They Have No Black Cattle To Afford Such Compost As
Our Farmers Use In England.
The dung of mules and asses, which
are their only beasts of burthen, is of very little value for
this purpose; and the natural sterility of their ground requires
something highly impregnated with nitre and volatile salts.
They
have recourse therefore to pigeons' dung and ordure, which fully
answer their expectations. Every peasant opens, at one corner of
his wall, a public house of office for the reception of
passengers; and in the town of Nice, every tenement is provided
with one of these receptacles, the contents of which are
carefully preserved for sale. The peasant comes with his asses
and casks to carry it off before day, and pays for it according
to its quality, which he examines and investigates, by the taste
and flavour. The jakes of a protestant family, who eat gras every
day, bears a much higher price than the privy of a good catholic
who lives maigre one half of the year. The vaults belonging to the
convent of Minims are not worth emptying.
The ground here is not delved with spades as in England, but
laboured with a broad, sharp hough, having a short horizontal
handle; and the climate is so hot and dry in the summer, that the
plants must be watered every morning and evening, especially
where it is not shaded by trees. It is surprising to see how the
productions of the earth are crouded together. One would imagine
they would rob one another of nourishment; and moreover be
stifled for want of air; and doubtless this is in some measure
the case. Olive and other fruit trees are planted in rows very
close to each other. These are connected by vines, and the
interstices, between the rows, are filled with corn. The gardens
that supply the town with sallad and pot-herbs, lye all on the
side of Provence, by the highway. They are surrounded with high
stone-walls, or ditches, planted with a kind of cane or large
reed, which answers many purposes in this country. The leaves of
it afford sustenance to the asses, and the canes not only serve
as fences to the inclosures; but are used to prop the vines and
pease, and to build habitations for the silkworms: they are
formed into arbours, and wore as walking-staves. All these
gardens are watered by little rills that come from the mountains,
particularly, by the small branches of the two sources which I
have described in a former letter, as issuing from the two sides
of a mountain, under the names of Fontaine de Muraille, and
Fontaine du Temple.
In the neighbourhood of Nice, they raise a considerable quantity
of hemp, the largest and strongest I ever saw. Part of this, when
dressed, is exported to other countries; and part is manufactured
into cordage. However profitable it may be to the grower, it is
certainly a great nuisance in the summer.
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