found in the department of CALVADOS, of which
some (but I know not how many or how few) are considered as indigenous. Of
forests and woods, the number is comparatively small; and upon that limited
number great injuries were inflicted by the Revolution. In the
arrondissement of Caen itself, there are only 344 _hectares_.[98] The truth
is, that in the immediate neighbourhood of populous towns, the French have
no idea of PLANTING. They suffer plain after plain, and hill after hill, to
be denuded of trees, and make no provision for the supply of those who are
to come after them. Thus, not only a great portion of the country about
Rouen--(especially in the direction of the road leading to Caen--) is
gradually left desolate and barren, but even here, as you approach the
town, there is a dreary flatness of country, unrefreshed by the verdure of
foliage: whereas the soil, kind and productive by nature, requires only the
slightest attention of man to repay him a hundred fold. What they will do
some fifty years hence for _fuel_, is quite inconceivable. It is true that
the river Orne, by means of the tide, and of its proximity to the sea,
brings up vessels of even 200 tons burthen, in which they may stow plenty
of wood; but still, the expenses of carriage, and duties of a variety of
description--together with the _dependence_ of the town upon such
accidental supply--would render the article of fuel a most expensive
concern. It is also true that they pretend that the soil, in the department
of Calvados, contains _coal_; but the experiments which were made some
years ago at _Littry_, in the arondissement of _Bayeux_, should forbid the
Caennois to indulge any very sanguine expectations on that score.

In respect to the trade of the town, the two principal branches are _lace_
and _cap_ making. The former trade is divided with Bayeux; and both places
together give occupation to about thirty thousand pairs[99] of hands.
People of all ages may be so employed; and the annual gross receipts have
been estimated at four millions of francs. In _cap_ making only, at Caen,
four thousand people have been constantly engaged, and a gross produce of
two millions of francs has been the result of that branch of trade. A great
part of this manufacture was consumed at home; but more than one half used
to be exported to Spain, Portugal, and the colonies belonging to France.
They pretend to say, however, that this article of commerce is much
diminished bot