Smyrna times., 1855-07-11
gnttrt5tmg Etttct,
Horace Greeley in France --9Ae Land
of the Vina.

lux dCS GioG40S lA Z AdALGS--- Ao AanQ
Of the Vine.
Lyons, Wednesday, June 6, lS55.- Walking
out ~ the euvTona uI Paris q. .'W day, ) ace 10
,hsrrvc III Fryach methods oi AgrcuIturr,
" 5 S~oucWhlt surprised. know mo niy American
ir.eud ard compu,on to be moderate. Grsnkcr
OF VINE, Oy MS casual remark that he reuar
Ged the Vine the great scourge OF France
From one who ,scards and REJECTS the Insp.ra-
ton OF the " generous uIce," such an obscrvn-
tIon would not have seemed remarkable: but
from my Intelligent friend, who has spent some
years III Paris, and has CONFIRMED in his rv-
erage to the habits OF her people, | certainly
dId not expect It,
And yet 1t Is the literal and momentous truth
France has more arabic SOIL than almost any
other country OF equal extent; and it is very
generally and labouously though not thorough
ly, efficiently cultivated. Naturally fertile. it
owes lItlle to subsequent applications not one
acre IN IA thousand is uuderdralncd or subsol-
ed and while England has bought millions of
dollar worth OF imported fertilizers within the
last thirty years, am confident half IA million
would pay for all the guanO, bones, &c. I'M
ported INTO France. Throughout this country
you pass miles and miles ot growing grain or
vegetables which promise fair To- mIddIng crops:
| never yet observed French acre that prom
ised luXurlcnt or great one. The rigorous
division of decedents real estate among his
heirs, which a fundamental law of the first Re-
public DEGREES, and which no subsequent Mon
archy has dared to repeal, eXerts salulary
influence IN mitigating destltutlon and dmm-
lshlng beggary, but It dOrs not tend to raise
French Agriculture above the state of mrdloc-
ii h..
plunged. The dying peasants acre must be
divided among his tour or five children. who
must cultivate their several pttances with spade
and hoe only; no fertilizers can be bought bv the
Impoverished owners; no animals employed !;
the thin soil, slowly and shallowy turned over
by the rude exerton of human muscle alone,
is sown, titled and harvested in the same rude,
slow fashion, and the sheaves borne on human
shoulders to the distant thrashlng floor. All
Is clumsy, feeble, ineffective, and Judge that
the gross product of the rural labor OF France
is less than halfa bushel otgraln per day. Sub
tract from this the enormous aggregate exac-
ted for the support of the Government, with its
million tunctlonarles, salarled priests. and seven
hundred thousand janlzarles, and it is plain
that the subsistence OF It's nomnaly freehold
ing cultlvatorS must be scanty indeed. doubt
that the peasant laborers of England who own
no land at ali, but live upon the scanty wages
accorded them by the tenant farmers, are worse
! lodged and fed than the two or three millions
OF rural freehoders in France who own and
cultivate less than an acre each. 1t Is mourntul
to see steep hlllsldes laborlousy titled from
year to year when tlllage is certain to wash
and exhaust them; the excuse OfthPir cutlva-
tors being that they own II strip of this land
and no other, and that to lay 1t down to grass
or wood is To doom them TO ldlenesS and thel
children to famine. The division of lands among
their cultlvators is a noble, beneicent idea
but the division othalf an acre among half do
zen heirs, OF the late cultlvator, now deceased
IS not a happy illustration OF 1t. Practically,
it is found that the petty holdings are split up
while the large estates are held intact through
several generations and even increased. may
here mention, by way OF Illustration, that the
fine estate ofLdFayette, La Grange,) comprl.
sing fine chateau ana 100 acres OF good land
IN the heart OF France, near this city, Is now
in the market, his son being dead and the pro-
perty not well adopted to partition among the
heirs. Were 1t but an acre or SO, eacn mner
tor would Insist on having and holding his share
of IT.
France, though rich in silver, is essentially
poor cOuntry--that Is to say, the great mas,
of her people are poor. Labor is less effective
{ here than IN America, and is not so well paIC
tor what it actually acc0mplishes There art
millions of Frenchmen who earn less than
franc per day when they word, and cannot ge
work at any price during good part of cacl
} year. OF course these are the more ignOran
and ll-placed as we'll as inefficient but twt
francs Qorty-cents) per day for the men AM
half as much for the women exceed the actua
| al. Ii
7 out the Empire of Louis Napoleon. Yet it i
D held to be crime, under the Government O
the man who tries to ingratiate himself wit
the toiling millions by dabbing with the pric
of bread, and opening for day the Palace O
Industry at his own cost to the poor, for thos
f recipients of his bounty to demand peaceab
h an increase of their petty wages. Witness tn
A following, which | cut from the Paris journal
of the last few days:
"Fve iourneyman saddlers employed in N
establishment OF M. Getting, at Passy. were
8 the day before yesterday tried by the Correc
d tional Police on charge OF forming "a coalitlo
to obtain an advance of wages, and for inc
= ting other workmen who were content wit
, their present pay, to ion them. The evIdenc
I" produced clearly proved the ohense, and tw
s, of them were condemned to three months in
,r prsonment and 10 fr. fine, and the tlree othel
d to two months Imprisonment, and the SAN
amount of ine." =.
The journals have lately noticed sipn,
% Improvement of trade at Lyons, consequent q
% renewed orders from America and other ana
!? tiers. Masters have been seen running fro
"a house to house in quest of looms that the
could setto work-ave'ry unusual circumstanc
Very naturally the ill-paid weavers, who al
: always ground down when orders fall o
e. thought they might aspire to share the Lenefi