young’s TRAVELS IN FRANCE.
661
Pafs Goronota, and many waftes for fome miles on gentle Hopes; the foil good,but covered with aromatic Ihrubs ; no cattle feen in any of them. Level vale with-much culture, and much pafture : many large oaks on old double banks, alfo tall po-plars ; all inclofed, and like many parts of England, as maize and vines are not here;a thick woodland. In this part the foil is a deep, rich, brown, adhefive loam ; the cornnot carried, but the laud ploughed and fown with French beans. They have peafe,beans, maiz, hemp, See. without watering, and, that circumftance confidered, the cropsare good. The ploughs are drawn by cream-coloured oxen, guided by a ^ine, andwithout a driver. Some meadows without water, with many quails. They are metayen,paying the landlord one-third of the produce, but not of phang, which is for oxen;fbang is their name for clover; and this the firft time we met with any information aboutit. It puzzled us much to difeover what phang could be ; but I found by accident aplant of trifolium alpejlre, and, (hewing it to a farmer, found, by his delcription, that itwas clover ( trifolium pratenfe) beyond all doubt. They were now ploughing a wheatftubble, in order to fow it dire&ly with phang. Their culture of it is Angular, and verygood : it is mown for hay once in the fpring, yielding a fine crop ; the land direftlyploughed and planted with monget , which is their name for fallow-hoeing crops, fuchas French beans, millet, peafe, Sc c. This monget is kept very clean, and wheat fownafter it, which is oft' foon enough for a fecond crop of French beans. A courfe withthem is,.
2. Wheat, and fown after with clover.
5. Clover and French beans.
4. Hemp and French beans.
5. Wheat and millet.
Vines are here planted in efpaliers ; final! poles are laid on pegs driven into polls,which ftand at fix or eight feet afunder, and the vines trained to them ; corn is fownbetween the rows ; good land, yet wafte join it. Many hedges are planted with theyellow-bloffomed prickly acacia, which anfwers perfectly well for that purpofe.
Within four miles of Gerona hulbandry continues good. Trees have vines trainedto them. Much cattle, mules, horfes, ilieep, and hogs, kept in the ftubbles; finecream-coloured oxen in the ploughs. The foil fine deep reddifh loam. Now reapinga crop of fquare peafe, three feet high, ftout as lupines, with pods like that plant; allhere an inclofed woodland. Hemp fix feet high, and not watered. To the left ofGerona mountain beyond mountain, branches of the Pyrenees , and very high, butfeemingly a good deal of cultivation on them. Fine rich deep foil in the vale beforeGerona ; the fame hufbandry r crops of corn very fine, not carried, though all theland quite green with young millet: this extreme confidence in the climate ihews clearlywhat it mud be.
A journal of the vale land fells for two hundred Spanilh livres, or 23I. 12s. 6d. andlets at 8 livres to 10 livres, that is, il. s. Englilh ; but none of it is irrigated. Theydo not tithe either lambs or other live ftock.
Prise of Provifions at Gerona :
Bread, o,f. per pound of twelve ounces; and excellent.
Beer, of.
Pork , 8 f per pound of fixteen ounces.
Cheefe, 2 of per pound of twelve ounces.
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