young’s TRAVELS IN FRANCE.

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from experience, as well as the Marquis of Turbiily, prefcribes this courfe; r, dig, atthe ex pence of 20 livresper arpentof 46,000 feet, in winter, and dimmer-fallow, withmany ploughingsand harrowings, for — 2, wheat — 3, oats — 4, fallow — 5, wheat —6, oats, &c. &c. This gentleman, who tells us he broke up and imprn-oed four hundredand fifty arpents, has not explained how real improvement is to be made without fheepor cattle. Where is his winter food in this prepoderous courfe? If thefe four hundredand fifty arpents be really improved, they have cofl him five times more than they areworth ; but I fitfpeft they arc—improved a la Turbiily. It is mere romance to think ofimproving waftes profitably without a great flock of fheep. The ideas of French im-provers feem rooted in a contrary fpirit; to the prefent moment, there is no other planthan the old one of corn. A publication of the year 1791, Memoirc fur f Util tie du Dc-fricbement dcs Terra de Gajllenau dc Medoc, fpeaks of the fame methods— derciciner —labourer — hcrfer—enfemenccr~—froment—Jcigle , p. 5. The fame views in every part ofthe kingdom ; but when you inquire for cattle, you have, on fome hundreds of acres,feven cows, three mares, four oxen, and no fheep 1 (p. 4.)

As the fubjeft is one of the mod effential in French agriculture, I will very brieflyfketch the right principles on which alone wafte countries can be improved to profit.The rapid view which is prafticable for a traveller to take, will allow no more than anoutline ; fully to explain the procefs would demand a diflinft treatife.-1. The build-

ings, upon which Co much money is generally fo ufelefsly employed, fhould, in a pri-vate undertaking, be adapted to that fized farm, which lets in the country moll advan-tageouflyj but in a public undertaking, they fhould be adapted to that fized farm whichis mod favourable to a beneficial cultivation of the foil; in the latter cafe from four hun-dred to fix hundred acres. This attention to the fcale of the buildings flows from theplan of the improvement, which is that of letting the land in farms, as faff as it is wellimproved and brought into the cultivation, in which it ought afterwards to remain. Butwhatever the fize of the future farms may be, the drifted attention ought to be had tokeeping this part of the expenditure as low as poflible, it contributes little to the pro-duftivenefs of the land, except what arifes from convenient offices for cattle and fheep.—2. The next objeft is to buy a large flock of fheep, to feed on the lands in their wadedate, that are to be improved ; five hundred would be a proper number to begin with.Thefe fheep fhould be, as nearly as poflible, fuch as the South Dowms of England ; ofthe French breeds, the mod profitable, and the bed to procure, would be thofe of Rou-fillon. It is of more confequence to have a breed not too large, and well clothed witha fhort firm fleece, than larger or more expenfive breeds.—3. The fil'd dimmer fhouldbe entirely employed in paring and burning, and cultivating at lead one hundred acresof turnips and rape, for the winter fupport of the fheep and plough oxen. After theturnip feafon is pad, the paring and burning to continue for rye, artificial grades to befown with rye.—4. Begin, as early in the fpring as poflible to pare and burn frefh wade,fil'd for a crop of potatoes, on fifteen or twenty acres, and then for two hundred acres ofturnips. The turnip land of lad year to be fown with oats, on three ploughings - ; and

foil, for in Bretagne the peafants get but two or three crops of corn by it; and if more, much dung is re-■quifite, But if they can have two crops of corn, cannot they have one crop of turnips ? Cannot they havegrass, which feems never to be in his contempla ion, though alruoft the only thing that ought to be inview. De Serres knew better, he recommends paring and burning, dtferibes the operation, and aniwersthe objection of thofe who urged a fhorter continuance of the profit, by /hewing, that fuch cafes proceedfrom improper management, and do not occur, if the laws of good tillage be purfued, au cu'tiver £3“ au ;v-fcfcr. Le Theatre D’Agriculture, par D’Olivier de Serres , 410. 1629. p. 64 to 70,

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