story of these provinces would be an
inexhaustible subject: the cursory traveller can only describe
generally.

Wheat, barley, oats, grasses, roots, and vines, are the staple
agricultural produce. The wheat is certainly not so heavy as that in
England, but the barley is not inferior to any barley in the world. The
French farmers calculate upon reaping about sevenfold; if they sow one
bushel, they reap, between six and seven. Potatoes have likewise, of
late years, become an article of field-culture and general consumption
in every department of France, and particularly in those of the Loire,
the Allier, and the Nievre. Every city is supplied with them almost in
as much abundance as the cities of England and America. Where wheat is
scarce, the peasantry substitute them as bread. To say all in a word,
they have of late years got into general consumption; though before the
Revolution they were scarcely known.

The kitchen-garden in the French provinces is by no means so
contemptible as it has been described by some travellers. In this
respect they have done the French great injustice. I will venture to
assert, on the other hand, that nothing is cultivated in the
kitchen-gardens of England and America, but what, either by the aid of a
better climate, or of more careful and assiduous culture, is brought to
more perfection, and produced in greater plenty, in the kitchen-gardens
of France. I have already mentioned potatoes, which are cultivated both
in the garden and in the field: artichokes and asparagus are in great
plenty, and comparatively most surprisingly cheap--as many may be bought
for a penny in France as for a shilling in England. The environs of
Lyons are celebrated for their excellent artichokes; they are carefully
conveyed in great quantities to the tables of the rich all over the
kingdom. Pease, beans, turnips, carrots, and onions, are equally
plentifully cultivated, equally good, and equally cheap.

I have frequently had occasion to speak of the slovenly agriculture of
the French farmers, and I am sorry to have to add, that the fertility of
the provinces of Nivernois and the Bourbonnois, is rather to be imputed
to the felicity of their soil and climate than to their cultivation.
There is certainly a vast proportion of waste land in these provinces,
which only remains waste, because the French landlords and farmers want
the knowledge to bring it into cultivation. Many hundreds of acres are
let at about twelve s