The Flat Country Is Laid Out Chiefly For Corn; But Produces More
Rye Than Wheat.
Almost all the ground seems to be ploughed up, so
that there is little or nothing lying fallow.
There are very few
inclosures, scarce any meadow ground, and, so far as I could
observe, a great scarcity of cattle. We sometimes found it very
difficult to procure half a pint of milk for our tea. In
Burgundy I saw a peasant ploughing the ground with a jack-ass, a
lean cow, and a he-goat, yoked together. It is generally
observed, that a great number of black cattle are bred and fed on
the mountains of Burgundy, which are the highest lands in France;
but I saw very few. The peasants in France are so wretchedly
poor, and so much oppressed by their landlords, that they cannot
afford to inclose their grounds, or give a proper respite to
their lands; or to stock their farms with a sufficient number of
black cattle to produce the necessary manure, without which
agriculture can never be carried to any degree of perfection.
Indeed, whatever efforts a few individuals may make for the
benefit of their own estates, husbandry in France will never be
generally improved, until the farmer is free and independent.
From the frequency of towns and villages, I should imagine this
country is very populous; yet it must be owned, that the towns
are in general thinly inhabited. I saw a good number of country
seats and plantations near tile banks of the rivers, on each
side; and a great many convents, sweetly situated, on rising
grounds, where the air is most pure, and the prospect most
agreeable.
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