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obtained. Cattle cannot be bred in a day. To create a supply demands time, it requires years. Again, they cannot be fattened without food, and I see no signs of the existence of that food. If it can be shown that three-year-old bullocks will be full grown by next February, and that they will be fattened on food not yet planted, then I must admit I am wrong; but the Normandy and Brittany farmers have not yet got into the way of fattening bullocks for the British markets, nor of growing crops to fatten those bullocks. These two conditions are required for a large supply. He who travels on the English and Irish railways, who sees special carriages in various places for the conveyance of cattle, who notices the sheep and cattle pens at the several railway stations, cannot fail to be struck with the total absence of any such arrangement on the railways in France. There is almost literally no cattle traffic. Then as to the fattening; we must remember this is a warmer climate, and that fat, a heat giver, is no longer such a necessity. We notice the labourers in light blouses, their trousers of a thin texture: they do not want extreme warmth. There is no such thing as double milled Yorkshire cloth in this climate. It is so with meat; fat is a necessity in England, it is not so in France. In the former country, crops are grown and animals are fed with a view to produce fat, while in the latter they are not so fattened. The pasture lands, except in some districts, and in small quantities, are not rich grazing lands, capable of furnishing fat animals; and I have not seen a single field of turnips either in Brittany or Normandy. Whence, then, is the expected supply of meat to come? Normandy has been shipping for

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many years a steady supply of bullocks, in fair condition, from the port of Granville to the Channel Islands. If the price is encouraging, I should not be surprised if a trade should spring up from Normandy similar to that which exists from Ireland-i.e. the export of two-year-old stock for the purpose of fattening in England; but if John Bull wants them fat, he must fatten them himself by growing turnips, importing oil-cake, house feeding, and so forth. He will not get either the Normandy or the Irish farmers to take to stall feeding for fattening purposes.

I mentioned in my last letter the increase which had taken place in the culture of wheat in Brittany. I find that the same occurs to even a greater extent in Normandy. In the department of Calvados, lying along the English Channel, the principal portion of William of Normandy's domains, and in that of La Manche, which has a sea-board towards the Atlantic, the area under wheat and barley had both increased.*

In Brittany part of the land devoted to wheat was withdrawn from barley, while in Normandy there is an increase in both crops. The reasoning which I apply to the former applies with greater force to the latter.

Rouen, the ancient capital of Normandy, has a population of 103,373 persons. It stands on a beautiful situation on the banks of the Seine. Some of the old buildings are most picturesque, and remind *Extent of land under Wheat and Barley in Calvados and La Manche.

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one of a bygone age; but Rouen is now a manufacturing town, the Manchester of France.

Returning from Normandy to Le Mans, which is the chief town in the department of Sarthe, and travelling by the Brest railway to Paris, I passed through the department of Eure-et-Loire, the chief town of which is Chartres. It is not my object to describe the towns; that will be found in the guidebooks, nor refer to history, save so far as illustrates the agriculture of the district. Were I disposed to allow my pen to be discursive, I might string together much that would be readable; that I shall leave to other pens. But I may say, that after passing Le Mans the country becomes more open, the fields are larger, the population more scant. It reminds one of the landscape of some of the English counties, save the total absence of any indication of coal, and also the absence of the tall chimneys sure to be seen by the railway tourist in England. I think a traveller can hardly pass over 132 miles of English railway without counting more than two of those spires, which industry raises in the pursuit of mammon, and which show their influence by continually poisoning the atmosphere. The tillage in this district is what many would call on a more improved system. Iron ploughs, and other such implements, are to be seen. Horses are more abundant, and do more of the work; men are scarce, and do less. The cows graze in companies unattended. The mother is not to be seen, with her babe in her arms, holding the rope by which her pet cow, perhaps the only one, is prevented from damaging the unfenced sarrasin, or mangold, which is planted on the little patch. But when I come to compare the results, I find

that they are exactly what might be expected. The better (?) farming of Sarthe and Eure-et-Loire, contrasts rather unfavourably with that of Brittany and Normandy.* There is a diminution in Eure, and only a slight increase in Sarthe. This contrasts with that I have previously given of Brittany and Normandy.

Near Paris the small farms of the peasants are to be seen. It gave me the greatest pleasure to note these small plots, each tilled to the extreme verge, and in the most careful manner-some of them with half a dozen different crops. I do not think these small farmers will have much to sell off their little plots, but they will have much to add to the comfort of their homes--to the health of their families. In these little demesnes they find a market for their time—a bank for their savings, which returns all the outlay, with more than compound interest.

I met with very great politeness from the railway officials on this line. I was travelling second-class, and found, on consulting Bradshaw, that by changing to a first-class carriage at the next station, I could reach Paris three hours earlier than if I continued. I mentioned it to two Frenchmen in the carriage, and when we reached the buffet and were having breakfast, they asked for the station-master, who came in at once, took my ticket, and brought back a first-class pass, for which I paid the difference; he had also at

* Extent of land under Wheat and Barley in Eure-et-Loire and

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tended to my luggage. I thought I might wait a long while ere an English station-master would take all this trouble, but here it seemed quite a matter of course.

Paris. It is not my intention to attempt a description of the capital of La belle France either historically, topographically, architecturally, or geographically, nor shall I attempt a survey of her palaces or a description of her treasures of fine arts; all this has been done before, and copied (more or less abridged) into the guide-books where it will be found. My impression of Paris was that it is gradually becoming a city of palaces, the capital of a large empire; it was quieter and less bustling than London, which is more the commercial entrepôt of the world than the mere capital of the United Kingdom. In Paris the carriages seem to move less noisely along, the people seem to bustle less, and to jostle less, than in London. There is a carelessness and an insouciance which is not to be seen in the larger city. The trees in the streets, the tables and chairs on the foot-ways, the supply of coffee and light wine to the loungers in public,—all show that we have got among a people of very different habits and modes of thought. Goldsmith's lines about France are now almost true of Paris in every respect. Nearly an hundred years since he wrote

To kinder skies, where gentler manners reign,
I turn; and France displays her bright domain.
Gay, sprightly land of mirth and social ease,

Pleased with thyself, whom all the world can please.

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So blest a life these thoughtless realms display,
Thus idly busy rolls their world away;
Theirs are those arts that mind to mind endear;

For honour forms the social temper here.

*

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