continued the practice. The
end of September the corn is fit for har-
vefting j the mode of doing it is neither by
reaping nor mowing, but women gather the

ears

FRANCE. 313

ears oft into bafkets, which are emptied
from fpace to fpace on heaps in the field ;
from whence they are carried home in
carts, and fpread thin for drying : when dry
they either threfti the grain out of the ears, or
rub it out by hand, and lay it up in grana-
ries, where, if it has been well dried, it will
keep as long as wheat. Refpecting the
produce per acre, it varies principally, ac-
cording to the dunging that has been given
to the field. If that was plentiful, the crop
will be about five quarters an acre ; fix have
been gained, but common crops feldom ex-
ceed four quarters. But this is a fmall pro-
duce for rnaiz, which I have been informed
produces much greater crops in America,
which may be attributed partly to the cli-
mate being more agreeable to it, and partly
from the miftaken cuftom of Gripping the
Italks of their leaves. The grain is ufed for
mixing with wheat, in order to make bread
of, which is very good and nutntive : for
fattening hogs, it exceeds every thing elfe,
and is equally good for poultry. The ftubble,
which was left in the field, is taken up by
, and carted, like hay, to a flack, and
ukd in Winter; cattle are then very Ibiid

of

TRAVELS THROUGH

of it; and after this the field is ploughed
before Winter. A common price of maiz
is 2S. to 2s. 6d. per bufhel, fometimes
lb low as is. 8d. and even is. 6d. ; yet it
is reckoned very profitable ; which arifes
much from the value of the leaves and ftraw,
which prove very ufeful for cattle. But many
of their farmers think it more profitable for
hay, mown when come pretty nearly to its
full growth, and made in the common
manner. The quantity from an acre exceeds
that of any other plant that can be applied
to this purpofe at one cutting ; for four loads
of hay have been often gained from that
quantity of land, which is, even in this
cheap country, worth 4!. and as the ex-
pences run very low, the nett profit exceeds
that from wheat or any fort of corn.

Millet, another crop very common in all
thefe parts of France, is not fo profitable as
maiz : it requires the fame light fandy foil, and
equal dunging : they alfo fow it in the fame
manner, in furrows, the latter end of May;
another fort is fown the end of June; but
it makes no difference, except in harvefl
time, the latter fown not being ripe till a
month after the other. The motive for fow^

ing

FRANCE. 315

Jng late is feldom any other than the Ian4
being cropped with ibmething elfe till that
time ; and this circumftance they efteem a
very valuable one, as by that means they
are fometimes able to get two crops in a
year upon the fame land. The panicles are
gathered much in the fame manner as with
maiz, and carried home for drying, like
that crop, after which it is thremed. One
circumftance of difficulty is the drying of
it •> if not dried to an extraordinary degree,
it will not keep at all. It is reckoned a
great irnpoveriiher of the earth.

Watering meadows, and all low trads
that are able, is much practifed ; and they
find that the utmoft expence of manuring
js not equal to watering, when it is pradtifed
with tolerable judgment. They are of courfe
extremely anxious to water as much land as
they potlibly can ; they have no crops
fcarcely but what are improved by it, if
there is time for their drying fufficicntly be-
fore ploughing.

Lucern is highly valued, and with great
reafon; for they reckon that an acre mown,
and given green to cattle in (tables, will fup-
port five oxen through the Summer, which

is

$16 TRAVELS THROUGH
Ss a very great thing, and which enables
them to manure their lands very highly ;
for without keeping great flocks of cattle,
it would not be poffible they mould fpread
near fo much on their fields as they com^
monly do, for their numerous crops, be-
fides vines, if it was not for the number of
cattle they keep.

The 6th, we fet out together for Acqs,
the distance twenty miles, arriving there in
the afternoon. As we rode along, M.
Reaumur was very obliging in explaining
to me every thing about which I made en*
quiries. There are many vineyards, mul-
berry-grounds-, and olive-gardens ; and in,
the corn fields they cultivate much maiz.
A farmer, we met in the way, explained the
advantage of their management very fen-
fibly, and M. Reaumer took it down, cor-»
reeling- rt from his own knowledge, and
giving me the refult. The lands were the
property of the farmer, and his account of
bis method was as follows :

i. The

FRANCE. 317

i. The Land planted with M A I Z.

1. s. d.

Expences of tillage 064.

Seed 020

Planting 036

Dairy and dunging 150

Hand-hoeing twice 034.

Expences of the harveft ° 5 9

Drying and threfliing 024

s

2. WHEAT.

I. s. d.

Tillage 032

Seed, fowing, harrowing, &c. 070

Weeding . 008

Harveft 026

Threfhing 030

Other expences 046

o 10

3i8 TRAVELS THROUGH
3. BUCK- WHEAT and CLOVER.

1. s. d.

Tillage 032

Seed, fovving, and harrowing o 50
Harveft o I o

Threfhing 023

Clover feed 032

Mowing and harvesting 026

o 17 I

4. CLOVER.

1. s. d.
Mowing and harvefting 3 times 080

5. W H E A T.

1. s. d.

Tillage 017

Seed, &c, 070

Vv; ceding 008

Harveft 026

Threfhing
Other expences

Expences

FRANCE. 319

1. s. d.

Expences of Maiz 283

Wheat i o 10

Buck-wheat and

Clover o 17 i

Clover 080

Wheat i o o

5 14 2

PRODUCE.

1. s. d. I. s. d.

Maiz produce 4 quar-
ters, at 2s. 3d. per
bufhel 3 12 o

Value of the ftraw

and food o i c o

470
Wheat, 2 quarters, at

il- 4s. 280

Buck-wheat, 3 quar-
ters, at I2S. I 16 o

Clover hay, u load,

ataos. i 10 o

360

Carried forward J0 i 9

32o TRAVELS THROUGH

1. s. d.

Brought over 10 i o

Clover, 5 loads at 2os. 560

Wheat, 2! quarters, at il. 45. 300

18 I o

Thefe exclufive of tythe.

Expences 5 13 6

12 7 6

The rent of the land, if hired,

would be 3 15 o

8 12 6
He pays, taille and capitation 5 19 o

Profit to the farmer 213 6

This, I think, is a very curious paper, as
it (hews, in feveral refpecls, the ftate of the
hufbandry in this part of France very
ftrongly. Firft, the foil is very fine and
fertile ; for the crops are all good, and the
advantage of reaping a crop of clover, and
one of buck-wheat the fame year, is fuch as
is not to be had in northern climates. The

produce

FRANCE. 321

produce is fuch, with very indifferent ma-
nagement in feveral refpecls, that it gives
us the higheft ideas of what might bd
gained in this fertile kingdom, if agricul-
ture was properly encouraged. For this
land, in this fine climate, and yielding fuch
crops, nd greater rent is reckoned than 1 55. an
acre, which is owing certainly to the load
of taxes which is laid on them: 5!. 195.
taxes to 3!. 158. rent is too great a propor-
tion infinitely, and fuch as no hufbandman
or landlord can fupport, and cultivate their
land well at the fame time. Nature, it is
certain, here does the work, and not the
farmer, who is too much opprelfed to be
fpirited in any exertions 3 for the farmer,
out of a produce of i81. is. to make a pro-
fit only of 2!. 135. 6d. which mews how
fevere the Government is upon hufbandry,
and while this is the cafe, the kingdom can
never be truly flourishing.

It will be right here to dra'w a compari-
fon between the two kingdoms in this re-
fpe<ft. In England, the above Account,
iuppofing the expenditure no greater, the
account would ftand thus :

VOL. IV. T Pro.

3.22 TRAVELS THROUGH

1. s. d.

Produce 18 I o

Expences 5 13 6

Remainder 12 7 6

Rent 3 15 o

12 6

Window-duty, fup- 1. s. d.

pofe o i 6

Poor's rates 046

060

Farmer's profit 866

I do not alter the rent, which would be
higher in England, becaufe the prices of
the produce would more than anfwer that,
and the difference of labour too. Thus,
upon the footing of this hufbandry, the
Englifh farmer, from the fingle alteration
in taxes, would make 81. 6s. 6d. where the
French one would make only al. 135. 6d.

England

FRANCE.

England
France

Difference

If we fuppofe, which is the cafe with all
good farmers that have long leafes, "that
they live upon a fmall part of their profit,
and lay out the reft of it in improvements
of their farm, this difference will be found
ye,t greater.

1. s. d.

French farmer 2 13 6

Suppofe he lives upon five 55. an

acre, it makes, in the five

years 150

He then, in five years, has to

expend upon his land i 8 6

But this, we mufl fuppofe, he lays up ; for
no man will expend fuch a portion of his
profit in a country fo heavily taxed, and
where feven years are a long leafe. The
French farmer, therefore, lays up il. 8s. 6d.
in five years from every acre.

Y 2 EngliOi

324 TRAVELS THROUGH

I. s. d.

English farmer 366

Suppofe he lives upon 9$. an acre,

it makes 250

He then, in five years, has to ex-
pend upon his land for every
acre 6 i 6

It is, therefore, extremely evident, that
the Englifh farmer gains, befides his
8J. 6s. 6d. a compound intereft on the fifth
of 61. 6d. and this intereft will probably
amount to 40 or 50 per cent, as the profit
on it is not to be reckoned by that of the
grofs of his farm, fince there are no general
expences on additional one of manure : the
crop would be gained without the manure
at as high an expence, in all other refpefts,
as if ever fo much was Ipread on the land.

The fame farmer, who gave us the above
account, did not feem to be fo much ftruck
with the heavinefs of his taille and capita-
tion, as with a want of money, for, being
a better farmer, even under that weight.
But the payment of the tax had become as

habitual

FRANCE. 325

habitual as his fervants' wages, and he never
dreamt what an addition of that he wanted
he would have, if thofe taxes were abo-
lifhed.

Arriving, in the evening, at Acqs, M.
Reaumur introduced me to his relation, a
very obliging old man, who, upon learning
the object of my enquiries, exprefled him-
felf very happy that he could gratify me.
He knew the hulbandry of his parifh, as
well as any farmer in it. We enquired
about fome improvements of an eflate in
the Pyrennees, near Acqs, of fome peafants.
He told us it was not quite fo near as we
imagined, being thirteen miles from thence,
but that he would (hew us the way at any
time. We fixed upon the next day ; and,
in the mean time, the old Cure gave me aa
account of hufbandry around Acqs.

He complained much of the climate;
faid that the fouth wind, which, a little
more north, was fo mild and fine, if it
took a little turn to the weft, came from
the fnow on the mountains, and quite
changed the climate to them who were fo
near ; that they felt this in not being able
to have olives -, that even their mulberries
Y 3 fometimes

326 TRAVELS THROUGH

fometimes fufFered, and they could get no
wine that was remarkable for flavour. We
are alfo, faid he, late in our Spring, owing
to this caufe, and feel other incoveniences,
which thofe who are not fo near to fuch a
ridge of hills as the Pyrennees. It is for
this reafon we confine ourfelves to common
hufbandry, and do not offer to make thofe
improvements, which, perhaps, we otherwife
fhould. Being fo near the vafl tracls of
heath that fpread around them, upon which
great numbers of fheep are fed, by farmers
who have no other hufbandry than that of
fheep, we adopt our management with a
view to thofe neighbours. They have plenty
of food in Summer, but none in Winter,
and are therefore obliged to hire food of us
who are near them 5 and as their quantity
of fheep, and the neceffity of Winter food
makes it anfwer to them to give us goo4
prices, we find no branch to pay us better
than fupplying them. Upon this account
we take care, in all our methods of plant-
ing our ground, to have crops enough of
turneps, clover, lucerns and fuch plants as
anfwer our great end. Some of our farmers
keep large flocks thernfelves upon the moun-
tains.

FRANCE. 327

tains, which in Winter they bring into the
vale.

Great tracks of our lands are inclofed,
for every man to fovv what he pleafes ; and
the proprietors of feveral parifhes in this
neighbourhood have lately come to a mu-
tual agreement to divide their property, and
inclofe it, which they find to be a great
advantage to all their eftates. In the in-
clofures, where every man does as he likes,
common modes of culture are to fow
(i) barley early in the Spring, which is
time enough to plough the ground for tur-
neps, of which we get very fine crops; thefe
are let out for fheep, who eat them on the
land ; and in February or March following
fow (2) wheat, and among it clover, which,
after the wheat harveft, yields much food,
and is fed with fheep all Winter. The fol-
lowing year (3) it is mown twice for hay,
and fed again with (heep the following
Winter. In the fucceflive Spring (4) it is
ploughed up, and fown with maiz early,
which is mown for hay time enough to get
another crop of turneps, which are fed with
fheep. After thefe turneps (5) barley is
Town with clover, which is fed after har-
Y 4 veft.

328 TRAVELS THROUGH
yeft. And in the following Summer (6)
mown twice for hay. Here, therefore, is
their management for fix years ;

1. Barley and turneps

2. Wfyeat and clover

3. Clover

4. Maiz and turneps

5. Barley and clover,

So that, out of five years, there are four
of them that yield two crops, which ap-
pears a very great advantage, and one which
might be productive of uncommon profit.
The value of thefe crops they calculate as
follows, tythe deduced :

1. s. d.

1. Barley, 3 quarters an acre,

at J2S. a quarter i 16 o

Turneps fed on the land 015 o

2. Wheat, 2| quarters an acre,

at 245.
Clover fed on the land

3. Clover mown twice, 1.

4 loads, at aos. 4
Fed afterwards o

Carried forward

FRANCE. 329
1. s. d.

Brought over 9 14 o

4. Maiz, 3 loads of hay, at 2os. 300
Turneps fed on the land o 15 o

5. Barley, 3 quarters an acre, at

I2S. I 16 O

Glover fed on the land 080

15 13 o
Or, per year 3*7

From tliis produce of above 3!. an acre,
they calculate that the farmer makes a nett
profit, for the fupport of himfelf and his
family, of 55. and that the King receives in
taxes more than double of what the land-
lord does for rent.

The product of the foil in this climate is
furprifmgly great, if valued according to the
rates of England. Since I returned from
thefe travels, I got a friend at London to
write down what thefe crops would, at
the fame time, have fold for in England,
which was as follows :

Barley

S3o TRAVELS THROUGH

1. s. d.

Barley, 3 quarters, at 305. 410 o

Turneps fed i jo o

Wheat, 2J quarters, at 50.5. 650

Clover fed o 10 o

Clover, 4 loads, at 3!. 12 o o

After food o 10 o

Maiz hay, 3 loads at 3!. 900

Turneps i 10 o

Barley, 3 quarters . 410 o

Clover o 10 o

40 15 o

Or, per year 830

In France 3 2 7

Dearer in England 5 ° 5

This fhews that climate does wonders ;
for we may be certain it is not the exer-
tions of fuch poor opprefled farmers that
can do this.

But what are we to think, in the light
we are now viewing this object, of the dif-
ference of the two governments ?

Produce

FRANCE. 331

1. s. d.

Produce per ann. 327

Of which the farmer has 050

Remains for the King and land-
lord 2 17 7
Of this the King takes i 1 8 4

Remains for the landlord o 19 3

What a monftrous fyftem of oppreffion
is it for the King to take double what the
landlord does, and where both take
2\. 178. 7d. for the-farmer to have but 55.
In England it would be,

1. s. d.

Produce 839

Land would take for rent i 9 o

6 14 9

The King, in land-tax and win-
dow duty, not 040

6 10 9

The poor would have in rates about 026

Remains for the tenant

33» TRAVELS THROUGH

And if goodnefs of foil made up for this
fine climate, and the landlord had 305. an
acre, ftill the contribution to the King
would be but 6s. and the tenant would have
6L 5&.. What an amazing difference is here
foe all the clafs of landlords and tenants !
If the farmer in France is proprietor of his
awn farm, he gets, in 3!. as. yd, or*ly
il. 43. 3d. which is not a third of it. In
England, the fame perfon, out of 81. 35. 9<L
would get 7!. 178. which is eight parts out
©jf nine.. What an amazing encouragement
is, this for the profecution of hufbandry, and
improvements of all forts ; — what wealth
may be expended in the continual increafe
cf fertility,, where the tenant is fo rich, —
flow little can be fpared in France where hs
is fb poor ! I have heard many perfons in
England fpeak in the moft violent manner
agakift the licentioufnefs of Liberty in Eng-
land ; but what comparifon can there be
between the excefs of Liberty in one coun-
try y and that of Slavery in the other ! Did
but fuch perfons confider Well the inordinacy
of arbitrary fway in France, as it falls upon
the agriculture and eftates of that kingdom,
they would rather be pleafed with the riots

of

FRANCE, 333

of our mobs, which are flight evils, attend-
ing a moft fuperior excellency, than think
of abandoning the good, becaufe attended
by fo fmall an ill.

There are fome fmall farms that arc en-
tirely taken up with railing Winter-food,
either to let to fheep-farmers on the moun-
tains, or elfo to feed fheep belonging to the
fame perfon who keeps them in Summer
there. When this is the fyftem, they
plant their lands in the following manner:
(r.) They fow maiz for hay, which they
mow time enough for turneps : thefc tur-
neps are fed time enough to fow (2.) rye,
which is fed in the Spring, and ploughed
up for maiz, among which clover being
fown, after the maiz is mown for hay, a.
crop of clover hay is got, and food for all
Winter : (3.) In the Spring it is ploughed
up for maiz, and when the hay of that is
got, turneps are fown, among which alfo
clover is fown, which in Winter a-ftcr
the turneps are eaten, is fed j and in the
following year (4.) the clover is mown
once for hay, and got time enough to
millet for hay. By this inan

which

334 TRAVELS THROUGH
which is reckoned highly advantageous to a
man, who keeps fheep in the mountains, the
lands yield nothing but Winter food, and
In fuch quantities, that he is able thereby to
have great flocks of fheep, much greater
than he could otherwife have. The hay is
given them in racks, in fmall quantities at
a time, by way of only baiting them -, but
not to let them eat as much as they pleafe,
becaufe none of the fheep are fatted. Thefe
racks are fet in the fields ; they are feeding
either of turneps or clover ; neither of
which crops are hurdled out as they -do in
England ; but the flock kept in one field,
which is their landing pafture, but which
is changed twice or thrice in a Winter ; and
out of this field they are drove into the tur-
neps or clover, if of a proper growth, for
about three hours in the middle of each day,
and then are taken out and returned to the
common pafhire. By this management
they make the food go very far, and confe-
quently are able to keep greater flocks :
they are never folded, except of nights, and
then, from their management, it feems ra-
ther to be done with a view to fecure the

fheep

FRANCE. 335

(heap and lambs from wolves and foxes,
which are very numerous and fierce, than
for manuring the land.

The 8th, we fet out together for Rovere
in the Mountains, where the peafants I had
heard of were carrying on their improve-
ments. Although we were on our horfes by
feven in the morning, yet, from the moun-
taineoufnefs of the road, we did not get
there till two o'clock ; the lafl nine miles
of the road were over hills, and the laft four
over one mountain, and about half-way the
defcent on the other fide, we came to a
clufter of houfes, which we found was the
hamlet of Rovere, and the place to which
we were going. We were received by a
peafarit of about forty years of age, who
having delivered our horfes to a labourer for
the ftables, conducted us into his houfe,
which was a large one, that appeared to be
built at different times, having many addi-
tions to it. Upon expreffing a delire to fee
his improvements, he walked with us out
of the houfe, and, defcending towards the
fouth, we entered at once into fome grafs
inclofures, which were furroundedby hedges
thick and bufhy. Upon M. Reaumur and

the

TRAVELS THROUGH
the Cure having explained my defire of
being acquainted with the method and prin-
ciples of the improvements, the farmer ex-4
plained them ; but aiked M. Reaumur if
I was acquainted with the circumftances of
their truft ? Upori being anfwered in the
affirmative, he requeued the Cure to give
me an account of it, which he did in the
following manner :

" I defigned, Sir, to have let you have
viewed the improvements before you had
been acquainted with the original of them j
but as the farmer defires to have you firft
acquainted with them, I muft inform you,
that, about five and twenty years ago, the
Sieur de L'Eon, a very wealthy merchant at
Bayonne, having retired to an eftate near
Tarafcon, and becoming fond of agriculture,
when he died, furprifedthe world very much
bythefingularityofhiswill. He left 10,500!.
to be placed at intereft on mortgage, till an
eftate, within one hundred miles of Tarafcon,
could be purchafed ; and the intereft of the
money before the purchafe, and the rent of
the eftate after it, he ordered to be applied
to the cultivation, in an experimental man-
ner, of a large tradt of mountain he had near

Rove re,

FRANCE. 337

Rovcrc, and which traft he alfo left to the
fame ufe as the money. He appointed truf-
tees, who are annually to eledt farmers for the
management of the experiments, giving a
preference to fuch as were in 'poffeffion of the
bufmefs, in cafe they were found deferving;.
The idea of the will was taken up with great
fervour by the truftees, and the whole pro-
vince appeared, by every demonftration that
could be exprefted in public converfation, to
intereft themfelves in the execution of the
will. The truftees chofe three peafants,
who were to have the execution of the will,
and erected additional buildings to the old
farm-houfe, for the accommodation of the
peafants and their families <3 and they
were accordingly entered in their office,
when the truftees, in face of many of the
principal nobility and gentry of the neigh-
bouring provinces, explained the nature of
their trull; : they informed them, that the
great defign of it was to make large expe-
riments on bringing the vaft tracls of moun-
tainous waftes in the Pyrennees into profit-
able culture ; that, as no trials of that fort
had ever been done, except in vallies, they
were to try every fort of plant of which they
V •:.. IV. '/ had

338 TRAVELS THROUGH

had any knowledge, in every mode of cul-
ture that had any probability of fucceeding,
whether it was with a view of making corn
fields, grafTes, natural and artificial, vines,
mulberries, hemp, flax, and, in a word,
any other plant they thought of ; that they
were to receive regular payments every half-
year, which they were to expend with this
view, and that an allowance would be an-
nually paid them for their trouble, propor-
tioned to the induflry and attention with
which they executed the truft ; that they
were to give in annually a table of their ex-
pences, of whatever kind, and mew their
fields and improvements of whatever kind
to the truftees, whenever any of them at-
tended, adding fuch other particulars and
limitations as the truftees had agreed upon.
" Three peafants, with their families,
were fixed, upon thefe terms, in the lands
in queftion : their firft work was to add to
the old houfe fufficient to make it contain
their families ; they then inclofed four or
five fields, of a fmall compafs adjoining,
with the common thorn of the country;
but the coldnefs of the fituation was fuch,
that all failed : upon which they tried elm,

beech,

FRANCE. 339

beech, horn-beam, holly, and all the race
of the pines. Of thefe the horn-beam fuc-
ceeded much the beft -, making a thick and
flrong hedge, which flourished fo well, as
foon to become impenetrable to man or
beaft ; of the fir hedges, none anfwered fo
well as the filver fir, which grew up fo
clofe to one another, and flourimed fo well,
that they formed rather a living wall than
a common fence. After inclofing thefe
fields, they examined the foil : it was all
the gentle dope of a mountain, a black peat
earth of very different depths, in fome places
very wet and boggy from fprings, and in
others dry and ftony ; they dug drains to
lay the wet parts dry, before they attempted
any cultivation, and then they employed
men in the peculiar hufbandry of paring off
all the furface with fpades made for that
purpofe, and drying the turfs, in order for
burning them to afhe?, which is eafily per-
formed in dry weather : upon this calcina-
tion of the furface, the afhes are fpread
equally, and ploughed in ; but they, upon
another part of the field, in purfuance of
the intention of their founder, tried the me-
thod of ploughing up the wafte, without
Z 2 the

34o TRAVELS THROUGH

the paring and burning. This operation
being done and over, in the end of May
they ploughed, and fowed maiz ; but the
efFecl: did not anfwer their expectation :
upon this they tried, in the next place, rye,
oats, and millet ; of thefe the oats only fuc-
ceeded, and they yielded but a poor crop.
They next tried turneps, potatoes, carrots,
parfnips, cabbages, and other plants : of
thefe the cabbages only fucceeded -, but they
produced fo large a crop, that they were
encouraged to go on, and, in their follow-
ing improvements, planted cabbages : but
there was a very great difference between
thofe upon the plain ploughing, and thofe
after paring and burning j the latter were
fo fuperior, that the farmers determined to
multiply their experiments on that mode.
The cabbages they had planted came to a
large fize, and yielded in weight per acre a
much larger produce than any turneps in
the vale country, to which the mountain-
fheep were ufually driven j they had a fmall
flock, which had ufually belonged to the
farm they were now improving, and a part
of thefe were marked and drawn from the
reft, in order to fee the effecl: of the cab-
bages

FRANCE. 341

bages on them, and to compare them with
an equal number taken at the fame time,
and lent in the ufual manner to turneps,
which were hired in the vale for them :
this experiment being efteemed a very im-
portant one, they gave great attention to it.
The refult was, that ten acres of cabbages
fed four hundred fheep from the firft day of
December to the laft day of February ; four
hundred fent into the vale during that time
to turneps, eat twenty acres, and came
home in inferior order to thofe which had
{laid on cabbages. This trial gave the cab^
bages more than the value of two acres of
vale turneps, or 305. befides the many ad-
vantages of being at home.

" The next feafon frefh pieces of land
were inclofed, drained, pared, and the fur-
face burnt, as before ; and being ploughed,
were thrown into divifions, part for cab-
bages, part for turneps, part for potatoes,
and part for carrots ; other divifions were
alfo fown with rye, buck-wheat, millet,
maiz, and oats. The refult was different
from the laft year's improvement ; the cab-
bages fucceedcd well, as before j but the
turneps and potatoes were alfo excellent
Z 3 crops,

342 TRAVELS THROUGH

crops •, the oats indifferent, and all the reft
failed. The cabbages, turneps, and po-
tatoes, were now compared -accurately at
home, each occupied an inclofure by itfelf,
and the object was to fee what would be the
refult in feeding meep at home, inftead of
fending them into the vale.

The cabbages yielded, at the 1. s. d.

flanding rate of payment, per

acre I 8 6

The turneps p 1 8 o

The potatoes 2 3 p

" The fheep that fed upon the cabbages
feemed rather to be in better order than
thofe from turneps, and thofe from potatoes
as good as from cabbages. One obfervation
they made, which they thought deferved
being attended to : it was the cafe of a fow
and pigs that had ftrayed from the ftables,
and having accefs to the three fields, fixed
to the potatoes, and there fupported herfelf
and pigs in fuch a manner, that the peafants
determined to try potatoes for hogs entirely.

The

FRANCE. 343

They farther difcovered, that lands which
had been pared and burnt, and yielded cab-
bages and turneps, would, in the year fol-
lowing, do well for feveral crops which
would not fucceed when fowed immediately
on the paring and burning, particularly rye
and oats ; the former of which yielded two
quarters and an half an acre, the latter
three ; crops which are reckoned by no
means bad ones in the vales that have been
long cultivated.

" They continued the fame hufbandry the
year following: tried cabbage?, turneps,
potatoes, and carrots upon the paring and
burning ; the carrots fucceeded better than
before ; the other plants took well, which
yielded better crops than had been received
yet from them :

The cabbages paid, in fheep- 1. s. d.

feeding I 10 o

The turneps o 18 9

The potatoes 250

The carrots o 1 1 6

" This was in the ufual method oft
ing in the field; but the truftees having vi-
Z 4 iited

344 TRAVELS THROUGH
fited the farm, and exprefTed a defire of
having other experiments made on feeding
thefe plants in penns, well inclofed and lit-
tered, with the fpontanepus growth of
Jieath, fern, &c. that grows on the moun-
tains; they were accordingly done, and the
refult in feeding fheep thus, gave

1. s. d.

The cabbages i 17 6

The turneps i 5 o

The potatoes 2 19 Q

The carrots p 16 ' o

" The peafants were exceedingly re-
joiced at trying this experiment j the dif-
ference in the above fums, when the fheep
were fed in penns and in the fields, was the
leaft part of it. They were in much better
-order than when fed in the field, the ex-
pence of the fhepherd's fetting up with the
fold, with guns and dogs, were faved, and
the flock not only fecure, but warm, and
in fine order : then there was the object,
which they found no inconfiderable one, of
a dung-hill, made with no other trouble
than that of procuring the litter, which was

not

FRANCE. 345

not much labour. The refult being fo uni-
formly advantageous, beyond what came
from feeding in the field, determined them
to continue the mode, which they did the
years following, with as great fuccefs as be-
fore.

" Hogs now became an object with them
of coniiderabie importance : they had a
fwine-herd to conduct their herd, which,
however, was not very numerous, on the
wade every day, in the manner of flieep,
and in Summer kept from home a confider-
able time, feeding as they moved. This was
an experiment, to fee how far hogs would
bear the fame management as fheep ; it an-
fwered pretty well, yet they conceived that
they wanted fome other alTiftance than what
they found on the wade every day. But
nothing could exceed the benefit received
from this method in Winter, when, on
coming home at night, they were baited
with potatoes, in a penn, like thefiieep;
they found very clearly, that, in this way,
an acre of potatoes paid £. 4 o o

whereas, with (heep, it only

pai4 2 19 o

Superioty i i o

TRAVELS THROUGH
" And they had little doubt of making
them anfwer yet better, by improving their
Summer practice, when they had got food
for them in that feafon to bait with in the
fame manner as with potatoes in the Win-
ter.

" This they foon accomplished by a very
unexpected means : trying the effect of dif-
ferent manures on the light black earth,
that covers fo great a part of thefe moun-
tains, and in which all the dungs were
found to be equal. They tried, among other
things, lime, the rocks of lime-flone being
fpread all over the mountains at different
places. This they laid on for oats, rye, an-d
buck-wheat, after cabbages and potatoes,
and it did good to all ; but the great effect
by which it was marked, was the bringing
up a vaft produce of Flander's trefoil, which
fucceeded thofe crops. The peafants were
ailonifhed at this ; but rinding that it lafted
after the corn was carried off the' land, they
fed it with both meep and hogs, baiting
them on it in the manner ufed with clover
in the vale. The fheep did exceedingly
well on it, and the fwine of all forts per-
fectly fattened on it. Thus w^s difcovered

at

FRANCE. 347

at once, without expence, a method of con-
verting any of their arable lands to excellent
meadow, which would yield that afliftance
in Summer which they mod of all wanted,
and which before they could only get in
Winter.

" The year following the trefoil Rood,
and was as fine as ever ; they, therefore,
erected lime-kilns, procured wood, and
burnt large quantities of lime, which they
fpread over all their improved lands, with
a never-failing fuccefs of doing great benefit
to the crops that followed it, and, in fuccef-
fion, of bringing up the trefoil ; which
gave them at once a good tract of very ex-
cellent meadows, one of which they ma-
nured with all the dung they could raifc
from their ftables and penns, and procured
a fine crop of hay for a hilly country, of
above a load and half an acre. The hiiU thus
taken, they came at once into a regular fy-
Hem of management, which was to be ar-
ranged in the following manner :

Inclofe Drain.

Pare and burn.

I. Cabbages or potatoes, chiefly the latter.

2. Potatoes

348 TRAVELS THROUGH

2. Potatoes again, or cabbages, limed.

3. Oats.

4. Oats, well limed.

5. And, in fucceffton, trefoil.

<c And when the trefoil is gained, they
keep it as a pafture for either feeding or
mowing. Thus they have, every year, plenty
of potatoes or cabbages, according to the
foil j alfo oat-ftraw for their afTes and oxen,
and trefoil in Summer, and trefoil hay in
the Winter for all forts of cattle -, a fyftern
which they have found fully to anfwer every
purpofe. Their fheep they have not in-
creafed j but the flock of fwine is very much
increafed, from their having found them fo
much more profitable. The calculation of
the value of a meep, in annual profit, or;
the mountains, is

s. d.

Wool j o

Lamb 2 6

Some-

FRANCE. 349

" Sometimes it is

s. d.

Wool o 10

Lamb 2 3

Fold in the vale o 6

3 7

<c But where ten of thefe fheep are main-
tained, they can keep a fow and all the
pigs (he breeds, which will pay them as
follows :

1. s. d.

On an average, (he has two broods
in a year of pigs, and each
brood will be eight $ lixteen in
all. Of thefe five will be fold
for 150

Four will be fold for 0180

Four for o 13 o

Three for 090

35Q

Whereas ten fheep pay only i 1510

Superiority 192

With

50 TRAVELS THROUGH
With the advantage of much more dung
being made in the penn, and of a better
fort.

" All thefe particulars of their manage-
ment we thought very valuable, and were
fbrry to find, from the accounts given by
the peafants, that the truftees had lately
been urging them to try experiments in
M. du Hamel's hufbandry, of drilling and
horfe-hoeing wheat. They had very fen-
fibly remonflrated againft this ; mewing,
that the improvement of the mountains
could not pombly depend upon any thing
but cattle ; that there were no roads in very
numerous trads of them, through which
corn, when raifed, could be moved ; whereas
cattle every where carried themfelves to
market, through the word roads in the
world ; that they had no foil proper for
•wheat, and, if the foil was found, the cli-
mate was not fuch as would admit the cul-
ture; upon which accounts they begged
permimon to go on in the way they had
begun, which promifed all poffible fuc-
cefs.

«c We thought the peafants perfectly

reafonable in their remonflrance, but what

effect

FRANCE. 351

effect it will have, I know not."— —I took
my leave of M. Reaumur and the Cure
here, and borrowed a peafant to condud
me through the mountains into Spain.

END of TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE,

Travels through Spain;

VOL. IV. A a

SPAIN. 355

CHAP. IX.

Catalonia — Watered Meadows — Fertility —
Surprifing Cbeapnefs of Living — Barcelona
— High Degree of Cultivation — Vineyards
— Olives — Tiortofa — Beautiful Country —
Quick SucceJ/im of Crops — State of Caftile

— Valencia — — Management of Lands •

Alicante — General Qbfervations*

THE loth, I arrived at Urgel, in
Catalonia, having changed my mind,
and laid afide the plan of paffing into Spain
by Perpignan. The firft part of the journey
Was mountainous, but the latter part of it
was through fome rich and fertile tracts of
watered grounds. Near Urgel the country
is exceedingly populous and well cultivated.
It is remarkable, that the patois of the
Pyrennees, and the Spanish of this part of
Catalonia are fo alike, that my French in-
terpreter found no difficulty in underfland-
ing every peafant we converfed with. All
A a 2 the

356 TRAVELS THROUGH
the rich lands I enquired about belongs to
monafleries, who let them out to farmers
at a very moderate rent, which is paid in
kind : the meadows are mown four times a
year, and yield at the four mowings fix
loads of hay an acre, which fix loads are
worth 61. The fyftem of the open field
culture is here quite different from what it
is in France, where open fields muft be
managed as agreed upon by a great variety
of farmers, and one man, in objedling to
an improvement, may prevent it for many
others. Here, on the contrary, though
uninclofed, every man cultivates his fpot as
he pleafes, his neighbour having no right to
turn cattle into the lands, till every one
has got his crop in barn, whatever fort it
rnay be. This is a very great fuperiority
for the Spanifli farmer, and accordingly he
makes ufe of it with much induftry ; nor
lias any thing furprifed me more than the
miftaken idea I had received of Spanifh
lazinefs : nothing fo far from the truth.
Here is, every where, an uncommon ap-
pearance of induftry in all the branches of
agriculture. They cultivate wheat, barley,
rye, buck-wheat, millet, maiz, and a va-
riety

SPAIN. 357

riety of other plants ; mulberry plantations
are very common, and vineyards numerous.
Wheat here yields about three quarters an
acre ; barley, four quarters ; buck-wheat,
five ; rye, three j and maiz, from four to
five. Turneps are very much cultivated for
the purpofe, as in France, of feeding the
Iheep that are kept upon the mountains,
and an acre fells ufually for about fix and
twenty millings. Clover is very much fown,
the feed being brought from France ; they
do not venture it, but for what reafon I
could not difcover, on any lands that cannot
be watered. They let the water upon the
young clover the moment the harveft of the
corn with which it was fown is ovec. This
watering brings forward the crop greatly,
fo that they have a full mowing crop by the
end of Augufl, which feldom yields lefs
than two loads an acre : after this they let
in the water again the beginning of Sep-
tember, which brings a fine produce of
rich and luxuriant feed for all forts of
cattle, which lafts till Chriftmas. Thus
they get three crops on the fame land, be-
tween March and Chriftmas : firft, they
have three or four quarters of barley -y then
A a 3 they

358 TRAVELS THROUGH

they have two loads of clover hay, and after
that they have as much food as is worth
ten or twelve millings. Such are the won-
derful effects of water in an hot climate.

The nth, I got to Pous, part of the way
through a hilly country -, but on the river,
through a tract of very fine meadows, all
watered, and producing vaft crops of hay,
at four or five mowings, which they gene-
rally admit of, fome have been known to
produce fix loads an acre, befides two good
feedings. Lucern is a common crop 3 on
dry lands they mow it generally every three
weeks from May to October, and get three
quarters of a load of hay an acre ; but the
more common life of it is for feeding cattle
with it green ; in which ufe of it they mow
one day what will be wanting the next,
and laying it of a heap, fprinkle it with
fait water. This they think renders it the
more wholefome to cattle, and it is certain
they like it the better for being falted. One
farmer we met with near Olianahad a large
field of it, which contained near twenty
acres: he had not cattle enough of his own
for the confumption of fo much, but let hrs
neighbours fend their cattle to his penns, in

which

SPAIN. 359

which he gives them lucern. He reckons,

that any acre of his field would keep fix

common cows through the Summer; but

the moft profitable method of feeding it is

with different forts of cattle at the fame

time : accordingly he has conftantly in his

penn a dairy of above thirty cows of his

own, as many more belonging to other

people, between twenty and thirty young

heifers and bulls, ten or a dozen mules,

many afles, and near an hundred head of

fwine. I remarked, that fo many cattle,

penned all Summer through, muft make a

vaft quantity of dung, and afked him what

he did with it, he replied, the penn was

changed. He had three divifions : in one,

the cattle fed and were littered this year ;

in another the next ; and in another the

third j that the dung in them was never

touched till two years after making, nor

any addition of frefli made to it ; for which

reafon the change of penns was purfued :

that, at the end of that time, it was fold to

the cultivators of vineyards, and, when

empty, the cattle brought back and fed in

it as before, while that in the other penns

is keeping in the fame manner. Every acre

A a 4 of

TRAVELS THROUGH
of lucern pays him about 155. nett money,
in dung alone, and, dung and cattle in^
eluded, about 5!. grofs produce, which i$
a very confiderable produce. They do not
think any thing wants dung but vineyards
here.

The 1 2th, I reached Cordona, through
a well cultivated country, which abounds
remarkably in all productions that could fill
the pockets of the hufbandmen ; and all the
ranks of the people feern far happier, and
more at their eafe, than in France. I
wanted to be informed what the amount of
the taxes were that they paid, but could
not get any certain information ; yet my in-
terpreter feemed to comprehend their intel-
ligence very well.

The 1 3th, I reached Manrefa, in a beau-
tiful country, all fpread with vineyards and
olive-grounds, intermixed with corn and
mulberries, and in many places the corn
was fet in rows under the made of the
vines, which were fupported by mulberry-
trees ; fo that the ground might be faid to
yield three crops at once. But, befides this,
they had large fields in corn only, which
they never fallow, and which never fails of

yielding

SPAIN. 361

yielding two crops of fomething every year.
Thus they will fow their land on fuch a
plan as this ;

I. Wheat fown at Michaelmas, and got in
time enough to plough the land for

Z. Buck-wheat, which will be reaped in
Auguft, and the field direftly ploughed
and fown with

3. Turneps, fed on the land, or carried off

in the Winter, and then they will
take

4. Maiz for a crop, fucceeded by

5. Buck-wheat, among which

6. Clover is fown, which they mow once

the fame year, and the year following
it is mown, perhaps, four times. If
only thrice, it is ploughed up tim-
enough for a crop of

7. Kidney beans. They have, therefore,
In the firft year, three crops.

In the fecond year, three crops.
In the third year, two crops.
And the value, in good land, they reckon
as follows;

Wh-jat

362 TRAVELS THROUGH

1. s. d. 1. s. d,

Wheat 2 10 o

Buck- wheat i 10 o

Turneps o 15 o

' 4 15 <*

Maiz 200

Buck-wheat i 10 o

Clover 015 o

450

Clover 3 o o

Kidney beans 150

And I have no doubt but fuch products
as yield thefe fums, would in England fell
for between 30!. and 40!.; for the general
cheapnefs of every thing here is very afto-
niflnng, yet they 'told me that provifions
here are much dearer than in Navarre or
Caftile. At Manreia there has for forne
time been an English Roman Catholic fa-
mily, who have lived there for cheapnefs.
I was at fome pains to enquire the degree

of

SPAIN. 363

of cheapnefs that could induce any one to
come here, rather than to the South of
France ; for there are many circumftances
that mufl render the latter a more eligible
retreat. I pretended to the inn-keeper that
I wanted to fix at Manrefa for fome time,
and mould be glad to board in a reputable
family, where I could have a good apart-
ment to myfelf : he faid he could recom-
mend me to feveral perfons, who, he was
fure, would fuit my purpofe exactly. Saying
this, he carried me to a private houfe, at a
fmall diftance from his inn ; an exceeding
good one, and fuch as in England would be
inhabited by a perfon probably of a very
good fortune. Here I might have had a
large bed-chamber and a larger parlour, ex-
tremely well furnifhed, in the manner ®f
the country, boarded at the table of the
family, plentifully fupplied, and allowed,
when 1 chofe it, to be ferved in my own
apartment; the ufe of linen, and all necci-
faries, and the fame, with a room, for my
fervant ; and alfo liberty to keep two horfes
in a meadow, which in hay-time were to
be provided for elfewhere; all this for
31!. loa. a year, which is a cheapnefs that

nviit

$6+ TRAVELS THROUGH
muft aftonifli all who hear it, that have
ever had experience what the fame things
in England would come to. It is an en-
quiry worthy the attention of people who
make fuch obje&s their ftudy, what are the
caufes and confequences of fuch cheapnefs.
The extreme dearnefs of every thing in
England muft, to numerous ranks of people,
be a moft infupportable burthen, and fuch
as they cannot even bear : it muft drive
them for refuge to countries where their
fmall incomes will enable them to live more
at their eafe. Certainly, if we are to judge,
from this circymftance of what I could have
been boarded for at Manrefa, how far a
given fum would go in Catalonia, on compa-
rifon with England, there is reafon to think,
that, for lool. a year there a man would
live as well as for 500!. or 6ool. a year in
England j and I have been afTu red, that, in
feveral parts of France, particularly in the
iauth, out of the ufual routes of the Eng-
lifh, or other foreigners, that icol. a year
will go as far as 300!. in England, though
you take the cheapeft counties.

The 1 4th, I reached Barcelona, which
is really a very fine place, admirably Btuated,

carrying

SPAIN- 365

carrying on a brifk and extenfive commerce,
and having all the appearance of wealth and
induflry. Nothing can be a flronger refu-
tation of thofe who afiert, that there is no-
nothing but idlenefs in Spain, than the in-
ftance of this city, which in thefe refpedts
has as great an appearance of activity as any
in France.

The 1 5th, I reached Jarragonia, taking
the inland road. All this traft of country,
with the whole of that about Barcelona, is
in as high cultivation as it well can be:
the Vales are all watered with the utmoft
attention \ fome of the lands being mea-
dow, others lucern, and fome arable, over
xvhich the water is thrown, as well as on
the grafs. The rifing grounds are mulber- ,
ries, and the hills are under vines and
olives, and between the rows of the olives
they take generally two crops of corn or
pulle every year. Wheat here, fown by it-
felf, in the common manner, yields about
three quarters an acre ; barley as much,
buck-wheat fomething more, and maiz
four quarters. They have whole fields of
carrots, potatoes, turneps, and cabbages,
and thofe .which made any appearance at

this

366 TRAVELS THROUGH

this feafon, carried a very fine one, and
promifed to be good crops. They carry
thefe things to market, and ufe all the infe-
rior parts of the produce for their hogs, and
other cattle. Lands here are let on leafe td
farmers in the fame manner as in England*
and to all appearance much more effectually
for the advantage of all parties, than they
are in the parts of France under the great
culture. Farms are generally fmall, and
many lands are cultivated by the proprie-
tors. It is not here the cuftom to herd fo
much in towns, as in France, which is a
great advantage to the Spanifh husbandry :
the farm-houfes are fcattered about the
country, and all this part of Catalonia is
inclofed. The worft thing I know for the
farmer here is the extreme cheapnefs of
proviiions ; yet that is part made up to him
by the lownefs of the price of labour : for a
man here, in Summer and Winter, with-*
out diftindtion of the feafon, not even in
the vintage, or olive gathering, may be had
conflantly for 6d. a day; and at the diflance
of about an hundred miles from the coaft
their labour is only 4d. Their vineyards
yield here a grofs produce of about 15!. art

SttC*

SPAIN. 36;

acre, which bring in about 4!. to the pro-
prietor ; others produce, nett profit, not
more than 40$. yet the quantity of wine is
very great ; but the lownefs of the price
renders the profit of the culture fmall*
Olives have always corn under them, or
roots, or fome crop or other to make the
ground pay the better. An acre, thus cul-
tivated, if the trees are managed with judg-
ment, for much depends on that, will pro-
duce 5!. or 61. nett profit, to the proprie-
tor; but this includes both oil and corn.

I arrived at Tortofa the i6th, at night,
pafling through a mod delicious country :
the hills are not very high, but rife in fine
waving flopes, all covered with a variety
of cultivation : corn fields, vineyards, mul-
berry plantations, and olive-gardens, inter-
mixed in the mofl pleafing manner; and
thickets of timber, riling fpots, break the
uniformity of every line and flat. The fea
appears only in places between the hills,
and the rivers every where wind through
the vallies : the houfes are fcattered among
all the fcenery, and the whole country ap-
pears flourishing and populous. I never yet
faw any thing comparable to this tracl. In

all

3 6* TRAVELS THROUGKt
all the parts of Europe where I have beerf
(Italy excepted) there is nothing that equals
it ; nor are there many fuch lines of country
even in Italy ; fince the richer! and highly
cultivated part of Italy is on a flat ; which
takes off almoft all beauty in that fingle
eircum (lance.

Concerning the hufbandry of tliis beauti-
ful country, I could not colled fo many
particulars as I wimed ; but fome I gained
are deferving attention. I was informed,
that a farm of four hundred acres was at
large one, and that the moft common fize
was from fixty to one hundred and twenty;
that the farmers ufually would have a little
of every thing. You find watered grounds,
vineyards, olives, mulberries, corn, and
turneps, cabbages, potatoes, carrots, peafe,
and beans, on almoft every farm. They give
a very fenlible reafon for this, which is, the
employment of their fervants and labourers,
to have fomething for them to do in every
feafon, which makes their bufmefs, upon
the whole, much more profitable than it
would otherwife be. This is a point that
is not, by all accounts, fufficiently attended
to in every country, and particularly in"

thofe

SPAIN. 369

thofe parts of France where the lands are
thrown into the divifion, whole farms
through, of half arable and half wheat, in
which method there can be but very little
employment at all, and what there is can
be only at certain feafons, by which means
the poor have the mifchief of being idle
through much of their time, which is ever
attended with ill confequences. The Spa-
niards through this province, even to the
loweft ranks, appear to be very comfortable
in their circumstances, and not much to
feel opprefiion of government j yet there arc
many very heavy excifes upon the neceffa-
ries of life.

From Tortofa I took the road to Teruel,
getting, the firft night, as -far as Mas de
Coll, in Valencia : there was no inn, fo had
recourfe to the civility of a farmer, which
I was glad to find much greater and more
obliging than that of any of the inn-keepers
I had met with out of great towns; all of
them are civil enough when they have a to-
lerable larder, fo as not probably to be
afked for any thing which they cannot pro-
duce : but, as generally is the cafe, when
they are very badly provided, they do not

VOL. IV. B b car*

370 TRAVELS THROUGH
care to have any converfation with their
guefts, which is attributed merely to pride,
but is in fact cunning. The farmer I met
with at Mas de Coll, of whom I requefted
a lodging, promifing him, as I had always
done to others, to fatisfy him for the trouble
I mould give, was a confiderable one for
this country. He had above three hundred
acres, which he hired by leafe of a neigh-
bouring gentleman : the whole was well
inclofed. He told me he had a tracl: of flat
land, part arable, part meadow, and a fmall
part of it lucern, all which he watered re-
gularly. Upon my enquiring of him con-
cerning that hufbandry, he allured me, that
the utmoft exertions of good management,
in refpecl; of manuring, would not near
equal the command of water, which they
efteemed equally good for meadow, and all
forts of arable crops ; that they watered
their meadows in November or December,
and fed them in February : watered again
as foon as the cattle are taken out, and
mown the beginning of May ; then watered
again, and mown the middle of June; wa-
tered as foon as cleared, and mown the be-
ginning of Auguftj thus, watered again, and

mown

SPAIN. 371

mown the end of September or beginning
of October. Thefe four mowings are nearly
equal in goodnefs, for they do not cut till
the grafs is full grown : the four crops
amount to eight loads of hay an acre, which
is an amazing produce ; yet the value does
not exceed 61. which muft be owing to the
quantity of thefe watered grounds, and alfo
to the cheapnefs of all the products of the
earth.

The management of arable land that is
watered varies from this of grafs : before the
land is ploughed the laft time for wheat,
the water is let in for a fhort time, and,
when drawn bfFj it is left to dry j as foon
as it is fufficiently fo to go on with ploughs,
they plough and fow j and in the Spring
after the hot weather is commenced ; and,
While the wheat is about five inches high,
they let the water in again for a flight wa-
tering. The moment the wheat is reaped
and threfhed, for they threfli it in the field,
they water again, and, when dry, plough
and fow turneps, buck-wheat, millet, and
various other crops, which they alfo refrefh
with a (light watering during the growth,
in cafe the feafcn i? a dry one. Thus their
B b 2 prin-

372 TRAVELS THROUGH
principle is to water after every crop, and
for fome while growing; if buck- wheat, or
barley, or millet, followed the wheat, they
fow clover amongft it, which they water as
foon as the field is clear, and get thereby an
autumnal crop ; and in the following year
they water it like meadow, for every mow-
ing. Lucern, which is here a very lafting
crop, they alfo water every time it is cut,
in cafe the feafon is dry : they make it into
hay ufually, though they feed many of
their cattle on green mown food in flables,
to preferve them from the burning heats ;
yet it is not with lucern in particular, but
with whatever crops may be mowing for
hay at the time, though they think all their
cattle preferred it rather. This farmer, in
the above fyftem, and it is the fame with
many of his neighbours, raifes an immenfe
quantity of fcod for cattle, on account of
the number he is able to keep in a very ex-
tenfive tradt of uncultivated land, upon
which feveral villages have a right of keep-
ing what they pleafe ; and, when this wafte
is bare of food, they fupply the want with
hay or turneps. This latter root thrives
amazingly with them. At this early feafon

I faw

SPAIN. 373

I (aw very fine crops, which they faid were
nothing to what they had later in the year;
yet they give them no culture, while grow-
ing, not even, as in France, to weed them.
The farmer told me his wheat, ufually,
produced about three quarters an acre, if
the feafon was not remarkably dry j but that
the drought in fome years was fo fevere,
that they did not get one. Barley, upon
which all the horfes, mules, and affes in
Spain are fed, inftead of oats, yields three
or four quarters an acre -, buck-wheat as
much, but millet feldom pays them well ;
maiz does very well here, and yields more
abundantly than any other crop. Sainfoine
they cultivate upon dry hills, which do not
well for vines or olives. This grafs produces
greatly there, even in this Lot climate.
The wafte common, I juft mentioned, is
partly fpread with fainfoine, which is its
fpontaneous growth, or at leafl muft have
been fown there ages ago. Relative to the
profit of vines and olives, the farmer has
both; but he does not increafe them, from
not finding fo much advantage as from corn
and grafs, and other crops : he informed
me, that, taking a whole year through, he
B b 3 thought

374 TRAVELS THROUGH
thought himfelf very well off, if he made*
for himfelf and family, from more than
three hundred acres, all in culture, 30!.
nett profit, after his rent is paid, which
does not amount to. more than 35. 6d. per '
acre for the fine watered lands, that yield
fuch a fucceflion of crops, and all of them,
great.

Underftanding that he came from near
Signenca, in Caftile, I enquired of him con-
cerning the ftate of their cultivation in that
part of the country -, he told me, that eleven
parts in twelve of the whole were wafte y
that (he farmers fupported themfelves by a
few little fields uninclofed, in which they
raifed a fufficiency of corn for their owr\
confumption, and the payment of the taxes,
and for the reft had nothing more than fome
miferable fheep, and a few goats on the
hills -, that you rode for many miles before
you met with even fuch a farm as that. The
foil, he faid, was too dry and fandy, and
they had no lands that were watered. Upon
my alking him if he did not think thofe dry
fandy tracts might be cultivated for fome
purpofe or other, no, he faid ; that they ia
Valencia could get more from one acre than

many

SPAIN. 375

many miles in Caftile would yield. But,
faid I, could not fainfoine, for inftance, be
fown on them ? Are they too dry to yield
that plant ? Why, replied he, I do not
know but fainfo'ine might grow there, but
it would never anfwer j oh ! Sir, they are
very defolate. From this account I was
convinced that thefe boundlefs waftes of
Caftile might all be brought eafily into cul-
ture j for, where fuch ajgrafs as fainfoine is
to be cultivated, I mould apprehend that
the great want would be got over, which is
to be able to fupport cattle for draught and
profit j wherever cattle can be fupport-
ed, there certainly the land need not be
wafte ; but the Spaniards have not people
for foch undertakings. Catalonia and Va-
lencia (and part of Murcia,' they fay) are rich
and well peopled $ but as to moft of the
other provinces, they are thinner of people
than any other country in the fouth of
Europe, not, I am told, excepting even
Turkey.

The i 8th, I with difficulty got to Teruel,

pafling through a very fine country, but not

all cultivated. They are not fpirited at all in

their husbandry even in this province, where

B b 4 they

376 TRAVELS THROUGH
they cannot water a good part of their
grounds. As far as the watered tracts reach
there, you fee good agriculture, even upon
the neighbouring dry lands ; but when no
water is to be gained, the others are neg-
lected. This is a fre(h and very ftrong in-
/lance of the neceffity of great herds of cattle
for carrying on agriculture in any country.
The farmers and peafants, my interpreter
queftioned upon this head, did not feem to
have any idea of this fort ; but there is, ne-
verthelefs, great reafon to think that this is
the true reafon of their being fo backward in
all matters where meadows could not be
had.

The 1 9th, I reached Segorla, the country
all very fine, fertile, and rich -, and, in ge-
neral, very highly cultivated, under vines,
olives, corn, meadows, &c. All the flats,
and even the fides of fome hills, are watered
with care, and produce very rich crops :
this is one of the fineft parts of Spain. From
Segorla to Valencia, where I got the next
day, the whole is one continued garden for
culture, induftry, and luxuriant productions.
It is mofl of it inclofed, either in vineyards,
olives, mulberry plantations, corn fields,

numerous

SPAIN. 377

numerous gardens, lucern fields, and rich
watered meadows : the houfes ftand thick
through the country, and the whole has, in,
every refpecl:, the appearance of wealth and
population. Upon enquiring into the par-
ticulars of their hufbandry, I fourid. that
they never fallowed their lands, but always
were careful to have fome crop or other
conftantly on it. Thus, a common method
they had was to. plough up a field at Mi-
chaelmas, and

1. s. d,

1. Sow wheat in it, which pro-

duced in value about 214 o

2. This wheat is harvefted in

June, and the land im-
mediately fown with mil-
let, which yields 200

3. With the millet clover is

fown, and fed in Winter

to the value of 080

4. The next year the clover is

mown four times, which
faur cuttings, being fc-
vcn or eight loads of hay,
are worth coo

Carried forward 10 2 o

378 TRAVELS THROUGH

1. s. d.

Brought over 10 2 o

5. The lafl mowing of the clover

' is in Auguft; the land is
then di redly ploughed
up and fown with tur-
neps, the value of which
is about I 2 o

6. The turneps are got off time

for fowing wheat, which

yields 2 o 0

.7. After this wheat, maiz is fown

for mowing for hay ; it

gives three loads an acre,

worth 250

t . The land then is at reft in

the Winter for dunging $

an operation they rarely

perform oftener than once

in eight years. And in

the Spring, upon the

dunging, they fet pota-
toes, carrots, parfnips,

lettuces, onions, peafe,

beans,&c. which may, on

an average, yield per acre 520

Carried over 2O 1 1 o

SPAIN. 379

1. s. d.

Brought over 20 j j o

g. After thefe crops are off, they
fow millet and clover ;
the former yields a pro-
dud of 280
jo. The clover is thus fed, to

the value of about o 10 o

II. And the year following it
is mown four times, va-
lue 500

28 9,0

Thefe are the crops of five years; fo that
the land yields more than two every year,
on an average; which fliews the prodigious
advantages to be made, without much
trouble or expence, by means of this fine
climate. Such lands as thefe they reckon
better than vineyards ; and what is a noble
advantage of the Spanish monarchy, is their
fyftem of taxation, having nothing of a
land-tax muitipliable on improvements, like
the taille in France, except in the t\vo
Caftiles. In all the other provinces, huf-
bandry and eftates in land are free, the re-
venue

380 TRAVELS THROUGH
venue being railed by duties on confump-
tion, principally on the neceiTaries of life.

1. s. d.

Of the above 28 9 o

The King, in fome trivial pro-
vincial duties, of no account,
takes no more than i 6 o

25 3 °

The landlord takes, in rent 200

Remains, for the fervants ex-

pences 23 3 o

Of this the expences make; 20 j o o

Which, divided by five, gives,
for the annual profit per acre
made by the farmer o i o 7

Which is a very different fyftem from what
is met with in France, where the King
takes fo enormous a proportion of the grofs
produce of the land, to the impoverishment
of the landlord, and the ruin of the farmer.

Accord-

SPAIN. 381

Accordingly, the effecT: is fuch as one might
expect; for^ inftead of the miferable beg-
garly peafants feen onr the lands in France,
the farmers and their labourers in Spain are
very much at their eafe in every refpecl:,
that can concern not only their property and
profit in an exemption from oppreffi ve taxes,
but alfo in that degree of independency
which is not commonly expected to be found
in arbitrary governments. In France the
flavifh fubordination of the lower people
very much exceeds any thing 1 have feen in,
Spain.

The 21ft, I went from Valencia to
Xativa, through another tract of moft rich,
fertile, and well cultivated country, where
almoft every inch of land appeared to be
very highly managed. At Bonafaio I re-
marked, on the farm of a common peafant,
a field of four or five acres, planted with
lucern in rows, and between the rows of
the lucern, other rows of garden plants for
fale. Upon enquiry into this culture, I found
the man had done it much upon the prin-
ciples of the new hulbandry, thoug .
had moft certainly never hc-trd or feen a;ty
tlii::^ of thjt mode of culture : he thought

TRAVELS THROUGH

that the tillage he gave the garden plants,
was of great fervice to the rows of the lu-
cern. The ploughing in this country is alt
performed with oxen, the number of mules
and afTes being very fmalh They are fed
both Winter and Summer in ftableS -, iri
Summer on lucern mown every day for
them, and now and then they give them,-
befides, a fmall quantity of barley, which
furprifes me, as I had never known barley ,
or even oats, to be given to oxen. In Win-
ter they have hay of all forts, both of maiz,
millet, clover, lucern, and meadow ; alfo
turneps and chopped ftraw. They ufe two
of thefe oxen in a plough, which is held by
a man, and the oxen driven by a woman.
Sheep are kept at no great diftance from
this trad:, in considerable numbers, upon
fome dry chalk hills, where they have fown
fainfoine for their fupport. They reckon
the profit of keeping a fheep to be i s. a year*
or little better ; yet in this account they
include the lamb, as well as the wool. Their
expences muft be high, or their manage-
ment very bad, to reduce the advantage fo
very low. Cows are kept in confiderable
numbers; yet they have no idea of making

any

SPAIN. 2&j

any other advantage from them than the fale
of a little milk, the ufe of the reft in their
own families, and the breeding of a calf;
for there is no fuch thing as a dairy. Butter
is no where made, though in fome places
they make very good cheefe. Goats are
kept very commonly, for the fake of the
milk and the kids. A cow, kept in the
manner of the oxen defcribed above, is fup-
pofed to pay about 255. a year. Their mod
confiderable flock of cattle are fwine; of
which they have large herds, that are a
part of the year driven feveral leagues to the
woods, where they are fed with chefnuts,
even to be fat without farther trouble or
cxpence; and upon this food, which they
think the beft for a hog, they gain the
fineft flavour in the world. »

My next day's journey was to Alicante,
where I purpofed taking (hipping for Leg-
horn. This line of country is inferior to
the other parts of Valencia I had feen, be-
caufe there were many trades of low land
that might be eafily watered, yet none is
done for fome miles. The crops had not lo
good an appearance, nor were there fo many
inclofuresj and 1 was informed, that if I

travelled

384 TRAVELS THROUGH
travelled from hence all the way to Gibraltar*
I fhould find the country and cultivation
growing worfe and vvorfe, and very many
great lines of country entirely uncultivated,
even upon the coaft. But near the city of
Alicante the cafe is different, and the
country as well cultivated as any I had feen ;
and I was informed that all the way to
Murcia it is the fame.

As I am now upon the point of quitting
Spain, I muft make a few general obferva-
tions on that part of it I have feen. In the
line of country I have travelled^ of near
four hundred miles, I have found it, in ge-
neral, well cultivated; the foil excellent,
and the climate to exceed ,al mod any thing
I had experienced : the crops are abundant,
the people rich and at their eafe, and, if a
Proteftant country, would exhibit every
thing that is to be feen in Holland itfelf*
This, it is true, is the fmeft part of Spain j
but the obfervation which I would prin^
cipally dwell on is the circumflance of
the manners of the people. There is evi-
dently nothing in the manners of the Spa-
niards againft working and induftry, when
they have once been put in the right road,

and

SPAIN. 371

and meet with any encouragement. This
has been the cafe in the provinces through
which I have travelled, and accordingly
they have made ample ufe of it. It is not
that Granada, Caftiles, Andalufia, Leon,
and the reft, can be equally improved. Na-
ture denies it ; the foil and face of the
country are different ; but I am clear the
people of thofe provinces would, as far as
water can be carried, render them equally
fine, if they were fet about it by examples
and encouragement. Thefe are in the
power of the Crown ; and if a wife Admi-
niftration was to arife, which fteadily gave
encouragement to agriculture upon judi-
cious principles, I am clear they would,
in fifty years, make the kingdoms produce
quadruple what it does at prefent, aud more
than double its inhabitants.

FINIS,

VOL. IV. C c

34 4 ,

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