pacity.
Under this careful cultivation, there is in reality no such thing in
France as a sterile mountain. If there be no natural soil, they will
carry some thither.

There are numerous woods and forests in these departments. The wood
being interspersed amongst the hills and valleys, contribute much to the
beauty of the scenery: the same circumstance contributes more, perhaps,
to the comfort of the inhabitants. Fuel, so dear in almost every other
part of France, is here cheap to an extraordinary degree. Coal is
likewise found at some depth from the surface; but, of course, no use is
made of it. The French woods are more luxuriant, and generally composed
of more beautiful trees than those in England and in America. The
chesnut-tree, so common in France, is perhaps unrivalled in its richness
of foliage. The underwood, moreover, is less ragged and troublesome.
Nothing can be more delightful than an evening walk in a French wood.

The soil of the department of the Allier is rather light: on the hills
it is calcareous; in the vales it is a white calcareous loam, the
surface of which is a most fertilizing manure of marl and clay. The
hills, therefore, are peculiarly adapted for vines, which they produce
in great quantities; and when on favourable sites, that is to say, with
respect to the sun, the quality of the wine corresponds with the
quantity. In this province, perhaps, there is a less proportion of waste
land than in any other department in France. The people are industrious,
and the soil is fruitful. There are certainly some wastes, which, under
proper cultivation, might be rendered fertile. I passed over many of
these, when an idea naturally arose in my mind, what a different
appearance they would assume under English or American management. But
the bad management of the French farmers is no derogation from the just
praise of its rich soil.

The natural and agricultural produce is such, as to render these
provinces worthy of their characteristic designation--they are truly the
garden of France. The most beautiful shrubs are common in the woods and
hedges: not a month in the year but one or other of them are in full
flower and foliage. The botanist might be weary before he had concluded
his task. To a northern traveller, nothing appears more astonishing than
the garden-like air of the fields in France: he will see in the woods
and forests, what he has been hitherto accustomed to see only in
hot-houses. The natural hi