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. When taken out of the
pits, where it has been put to rot, the stench it raises is quite
insupportable; and must undoubtedly be unwholesome.
There is such a want of land in this neighbourhood, that terraces
are built over one another with loose stones, on the faces of
bare rocks, and these being covered with earth and manured, are
planted with olives, vines, and corn.
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